2 December 2013 Last updated at 08:44 GMT
Even GCHQ and the NSA know their work may not be sustainable without a proper debate about their power
Thailand protests: PM rejects resignation demand
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has rejected protesters' demands that she step down, amid ongoing clashes in Bangkok.
Ms Yingluck said the demands were not possible under the constitution, but that she remained open to talks.
More clashes broke out on Monday as protesters tried to storm the prime minister's office, Government House.
Four people have died in Thailand's worst political turmoil since the 2010 rallies that ended in violence.
"Anything I can do to make people happy, I am willing to do... but as prime minister, what I can do must be under the constitution," Ms Yingluck said in a televised address.
What now for the surveillance state?
Even GCHQ and the NSA know their work may not be sustainable without a proper debate about their power
To most visitors, Cheltenham is a charming spa town on the edge of the Cotswolds. They admire its handsome regency terraces, visit its racecourse and throng to a thriving festival scene. Less visibly, Cheltenham is also a company town built around one industry: spying.
The Government Communications Headquarters seems to be very good at what it does. Its 6,400 employees include many bright computer engineers who work tirelessly to invent ever more imaginative ways to collect vast amounts of data on hundreds of millions of people.
Some find what they do reassuring, others menacing. As for the people who work at GCHQ, they have found themselves, for the first time, under intense scrutiny. This is, to put it mildly, unwelcome to them. They would like it to stop – and they have friends in politics, the law and even the press who agree.
Kiev protesters camp out ahead of fresh protests
Ukraine’s opposition parties are demanding the resignation of the country’s leaders
Daniel McLaughlin
About 1,000 protesters have blocked off the Ukrainian government’s main headquarters this morning in protest at its decision to suspend moves to deepen integration with Europe and to revive economic ties with Russia.
In response to an opposition call for a nationwide strike over president Viktor Yanukovich’s U-turn on Europe, protesters gathered outside the cabinet building in the capital Kiev and lined the street with obstacles, including flower pots and rubbish bins, to prevent government workers from getting inside.
“We were told to go back home and await further instructions. We simply could not get to work. All the doors are blocked,” said a government employee who tried to enter the building.
Honduras opposition supporters protest Hernandez' presidential victory
Thousands have marched in the Honduran capital to support opposition candidate Xiomara Castro's claim that she won a presidential vote. Earlier this week, the ruling party's candidate was declared the winner.
Castro (pictured right), the wife of ousted former leader Manuel Zelaya, led thousands of supporters through the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa, to protest the result of the election. Zelaya was also present (center).
The demonstration was said to have attracted more than 5,000 supporters, who gathered outside the office of the Supreme Electoral Court.
Also at the forefront of the march were supporters who bore the coffin of a slain party activist amid chants of "murderers and fraud."
"We are here to denounce the culture of death promoted since the coup, this can only be a political crime," said Zelaya, whose removal from office in a coup in 2009 has divided the country.
Iraq: Overall death toll down, uptick in 'execution-style' killings
The U.N. reports at least 565 civilians and 94 security personnel were killed in November in Iraq, a decrease by nearly a third since October. 1,373 Iraqis were also wounded in November.
The monthly death toll in Iraq dropped by nearly a third to 659 last month, the U.N. said Sunday, but a recent spike in the number of bullet-riddled bodies found on the street has raised fears the country is facing a return to all-out warfare between Sunni and Shiite factions.
Underscoring the dangers, a triple bombing struck the funeral of the son of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni tribal leader northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, one of several attacks across the country that killed 17 people, Iraqi officials said.
Widespread chaos nearly tore the country apart in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government. Violence ebbed in 2008 after a series of US-Iraqi military offensives, a Shiite militia cease-fire and a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq. Despite the relative calm, attacks continued on a near-daily basis and political tensions remained high between Sunnis and the majority Shiites who consolidated their power after the American military withdrew in December 2011.
Ivory Coast hit squads target opponents in Ghana: UN
UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - Ivory Coast sent hit squads to Ghana to kill followers of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo and paid Liberian mercenaries not to stage cross-border attacks for Gbagbo, a UN report said.
The Ghana government told United Nations sanctions experts they had "foiled" at least two missions this year by Ivory Coast agents to kill or abduct Gbagbo associates, said the report obtained by AFP Sunday.
Payments were made to Liberian mercenaries and Ivory Coast militia commanders in a bid to head off attacks aimed at destabilizing President Alassane Ouattara's government.
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