we engaged in some brutal activity after 9/11. >> horror stories. the new report that spells out how the cia handled terror suspects. >> we're learning much more, including details about a secret location where some of to worst torture took place. more international fallout for uber. the ride-sharing service is now up against a lawsuit in the u.s., and more bans in other countries. from iran -- i should say from rain to snow to punishing winds, we'll tell you what is headed to parts of the u.s. and to europe. and an american couple now back on u.s. soil after being accused of starving their adopted daughter to death. you will hear their fight for justice and freedom. >> we were unable to see each other. we were unable to communicate.

my wife and i were unable to pass letters. and i think prison was probably one of the hardest experiences in my life. >> those stories and a whole lot more. hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> good to have you here, rosemary. hey, everyone, i'm errol barnett. >> all right. well start with prosecutors in south africa. they will be able to appeal the culpable homicide verdict given to oscar pistorius. >> that's right. if you're watching cnn these past few moments, you saw this happen live. however, you did also watch as judge masipa dismissed the case for appealing his sentencing in the shooting death of his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. prosecutors had called the five-year sentence shockingly light. they argue the judge misinterpreted a legal standard for intent. the judge said the supreme court of appeal may reach a different conclusion on the verdict, and so she allowed that part of the appeal to move forward. >> all right. we go now to legal analyst kelly

phelps in capetown for more on the disposition. hi there, kelly. do explain this decision by judge madeleine albright masipa to grant the appeal on culpable homicide verdict but not in the sentence of the oscar pistorius case. >> well, the grounds for appeal of a sentence and a verdict are very different. it needs to be showed that the judge committed what is called a material misdirection and that it resulted in a sentence that is shockingly inappropriate. for a verdict, it needs to be shown that the question put forward by the state is a question of law and that another court looking at the same matter could reasonably reach a different conclusion. now on sentencing, the prosecutors themselves said in court yesterday that she had not applied the incorrect principles of sentencing. they simply disagreed with the weight she attached to them. and she quite correctly therefore found that would not be a material disdirection.

that's simply a grounds of judgment. she found these are matters of judgments of law that if decided differently by a higher court would not only impact this conviction, but many other potential cases that these principles of law would apply to. and therefore, it was sufficiently important, sufficiently relevant and there was a sufficient chance that the court might reach a different conclusion that she was bound to grant that appeal on conviction. >> so kelly, what happens now, and what are the ramifications of an appeal on the verdict, and if the verdict changes to murder, presumably that then impacts the sentence anyway? >> yes, absolutely. if the verdict were to change, the sentence would be up for review automatically, because there is a completely different sentencing regime governing a murder conviction than there is governing culpable homicide. however, there is still a very long path to be followed. we don't know what date the

appeal will be set for yet. if it isn't fast tracked, it's likely to be somewhere in the middle of next year probably, and then if the court finds that she decided these matters of law incorrectly and that it should have been a murder conviction, there are actually grounds to call, believe it or not, for a retrial at that point. so it's unclear which avenue of the law will be invoked, whether it will be a retrial, whether they'll be converting at the conviction. but that would have serious ramifications on mr. pistorius. so these are issues that the court will need to consider very carefully, and it could still be a very long road to go. >> indeed. so this case continues. kelly phelps joining us there with her legal analysis from capetown. many thanks to you. and there is another big story we're following for you. the fbi is warning u.s. law enforcement to be wary of extremist reaction after the release of a senate report on cia interrogation techniques.

>> that report contains explosive allegations about how the agency handled terror suspects captured after the 9/11 attacks. u.s. president barack obama brushed aside critics who called the report biased and inaccurate. >> we have taken precautionary measures in our embassies and around the world there is never a perfect time to release a report like this. but it was important for us i think to recognize that part of what sets us apart is when we do something wrong we acknowledge it. >> the report also says the cia kept bush administration officials in the dark about the details of torture. barbara starr has more on the disturbing allegations contained in the report. >> reporter: the brutality is shocking. the report reveals at least five detainees were subjected to what it calls rectal feeding. interrogation procedures that went on for months. at least one detainee died from hypothermia.

