David Davis | intelNews.org

News you may have missed #0058

Were Americans in Iran spying or in wrong place at wrong time? Officials in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region said Sunday that the three, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, were tourists who inadvertently crossed into Iran on Friday while hiking in the region. But the head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee said on government-run Arabic television that the three came as spies.
British lawmaker challenges US threats to suppress CIA torture evidence. Conservative British parliamentarian David Davis is on a visit to the United States to speak with US lawmakers about the case of Binyam Mohamed.
Al-Qaeda will pose a threat for 20 years, says Dennis Blair. The US Director of National Intelligence has said al-Qaeda will continue to rely mostly on conventional explosives in its attacks.

Spies target Swiss banks for the secrets they hold. Jürg Bühler, acting director of Switzerland’s counter-intelligence agency, says foreign services are increasingly interested in the financial data locked in Swiss banks, especially as the global hunt for undeclared assets stiffens.
South Korea says North was behind cyberattacks on S. Korean, US web sites. South Korean intelligence officials say they believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyberattacks that paralyzed major South Korean and US government websites last weekend.
British MP accuses government of outsourcing torture. Britain’s former shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, has accused British intelligence services of “outsourcing torture”. He was commenting in the case of Rangzieb Ahmed, who claimed he was offered bribes to drop allegations that he was tortured in Pakistan, while on British custody.
Philippines President to meet CIA chief. Leon Panetta will be meeting Glorya Arroyo next week in Manila, “to discuss security concerns and to map out ways to further strengthen the bilateral partnership between the Philippines and United States”.
Former Turkey intelligence head questioned over alleged coup. The court case concerns Ergenekon, a shadowy ultranationalist network with strong links to the Turkish armed forces, which has reportedly been trying to stage a coup in Ankara.