CIA agent intercepted in Moscow - reports
An alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report.
The alleged agent was held overnight before released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service said.
He is said to have been working as a secretary at the US embassy in Moscow.
The man was reportedly arrested with a large sum of money, technical devices and written instructions for the agent he had tried to recruit.
He was named as Ryan Fogle, said to be a third secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. There is no comment from the embassy.
Russia and the US recently agreed said they wished to step up security co-operation after the Boston Marathon bombing.
"FSB counter-intelligence agents detained a CIA staff member who had been working under the cover of third political secretary of the US embassy in Moscow," the FSB said.
"At the moment of detention, special technical equipment was discovered, written instructions for the Russian citizen being recruited, as well as a large sum of money and means for altering appearance."
Photos purporting to show Mr Fogle during and after his detention have emerged in the Russian media
Russian officials said they confiscated a large sum of money, wigs and technical equipment
Former CIA operatives said the building was used to interrogate terrorism suspects, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed
CIA agent intercepted in Moscow - reports
Photos purporting to show Mr Fogle during and after his detention have emerged in the Russian media
An alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report.
He was held overnight before being released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
Photos have emerged of the man, said to be an employee of the US embassy, being held face down on the ground.
The US ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, has been summoned to the Russian foreign ministry.
The man was reportedly arrested with a large sum of money, technical devices and written instructions for the agent he had tried to recruit.
Named as Ryan Fogle, he is said to be third political secretary at the US embassy. There was no comment from the embassy.
Russia and the US recently said they wished to step up security co-operation after the Boston Marathon bombing.
While it is a sensitive time for US-Russian relations because of the crisis in Syria, the FSB's claims to have unearthed a CIA agent are unlikely to have any long-term political consequence, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow.
Wigs
FSB photos purporting to show Mr Fogle during and after his detention appeared on Russian online media, such as these published by broadcaster RT.
Wearing a blue checked shirt and a plain baseball cap, he is shown being held on the ground with his hands bound, then being escorted away.
Another photo shows him sitting at desk, his hat removed.
Russian officials said they confiscated a large sum of money, wigs and technical equipment
Possessions said to Mr Fogle's are laid out on a table. They include a sum of money in 500-euro banknotes and two wigs, one of which he was apparently wearing at the time of his detention.
Also on the table are a compass, map, knife, dark glasses and small mobile phone.
"FSB counter-intelligence agents detained a CIA staff member who had been working under the cover of third political secretary of the US embassy in Moscow," the FSB said.
"At the moment of detention, special technical equipment was discovered, written instructions for the Russian citizen being recruited, as well as a large sum of money and means for altering appearance."
CIA 'secret prison' found in Romania - media reports
Former CIA operatives said the building was used to interrogate terrorism suspects, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed
The CIA operated a secret prison in the Romanian capital Bucharest where terrorism suspects were interrogated, an investigation by the Associated Press and German media has found.
Former CIA operatives identified the building where, they said, detainees were held and tortured.
The building belongs to a Romanian agency, Orniss, which stores classified information from the EU and Nato.
Orniss has denied hosting a CIA prison and the CIA has refused to comment.
The investigation, by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and the German TV network ARD, said those held in the secret prison included Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, who has admitted organising the 9/11 attacks.
He was seized in Pakistan in March 2003 under the US programme known as "extraordinary rendition" - the extra-judicial detention and transfer of terrorism suspects.
He has been in the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay since 2006, where he is awaiting trial.
'Bright Light'
The building identified in the German investigation houses the Office of the National Register for Secret State Information, or Orniss.
Orniss has denied all claims that its premises were used as a CIA prison.
Asked whether the building was ever used to hold Islamist terrorism suspects, Orniss deputy head Adrian Camarasan told the Sueddeutsche: "Here? No!"
The building, at 4 Mures Street, was codenamed "Bright Light", the Sueddeutsche reported.
One former CIA operative who said he visited the site frequently was quoted as saying: "It was very discreet there. It was not as though Romanian officials came out to greet me."
Allegations of a network of CIA "black sites" in countries including Romania first surfaced in 2005 but were denied by Washington.
In 2007, an investigation by the Council of Europe accused Romania of operating a secret prison - accusations denied by Bucharest. The CIA called the report "biased and distorted" and said it had operated legally.
Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty on Thursday welcomed the new report.
"The dynamic of truth has run its course and we are at last beginning to learn what really happened in Bucharest," he said in a statement.
However, he criticised the lack of what he called a "serious judicial inquiry" in Romania.
In 2006, then-US President George W Bush admitted that terror suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but he did not say where the prisons were located.