>> stripped naked, diapered, physically struck and put in various painful stress positions for long periods of time. they were deprived of sleep for days. in one case, up to 180 hours. >> reporter: one detainee had his lunch pureed and poured into his rectum. he eventually attempted to cut his wrists, chew into his arm and cut a vein in his foot. much of the information kept from president george w. bush's own secretary of state. >> there are cia records stating that colin powell wasn't told about the program at first because there were concerns that, and i quote, powell would blow his stack if he were briefed. >> reporter: a former top cia official says some details were held close, but that the agency did not engage in torture. >> absolutely not. absolutely not.

i mean, people of conscience can disagree on this. but the people who are on the front lines who are actually engaged in trying to defend america against terrorists, they have to rely on the legal advice that they are given. >> reporter: some of the worst abuse occurred at a secret location called cobalt, where detainees were walked around naked or were shackled with their hands above their heads for extended periods of time. cia officers directed detainees hooded down hallways, slapping and punching them. and an admission in cia documents that waterboarding did cause physical harm. abu zubaydah repeatedly waterboarded became completely unresponsive with bubbles rising through his open mouth. internal cia records called a waterboarding 183 times a series of near drownings. torture that wasn't even effective, according to the report. >> it produced little useful intelligence to help us track

down the perpetrators of 9/11 or prevent new attacks and atrocities. >> reporter: the cia issued a lengthy and detailed statement saying the program was legal and gained the country useful intelligence, but also acknowledging mistakes were made. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. a united nations counterterrorism official says people who participated in the cia program are part of a, quote, criminal conspiracy and they must face justice. but will it ever happen? well, i talked about that earlier with cnn's senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. >> the one possibility, but it's very remote involves the concept known as universal jurisdiction. >> and how does that work? >> well, it hasn't worked very many times. the most famous example was when

a prosecutor in spain sought to bring a case against augusto pinochet, the former dictator of chile, and he was actually arrested in london. and that case was proceeding against him on the grounds that he had tortured spanish citizens in she lay. he was actually held pending trial, but he died before that case ever was resolved. that concept that there are some crimes that are so universal in their application, they can be tried anywhere, that's the idea behind those sorts of prosecutions. but it does seem like a remote possibility here. >> jeffrey toobin also points out that a u.s. law passed in 2005 effectively gives immunity to anyone involved in the cia interrogation program. and if you would like to read the summary yourself, we have posted it to cnn.com.

and you'll also find several opinion columns on both sides of the debate. >> i was not trying to interrupt you there, rosemary, just a technical glitch. israel says it has arrested an american who is in the country illegally, claim tock a navy s.e.a.l. and plotting terror attacks. authorities say the suspect was armed with ammunition and explosives stolen from the israeli military. ben weederman has more. >> reporter: an israeli magistrate has charged an american citizen with planning to conduct terror attacks against muslim holy sites in israel. according to issues by the israeli shin bet, the equivalent of the fbi and the israeli justice ministry, adam livix came to israel in early 2013. initially he lived in the palestinian cities of bethlehem and hebron, where according to the shin bet he was approached

by a palestinian man who offered to provide livix with a sniper rifle to assassinate u.s. president barack obama during a visit to the region. livix reportedly refused. later he moved to israel where he shared an apartment with a soldier from the army. he made it clear to his israeli acquaintances his hatred for israel's arab population and his intention to attack muslim holy sites. during his interrogation, he confessed to staking out such sites for a possible attack. his flat mate, the soldier, apparently stole explosives from the army and sold them to livix, who told his israeli friends he was a former navy s.e.a.l. when israeli police raided his apartment recently, they found the explosives plus weapons, all stolen from the israeli army. during the raid, livicks reportedly tried to flee the police by jumping from his seventh floor apartment to a balcony below. the fbi has been notified of the

case, and livicks, who also has a record in the united states, has been given a psychiatric evaluation. ben weideman, cnn, jerusalem. just ahead, protests over the new york chokehold case continue coast-to-coast. see more of this video from the train station at barclay center in new york. plus, a tough road ahead for uber. why the cell phone-based taxi service is facing legal troubles all around the world. plus the duke and duchess of cambridge wrapped up their visit to the big apple on a glamorous note. but their day didn't start out the same way. we will explain. '?

