As he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani lashed out at Pakistan for its extremely &ldquo;shortsighted&rdquo; approach for dealing with terrorism in his address at the Institute of Defence and Analyses in Delhi.&nbsp; 
 
He also said that &ldquo;Pakistan celebrates every single of its defeat as victory and every single one of its intelligence failure as a confirmation of conspiracy theory&rdquo;. 
 
&ldquo;They agreed that this phenomenon presented the single biggest threat to peace, stability and progress in the region and beyond,&quot; a joint statement said without naming Pakistan, a nation that both countries accuse of sponsoring terror. 
 
The Afghan President added that countries that feel threatened by increasing cooperation between India and Afghanistan &ldquo;need to change their outlook and not blame others&rdquo;. 
 
He emphasised on the need to put an end to terrorism for achieving political aims and condemned Pakistan&#39;s myopic stance on &ldquo;good terrorists and bad terrorists&rdquo;.&nbsp; 
 
&ldquo;&quot;We see that there is a distinction between good and bad terrorists. Good terrorists are the ones that attack your neighbours, bad terrorists are the ones who attack you. This type of approach is enormously shortsighted. The blowback phenomenon is going to be bad. Terrorism will bite, like a snake, who feeds it,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Ghani stressed on the need for regional cooperation to fight terrorists and said one country&#39;s response is &quot;totally insufficient&quot;. 
 
Asked about Pakistan blocking road route to Afghanistan via the Wagah border, Ghani said both countries need to worry as there is air connectivity and efforts are on to increase that. 
 
However, he said those who try to block two great nations, will be blocked themselves. 
 
Told that they are reports that he had warned Pakistan that their export to central Asian countries through Afghanistan will be blocked, Ghani said he speaks sternly. 
 
(WION with inputs from PTI)

Edward Snowden, charged with espionage and theft of government property after leaking sensitive documents, has been living in exile

As he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani lashed out at Pakistan for its extremely “shortsighted” approach for dealing with terrorism in his address at the Institute of Defence and Analyses in Delhi. He also said that “Pakistan celebrates every single of its defeat as victory and every single one of its intelligence failure as a confirmation of conspiracy theory”. “They agreed that this phenomenon presented the single biggest threat to peace, stability and progress in the region and beyond," a joint statement said without naming Pakistan, a nation that both countries accuse of sponsoring terror. The Afghan President added that countries that feel threatened by increasing cooperation between India and Afghanistan “need to change their outlook and not blame others”. He emphasised on the need to put an end to terrorism for achieving political aims and condemned Pakistan's myopic stance on “good terrorists and bad terrorists”. “"We see that there is a distinction between good and bad terrorists. Good terrorists are the ones that attack your neighbours, bad terrorists are the ones who attack you. This type of approach is enormously shortsighted. The blowback phenomenon is going to be bad. Terrorism will bite, like a snake, who feeds it,” he said. Ghani stressed on the need for regional cooperation to fight terrorists and said one country's response is "totally insufficient". Asked about Pakistan blocking road route to Afghanistan via the Wagah border, Ghani said both countries need to worry as there is air connectivity and efforts are on to increase that. However, he said those who try to block two great nations, will be blocked themselves. Told that they are reports that he had warned Pakistan that their export to central Asian countries through Afghanistan will be blocked, Ghani said he speaks sternly. (WION with inputs from PTI)

White House says Snowden's leaks 'endangered national security', right groups appeal for pardon?

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, who has been living in exile in Russia for more than three years has called on US President Barack Obama to pardon him before he leaves his office next year.&nbsp; 
 
The former intelligence contractor said his decision to disclose classified information about the US and British surveillance program was &ldquo;morally correct&rdquo; and he should be pardoned.&nbsp; 
 
&nbsp;&quot;If not for these disclosures, if not for these revelations, we would be worse off,&quot; he told The Guardian newspaper in a video-link interview from Moscow yesterday.&nbsp; 
 
The 33-year-old insisted that the &ldquo;public cares more about these issues more than he had anticipated&rdquo;.&nbsp; 
 
Oliver Stone, director of the biopic thriller &ldquo;Snowden&rdquo;, also called for Obama to pardon the whistleblower at the Toronto film festival this year.&nbsp;

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<h5>The 33-year-old insisted that the &ldquo;public cares more about these issues more than he had anticipated&quot;.</h5>
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Snowden&#39;s residency permit in Russia runs &nbsp;out next year. He even said that he was prepared to spend time in jail in the US, adding he was &ldquo;willing to make a lot of sacrifices for the country&rdquo;.&nbsp; 
 
Last year, the White House rejected a petition signed by over 150,000 urging a pardon for Snowden, saying he should be &quot;judged by a jury of his peers&quot;. 
 
