VOA NEWS

December 10, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. U.S. lawmakers release a long-awaited report on the CIA's harsh methods for interrogating terror suspects, and Zimbabwe's fired vice president speaks to VOA about her dismissal. I'm Michael Lipin.



The U.S. Senate has released a report detailing the Central Intelligence Agency's harsh methods for interrogating suspected terrorists in the previous decade.

President Barack Obama responded to that report by saying one of America's strengths is its willingness to openly confront its past. VOA's Sharon Behn has more.

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Diane Feinstein said the agency violated U.S. law and values.

She defended the release of the report about the use of coercive interrogation techniques on at least 190 individuals detained by the intelligence agency from late 2001 to January 2009.

"History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth, and say, 'Never again.'"

The report says the Central Intelligence Agency used waterboarding, mock executions, ice baths, sexual threats and other harsh interrogation techniques against captured al-Qaeda and other militants to get information.

Sharon Behn, VOA news, Washington.



Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has fired his Vice President Joice Mujuru and at least seven government ministers seen as her allies.

In an interview with VOA's on Tuesday, Mujuru said she complied with a request from Mr. Mugabe to step down.

She also denied accusations that she was plotting to oust the president from office and said she will remain a loyal member of the ruling ZANU-PF party.



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Energy-starved Ukraine has begun receiving its first Russian shipments of natural gas since Moscow cut off supplies in June due to a pricing dispute.

Some analysts say the renewed gas flow may provide Ukraine with enough energy to heat homes through the worst months of the Eurasian winter.

The resumption of supplies from Russia confirmed on Tuesday comes as Ukrainian troops and rebel forces observed a day of silence to try to revive a cease-fire that broke down within hours of its start in September 5.

Authorities say new Ukrainian truce talks could begin as soon as Friday.



Hong Kong police have warned protesters that they have until Thursday to clear the territory's remaining protest sites in what may bring an end to more than two months of pro-democracy street occupations.

A police spokesman urged the demonstrators to start removing obstacles at the protest sites and leave peacefully so that the roads can be reopened to traffic.

He said police will not tolerate any violence and will take action against "radicals and troublemakers."

Police are set to move in after ruling by Hong Kong's high court gave authorities permission to tear down street barricades, tents and other obstructions from the protesters' main camp in the Admiralty district near the government headquarters.



Rights group Amnesty International says Israel committed war crimes in Gaza by deliberately destroying four civilian high-rise buildings.

In a report released Monday, Amnesty claims the Israeli military did not take sufficient precautions to minimize harm to civilians or their property during a 50-day war with Hamas earlier this year. It alleges that scores of Gazans were wounded and hundreds more lost homes and businesses in the bombings.

Israel previously has maintained that Hamas used civilian facilities to carry out military operations and store weapons, effectively turning Palestinians into human shields.

Israel authorities also have said that their forces gave civilians warnings of impending strikes on homes suspected of involvement in militant activities.



South African prosecutors are appealing for a tougher conviction in sentence for celebrity athlete Oscar Pistorius for killing his girlfriend in 2013.

A South African judge will rule on that appeal on Wednesday.

A court found Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide rather than murder for fatally shooting Reeva Steenkamp at his home and sentenced him to five years in prison.

The prosecutor called that verdict "shockingly inappropriate."



You can find more on those stories by looking at our website at voanews.com. That's where we are updating the news from around the world 24 hours a day. I'm Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.