now, there is no letup in the streets in these protests over white police officers killing unarmed black suspects in the u.s. >> new york's grand central station, demonstrators reenacted the chokehold that killed eric garner, then they staged a die-in, laying on the floor and chanting. one protester held a sign saying "my only crime is being black." organizers call this a week of outrage with large demonstrations planned saturday in new york and in washington. and take a look at this. there was a third straight night of protests in berkeley, california. demonstrators there entered

neighboring oakland where they shut down a highway before police removed them. berkeley's rapid transit station was temporarily shut down, and amtrak suspended service on one train line there. now, you may remember this protest from yesterday. nba stars lebron james and kyrie irving wearing "i can't breathe" shirts before their game against the brooklyn nets in the barclay center in brooklyn. well, now we've got video of what happened at the barclays train station where hundreds of protesters had gathered during the game. >> as you can see, protesters scuffled with police after they entered the train station. cnn ireporter says things got pretty tense there for a while. there you can see for yourself. but despite some pushing and shoving, there were no reports of any arrests.

another big story. legal troubles, they just continue to pile up for uber. this is the taxi service you can use through your smartphone. now there are details about one of the cases the company is fighting. a driver accused of raping an uber passenger in new delhi had been charged with at least four crimes dating back 11 years involving firearms, molestation, and rape. uber has said it's cooperating with the indian government in this case, and will work to conduct clearer background checks in the future. are also troubles in the u.s. the company is being sued in california for allegedly charging fraudulent fees and misleading customers about screening drivers. samuel burk has the latest on uber's growing legal woes. >> reporter: just on the heels of its staggering $40 billion valuation, uber is facing mounting problems on three different fronts. the company is in the process of conducting an internal review

after a series of scandals over the privacy of its users' information. now at the same time, uber has just been banned in multiple countries for a variety of legal issues. a spanish judge temporarily banned uber from operating there on the grounds it lacks the proper municipal licenses, creating unfair competition to the local taxi industry. thailand also put the brakes on uber tuesday. its department of transport says uber drivers lack the registration and insurance to operate commercial vehicles. nowhere is the situation more serious, though, than in india. on tuesday, that country's federal government warned states against allowing unlicensed internet-based taxi services after an uber driver was accused of raping a woman in new delhi. uber calls the alleged rape abhorrent and is cooperating with the investigation. the fact that uber keeps records of every ride and driver could be viewed as a safety advantage

over hailing a cab in the street. however, transport authorities in new delhi announced a ban on uber services in the indian capital, saying their investigation revealed the company was violating permanent rules. samuel burk, cnn, new york. all right, coming up here for you on cnn, heavy snow is causing big headaches for residents in the northeastern part of the u.s. plus, a knife attack at a new york synagogue. a witness shares some intense cell phone video from inside the building as police confronted the suspect. they take us to worlds full of heroes and titans. for respawn, building the best interactive entertainment begins with the cloud. this is "titanfall," the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement. this is the microsoft cloud.

the philippine red cross is revising the death toll from tropical storm hagupit, down from 45 to 25. red cross officials point out the number could still go up. nearly one thousand homes have been destroyed by the storm, which made landfall late saturday as a typhoon. officials are assessing the damage. a nor'easter has slammed into parts of the eastern u.s., and it is bringing a mix of sleet, freezing rain, and snow. these are not happy conditions. this winter wonderland is in upstate new york where storm warnings are in effect until thursday morning. forecasters say they could get between 1 and 2 feet of snow. that's just huge. >> unbelievable. let's get some more now on that storm and another soaking that

the u.s. west coast is going to get. we turn to our meteorologist pedram javaheri. sort of getting it from both sides here. >> absolutely. the west coast going to get all this rainfall, of course, and the east coast getting wet snowfall copping down. we've had power outage issues. we've had flights on the order of one thousand being delayed. 3,000 flights being delayed i should say, one thousand canceled across the united states on tuesday. you take a look. rainfall totals, record amounts coming out of la guardia and also jfk's international airports. about 3.5 inches in one day. talk about a nor'easter coming in in this portion of december. the temperature is still a little too warm. this is all rain. if this was a month ago, you would be looking at upwards of a foot of snow. but that fortunately stayed inland. so the most densely populated region of the u.s. not impacted by snow, but the rain of course causing enough damage a it was when it comes to the winds that were accompanying the rainfall as well. so here you go here is what is left in the forecast. upwards of around a foot or so possible in some areas, especially as you work your way