In a video-link interview Snowden said the disclosure of the scale of surveillance had left people better off.&nbsp; 
 
&ldquo;Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists &ndash; for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things, these were vital things,&rdquo; he said. &nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from PTI)

He said his decision to disclose classified information about the US and British mass surveillance program was 'morally correct'

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, who has been living in exile in Russia for more than three years has called on US President Barack Obama to pardon him before he leaves his office next year. The former intelligence contractor said his decision to disclose classified information about the US and British surveillance program was “morally correct” and he should be pardoned. "If not for these disclosures, if not for these revelations, we would be worse off," he told The Guardian newspaper in a video-link interview from Moscow yesterday. The 33-year-old insisted that the “public cares more about these issues more than he had anticipated”. Oliver Stone, director of the biopic thriller “Snowden”, also called for Obama to pardon the whistleblower at the Toronto film festival this year. The 33-year-old insisted that the “public cares more about these issues more than he had anticipated". Snowden's residency permit in Russia runs out next year. He even said that he was prepared to spend time in jail in the US, adding he was “willing to make a lot of sacrifices for the country”. Last year, the White House rejected a petition signed by over 150,000 urging a pardon for Snowden, saying he should be "judged by a jury of his peers". In a video-link interview Snowden said the disclosure of the scale of surveillance had left people better off. “Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists – for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things, these were vital things,” he said. (WION with inputs from PTI)

Former NSA whistleblower Snowden asks Obama for pardon

When former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden&nbsp;met with Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone to discuss a movie on his life, he never thought he would be making his own film debut.

Stone had initially interviewed&nbsp;Snowden&nbsp;to include him in DVD outtakes,&nbsp;Snowden&nbsp;said via video link on late Thursday in San Diego after a screening of Stone&#39;s &quot;Snowden&quot;, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the title character.&nbsp;But&nbsp;Snowden&nbsp;and Stone ended up filming nine takes for a scene in which he talks about his fears stemming from his actions.

&quot;I spoke at length just about personal values and just what it meant to me with the things that were happening since 2013,&quot; said&nbsp;Snowden. &quot;I guess he liked it. People do seem to respond to that.&quot;

The movie, due out in September, follows the 2013 events that led&nbsp;Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, to expose the US&nbsp;government&#39;s mass surveillance programs and flee the country after the government filed espionage charges 
against him. 
 
He was granted asylum in Russia later that year, and has lived there since with his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills.&nbsp;&quot;When there is enough in the public record, you don&#39;t really get to decide whether or not the movie gets made,&quot;&nbsp;Snowden&nbsp;said.&nbsp; 
 
The film follows&nbsp;Snowden&#39;s discovery of the US&nbsp;government&#39;s mass surveillance programs that digitally monitor unaware citizens.&nbsp;It fictionialises and condenses some events, such as how&nbsp;Snowden&nbsp;smuggled the data out of the NSA - dramatised with a Rubik&#39;s Cube in the film - and got it to documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong.

 
&quot;I admitted that I did not have a plan beyond getting straight out of there (Hong Kong), I planned to ask the world for justice and see what happened. It was kind of surprising how that worked out,&quot; he said.

