Morning Brief, Thursday, December 28

Iraq and Middle East

Whoops. U.S. forces kill a senior advisor to Moqtada al-Sadr. Protests break out in Najaf, but the worst may be yet to come. The aide was apparently complicit in attacks against U.S. and Iraqi government forces.

Is the “surge” already taking place? A U.S. Army brigade is heading out early to Kuwait. Bush meets today to decide on a troop increase for Iraq, but it looks like the decision has already been made.

Four Chinese muslims die during the beginnings of the Hajj in Mecca. 

Washington

Gerald Ford disagreed with U.S. policy on Iraq, Bob Woodward reports… two years later. 

Worried about what newly-empowered congressional Democrats will do on trade policy, industry groups are cranking up their lobbying efforts.

Europe

European pressure may have forced the Bush administration to stop the use of extraordinary renditions.

Czech police foil a hijacking plot on a Russian commercial flight. They say it was “hooliganism,” not terrorism, given that the hijacker was drunk. 

Asia

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians abandon their homes in Sumatra and Aceh due to flash flooding. Aid has begun arriving.

A Vietnamese froze funds linked to North Korea during last week’s failed six-party talks.

Thailand may have another go at restricting foreign capital, this time by revising the definition of foreign ownership. 

Hydrogen power is a tough business in China.  

Elsewhere

The Islamists flee Mogadishu in the face of a joint government/Ethiopian onslaught, and government-aligned warlords may already have taken the Somali capital. The Islamists say they will launch a guerilla war to take it back.

Ethiopia’s army may be the class of Africa, but many of its children are malnourished.