across the catskills, the adirondacks as well, and as far as the travel issue, you take a look thursday across portions of portland, oregon. you're going to have some delays. but san francisco and san jose see some delays, and that's courtesy of the pineapple express. moisture originating out of the hawaiian islands. all of that pushing in toward the pacific northwestern united states. getting in on the action when it comes to heavy rainfall. the possibility of up to 3 inches around seattle, olympia, portland, also down towards say portions of eugene. could see about a foot of snow in the higher elevations across the washington and oregon. three feet snow possible across portions of the sierra nevadas. a blizzard warning has been issued across portions of northern california in the mountainous regions. so this particular storm looks to be the wettest since 2009. and we do have millions of people that are going to be dealing with wind gusts upwards of 60 miles per hour over the next couple of days to go with this. certainly a rough scenario and

rough scenario in scotland out here with waves crashing the shores. we've had a significant winds coming in, up to 70, 80 kilometers per hour in a few spots as a massive storm system comes in. this storm system out of the open waters already really stirring up the waves across that region. i want to kind of show you what we're dealing with. not only is snow a probability across some of the higher elevations of scotland, but you take a look. the models kind of paint the picture. these are 15 meter wave heights. that's about 50 feet whaave heights the next couple days. you chart it out here. there is the buoy observation right there. the wave heights sitting around 14 to 15 feet in the past few hours. this is pretty remarkable when it comes to the amount of damage that could be done to some coastal communities once the storm arrives on thursday, guys. that will bring some power with it, won't it? the high waves and the force behind it. all right, pedram, thanks a lot. the british royal couple stayed busy on their third and final day in new york.

after an earlier stop at the 9/11 memorial, the duke and duchess of cambridge attended a gala at the metropolitan museum of art. it celebrated the 600th anniversary of their alma mater, st. andrews university. >> the stormy weather didn't put a damper on their activities, though it did prove challenging for the media who were tagging along. jeanne moos has that. >> reporter: don't you hate to wake up to this on the last day of a trip? while mere mortals battled with their umbrellas and lost their hats, the duchess showed up in bright pink, wearing a ponytail on a bad hair day, the kind of day even a prince trips on a rain mat. they laid flowers at one of the 9/11 reflecting pools and later sat inches away from a performance by a youth group. but mostly they acted cheerful and were cheered, despite the miserable weather. but don't feel bad for the

slightly soggy royals. save your pity for the bedraggled and berated press. following the royals doesn't exactly mean they get the royal treatment. >> back up, back up, back up. >> go, go, go! faster, faster. you're not going to get your shot if you're not there. >> reporter: the weather had improved slightly by the time prince william arrived atop the empire state building. their relations with the press, ouch, were still a bit stormy. >> get out of our face, jesus. let us work. >> reporter: kate, five months pregnant, skipped the empire state building stop. anyway, who wants to smell like wet wool in a $2300 mulberry coat. everything she wears seems to sell out. the goat coat she wore monday from the fashion house called goat has sold out. the same goes for the tory birch coat she wore to the basketball game where she and the prince met jay-z and beyonce.

but leave it to king james to inquiry about the prince's fashion. >> probably twice the size. >> delivered with an arm slung around the duchess, a breach of protocol a royal spokesperson told nbc. but if we slung our arm around her, we would end up in a sling. >> turn around and keep moving. >> reporter: cnn. >> i'm not going to tell you again. >> reporter: new york. >> kate didn't seem to mind. >> down to earth. >> absolutely. >> definitely getting that perception across. coming up, the cia says its interrogation tactics helped discover the location of osama bin laden, but not everyone in the u.s. congress believes that. we'll bring you details on this aspect of the story after the break.

hello again. you are watching cnn. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. here are the top headlines we're following for you right now. a judge in south africa has ruled an appeal of the verdict in the oscar pistorius case can go forward. pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend. however, the judge ruled prosecutors cannot appeal his sentence of five years in prison. the fbi is warning u.s. law enforcement to watch for extremist reaction after the release of a senate report on cia interrogation. it details the torture of post-9/11 detainees, including near drowning and mock executions. the cia is defending its actions, saying they were needed to combat terrorism. the french man kidnapped by al qaeda in mali more than three years ago finally set foot on

home soil. he was met by the french president. he was freed through months of negotiations, but french media are speculating that a prisoner swap was involved. government officials in hong kong are warning pro-democracy protesters there to pack up their belongings and leave. police say they'll start clearing out the remaining protest sites on thursday morning. one of the pro-democracy groups is urging police to be calm and restrained when clearing out those sites. we want to go back to our top story now, the u.s. senate intelligence committee has released its report into the cia's interrogation tactics used during the bush administration. calling the techniques deeply flawed and mostly ineffective. >> the cia, however, is defending that program, saying it helped its understanding of al qaeda operations. the committee's chairwoman, u.s. senator dianne feinstein sees things much differently. >> the cia spent $40 million to

