Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.
UN expert calls for prosecution over US torture
GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations' top special investigator for counterterrorism is calling for the prosecution of senior U.S. officials who authorized and carried out torture as part of former President George W. Bush's national security policies.
Ben Emmerson, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, says all CIA and other U.S. government officials who carried out waterboarding and other torture must also be prosecuted.
In a statement Wednesday released in Geneva, Emmerson said the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's report shows "there was a clear policy orchestrated at a high level within the Bush administration, which allowed (it) to commit systematic crimes and gross violations of international human rights law."
He says those responsible for the "criminal conspiracy ... must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes."
Reaction to Senate report detailing CIA treatment of detainees after 9/11 includes call for prosecutions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques at secret overseas facilities after the 9/11 terror attacks is generating strong reactions in the U.S. and around the world. That includes a call from a U.N.'s human rights and counterterrorism official that CIA officers and other U.S. government officials be held criminally accountable.
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
President Barack Obama says the techniques "did significant damage to America's standing in the world and made it harder to pursue our interests with allies and partners."
Sen. John McCain welcomed the report. The Arizona Republican was tortured in a North Vietnamese prison during the Vietnam War. He says the country gave up "too much" in "the expectation that torture would make us safer."
But current and past CIA officials maintain the coercive techniques worked. George Tenet, who was CIA director at the time, insists the program led to the capture of al-Qaida leaders and prevented mass casualty attacks.
Current CIA Director John Brennan acknowledges the agency made mistakes, but agrees with Tenet that the harsh interrogations saved lives.
Senate report: Harsh tactics didn't net bin Laden
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate report says harsh CIA interrogations did not lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
After Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in 2011, top CIA officials secretly told lawmakers that information gleaned from brutal interrogations played a key role in what was one of the spy agency's greatest successes.
Then-CIA Director Leon Panetta repeated that assertion in public, and it found its way into a critically acclaimed movie about the operation, "Zero Dark Thirty," which depicts a detainee offering up the identity of bin Laden's courier after being tortured at a secret CIA interrogation site.
But the Senate report, which extensively cites the CIA's own records, says the CIA's story is just not true.
CIA officials disagree, and maintain that detainees subjected to coercive tactics provided crucial details.
Ex-leader: Poland agreed to CIA site, not torture
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski says during his term Poland offered the CIA a site for a secret prison but did not authorize the harsh treatment of inmates.
His comments Wednesday were the first time that a Polish leader has admitted the country hosted a secret CIA site. Reports say it operated from December 2002 until the fall of 2003. Kwasniewski was in power from 1995-2005.
Kwasniewski was reacting to a published U.S. Senate report condemning CIA practices at secret prisons. It did not identify the host countries.
Kwasniewski said the activity in Poland was terminated under pressure from Poland's leaders. He gave no dates for the site's operation.
Until now, Polish leaders at the time have denied the site's existence, but their successors in 2008 ordered a probe.
Palestinian official dies amid Israeli troop clash
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A witness says a member of the Palestinian Cabinet has died after being hit by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops during a Palestinian protest in the West Bank.
Mahmoud Aloul, a leading member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said the Cabinet member, Ziad Abu Ain, died shortly after the incident Wednesday near the West Bank village of Turmus Aya. Aloul says he and Abu Ain had been among dozens of protesters carrying olive tree saplings during a protest against land confiscations when Israeli troops fired tear gas at them and later beat some of the participants with rifle butts.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Suicide bomber in tanker truck kills 8 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber driving a tanker truck has targeted a security checkpoint in a village north of Baghdad, killing eight soldiers and Shiite militiamen.
Police officials say Wednesday's attack took place in the village of Mikeshifa, near the city of Samarra, located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
No one immediately claimed the attack but Samarra and its surrounding areas have been under constant attacks by militants from the Islamic State group.
A medic confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media.
Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops, with the Islamic State group in control of large swaths of land in the country's north and west.
Greek police destroy bomb outside Athens bank
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police say they have destroyed a bomb planted outside a northern Athens bank, allegedly in solidarity with a convicted bank robber who has been on hunger strike for the past month because he wants to attend business school.
