From Free Speech Radio News: Ecuador pulls out of trade deal to avoid US “blackmail” in Snowden case. Ecuador says it will pull out of a trade deal with the United States as the country considers an asylum request from NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Today Ecuador’s Communication Minister said the US was using the benefits as a form of blackmail. The AP reports the country has granted Snowden safe passage to enter the country, but Ecuador has not officially granted him asylum. Today President Obama, kicking off a trip to Africa in Senegal, addressed the US efforts to bring Snowden back to the US to face charges. He said countries considering providing asylum should abide by international law. “We’ll continue to press them as hard as we can to make sure that they do so.” Ecuador’s extradition treaty with the United States does not cover “crimes or offenses of a political character,” which could be argued in the Snowden case.