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NSA surveillance exposes divisions in political parties as GOP shifts on national security
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The debate about whether to continue the dragnet surveillance of Americans' phone records is highlighting divisions within the Democratic and Republican parties that could transform the politics of national security.
• While some leading Democrats have been reluctant to condemn the National Security Agency's tactics, the GOP has begun to embrace a libertarian shift opposing the spy agency's broad surveillance powers -- a striking departure from the aggressive national security policies that have defined the Republican Party for generations.
• The lines are drawn but not in the traditional way. The Republican National Committee, civil libertarians like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and liberals like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are on one side of the debate. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the House and Senate leadership are on the other side, defending the Obama administration's surveillance programs as necessary to prevent terrorism.
• The split in each party could have practical and political consequences ahead of the 2014 midterm elections and the 2016 presidential contest.
• Congress may address government surveillance this spring in one of its last major moves before members head home to focus on the November elections. But if Congress punts the surveillance debate to this time next year, it would resurface just as the presidential primary campaigns are beginning.
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Thai police clash with demonstrators, leaving 3 dead; corruption charges brought against PM
• BANGKOK (AP) -- Hundreds of riot police attempted to clear out anti-government protest sites around Thailand's capital on Tuesday, triggering clashes that left three people dead and 57 others injured.
• Multiple gunshots were heard near the prime minister's offices, where riot police had started to remove protesters and dismantle a makeshift stage, but it wasn't clear who was firing.
• Erawan emergency medical services said a male civilian died from a head wound and a police officer received a fatal chest wound. It also said another man died, but didn't have further details. It said 57 others were injured in the clashes.
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