NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia and is allowed to enter the country’s territory. - The whistleblower has been granted temporary political asylum in Russia, Snowden's legal representative Anatoly Kucherena said. “I have just handed over to him papers from the Russian Immigration Service. They are what he needs to leave the transit zone,” he added. He departed at around 15.30 Moscow time (11.30 GMT), airport sources said. His departure came some 30 minutes before his new refugee status was officially announced. Snowden has already left the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, an RT crew at the scene has confirmed. His present location has not been made public nor will it be disclosed, Kucherena said. Snowden eventually intends to talk to the press in Russia, but needs at least one day of privacy, Kucherena said. The whistleblower was unaccompanied when he left the airport in a regular taxi, Kucherena added. However, WikiLeaks contradicted the lawyer, saying the organization’s activist Sarah Harrison accompanied Snowden.

Russia Today: Snowden enters Russia: RT's special coverage - LIVE

Le Monde: Edward Snowden a obtenu l'asile temporaire en Russie - Après des semaines de fausses alertes, Edward Snowden est enfin sorti de l'aéroport de Moscou, dans lequel il est bloqué depuis le 26 juin. Son avocat russe, Anatoly Kucherena, a annoncé jeudi 1er août que son client s'est vu octroyer l'asile temporaire en Russie pour une durée d'un an. L'avocat a toutefois refusé de révéler sa localisation, assurant que M. Snowden était dans un "lieu sûr". "Le lieu où il se trouve ne sera pas divulgué pour des questions de sécurité car il est l'homme le plus recherché du monde", a précisé l'avocat.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved tough new sanctions on Iran's oil sector and other industries. ● The Obama administration fears the measures could undercut the Islamic republic's incoming, more moderate president ahead of new nuclear negotiations. No date has been set for such talks, which would include other world powers Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. The bill makes no mention of Hasan Rowhani's recent win or his pledge to improve Iran's relations with the world. He will assume office this weekend. ● The bill adopted Wednesday blacklists any business in Iran's mining and construction sectors and commits the United States to the goal of ending all Iranian oil sales worldwide by 2015. Petroleum sales are the biggest source of money for Iran's nuclear program.

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi National Security Council Secretary and Head of the Saudi Intelligence who is Riyadh's man for forming, arming and orchestrating terrorist groups in the region, had a meeting with top US security officials in Washington a few weeks ago, Palestinian weekly al-Manar quoted informed sources as saying. The sources told al-Manar that Bandar Bin Sultan held talks with US vice-presidents during his visit to Washington asking them to let Saudi Arabia supervise operations in Syria and Lebanon. Bandar Bin Sultan also voiced Riyadh’s readiness to continue support and arms shipments to the terrorist groups in Syria. The sources added that Prince Bandar has also met with Israel’s top security officials in Tel Aviv where they have devised plans for bombing certain targets inside Syria and Lebanon as well as conducting sabotage activities by terrorist groups in both these countries.

Fars News: Iran: Imposing No-Fly Zone over Syria Blatant Violation of Int’l Laws

Bradley Manning leak did not result in deaths by enemy forces, court hears
Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy over WikiLeaks leaks; guilty of espionage, theft, computer fraud

■ The British Guardian newspaper, which first carried National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden’s revelations of massive and illegal government spying, on Wednesday published a report by journalist Glenn Greenwald detailing the NSA’s “widest-reaching” program for internet spying. The program, called XKeyscore, allows the intelligence agency to carry out everything from dragnet surveillance to the reading of the contents of individual emails.
■ The system allows intelligence agents to access, sort and monitor almost all Internet traffic anywhere in the world, including the specific content of communications. It can, for example, be used to generate lists of all people who visit any web site. Once such lists are compiled, nearly all of the Internet communications of the people listed can be intercepted.
■ The Guardian’s report exposes as contemptible lies the official claim, repeated by President Obama, US intelligence chief James Clapper, top officials of the NSA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and both Democratic and Republican congressmen, that the NSA is not able to read the contents of individual communications without extensive legal oversight and review.
■ As the Guardian report makes clear, the sweeping and intrusive searches of “emails, social media activity and browsing history” made possible by the XKeyscore system require no prior authorization.

Le Monde: XKeyscore, l'outil de la NSA pour examiner "quasiment tout ce que fait un individu sur le Web"
The Guardian: XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
The Guardian: XKeyscore presentation from 2008 – read in full

Former Social Democratic Party (SPD) Interior Minister Otto Schily intervened this week in the debate surrounding the Snowden affair. In an interview with news magazine Der Spiegel, he expressly defends the mass surveillance and storage of Internet data, and attacks those critical of this practice as being paranoid. In the interview, Schily’s extremely aggressive approach makes clear what can be expected from an SPD-Green Party coalition, should this emerge from September’s general elections. “Law and order are social democratic values”, he said.

Der Spiegel: Ex-Innenminister: Schily nennt Furcht vor Überwachungsstaat paranoid