>> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored

solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." >> this is "bbc world news america," reporting from washington, i'm katty kay. protesters in ukraine this siege to the main government building come about russian leader vladimir putin -- in ukraine besieged the main government building. demonstrators in thailand are calling for the leaders to step down. superhero is a muslim teenager who is smashing stereotypes with every adventure.

welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. shadows of the cold war are creeping across massive protests in the ukraine. the white house says the recent police violence against antigovernment demonstrators there is unacceptable. russian president latta mayor putin is blaming unspecified outside forces for -- vladimir is blaming unspecified outside forces for the uprising. bbc has the latest from key kiev. from ke >> the atmosphere today was much more relaxed, but no less determined. this was the picket outside of the ukrainian cabinet office,

which effectively prevented the country's leadership from getting into their normal place of work. the city's main square was surrounded by barricades. the chant was revolution. the president's office was ringing with riot police. tonight, from inside those defenses, he gave a lengthy interview in which he appealed for calm. >> members of the government and the security services and the people on the rallies must all , he toldhe law interviewers from four different tv channels. >> but his rivals called on him to step down. foreign language] >> there is still an arab

determination from the protesters thomas who say they won't go away until the president resigns -- from the protesters, who say they won't go away until the president resigns. >> we want to see a new leader and government here in the ukraine. >> i think most people will stay here. all of the ukraine is coming here. >> people are coming every day. >> it is just the beginning. >> the trigger for these protests was the president's decision to postpone ukraine's move toward the european union and away from russia. for many, especially in the western half of this divided country, that was a reason to take to the streets and remain there. they say they will stay here until the government falls. bbc news, kiev. >> for more on the unrest in ukraine, i spoke a short time

ago with the director of the 's [indiscernible] think he underestimated the desire to be closer to europe and perhaps less close to russia? >> there is no question he miscalculated. he miscalculated on two france, one on actually understanding what was on offer from brussels. he always thought this is not eu membership, they are not on a path to full membership. on the other hand, if you look closely at this 10,000-page document that was negotiated, it is essentially everything but the name. i think that was what the russians woke to a few weeks ago when they realized ukraine was about to join another geopolitical bloc and it is not ours. that is why the intense pressure from moscow came over the last few weeks. this is not necessarily a zero- sum equation.

most ukrainians are not seeing this as an anti-russia protest. they are not pouring out in the streets because they dislike russia. members inamily russia. they are fundamentally a european country. they are sick of soviet style government, of corruption, of this personalization up our. that is the message they are trying to send to the president. it the inevitable shadows of the cold war seem to be looming in these presidentions, with putin saying outside forces are to blame and the white us saying the violence being used against the protesters is unacceptable? >> it is a very easy and convenient trope for people in the region to fall into, rather than taking responsibility for the hardest questions. how do you reform? a lot of ukrainians would call this a normal life.

is to changeg that. the european union was offering a hard path, a path of gradual reform. rather than dealing with that, which is a difficult issue, both the kremlin and a lot of allies of the president himself have said, instead, we are going to pick teams and it is going to be a zero-sum game, but that is an old habit. >> do you think his government can survive those kinds of protests we are seeing in tf -- in kiev? >> i think yes, but he has to move quickly. there are not a lot of other viable leaders. yuliyato ms. shank go -- timoshenko is in

jail. >> thank you very much. placets are also taking in thailand tonight where the prime minister has rejected demands that she resign and hand goodpower to an undelete -- two and on elected -- to an u nelected council. there is an ugly mood on the streets, with security forces using rubber but -- rubber bullets and tear gas against demonstrators. battlegrounds. here in the streets of the old the two sides are slugging it out in a conflict which keeps coming back to the city. on one side, the government. on the other, a movement set on bringing it down through the power of protest. every so often, they think there is a breakthrough.

they are trying to take the prime minister's office, a symbolic prize. she is not actually there. at the gate is well fortified. -- but the gate as well fortified. undeterred, they begin bringing out an assortment of improvised weapons, hoping to score a hit, or at least to unnerve the watching police. this is their final attempt to push these lines. they pull the truck out of the way. they are hoping they can push their way through. so far, they have not managed to push through those police lines.

