Will the people behind it Face Criminal Charges . And all dogs go to heaven. What pope francis said that has all tails wagging today, friday, december 12th, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a friday morning. Our tails are wagging because of this story out of st. Peters square where the pope had an encounter with a young boy who was heartbroken over the loss of his dog. He kind of reversed catholic dogma when he said, in fact, all gods creatures can go to heaven. This is Dylan Dreyers dog, bosco, in the orange room. Very happy about this. Survey says yes. Real good one to start this morning. Lets start with our top store, that fierce storm in california leading to deaths and this mudslide that triggered evacuations in camarillo overnight. Good morning to you. Reporter very dicey and fluid situation outside los angeles. Rock and mudslide has hit this community. First responders are going door to door to check on local residents. There was concern that a rock slide would hit this area. Now this storm is slamming not just this community, but this entire region. From San Francisco to los angeles, pounding rain, devastating wind and severe flooding, one of the wettest, most destructive storms in recent memory. Rising water led to evacuations. Ive never seen anything like this. The wind and rain, ripping down power lines. In San Francisco, a transformer explosion. A quarter million homes and businesses lost power. In san jose, a roof collapsed at a grocery store. One shopper left injured. This morning, fears in Southern California that hills ravaged by wildfires are now ripe for mudslides. Once the rain comes and the mud starts to flow, theres nothing residents can do. Reporter heavy snow was in the forecast for the sierras, up to three feet expected. Some prepared for the worst but found off and on in the floods, this man kayaking home. Winds so powerful, another surfed lake tahoe. But for many this morning, the threat is real and this monster storm is far from over. With rocks and mud still flowing in this community, there is good news. There doesnt appear to be any injury so far. Certainly a preview of what is expected to come later today. Savannah . Miguel almaguer in camarillo, california. Thank you very much. Al . You have more on this. Yes. The bad news is were nowhere near done. We get what we call training effects coming in here. Streaming out of the pacific, it will be a real mess, just continue to bring more showers and thunderstorms. Flash flood warnings for much of los angeles and ventura counties. Flash flood watches as well. This system pushes in, powerful frontal system. The good news, if there is any, there seems to be a 20 knockdown of the drought thats been going on. And when you look at these numbers, you can see why. Were talking rainfall again over the next 46 to 48 hours, were talking about anywhere from two to four inches of rain, especially in some of the reservoir regions. And in the sierra, we could be looking at another four feet of snow. Now the bad news is, this system is moving to the east and it is going to be affecting probably about 70 of the country as we go into the weekend. Wow, a fierce one. Al, thank you. Thank you very much. In the wake of this weeks damning torture report, the cias director is now vowing that the agency is done using socalled enhanced interrogation techniques. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell is in washington with more on that story. Hi, andrea. Hi, matt. Good morning. John brennan acknowledged mistakes but also forcefully rebutted some of the key conclusions of that Senate Torture report and refused to do what president obama has done, called what happened torture. The secretive cia opened its doors to reporters and cameras for its first Live Press Conference as john brennan tried to turn the page on that explosive Senate Torture report. My fervent hope is that we can put aside this debate and move forward to focus on issues that are relevant to our Current National security challenges. Reporter calling the period after 9 11 a difficult time, brennan said cia did a lot of things right to keep the country safe. He admitted some of the tactics in the agencys Interrogation Program were abhorrent, were they ever to use such brutal tactics, what he calls etis, ever again. Waterboarding, near drowning, slamming people against the wall. We are not contemplating at all getting back into that Program Using any of the etis. Reporter he rebutted the harsh tactics did not help find osama bin laden. It is our view that these detainees provided information that was useful and was used in the ultimate operation to go against bin laden. Reporter Senate Intelligence chair Dianne Feinstein offered a realtime rebuttal, tweeting in part, study shows it is knowable. Cia had info before torture. Read the report. Later feinstein issued a statement mostly praising brennan, saying he showed that cia leadership is prepared to prevent this from ever happening again, which is all important. But theres already been damage done. The cia director