ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to see the full-size image On January 3, a unit of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Somalian group al-Shabaab crossed the border into Kenya and attacked a vehicle of the Kenyan Police in the northeastern Mandera county on the Kenyan-Somali border, according to Reuters. Daniel Bundotich, the deputy country commissioner for Mandera South, told Reuters that four Kenyan policemen and a civilian were killed in the al-Shabaab cross-border attack. Bundotich added that al-Shabaab fighters destroyed a vehicle of the Kenyan Police during the attack. “The militants also set on fire a police lorry … The police officers were on patrol along Elwak-Kutolo when they were ambushed,” Bundotich told Reuters. Lately, the al-Shabaab group launched dozens of attacks against the Kenyan Police from its positions in the areas of El Adde, Busar and Cows Qurun in southwestern Somalia near the Kenyan-Somali border. Reuters said that dozens of Kenyan policemen were killed in these attacks. Map By: Po

An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration. (photo credit: AMIR COHEN – REUTERS) Last night, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on what it described as “major terror infrastructure” in the Gaza Strip. “ In response to the 3 rockets fired at southern Israeli communities throughout yesterday from Gaza, IAF fighter jets targeted a significant terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip ,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. “The IDF will continue and will proceed with all the tools at its disposal above and below the ground to thwart attempts to harm Israeli citizens. We are prepared and ready for a range of scenarios and we will act against every attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty.” According to reports, southern Israel was shelled with 3 rockets on January 3. However, mortars and rockets caused no damage or injuries. The shelling hit Eshkol Regional Council located close to the Gaza border fence. Reports also emerged

The  “huge story”,  as Graticule’s Adam Levinson called it,  will, it appears, be a  “wake up call” for the West  that seems to happily be ignoring this  potential bombshell that is China’s looming launch of domestic oil futures trading. Additionally, Levison warns Washington  that besides serving as a hedging tool for Chinese companies, the contract will aid a broader Chinese government agenda of increasing the use of the yuan in trade settlement… and thus  the acceleration of de-dollarization and the rise of the Petro-Yuan. “I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re going to see use of the renminbi in reserves go up substantially” China has been planning this for a number of years  and given rising tensions, now seems like a good time for China to flex a little. The Shanghai International Energy Exchange, a unit of Shanghai Futures Exchange, will be known by the acronym INE and  will allow Chinese buyers to lock in oil prices and pay in local currency.  Also, foreign traders w