Brookings Today, 12/9/14

A roundup of some of the content published today at Brookings.

• The Senate report on torture. Michael O’Hanlon says the new Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the use of torture to gain intelligence is “needlessly controversial” and “redundant.”
• Central banks, falling oil prices. David Wessel says the nearly 40 percent drop in oil prices since June “is the best thing to happen to the global economy since we discovered we weren’t tumbling into Great Depression 2.0.” And yet he explains why some central bankers are worried.
• After 2015, three breakthrough agreements for the global agenda. Homi Kharas and John McArthur detail “three breakthrough global political agreements” necessary for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.
• France redraws its map. Kenan Fikri and Mark Muro explain how and why France is redrawing its 22 regions into 13, thus giving those areas more power.
• Cultivating local leaders for girls’ education in developing countries. Khadim Hussain discusses how Pakistan’s culture can be changed to help girls access education.