prevent us from issuing this report. that is fact. we did not spend the money. we used our staff to do this report. they went in to our computers illegally to take out information not once, not twice, but three times. which i believe is a separation of powers violation. this to me shows that the cia has pulled out the stops to prevent this from coming out. >> now one argument the cia has used to defend itself interrogation techniques is that they helped get information that led to finding osama bin laden. >> but top democrats dispute that claim, as cnn's brian todd shows us. >> reporter: one of the most successful intelligence operations in american history, the hunt for osama bin laden and the raid that killed him. but top democrats on the senate intelligence committee say no meaningful clues, no key

evidence in that decade-long search came from enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation and stress positions. >> actionable intelligence that was, quote, otherwise unavailable, otherwise unavailable was not obtained using these coercive interrogation techniques. >> reporter: the cia and senate republicans dispute that, saying detainees in cia custody who had been the subject of those techniques helped lead the agency to man named abu ahmed al kuwaiti. >> the facilitator who served as osama bin laden's personal currier, and the man who led the navy s.e.a.l.s to bin laden himself. >> reporter: this interrogation, depicted in "zero dark thirty" is believed to be a detainee who the cia says told them he was

bin laden courier after. >> the cia says that information, quote, fundamentally changed our assessment of the courier's potential importance to our hunt for bin laden. the intelligence committee and the cia are also sparring over the importance of another detainee named hassan gul, who also gave the cia information on bin laden's courier. the intelligence committee says, quote, the most accurate information was provided by a cia detainee who had not yet been subjected to the cia's enhanced interrogation tech next. the cia and its former deputy director john mclaughlin say gul gave up a very critical piece of intelligence about the courier after his interrogation. >> takes us pretty far by saying this guy delivered a letter from bin laden to the operations chief, abu faraj al libi. that nails that he is in touch

with bin laden and he is doing things for him. >> reporter: but mclaughlin acknowledges the information given by those detainees who got stressful interrogation is just one piece of larger intelligence mosiac that led to the bin laden raid. he says years of signal collection, overhead photography, other human intelligence were crucial in taking down the al qaeda leader. brian todd, cnn, washington. and thousands of u.s. marines were placed on heightened alert just before the senate released that report. in a cnn exclusive, u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel talked about that with our jim sciutto in baghdad. >> in light of the danger that it poses to u.s. troops in the field, do you think it's a mistake to release that report? >> well, you know, the president has said that we need to be honest and get this report out. the administration has worked very closely with the congress. the congress feels pretty strongly about this. we have had an opportunity to

redact some of the most sensitive parts of that and to protect our people. >> do you believe the military in the field is prepared for fallout, even with the redactions? >> well, have i directed all our combatant commanders to have all their commands on alert because we want to be prepared, just in case. we have not detected anything specific anywhere. but we want to be prepared, and we are. >> and those redactions mentioned were made to the 500-page summary that has been released. the entire report runs 6,000 pages. >> mr. barrasso, mr. begich -- >> let's talk about money now. after weeks of negotiating, u.s. lawmakers have agreed to a $1.1 trillion spending bill. this will keep most of the government funded through 2015 and likely avoid a potential shutdown. it also includes emergency funding to fight the spread of

ebola in the u.s. and overseas, provides additional money to fight isis by training and equipping syrian rebel troops. the bill must pass by the end of the day thursday before funding runs out. a 22-year-old student is recovering from a stab wound to the head after a knife attack at a new york synagogue. police shot and killed his attacker. a witness, says the suspect made a anti-semitic remark inside the building and a cell phone shows the dramatic conclusion. cnn's rosa flores has more. >> right now, man! >> reporter: a chaotic scene between new york city police and a suspect armed with a knife inside a brooklyn synagogue early tuesday morning. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. >> reporter: police say the suspect had just stabbed this man, levi rosenblat in what they call a random attack. the 22-year-old struck in the left temperature with what

