Snowden finally able to leave the airport

The US has labelled Russia's decision to grant asylum to fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden as "extremely disappointing". The White House is reconsidering a meeting scheduled for next month between President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The US wants Snowden extradited and tried for leaking secrets. But Snowden, who left a Moscow airport transit zone for the first time since June, thanked Russia for its action. Sadly, not everyone agrees that Russia's decision was the best. White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We're extremely disappointed that the Russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and in private to have Mr Snowden expelled to the United States to face the charges against him. We're evaluating the utility of a summit in light of this and other issues." Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, an ally of Mr Obama, said Russia's decision was a "stab in the back" and urged the president to recommend relocating the upcoming G20 summit away from Russia. And former Republican presidential candidate John McCain said there should be "serious repercussions". But this isn't one of the repercussions McCain is talking about: Australia has unveiled a levy on some bank deposits to raise money towards a fund aimed at safeguarding against a banking collapse. Deposits up to A$250,000 will have to pay a levy of 0.05% from January 2016. It will be imposed on banks and not account holders, but banks have warned that costs may be passed on to customers. The move comes as the government warned of slower economic growth and a much bigger budget deficit than it had previously forecast.