Police said an anonymous caller alerted authorities to the timer-activated bomb, in the Aghia Paraskevi suburb, early Wednesday. Authorities cordoned off the area, and destroyed the device in a controlled explosion.
The caller, who gave a 30-minute warning, said the attack was in solidarity for Nikos Romanos, an anarchist, who has refused to take food since Nov. 10 and is in an Athens hospital. On Wednesday, Romanos' lawyer said he was going to stop drinking too.
Authorities have rejected Romanos' bids to attend university classes.
Iran: Fall in oil prices is Muslim 'treachery'
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the sharp fall in oil prices is the result of "treachery," in an apparent reference to regional rival Saudi Arabia, which opposed production cuts to lift prices.
Rouhani told a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the fall in prices is "politically motivated" and a "conspiracy against the interests of the region, the Muslim people and the Muslim world."
"The people of the region will not forget such conspiracies, or in other words, treachery against the Muslim world."
Oil prices have plunged by more than 40 percent since June to less than $70 a barrel. An OPEC meeting last month failed to reach agreement on production curbs, mainly because of Saudi opposition. Iran's sanctions-hit economy is largely dependent on petroleum exports.
Northern California braces for powerful storm; wind and flash flood warning issued
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The National Weather Service has issued a high wind and flash flood warning for Northern California, where residents are bracing for a powerful storm that could be the biggest in five years.
The storm is expected to pelt the region with heavy rain through Thursday and could overwhelm waterways and roadway drainage systems. The weather service says heaviest rainfall is expected from western Washington to Northern California, with numerous 3- to 5-inches possible. Rainfall could total as much as 14 inches of rain in the Olympic Mountains west of Seattle and in the North Cascades east of the city.
The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services is warning that the storm could trigger flash flooding and debris slides, particularly in areas that have been burned by wildfires in recent months.
The weather service say winds of 20 to 40 mph are expected, with gusts up to 60 mph.
Obama announcing $1B for early childhood education
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is following up on his promise to expand early education opportunities for tens of thousands of children. He's announcing a $1 billion public-private investment in programs for the nation's youngest learners.
Obama will join a daylong summit at the White House on Wednesday to announce the investment in early learning programs for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Nationwide, 28 percent of America's 4-year-olds were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program last year.
Eighteen states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Maine, New York and Tennessee, are being awarded a total of $250 million in federal grants to create or expand high-quality preschool programs.
Another $500 million will go to more than 40 states to expand Early Head Start and child care programs for youngsters from birth to 3 years old.
Pope urges governments, businesses to end slavery
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is urging governments and legislatures to do more to end modern-day slavery, calling for better laws and policies to prevent human trafficking, protect victims and prosecute those responsible.
Francis also urged businesses to ensure their distribution chains are free of slave labor and asked consumers to think twice about buying goods that may have been produced by child workers or other victims of undignified working conditions.
Francis' annual peace message, released Wednesday, focused on freeing the estimated 35 million people enslaved around the world.
The pope, who saw the plight of prostitutes and victims of trafficking in his slum ministry in Argentina, has made the issue of modern-day slavery a cornerstone of his pontificate.
Tourist gets community service for scaling Brooklyn Bridge
NEW YORK (AP) — A French tourist will have to spend 240 hours cleaning a Manhattan jail for scaling the Brooklyn Bridge to take photos.
Yonathan Souid (soo-EED') of Esnandes, (EHS'-nahnd), France, got the community service sentence on Tuesday.
The French university student will be assigned to the Manhattan Detention Center.
His lawyer said Souid "prefers cleaning a jail than to actually live in one."
Souid had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
He said it wasn't his intention to hurt anyone. He said he climbed the bridge last month because he has a passion for photography.
In July, two German artists swiped two American flags from the famous span and replaced them with white ones. A month later, a Russian tourist climbed the bridge to take pictures.
That's what's happening. Read more stories to jump start your day in our special Breakfast Buzz section.