police say was a nine-inch knife with a 4 1/2 inch played while in deep study at the chabad-lubavitch world headquarters. the man who captured it all on video doesn't want to show his face, but he wants to share what he witnessed. >> it was just shocking. the guy is actually running around, trying to stab people for no reason. he is not saying anything. he is not demanding money, he is not demanding anything. he is just saying who wants to die tonight. >> reporter: the standoff lasting several minutes. police repeatedly telling the suspect to put down his blade. meanwhile, a bystander off camera trying to play arbitrator. >> trying to negotiate with him. >> reporter: also asking the suspect to put down the knife. that didn't work either. >> he is grabbing the knife again. >> reporter: police say the suspect lunged towards the officer before the officer took a shot. [ gunshot ]

and didn't miss, shooting the suspect in the chest. >> don't move! >> even after he was shot, he wouldn't give up. >> reporter: the suspect identified by police as 49-year-old calvin peters, later pronounced dead at the hospital. rosa flores, cnn, new york. well, in just a matter of hours, children's rights will be in if spotlight as the joint winners of the nobel peace prize accept their award in oslo. >> 17-year-old malala yousufzai is the youngest ever to win the prize. about two years taliban gunmen shot her in the head for campaigning for girls' rights to education. >> she shares the $1.1 million prize with who has battled childhood slavery in india for decades. >> it's not pressure. it's strength and encouragement. i feel much stronger that now i'm not alone. we are all together.

my friends are here and the nobel committee and the world leaders. we are all going to stand up for education and a change is coming. it give me big hope. >> i'm 60-year-old, and you are 17-year-old. yeah. little more than 60, a little more than 17. and i feel that i have at least 17 years to work for my cause with all my passion and my power. maybe more. but definitely 17 years. at her age, she will have to work for at least 60 years. that is according to my age. with all the passion and courage and commitment that she has been doing so far. >> great words there. and be sure to tune in for our special coverage of the 2014 nobel peace prize ceremony. christiane amanpour will host the prize for peace live from oslo. it starts at 5:00 p.m. local time. that's 4:00 p.m. in london, only here on cnn.

still to come for you, this hour we take a look at new video we received, showing the moments after a plane crashed into a home in maryland. plus, cnn speaks with this couple who have been living a legal nightmare after one of their children died. >> i said i'm their mom. and he said no, they're not. they're not your children. and i said yes, i'm their mom. he said no, you're not. because you're different colors. , "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪

once we kept the lights on. but then we started using k-y yours & mine. yeah, we were nervous to try it. there's an amazing sensation for her. amazing. this one feels fantastic for me. and combined... ohh, it's a completely new sensation for us both. it's opened a whole new door for us. i've come to clean your pool. but we don't have a pool. i'll come in anyway. next week i'm going to be a maid. [ female announcer ] k-y yours & mine. his excites. hers delights. together feel them ignite. keep life sexy.

welcome back. we want to show you some new video into cnn. it gives us a new look moments after plane crashed into a neighborhood in maryland. [ siren ] pretty incredible. you can hear -- this is before any of the emergency services arrived. the first witness on the scene actually shot this video on his cell phone monday morning. it's quite stunning. you see debris from the plane and of course fire caused by the crash. all three people on board that plane were killed. a mother and her young two sons inside one of the homes the plane hit also died. federal investigators are analyzing data from the plane to figure out what exactly caused the crash. now matthew and grace huang are a los angeles coupe whole have been truly living a nightmare. >> oh, they have. they just returned home after being convicted in the death of

their daughter and spending near lay year in prison in qatar. as stephanie elam reports, that conviction was eventually thrown out. >> reporter: for matthew and grace huang, the two-year ordeal is finally over. >> the situation this past two years has been extremely difficult. but we've -- it's taught us a lot about patience and trusting god. >> reporter: the huangs may be home in california with their family and friends, but the pain of losing a child is still fresh. >> we do not know how she died, and we have not begun to grieve. >> reporter: grief made worse by an international legal nightmare. while living in qatar for matthew's job, the couple's 8-year-old adopted daughter gloria dies in january of 2013. matthew recounts to cbs the last moments of their daughter's life. >> gloria was on the floor, foaming at the mouth. so i took her immediately to the emergency room. they did about 40 minutes of

cpr, and then they told me that gloria had passed away. >> reporter: the huangs are arrested, charged with starving gloria to death. the couple spends almost a year in prison before being released on bail in november of last year. fired from his job, the huangs survive on donations from family and friends. the family says gloria had an eating disorder that existed before they adopted her from ghana, but the qatari prosecutor argues the huangs are nothing more than human traffickers who bought the child cheaply from her poverty-stricken birth parents. the couple is convicted in a qatari court in march and sentenced to three years in prison. matthew releasing this statement, quote, we have just been wrongfully convicted and we feel as if we're being kidnapped by the qatar judicial system. the couple's other two children, boys also adopted from africa are put in an orphanage after their parents' arrest, before eventually moving to live with grise's mother in the united states. the couple files an appeal. then on november 30th, a break.

