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December 30, 2008 (Wired) - For several years the U.S. military has fought a covert war in Somalia, using gunships, drones and Special Forces to break up suspected terror networks -- and enlisting Ethiopia's aid in propping up a pro-U.S. "transitional" government. It's a relatively unknown front in the "war on terror," and one where the U.S. and its allies are losing ground, fast.

BANGKOK December 30, 2008 (Reuters) - Supporters of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed on Wednesday to resume their street campaign in the new year to pressure the new government to call fresh elections.

Israel launches a post-Christmas war against Gaza, killing over 200 Palestinians in the first day alone.  The intense aerial bombardment is the worst suffering the tiny and densely populated territory has faced in its 60-year history.  Israel’s Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, has declared an “all-out war against Hamas”.

December 29, 2008 (AP) - Crude prices rose above $40 a barrel Monday as Israel and Palestinian militants exchanged rocket fire and the death toll mounted in the oil-rich region.

MOSCOW December 29, 2008 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia is moving tanks and armored vehicles closer to the border with South Ossetia, the Georgian breakaway republic said Monday.

GAZA December 29, 2008 (Reuters) - Israel Monday expanded its fiercest air offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in decades and prepared for a possible ground assault, after a three-day bombardment which has killed more than 300 Palestinians.

Weekly Forecast and Summary of Events

On Friday, Pakistan redeployed thousands of troops to its border with India, making war imminent between the nuclear-armed rivals following last month’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India’s cultural and financial capital.

December 28, 2008 (Ynetnews.com) - Egypt "collaborated" with Israel  in its Gaza attack and lulled Hamas into thinking the Israel Defense Forces would not attack Gaza, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Sunday.

GAZA December 27, 2008 (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 229 people in one of the bloodiest days for the Palestinians in 60 years of conflict with the Jewish state.

GAZA CITY December 26, 2008 (AFP) – The spectre of a military invasion on Friday hung over Hamas-run Gaza Strip where two children were killed as Palestinian militants fired more rockets despite Israeli threats of harsh retaliation.