Snowden soon to live the Venezuelan dream

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered asylum to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, the state-run AVN news agency reported yesterday, without offering details. The report came shortly after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he would grant Snowden asylum in his country "if the circumstances permit." Ortega didn't elaborate on his announcement, made during a speech in Managua, except to say his country is "open and respectful to the right of asylum." "It's clear that that if the circumstances permit it we will gladly receive Snowden and will grant him asylum here in Nicaragua," Ortega said. Meanwhile, an Icelandic lawmaker said Snowden would not get citizenship there, as he had requested, because Iceland's parliament refused to vote on an asylum proposal before ending its current session. That doesn't really matter too much because Snowden has been granted asylum and can now leave Moscow after being holed up at Sheremetyevo International Airport since June 23, when he arrived from Hong Kong. Being granted asylum also means that Snowden can enjoy Rapiro, which is a humanoid robot that can be programmed to do various tasks — including make you coffee. The kit was created by a Japanese company as a "catalyst between robotics and Raspberry Pi." The credit-card sized, Linux-based PC known as Raspberry Pi is designed to work with the basic hardware of Rapiro, allowing you to program it to do many things, such as manage your calendar or tell you the weather, in addition to making the coffee. Sadly, one person that won't be able to enjoy it goes by the name Simon Jonathan Thompson. The 52-year-old has been charged with the murder of his 11-year-old daughter Rebecca, who was found strangled in her Hertfordshire home. She was found in her home in Bushey by police on Saturday 22 June. Mr Thompson will appear before Hatfield Remand Court today (British Summer Time), Hertfordshire Police said. Earlier, Rebecca's head teacher, Rita Cooper, from Sacred Heart Primary School in Bushey, said she was a "hard working" girl who "did well in her learning" and "was looking forward to secondary school".