10 things you need to know today: December 10, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite))

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1. Torture report slams the CIA
2. Congress strikes a $1.1 trillion spending deal to avoid a government shutdown
3. World Food Program raises money to resume aid to Syrian refugees
4. Gruber apologizes for "insulting" remarks on ObamaCare passage
5. California DAs accuse Uber of misleading customers
6. Korean Air Lines executive resigns after delaying flight over bag of nuts
7. Projected gas prices drop
8. Freed hostage returns to France
9. Former Miss America and actress Mary Ann Mobley dies at 75
10. Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi in Oslo to accept Nobel Peace Prize

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Torture report slams the CIA

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released a highly critical report on the CIA's secret interrogations of terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The five-year investigation found that agency medical personnel warned of "a series of near drowning by waterboarding." The report also rejected claims that torturing detainees helped find Osama bin Laden. The CIA pushed back, saying that so-called enhanced interrogations were effective in foiling al Qaeda plots.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress reached an agreement Tuesday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill that would delay a fight over funding President Obama's executive order on immigration and avoid a government shutdown. House Speaker John Boehner said he hoped to bring the deal to a vote on Thursday, when the federal government is due to run short of money. The bill gives most of the government money for the next fiscal year, but only funds the Homeland Security Department, which will carry out Obama's immigration policies, into early next year.

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The United Nations' World Food Program announced Tuesday that it has raised more than enough money through a social media campaign to resume a food voucher program for 1.7 million refugees from Syria's civil war. WFP officials had said they needed $64 million to get the program back on track, and the 72-hour Dollar for Syrian Refugees campaign last week raised $80 million. The agency will now be able to give an average $30 to average families for use in local shops.

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, who helped shape the Affordable Care Act, apologized Tuesday for what he called his "glib, thoughtless, and sometimes downright insulting comments" about how supporters got the law passed. In a recently surfaced video, Gruber said supporters relied on the "stupidity of the American voter" to mask the penalty for failing to obtain health insurance as something other than a tax. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Gruber's initial comments inadvertently revealed how Democrats pushed ObamaCare through Congress.

District attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles are suing ride-sharing service Uber for allegedly misleading customers and charging bogus fees. The DAs say Uber misleads customers about the quality of its background checks on drivers, and operates out of airports without proper authorization. Uber said it was cooperating with authorities and was "an integral, safe, and established part of the transportation ecosystem in the Golden State." Uber competitor Lyft settled a similar case, agreeing to pay $250,000 and be more open with passengers.

A top Korean Air Lines official resigned Tuesday after facing intense criticism for delaying the departure of a flight from New York to South Korea because she was served macadamia nuts in a bag, instead of on a plate. The official, Cho Hyun-ah, is the eldest daughter of the company's chairman, Cho Yang-ho. The younger Cho served as the airline's executive vice president of cabin service, and she had ordered a senior crew member off the plane, forcing it to return to the gate.

The Energy Department on Tuesday lowered the projected average gasoline price by 35 cents to $2.60 per gallon, 23 percent below this year's average. The decline would amount to a $100 billion savings for drivers in 2015 based on current levels of consumption. It comes as crude oil prices have fallen to $66 per barrel from $115 in June due to a glut in global supply. Next year's predicted gas price would be the lowest yearly average since 2009.

The last French hostage held by Islamists, Serge Lazarevic, returned home Wednesday after being held for three years by al Qaeda's North African branch. Lazarevic was released days after the release of two al Qaeda fighters from a prison in Mali. He thanked French President Francois Hollande "for having done everything to free me." The deal revived debate over negotiating with hostage takers. Hollande said France did not pay ransoms or exchange prisoners, but that other countries have, "to help us."

Mary Ann Mobley Collins, a former Miss America who appeared in movies with Elvis Presley, died Tuesday in Beverly Hills. She was 75. Collins won the Miss America crown in 1958, and moved on to acting a few years later. Her credits included TV shows, including General Hospital and Perry Mason. She appeared with Elvis in Girl Happy, and with Jerry Lewis in Three on a Couch, the job during which she met her late husband, Gary Collins, who died two years ago.

Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot by a Taliban gunman, and fellow education advocate Kailash Satyarthi are in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday. Malala, 17, will be the youngest person ever to receive the award. "We are not here just to accept our award, get this medal, and go back home," the Pakistani teen said at a press conference before the ceremony. "We are here to tell children especially that you need to stand up, you need to speak up for your rights ... It is you who can change the world."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.