UK - The public is being warned about a website containing thousands of live feeds to baby monitors, stand-alone webcams and CCTV systems. Data watchdogs across the world have drawn attention to the Russian-based site, which broadcasts footage from systems using either default passwords or no log-in codes at all. The site lists streams from more than 250 countries and other territories. It currently provides 500 feeds from the UK alone. The site's database shows listings for 4,591 cameras in the US, 2,059 in France and 1,576 in the Netherlands. As well as setting hard-to-guess passwords instead of the default one that came with the device, camera owners are also being advised to check their equipment and turn off remote access if they do not need it.

ROMANIA - The surprising victory of ethnic German Klaus Iohannis in Romania's presidential election has put the spotlight on the country's German minority population. "Romanian Germans" is an umbrella term for the German minority living in what is now part of modern-day Romania. Some 40,000 Romanian citizens identified themselves as ethnic Germans in the country's last census in 2012. The largest groups are the Siebenbürger Saxons in the middle of the country, and the Banat Swabians in the West.

USA - Just when beleaguered Buffalo residents started to dig out from a historic blizzard that dumped up to 65 inches - it's snowing again in western New York. The new lake effect storm could pile another three feet - bringing the total to eight feet in some places - on a region already struggling to cope with an unprecedented mid-November storm. Authorities have been waging a losing battle to clear away the incredible mounds and the additional wintry blast will make it even harder for the region to return to normal life.

UK - UKIP has its second elected MP at Westminster after Mark Reckless won the Rochester and Strood by-election. Mr Reckless took 16,867 votes, 2,920 more than Conservative Kelly Tolhurst's 13,947, with Labour's Naushabah Khan on 6,713 - ahead of the Green Party. The Lib Dems came fifth with their lowest vote total in a by-election. Mr Reckless, whose defection from the Tories to UKIP triggered the contest in Kent, said: "If UKIP can win here, we can win across the country." The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said UKIP had proved it could take on and defeat the entire Conservative party machine. The ease with which they demolished a 9,000 Tory majority was striking and this after the Conservatives had strained every sinew to halt the UKIP bandwagon.

UK - Ofsted was accused of “political correctness” after downgrading a top rural primary school for effectively being too English. The education watchdog faced a backlash from MPs and parents following the decision to penalise Middle Rasen primary in Lincolnshire for not having enough black or Asian pupils. In a report, inspectors said the school was “not yet outstanding” because pupils’ cultural development was limited by a “lack of first-hand experience of the diverse make up of modern British society”.

ISRAEL - The gruesome slaying of five Israelis at a synagogue early Tuesday left many residents of this city fearing that the worst is still to come, as Jerusalem descends deeper into a cycle of terror attacks and violent protest over its religious sites.

EUROPE - Lethal anti-Semitism in Israel and across Europe has sparked enhanced security measures in Diaspora communities. Following this week’s deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue and the stabbing of a Jewish man in Belgium, the security unit of British Jewry advised vigilance around Jewish institutions. The British Community Security Trust, an organization devoted to the security of British Jewry, issued the warning Tuesday in a bulletin that contained nine instructions to Jewish institutions, including a call to “ensure visible external security patrols take place to deter and detect hostile activity” and immediate reporting to police of any suspicious behavior.

UK - The Conservatives are prepared to campaign to leave the European Union if David Cameron is unable to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Brussels successfully, one of the Prime Minister’s key allies has said. On the eve of a bitterly fought by-election in which the UK’s standing in Europe has featured prominently, Oliver Letwin said that if Mr Cameron failed to gain a better deal for Britain in Europe, he “would want to recommend leaving”. In unguarded comments disclosed ahead of the Rochester and Strood contest, which the Tories are expected to lose, Mr Letwin said he could “certainly not” guarantee that Mr Cameron’s renegotiation with the EU would be successful.

UK - The number of deaths from terrorism increased by 61% between 2012 and 2013, a study into international terrorism says. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44% increase from the previous year, the Global Terrorism Index 2014 report added. The report said militant groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban were behind most of the deaths. Iraq was the country most affected by terrorism, the report said. The report by the Institute for Economics and Peace says that nearly 18,000 people died from terrorist attacks in 2013. Five countries - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria - accounted for 80% of the deaths from terrorism in 2013. More than 6,000 people died in Iraq alone.

USA - With Archbishop Cupich now seated, Pope Francis gets a media-savvy American communicator in tune with his message of reinvigorating the church by stressing mercy over judgmentalism, change over stasis, and the imperative for all Catholics to go to the margins of society to serve the poor, migrants and those without hope. It is a message that not every bishop has enthusiastically embraced.

GERMANY - Jörg Jankowsky of the Bundeswehr's career center explained the purpose of a new showroom the German military opened in an unassuming office in the middle of Berlin. It is on the ground floor, near the capital's Unter den Linden boulevard with its fast-food restaurants, fashion shops, and bakeries. In between a shoe shop and a pharmacy, the new military showroom offers free information about career opportunities in the German armed service.

USA - Acknowledging California's parched new reality, the city of San Diego has embraced a once-toxic idea: turning sewer water into drinking water. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to advance a $2.5-billion plan to recycle wastewater, the latest example of how California cities are looking for new supplies amid a severe drought. Each of the nine council members effusively praised the effort before the vote as a way to make San Diego less dependent on imported water and insulated from drought. "We're at the end of the pipeline," said Councilman Scott Sherman. "We have a real problem getting water down here." Such recycling, called toilet-to-tap by critics, has suffered an image problem that industry insiders call "the yuck factor."

USA - Economists, Military Strategists and Others Warned Us … Long Ago

We’ve known for 5,000 years that mass spying on one’s own people is always aimed at grabbing power and crushing dissent, not protecting us from bad guys.

We’ve known for 4,000 years that debts need to be periodically written down, or the entire economy will collapse.

USA - President Barack Obama will outline a plan on Thursday to relax US immigration policy for as many as 5 million people, bypassing Congress and angering Republicans. US Representative Paul Ryan, the leading Republican voice on fiscal policy and a potential 2016 presidential candidate, called the plan a "partisan bomb" while a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner branded the president “Emperor Obama” for acting unilaterally. The White House said Obama will deliver a televised speech at 8pm ET on Thursday (0100 GMT Friday) laying out the plan followed by a trip to Las Vegas on Friday. Nevada is home to the highest proportion of undocumented immigrants.

USA - Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn warns there could be not only a political firestorm but acts of civil disobedience and even violence in reaction to President Obama's executive order on immigration Thursday. "The country's going to go nuts, because they're going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it's going to be a very serious situation," Coburn said on Capital Download. "You're going to see — hopefully not — but you could see instances of anarchy… You could see violence."