Asked by an audience member if he was happy,&nbsp;Snowden&nbsp;said: &quot;I actually live a surprisingly free life,&quot; working with organisations such as the American Civil Liberties Union that Gordon-Levitt donated his &quot;Snowden&quot; acting fee to.&nbsp;&quot;Every day, I&#39;m working on something now that I can be proud of. I love my country, I love the things that we try to do,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;The fact that Lindsay&nbsp;has been with me for ten years, is still with me, that&#39;s something that just makes me happy every day.&quot; 
 
(Reuters)

The movie, due out in September, will follow the 2013 events that led Snowden to expose the US government's mass surveillance programs

When former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden met with Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone to discuss a movie on his life, he never thought he would be making his own film debut. Stone had initially interviewed Snowden to include him in DVD outtakes, Snowden said via video link on late Thursday in San Diego after a screening of Stone's "Snowden", which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the title character. But Snowden and Stone ended up filming nine takes for a scene in which he talks about his fears stemming from his actions. "I spoke at length just about personal values and just what it meant to me with the things that were happening since 2013," said Snowden. "I guess he liked it. People do seem to respond to that." The movie, due out in September, follows the 2013 events that led Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, to expose the US government's mass surveillance programs and flee the country after the government filed espionage charges against him. He was granted asylum in Russia later that year, and has lived there since with his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills. "When there is enough in the public record, you don't really get to decide whether or not the movie gets made," Snowden said. The film follows Snowden's discovery of the US government's mass surveillance programs that digitally monitor unaware citizens. It fictionialises and condenses some events, such as how Snowden smuggled the data out of the NSA - dramatised with a Rubik's Cube in the film - and got it to documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong. "I admitted that I did not have a plan beyond getting straight out of there (Hong Kong), I planned to ask the world for justice and see what happened. It was kind of surprising how that worked out," he said. Asked by an audience member if he was happy, Snowden said: "I actually live a surprisingly free life," working with organisations such as the American Civil Liberties Union that Gordon-Levitt donated his "Snowden" acting fee to. "Every day, I'm working on something now that I can be proud of. I love my country, I love the things that we try to do," he said. "The fact that Lindsay has been with me for ten years, is still with me, that's something that just makes me happy every day." (Reuters)

Edward Snowden talks film debut and dramatising his life in 'Snowden'

Former US spy contractor Edward Snowden has failed in a legal bid to win guarantees from Norway that it would not extradite him to the United States if he went there to receive a free speech award, a Norwegian court said on Monday. 
 
Snowden&#39;s law firm said in April he would take the state to court to secure free passage to the Nordic country. The United States has filed espionage charges against him for leaking details of extensive US surveillance programmes. He was granted asylum in Russia, which borders Norway, in 2013. 
 
&quot;Oslo District Court has decided that the lawsuit from Edward Snowden against the State regarding extradition, should be dismissed,&quot; the court said in a statement. 
 
Snowden had been invited to Norway to receive a freedom of speech award from the local branch of writers&#39; group PEN International, but worried that he would be handed over to the United States, his lawyers have said. 
 
The Norwegian court said the country&#39;s extradition laws only apply to people who are already in the country, and that the justice ministry could not be compelled to issue a decision on whether or not to extradite someone who lives abroad. 
 
As part of the verdict, Snowden was also ordered to pay 7,000 Norwegian crowns ($823.64) to the government to cover legal expenses. 
 
(Reuters)

Snowden had been invited to Norway to receive a freedom of speech award from the local branch of writers' group PEN International

Former US spy contractor Edward Snowden has failed in a legal bid to win guarantees from Norway that it would not extradite him to the United States if he went there to receive a free speech award, a Norwegian court said on Monday. Snowden's law firm said in April he would take the state to court to secure free passage to the Nordic country. The United States has filed espionage charges against him for leaking details of extensive US surveillance programmes. He was granted asylum in Russia, which borders Norway, in 2013. "Oslo District Court has decided that the lawsuit from Edward Snowden against the State regarding extradition, should be dismissed," the court said in a statement. Snowden had been invited to Norway to receive a freedom of speech award from the local branch of writers' group PEN International, but worried that he would be handed over to the United States, his lawyers have said. The Norwegian court said the country's extradition laws only apply to people who are already in the country, and that the justice ministry could not be compelled to issue a decision on whether or not to extradite someone who lives abroad. As part of the verdict, Snowden was also ordered to pay 7,000 Norwegian crowns ($823.64) to the government to cover legal expenses. (Reuters)

Edward Snowden: Norwegian court rejects lawsuit on free passage

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White House says Snowden's leaks 'endangered national security', right groups appeal for pardon?

Former NSA whistleblower Snowden asks Obama for pardon

Edward Snowden talks film debut and dramatising his life in 'Snowden'

Edward Snowden: Norwegian court rejects lawsuit on free passage