A BBC investigation in 2010 alleged the CIA used a secret Polish prison where Khaled Sheikh Mohammed was subjected to simulated drowning - the practice known as waterboarding.
The Associated Press news agency, which worked with the Sueddeutsche and ARD on their investigation, says the alleged prison in Romania opened in 2003 after the CIA decided to empty the black site in Poland.
It quoted former US officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The basement consisted of six prefabricated cells, each with a clock and arrow pointing to Mecca, the officials told AP.
Waterboarding was not used in Romania, they said.
Other detainees of intelligence value to the US held in Romania included Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Faraj al-Libi, AP reported.
The Romanian foreign minister told the Council of Europe at the time of its investigation: "No such activities took place on Romanian territory."
The ARD programme will be broadcast at 22:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Thursday.
Iran arrests 12 'CIA spies' for targeting nuclear plans
Iran accuses CIA spies of targeting its nuclear programme
Iran has arrested 12 spies of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the official IRNA news agency reports.
Parviz Sorouri, an influential lawmaker, said the agents were targeting Iran's military and its nuclear programme.
He said they were operating in co-ordination with Israel's Mossad and other regional agencies.
The United States and its allies suspect Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon program, a charge Tehran denies.
Mr Sorouri, a member of the powerful National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, did not give the nationality of the alleged agents, nor when they were arrested.
"The US and Zionist regime's espionage apparatuses were trying to use regional intelligence services, both inside and outside Iran, in order to deal a strong blow to our country," he was quoted as saying.
"Fortunately, these steps failed due to the quick measures taken by Intelligence Ministry officials," Mr Sorouri said.
Spy ring
The Iranian claim follows reports in the US that Lebanon's Hezbollah has unravelled a CIA spy ring within the Shia militant organisation. Hezbollah has close ties to Iran.
Reports quoting US intelligence officials emerged this week appearing to suggest that a number of US spies had been unmasked and that their lives were now in danger in Lebanon.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said the reports were true. "Lebanese intelligence vanquished US and Israeli intelligence in what is now known as the intelligence war," he told the AFP news agency.
In June the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said on TV that he had unmasked at least two CIA spies who had infiltrated the ranks of the organisation.
Although the US Embassy in Beirut initially said there was no substance to the accusations, the Associated Press reports that American officials later conceded that Nasrallah had been telling the truth.
In May, Iran said it had arrested 30 people after breaking up a spy network run by the CIA.
It said the network had operated out of American diplomatic missions in the Malaysia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to recruit Iranians as spies.
Egypt to free three US students held in Cairo protests
Images of the three students were broadcast on Egyptian national television
A court in Egypt has ordered the release of three US students accused of taking part in the protests in Cairo, officials there say.
Derrik Sweeney and Gregory Porter, both 19, and Luke Gates, 21, were accused of throwing petrol bombs at the security forces in Tahrir Square.
Mr Sweeney's mother told US media she was "absolutely elated" by her son's release.
The US state department said it was trying to confirm they would be freed.
The three students, whose photos were shown on Egyptian national television on Tuesday, are at the American University in Cairo on a study-abroad programme.
Mr Sweeney's mother, Joy, earlier told the Associated Press news agency his release was the best gift on Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday in the US.
"I was elated. I was absolutely elated," she said of the moment she learned he was to be freed. "I can't wait to give him a huge hug and tell him how much I love him."
She added: "I'm sure that he'll put a life-lesson learning experience into a positive story."
Ms Sweeney added that she hoped her son would leave Egypt on Friday.
Firebomb allegations
The teenager worked as an intern earlier this year for Missouri congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer.
The representative's spokesman, Paul Sloca, said Mr Luetkemeyer was "extremely pleased that he's safe and coming home, especially on Thanksgiving".
A spokesman for the US state department said on Thursday: "As we work to independently confirm reports regarding the potential release of three US citizens detained in Egypt, we remain in contact with them and their families, providing appropriate consular assistance.
"We appreciate the ongoing expeditious consideration of this case by the Egyptian authorities."
According to the Egyptian interior ministry, when arrested the students had been throwing firebombs at police from the roof of a university building overlooking Tahrir Square.
They had a bag allegedly containing a water bottle filled with petrol, the Egyptian official agency MENA reported.
On Wednesday, the Egyptian prosecutor general ordered the three to be detained for four days.
Mr Sweeney is from Jefferson City, Missouri, and studies at Georgetown University; Mr Gates, of Bloomington, Indiana, studies at Indiana University; and Mr Porter, from Glenside, Pennsylvania, attends Drexel University.
Dozens of people have died during days of protest in Cairo.
The demonstrators are demanding an end to military rule and a swift transition to civilian authority.
