Six In The Morning Friday November 29

Afghan Leader Lashes Out at U.S. Allies After NATO Drone Strike

By ROD NORDLAND

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai lashed out at his American allies again on Thursday after word came that at least one, and possibly two, NATO drone strikes had killed civilians in southern Afghanistan.

The attacks came at a delicate moment, when talks between Mr. Karzai and the United States over a long-term security agreement hadreached an impasse. The Americans have told Mr. Karzai that unless he signs the agreement promptly, they will begin planning for a total withdrawal of American and NATO forces after the end of next year.

Mr. Karzai vowed this week, at the conclusion of a loya jirga, or grand council, that he would cancel the security agreement completely if there was even one more raid that killed civilians.

Syrian refugee children face 'catastrophic' life in exile, UN says

More than a million Syrian children could miss out on education, and child labour is a big problem, warns refugee agency

• Harriet Grant and Lee Harper
• The Guardian, Friday 29 November 2013

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian children already traumatised by war are facing a life of "catastrophe" in exile, without education or normal childhood freedoms, the UN refugee agency has warned.

Child labour is a huge problem across the refugee communities ofJordan and Lebanon, with children as young as seven taking on the role of breadwinner for their fractured families.

More than a million Syrian children are refugees, most of them in neighbouring countries. The report, the Future of Syria: refugee children in crisis, published by the UNHCR on Friday, involved four months of research across Jordan and Lebanon, speaking to children and the international workers supporting them.

Thai protesters storm army headquarters as protests grow against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra

THANYARAT DOKSONE , JOCELYN GECKER Friday 29 November 2013

Protesters in Thailand stormed onto the grounds of the national army headquarters on Friday, breaking into their latest high-profile target in a bid to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The crowd of about 1,200 people broke the padlocked gate at the Royal Thai Army compound and forced their way inside as they called on the military to join their anti-government campaign, said army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

The compound is next to the United Nation's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Bangkok.

"They are now gathering in the courtyard, but they have not entered buildings," Sansern said. "We will make them understand that this is a security area and we will ask them to leave."

EUROPEAN UNION

A frosty meeting in Vilnius after EU snub

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych turned down the European Union at the last minute under Russian pressure. But he has still come to the Vilnius summit - with some hoping for a last-minute change of heart.

The most important project of the Vilnius summit now looks unlikely. The European Union planned to sign an association and partnership agreement with Ukraine at its meeting in the Lithuanian capital. This would have offered the most important country in the EU's Eastern Partnership a path toward membership.

But only a few days before the summit, the Ukrainian government made a U-turn and dropped all its preparations for the agreement. Russia had threatened Ukraine with trade sanctions, letting it know it would pay dearly for any rapprochement with the EU.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych subsequently complained that the EU should have offered his country more. He tried a new tack, suggesting tripartite negotiations with the EU and Russia as a compromise, which the EU rejected. The summit will therefore take place without its planned centerpiece.

World Cup soccer qualifiers may have been fixed, according to reports

November 29, 2013 - 1:06PM

Nick Miller

Europe Correspondent

World Cup soccer qualifiers as well as matches in Australia may have been fixed by an international gambling syndicate, according to British media reports.

I do Australia, Scotland. Ireland. Europe. World Cup. World Cup qualifier 

The National Crime Agency said a seventh person had been arrested following an undercover operation by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. He has been released on bail with the four others.

Chann Sankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual British and Singaporean nationality, will appear at a magistrates’ court in Cannock, central England, on Friday, the NCA said.

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They have been charged with conspiring to defraud Asian bookmakers ‘‘by influencing the course of football matches and placing bets thereon’’ between November 1-26.

Kenya launches R138 billion China-built railway to boost trade

Sapa-AFP | 28 November, 2013 14:43

Kenya launched construction of a Chinese-funded 13.8 billion dollar flagship railway project Thursday, hoping to dramatically increase trade and boost Kenya's position as a regional economic powerhouse.

The key transport link, to run from the busy port city of Mombasa inland to the highland capital Nairobi, is eventually hoped to extend onwards to Uganda, and then connect with proposed lines to Rwanda and South Sudan.

"What we are doing here today will most definitely transform... not only Kenya but the whole eastern African region", President Uhuru Kenyatta told crowds at the ground breaking ceremony he called a "historic milestone".

"As a result east Africa will become a competitive investment destination... a busy growing east Africa is good for us a country."