9 December 2014 Last updated at 07:38
CIA torture report: US raises security ahead of release
Security has been stepped up at US facilities around the world ahead of the release of a report expected to reveal details of harsh CIA interrogations, the White House says.
Embassies and other sites were taking precautions amid "some indications" of "greater risk", a spokesman said.
A 480-page summary of the Senate report is due to be released on Tuesday.
It is expected to detail the CIA's campaign against al-Qaeda in the aftermath of 9/11.
As well as detailing the controversial methods used by CIA operatives in an effort to extract information from high-value suspects, the report is expected to say harsh interrogations failed to deliver appropriate results.
Publication of the report has been delayed amid disagreements in Washington over what should be made public.
Chinese court jails seven students of Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti
Students of prominent activist, who is serving a life sentence, have been charged with separatism, rights lawyers said
A Chinese court has sentenced seven students of the jailed Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti in western Xinjiang region to up to eight years in prison in a case that has been criticised by the west, two rights lawyers said.
Tohti, China’s most prominent advocate for the rights of Muslim Uighurs, lost his appeal against a life sentence for separatism in November. During his trial, he rejected the prosecution’s evidence and said statements made against him by student volunteers who had worked on a website he managed had been made under pressure.
Li Fangping, the lawyer who defended Tohti, said he was told by the students’ lawyer on Monday that they had been sentenced by the intermediate court in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi. Prosecutors had charged the students with separatism, Li said.
Lima climate talks hear big polluters should pay for damage
Analysis shows 65% of emissions can be traced to just 90 entities
Frank McDonald
Corporations found to be responsible for much of the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere should be facing levies for loss and damage to the planet, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Commenting on a detailed analysis by the Climate Accountability Institute, UCS chief scientist Peter Fromhoff said major carbon producers needed to be “held accountable for the risks their products create and the damage they’ve already caused”.
At a side event during the UN climate conference in Lima, Dr Fromhoff likened the role of oil and gas giants such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and Gazprom to tobacco companies that were eventually found liable for deaths and disease caused by smoking.
Israel's nationality bill fuels debate over religious and democratic identity
December 9, 2014 - 12:05PMJodi Rudoren
Jerusalem: When Israel was founded nearly seven decades ago, its Declaration of Independence clearly defined the new nation as a Jewish state. But the document also enshrined democracy as a core principle, ensuring "complete equality of social and political equality to all its inhabitants". Now Israelis and Jews abroad are roiled by debate over whether Israel can continue to be both a Jewish homeland and the lone democracy in a region torn apart by ethnic and religious strife.
Israel's parliament was dissolved on Monday in part over legislation proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political allies that some Israelis fear would elevate the state's Jewishness above its democratic character - exposing the inherent tension in the nation's core principles with a law that critics say would subject a fifth of its citizens to permanent second-class status.
India rape case: Does Uber know who's driving? (+video)
Accusations that an Uber driver raped a woman in New Delhi raises anew questions about the company's driver screening process.
After New Delhi banned Uber from operating in the city Monday following rape accusations, the latest in the saga involving the taxi booking service is raising fresh questions about passenger safety and the company's screening process for drivers around the world.
The 32-year-old suspect, who allegedly raped a woman before driving her home, had previously been jailed for rape, though he claims he was acquitted of those charges in 2011.
A New Delhi court ordered Shiv Kumar Yadav held for three days for police questioning over allegations that he raped the finance company employee after being hired to ferry her home from a dinner engagement on Friday night, according to the Associated Press.
ISIS's brutal beheading video: Search for clues
By Atika Shubert, CNN
It was a killing choreographed for maximum brutality: The simultaneous beheading of 22 Syrian captives held by ISIS.
In November, ISIS released a propaganda video titled "Though the Unbelievers Despise It." It featured the apparent murder of an American hostage, Peter Kassig (known as Abdul Rahman Kassig after his conversion to Islam), and the mass killing of what appear to be nearly two dozen Syrian soldiers.
The US-based terrorism research organization TRAC (Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium) and UK-based counter-extremism think tank Quilliam have analyzed the footage frame-by-frame to understand the video's production techniques, the identity of the hostages and their killers, and the visual significance of such calculated brutality.
Here are some of their findings:
- The video would have cost at least $200,000 to produce, according to TRAC. Similar to a feature film, the video features multiple takes using HD cameras to create images of a professional quality.
- Nearly all the killers appear unmasked and are clearly identifiable. There are 22 ISIS fighters of varying ethnicities and nationalities, all wearing the same camouflage uniforms. They are led by the militant known to the British press as "Jihadi John," the masked fighter with a British accent responsible for the killing of western hostages.
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