after nine days of this, you have to ask what's the point? the government won't resign. with a big majority in parliament, it doesn't have to. such is the animosity towards prime minister yingluck and her family. [speaking foreign language] sacrifices,"o make this man told me. things in the hands of the chinois truck -- of the s hinawatra family would be even more damaging. rockets, homemade bombs, teargas lighting up the sky.

the fight has been led by hard- line student groups. for have this time they will break through -- perhaps this time they will break through. and if they do, then what? bbc news, bangkok. >> extraordinary scenes from thailand. let's get a look at other news from around the world. the united nations human rights commissioner, navi pillay, has for the first time directly in the -- implicated president bashar al-assad of war crimes. that they have uncovered human rights violations that have been committed by all sides, but on a much greater scale by the government. in the united states, transport officials say a train that derailed in new york on sunday was traveling at 130 two kilometers per hour as it approached a 48 kilometer per

hour curve. four people were killed and more than 60 injured when a train derailed in the bronx, near where the hudson and harlem rivers meet. rescuers in scotland have removed the police helicopter which crashed into a busy bar on thanksgiving night, killing three people. the helicopter crew died in the crash, along with six people inside the pub. [no audio] roughly 100 business leaders on a mission to beijing. premier league k shang -- come your leaky -- the premier described this

-- has thisammaticas report. it contains some distressing images. >> high in the mountains that rise towards the tibetan plateau . harsh, beautiful, and home to 6 million tibetans. scattered through these alpine valleys, the monasteries that preserve tibet's way of life. since chinese troops asserted control over tibet half a century ago, the delight, fled into exile -- the dalai lama fled into exile. for months, journalists have been kept out of these areas as tensions have simmered. we slip in unnoticed. they don't want foreign interference. what do you think of the people who do this? the monks were nervous. china has been titling -- tightening surveillance on them.

in china, there has been a growing clampdown, not just on the monasteries, but on all aspects of tibetan life and culture. s have a growing sense of frustration. there is a sense that nations are not keen to engage china on its human rights failings because they want access to its markets and finances. david cameron is no exception. tibetans have been resorting to this, setting themselves on fire , acts of desperation, maybe. more than 120 in the past three years. china says they are incited, even paid by the delay lama -- by the dalai lama. we tracked down the family of oneself in the later, who has to hide their identity. us his brother, a father

of two killed himself. he has not received the money from the delay lama. the -- the suggestion is insulting. >> i often feel i am inferior. i feel very bad about this. aretans who go to find work seen as darker and dirtier than other people. we are discriminated against. i do think i'm treated different. >> there are few jobs for tibetans. ,hina says it is changing building roads, bringing new wealth, but development is another source of conflict. -- theyprotests protest, worried their environment is being exploited. response tohina's any opposition has been ruthless. or have been five or six immolation near this woman's

home -- there have been five or six immolations near this woman's home. >> the families don't even know when and where their relatives were taken. >> after the clampdown and the media blackout, the immolations are less frequent. what is not being addressed are the grievances here. tibetans fear they are being marginalized, their culture eroded, all while the rest of the world looks away. >> you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's this drumbeating answer to beating the christmas crowds? re ofn reveals the futu online deliveries. ats diplomatic effort aimed ending the deadlock over a

crucial security deal and afghanistan has failed -- if diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the deadlock over a crucial security deal in afghanistan fails, billions of dollars in aid could be stalled. reports.en afghanistan side of you don't normally see, men working to try and get goods off the trains and out distributed into the rest of the country. this is the main railway terminus where goods are brought in from across the border in his book a stamp -- and whose bekistan.-- in uz the kind of things they are bringing -- at the moment, flower. air are also building materials, petroleum, oils. very little is being exported the other way.

fruit,arpets, some dried that's about all. this is how it gets here. this is the border. a crossroads between central and southern asia. the bridge where i'm standing was built by the russians in the their970's to build military equipment and troops across here in the cold war era. now it is an important artery for trade. almost half of all afghanistan imports pass through here. these trucks will soon begin the precarious journey distributing the flour and other goods across afghanistan. many of the roads are still dangerous. that is why security matters so much, to try and increase the chances of more business, improve the security and perhaps the trading relationship between afghanistan and the rest of the world.

