Edward Snowden says “Da!” to Russia, for now – A woman who tried to hide her involvement in wartime atrocities is jailed in the USA – Gay Marriage is coming to England and Wales.

Fugitive US Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden finally put in his asylum request in Moscow, days after telling the world that’s what he was going to do.  Russian officials, who’ve made it clear they’d actually rather he just move along, say he could be moved into refugee housing at the Sheremetyevo airport, and (oh, by the way) the decision could take three months. 

Argentina's foreign minister Hector Timerman has given prosecutors a list of more than 100 politicians and officials who are the victims of espionage.  Timerman is not saying if the illegal surveillance carried out in Argentina was carried out by the United States.  However, Brazil’s O Globo newspaper and reporter Glenn Greenwald, the journalist closest to Edward Snowden’s cache of US intelligence secrets, reported that the US monitored calls and emails of millions of Brazilian citizens.

The European Union is banning financial assistance to any “entity” that operates in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.  Those companies, universities, and other bodies will no longer have access to grants, prizes, or loans from EU nations.  This is because of the EU’s position that Israeli settlements harm the prospects for peace with the Palestinians.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the new EU guidelines.

A Rwandan woman has been sentenced to 10 years in an American prison for lying to immigration authorities about her involving in atrocities in the 1994 Rwandan Civil War.  43-year old Beatrice Munyenyezi came to the US a few years later in 1998, claiming she was a refugee.  In truth, she commanded a roadblock where people from the Tutsi ethnic group were selected to be killed.  Her husband and his mother were convicted of genocide and are imprisoned for life in Rwanda.

The Italian politician who compared Rome’s first black minister to an orangutan is refusing to resign.  Roberto Caleroli of the xenophobic Northern League says he apologized and will send a dozen roses to the target of his idiotic statement, Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge.  Prime Minister Enrico Letta is giving his full support to Kyenge and says this matter is not closed.

A prominent gay rights advocate has been murdered in the capital city of Cameroon.  Eric Lembembe neck and feet appeared to have been broken and his face, hands, and feet burned with an iron, according to Human Rights Watch.  It came a couple of weeks after Lembembe had warned of coming anti-gay attacks in Cameroon, where homosexuality is illegal and official harassment of LGBT people is commonplace.

Actor Corey Monteith of the TV show “Glee” died of a lethal combination of heroin and alcohol, according to the British Columbia Coroners Service in Canada.  He was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room on 13 July.  Monteith had in the past been open about his struggles with addiction.

A bill legalizing same-sex marriage in England and Wales is likely to become law before the week is over.  The House of Lords approved it on Monday, with the backing of the leaders of the Conservative, Labor, and Liberal Democrat parties.  The first same-sex marriages could take place before summer of next year.