acknowledged what the president has also said, that Foreign Intelligence Services and other allies are concerned about this report. Some democrats have called for brennan to be fired but the president is defending him. While brennan seeks to return the agency to its clandestine roots. I think theres enough transparency over the last few days. I think its over the top. It gave the adversaries a chance to accuse the u. S. Of hipocrisy. On International Human rights. China and russia mock the u. S. China staterun media saying we advise them to reflect on and correct their own problems. And stop their unwarranted attacks on china. Matt . Andrea mitchell, thank you very much. The fallout is growing this morning from that massive hack of sony. It has exposed embarrassing emails from hollywood executives and last night led to one very unusual premiere. Joe friar is in los angeles for us. Joe, good morning. Good morning, savannah. The impact could be felt last night at the premiere for the interview, the controversial comedy that might be the reason behind the tieber attack. No broadcast media was allowed making it unusual. The theater marquise talked about a huge premiere but no reporters, no interviews for a movie called the interview. Billy bush attended the screening. I have never seen a premiere like this one. There were more security here tonight than there were fans. Sony was trying to not celebrate, not make it a spectacle. Reporter the massive sony cyber attack has exposed Social Security numbers, salaries for employees, stars and execs plus private communications including an email exchange between producer scott ruden and amy pacal, wondering what movies president obama amight enjoy should i ask them if he would like django . Rudin writes 12 years. Pascal writes or the butler. I bet he likes kevin hart. I think the culture of hollywood will change by this. I think people are thinking twice of what theyre putting in emails. I think studios are thinking twice about their security protocol. Reporter both rudin and pascal issued apologies. I made a series of remarks that were meant only to be funny but in the cold light of day, they are thoughtless and insensitive. Pascal says im so disappointed in myself that i would have had a lapse in my thinking. Of all the things i thought would be said about me, this is the last one. Federal investigators are still trying to identify the hackers who call themselves guardians of peace. Whoever did this is definitely personal and theyre seeing a victim. Theyve already beaten up sony and theyre kicking again and again and again. And we dont know when thats going to stop. The interview will be released on christmas. Cyber Security Experts say this remains an unpredictable environment. No one knows what, if any, information will come out next. Sony will address its employees at a town hall meeting on monday. Savannah . Joe friar in los angeles. Thank you. This has corporations all across the country and probably all around the world rethinking their email policies. Individuals as well. People writing emails may be doing a little soul searching as well. Definitely a wakeup call. Tamarind is in. Lawmakers narrowly avoided shutting down the government. Quite a night in washington, d. C. Again. Its up to the senate to pass a huge 1. 1 trillion spending bill to keep the government running. The measure passed the house thursday after a day of arm twisting. Capitol hill correspondent Kelly Odonnell with the very latest. Good morning. Good morning, tamron. The drama this time came from liberal democrats who nearly scuttled the deal with hours before the deadline. The president got on the phone, the chief of staff from the white house was here. By the narrowest of margins, the house did pass a Government Spending bill that keeps the federal agencies and departments running for a year. Now, democrats had objected to a rollback of financial provisions that would help big wall street banks take some highrisk investment with his taxpayer ensured deposits. In the end, compromise, even ugly compromise, carried the night. And so this was passed. Its now up to the senate to follow through. The house also gave them a little wiggle room with extra deadline until saturday. Tamron . Kelly, thank you very much. Also at capitol hill thursday, a powerful without words. Congressional staffers and members of congress walked out of their offices and stood on the Capitol Steps to protest the grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown and eric garner case. The Senate Chaplain said a prayer asking that Congress Take up action to ensure all americans are treated equally before the law. Tens of thousands of gallons of oil near an environmentally sensitive wild life sanctuary in bangladesh. Threatening dolphin species and other aquatic life. It was carrying more than 92,000 gallons of furnace oil when it was hit by a cargo vessel. Officials are now scrambling to try to minimize that damage. Injured Carolina Panthers quarterback cam newton says returning to football is not something he is worried