U.N. police in Kosovo fired teargas on Tuesday to disperse ethnic Albanians who smashed the windows of parliament and stoned U.N. headquarters, angry at a delay to their demand for independence from Serbia.

Thousands of protesters converged on the main symbols of authority in the capital, Pristina, throwing red paint on the buildings of the U.N. mission and Kosovo's interim government.

They dispersed after U.N. police fired teargas from inside the U.N. compound, a fortified square on the site of a former Serb military headquarters.

It was the first sign of a violent backlash since Western powers and Russia this month decided to delay a U.N. decision on the Albanian majority's demand for independence until next year. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28197557.htm Hey, someone ask Clinton what the exit strategy was......the sad thing is because liberal don't understand military strategy, they don't know that all Bush has done by taking the running of the war away from Rumsfeld and turning it over to the State Department, we are now following the Clinton doctrine! They will tell you the Serbian leaders were bad men, but wasn't Saddam too?

al-Qaida Said to Be Operating in Somalia

Al-Qaida militants are operating with "great comfort" in Somalia, providing training and assistance to a radical military element loyal to the Islamic group that controls most of southern Somalia, a senior State Department official said Wednesday. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/29/national/w142348S51.DTL

U.S. CALLS FOR U.N. TO SOMALIA!

U.S. officials are expected to submit a resolution to the United Nations this week calling for the deployment of international peacekeepers to war-torn Somalia, a move that has divided experts on its effectiveness in creating peace and stability in the country and greater region.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/africa/article_1228031.php/U.S._wants_Somalia_peacekeepers

Ethiopia authorizes action against Somali Islamists

Ethiopia's parliament has authorized "any legal action" against "the clear and present danger" posed by powerful Islamists in neighboring Somalia, ratcheting up fears for war.

Lawmakers adopted a resolution Thursday that calls the Islamists, now on the brink of war with the weak Somali government, a "clear and present danger" to Ethiopia, which is supporting Somalia's transitional administration.

The vote came just hours after the Islamists claimed a new attack on Ethiopian troops outside the seat of the government and a day after the Islamists accused Ethiopia of shelling a Muslim-held town near the border.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061130/ts_afp/somaliaunrestethiopia_061130105022

An Ethiopian military convoy in Somalia has been ambushed by fighters loyal to the powerful Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), witnesses said on Thursday.

It happened on Tuesday 35km south-west of Baidoa, seat of the weak interim government, who deny it took place.

Eyewitness said a truck was blown up and there was an exchange of fire. The UIC claim about 20 Ethiopians died.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6159059.stm

A car bomb has exploded in Baidoa, where Somalia's fragile interim government is based, leaving at least six people dead.

A policeman told the BBC that a female suicide bomber wearing a veil blew herself up at a check-point.

The explosion also destroyed two other cars. "There were flames everywhere," an eye-witness said.

President Abdullahi Yusuf survived a suicide car bomb attack in Baidoa two months ago, which killed his brother.

He blamed that attack on his Islamist rivals, who denied responsibility.

There are fears of widespread conflict breaking out in Somalia between the government and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controls most of the south of the country, including the capital, Mogadishu. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6160603.stm

Angola, the largest sub-Saharan oil producer in Africa after Nigeria, said it will apply to join OPEC next month, while the oil cartel's secretary general said Sudan also was poised to join.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, speaking to Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday on the sidelines of a producers' meeting in Egypt, gave no timetable for Angola or Sudan to join the group, which has not welcomed a new member since 1975. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15965843/