it is cyber monday in america. more than 130 million americans are expected to scour the internet today for holiday discounts. one of the drawbacks to buying online is there is no instant gratification. you have to wait a few days to get your goodies. if amazon has its way, that will change. the company is testing a new way to deliver a package in 30 minutes or less, using unmanned groans. for more on this project, i spoke with the -- unmanned drones. for more on this project, i spoke with the executive editor of cnet. is this for real? is for bezos said this real. they are actively testing these drones. it will drop the package right on your front porch. it still has to be tested by the faa. hopeheld the ready -- they

to be ready by as soon as 2015, but it could take longer. >> it is hard not to imagine that the skies are going to be full of these buzzing helicopters. what will stop them from crashing into each other? >> there has been very little discussion of that, other than amazon saying safety is its first priority and it is working with the government to try and figure out how to do this. i am trying to imagine the sound of a little helicopter landing in my yard, letting me know something has arrived. there are a lot of potential pitfalls. they going to drop the package down your chimney? how will it work? >> the video shows the small drone -- they are fairly small, probably just a few feet wide, coming very close to the ground near your house and setting the package at your doorstep. it is a very quiet process.

>> you can imagine all the chaos these could cause. it could interfere with other things flying around. it is sort of tricky to see this working smoothly. >> it seems like there is a lot of technology involved. the drones would be completely self programmed. there would not be a human manipulating them. it would be a computer manipulating the drones and telling them where to go. would guidethey themselves with cameras and other advanced technologies. my guess is it will be an extremely limited markets at first and that it will take time to develop. my guess is it would be fairly expensive at the start, just to keep everybody from doing it at once. other thanre anyone jeff bezos, it would be discounted immediately. given the scale of his ambition, it is another indication of the head of amazon having to do everything bigger and better than everybody else.

>> he is willing to take risks and try new things. amazon is willing to look at the and pay a little money up front to develop a long-term strategy. a lot of other companies want to see a profit really quickly and will not try these may be expensive projects that will have a long-term payoff. he has stuck to his guns on these projects. i think we will probably see it. >> thank you very much. an amazing prospect. now for a superhero unlike any other. your typical teenager from new jersey, this pakistani- american is the latest heroine from marvel comics. she is combating stereotypes of what it means to be a female muslim in the u.s. we caught up with her creator. >> there are more and more women getting vocally interested in

comic books and more minorities who would like to see a broader representation of what it means to be an american, to be a superhero. it is interesting. it is the first time that a female moose limbs superhero is getting her own -- female muslim superhero is getting her own comic book series. she started out -- they started out with blond haired, lou eyes, american -- blue eyes, american. marveltaking the ms. legacy and giving it to an entirely new character, 16-year- khan, living in jersey city, going to high school, doing a lot of the same things american teenagers do, but she also has to wrestle with a lot of the issues that come up for a third-culture kid living in the united states.

i was born in new jersey, appropriately enough. i went to college on the east coast. after graduating, i moved to cairo, egypt, and worked there as a journalist for the large -- a large chunk of my early 20's. i tried to be an atheist, but i was never very good at it. in college, i became interested in islam and eventually decided to convert. in my head, i told myself i would keep it a secret. after i moved to egypt and started practicing and met my husband and fell in love, i said , i cannot keep this a secret. it is too big part of my life to exclude the people i love. i ended up telling people. it was much better. it hiding -- hiding is not healthy. i'm sure that is something that will play into the ms. marvel narrative as well.

can you hide? should you hide who you are and what you believe? i have two daughters, ages one almost three. this is something i have been thinking about since becoming a mother. what icons do they have, what heroes will they look up to as they grow up? it was important to me to have a thate muslim character could be aspirational. we are so used to seeing in the news that most lung women are downtrodden -- that muslim women are downtrodden and need saving. i wanted to change that. >> we all need superheroes, no matter what age we are or where we come from. it is just a matter of the superhero team the right hero for the time. aat is what i think is tremendous responsibility of writing superheroes. they really do reflect the zeitgeist.

>> humala -- kamala khan bringing the program to a close. thanks so much for watching. i will see you back here tomorrow. >> make sense of her national news -- of international news at bbcnews.com. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture

new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: the obama administration says consumers will have an easier time using healthcare.gov now that it's fixed the major glitches. but insurers warn problems still exist when confirming coverage. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. also ahead this monday, the uproar in ukraine, protesters who want closer ties with europe now control a public square in the heart of the capital, as they call for the heads of government to resign. >> ifill: and spencer michels profiles david hockney, the prolific artist who continues to innovate using technology to advance his work. >> hockney, at 76, shows no signs of slowing down, and in