about right now. First appearance since an awful car crash tuesday that left him with broken bones in his back. Was looking at the situation at hand. You know, im lucky to be standing in front of you guys right now. Newton said the crash taught him sport sincere not everything because it can be gone in an instant. United Airline Passengers are finally on the ground in sydney, australia this morning. Take a listen to this. This is after a nightmare marathon journey. The flight was en route from San Francisco to sydney, but was diverted because there was debris on the runway in sydney. Because the flight crew ran out of flying hours, they were stuck there for more than seven hours while they waited for another set of pilots. It gets better. Really, it gets worse. They were allowed to stretch their legs on the tarmac. What . But could not go any further because customs and immigration facilities were not able to process them. In all, the trip took 20 hours. But for those who originally started out in new york, 30hour journey. Wow i would have been calm. Yeah, you would have. Not cranky. You would have been flying the plane. Get out of my way. Remember those people who pushed the plane . I would have been doing that. Exactly. 7 13 now. Thank you, tamron. Lets turn to al. Really dangerous situation in Southern California, multiple land slides in ventura county. All offduty Emergency Management personnel have been brought on duty. Because of the volatility of this system, there may be funnel clouds reported or even a weak tornado. This is a very dangerous situation, which we will continue to track for you. Well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Continue to track for you. Well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Solutions to enable Global Commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. Great job. mandarin cut it out. See you tomorrow. Pretty strong showers right now, heavy downpours coming through. We had a little bit of a break. All that heavy stuff pushing over central valley, right over where the farmers desperately need that rain. Were going to track the showers where they develop for you. As we head throughout the day, keep your umbrella handy, although not as much rain, chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. Ather. All right, al, thanks very much. Turn now to a tragic fire on a cruise ship that killed three workers. This morning that cruise is coming to an early end. Julia bagg from wtvj in miami has the latest on this. Julia, good morning to you. Good morning, matt. Passengers who arrived here in miami, weve been speaking with them. Theyre clearly shaken. Some of them tell us that they heard explosions before they saw smoke. Smelled like the bottom of a volcano. Sulfur from the fire. Reporter tense moments aboard the insignia cruise ship thursday morning after a fire broke out in the engine room killing a crew member and two contractors. Signal went and i went off the ship on to the dock and looked up and there was enormous amounts of jet black smoke. Reporter the ship was adocked at st. Lucia when the fire began ask contained to the engine room and extinguishes but not before all 650 passengers were evacuated from the ship. In a statement this morning, they said, we are deepened saddened by the tragic events that occurred this morning on insignia. We have extended our heartfelt condolences. It parted from san juan. Passengers were flown to miami where theyre now waiting for flights to return home. Everything they possibly could to make us as comfortable as possible. They were really quite outstanding. Reporter the cause of the fire is not yet known. The insignia was built in 1998 and underwent a multimillion dollar renovation earlier this year. All right, julia bagg in miami, thank you very much. Now to dylan coming from the cold. Thank you for that. Really making news about what he said about animals. This is great news. Pope francis can be, you know, a little lyenient but now he is answering the age old question, do all dogs go to heaven. He was consoling a little boy and he said one day well see our animals again. Paradise is open it all of gods creatures. This has a lot of people talking because catholic theologies say dogs have no souls and my dog, or just because i have a treat, she really has no idea what is going on. When you get home, make sure you tell your dogs, we have jules and zarra and malov. Thats one of my dogs. And the happiest dog of all. My dog is slowly running away. So, im going to go. Shes going the whole studio now. Come here. Bosco is making a break for it. Go, bosco, go al has bacon in his pocket. All right. Dylan, thank you. Coming up, Mark Wahlberg is stopping by studio 1a to talk about his new movie and taking a part in a 26yearold assault conviction. Bill cosby most highprofile accuser to date. Why super model Beverly Johnson said she was compelled to finally come forward and detail her encounter with the comedian. First on a friday morning, this is today on nbc. 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