an appeals judge in qatar clears matthew and grace of gloria's death, citing weak forensic reports and testimony from witnesses who say the child was not deprived. yet the parents face another hurdle. in a phone interview with cnn, matthew speaks of their freedom deferred. >> we were declared innocent by the judge this morning and told that we may leave the country. however, we came to the airport, they would not allow us to go through immigration. they confiscated our passports, and we were also told that the attorney general's office issued a warrant for our arrest earlier today. >> reporter: but the delay proves temporary, and three days later, the huangs leave qatar. family spokesman eric voles beating this message, thank you to all the silent heros on this one.

wheels are up. >> as stephanie elam reported there, the haungs were initially charged with starving gloria to death. >> but the couple told cnn's don lemon that they don't know how their daughter actually died. >> we still don't know. we've did not ever get a proper autopsy from the hospital. and they made so many mistakes on the autopsy and accused us of crimes and yet even to this day we don't know the cause of her death. >> advocates for the huangs suggested the lab report for gloria's autopsy was fabricated and said the qatari judiciary never responded to their request for a formal investigation. >> such an ordeal that they have been through. >> unbelievable, isn't it? still to come for you here on cnn, fellows run for the

door, ladies, you're going love this. a hospital is hooking men up to a labor pain simulator to mimic the sensation of birth. so just how real is it? our david mckenzie finds out. >> great story. for lotus f1 team, the competitive edge is the cloud. powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain real time insights and instantly share information around the globe. when every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. this is the microsoft cloud. i'm 55 years old and i have diabetic nerve pain. the pain was terrible. my feet hurt so bad. it felt like hot pins and needles coming from the inside out of my skin. when i did go see the doctor, and he prescribed lyrica, it helped me. it's known that diabetes damages nerves.

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remaining finalist, actually a wide ranging group. you have russian president vladimir putin, tim cook of apple and jack ma of china's ecommerce company alibaba. the president of iraq's kurdish region is there, barzani making the list, roger goodell, taylor swift, and the health care workers who are fighting the deadly outbreak in west africa each and every day. now childbirth is a pain that only the ladies have to bear. >> you have no idea. >> i'm thankful for that. but now possibly things are changing. a hospital in china is hooking up the fellows to a labor pain simulator to mimic the sensation of childbirth. >> and about time too. cnn's david mckenzie, who is about to become a father for the second time decided to give the simulate area try. take a look. ♪ >> reporter: at mall in eastern china, it's the maternity

hospital's year-end event. husbands get a little taste of pregnancy. and childbirth. the clinic's purpose-built machine surges electrical shocks into the abdomen for mandatory labor pains. yeah, a man should go through this because every time i got morning sickness, he just made fun of me. it's still new in china for men to be present at the birth. and the clinic uses the device as a kind of etch think enforcer. they say 300 men have registered, and only around half followed through. so the thing is my wife is actually giving birth in a few weeks. go ahead. and she insisted try this out. i didn't really have much of a choice. would this actually mimic labor pains? >> you wish. >> remember, this is just for a moment. but women do this for many hours. and so that in itself should

give men a great sensation of how powerful his wife is. breathe, honey, breathe. >> this is five. they got to ten. >> reporter: as they crank it up. >> blow out, blow out. >> reporter: the key is they say to relax. >> relax your butt. >> there we go. >> when your wife goes to have her baby and you're next to her, you're going to be very sympathetic to what she feeling. >> reporter: so perhaps the chinese are on to something after all. all right that was officially not fun. with their labor pain machine. now i think i need a beer. david mckenzie, cnn, china. >> i love that. isn't that great? and it's payback time for all of the men out there. >> is it? >> they're going to get a taste of it. >> tell you what, i need a beer after watching david there. >> we should just hook you up. thanks for watching cnn. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett.

stay tuned for cnn newsroom.

♪ brutal deseptember tiff and ineffective. the scathing senate report revealing cia torture practices after september 11th. this morning, the growing controversy over the report's contents and its release. are americans overseas now in danger? big questions this morning. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. wednesday, december 10th. it's 45k a.m. in the