] "According to our information, Mr. Zhvania arrived at his
] friend's apartment at about midnight. His security team
] waited outside for a long time. Since the prime minister
] was not answering either their telephone calls or the
] doorbell, at around 4:00 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. they broke a
] window and discovered the bodies of Mr. Zhvania and his
] friend in the apartment," Merabishvili said.
]
] "This is a tragic accident. I went to the scene
] personally. We can say this was probably a gas poisoning
] accident. An Iranian-made gas heater was installed in
] that room. The deaths must have occurred instantly. Mr.
] Zhvania was sitting in an armchair and the body of his
] friend was lying in the kitchen. A table was laid with
] food and drinks and a backgammon board was open,"
] Merabishvili said.
]
] The head of Tbilgazi, the company that supervises gas
] supplies to the Georgian capital, told reporters that his
] specialists found no gas leakage in Yusupov's flat.
]
] Davit Morchiladze also said the gas heater had been
] installed just two days ago but suggested that there may
] have been a concentration of gas nonetheless, as the
] apartment had apparently not been properly ventilated.

Accident? Or Russian (think Ukraine) style politics?

RADIO FREE EUROPE | Georgian Prime Minister Dies Of Apparent Gas Poisoning

] This image of what appears to be a captured US soldier
] was posted on an Iraqi militant website, Tuesday Feb. 1,
] 2005. According to the website, the militants threatened
] to behead the hostage in 72 hours unless the Americans
] release Iraqi prisoners. The claim could not be
] verified.(AP Photo)

This is obviously an action figure, and not a real person. You have seriously got to be kidding me. People are actually taking this seriously.

Update: I've been asked to post my rationale.

Look at the toy gun. With the handle affixed to the bottom of the barrel's heat shield, that's on every action figure gun so you have a way to attach it to the toy's hands. I'm pretty sure such handles are not standard issue on M16's, which that doesn't even fully resemble. I can't see the action release or the safety, which should be visible on the left side. Also, notice the toy's hands are behind its back, as they would be an obvious give away. (That could be explained by tied up hands, given.) The rifle is also being held by the stock off camera, which adds to the sketchiness. In past pictures they have not been paranoid enough to not show hands. Furthermore, in past pictures insurgents have stood behind the captures looking all threatening holding guns and knives, wearing masks. There must not have been any insurgent action figures available.

The vest on the figure goes not fit tightly, as a GI uniform would. The chest appears to bulge out too far.

The eyes don't look right. Neither does the skin tone.

The sitting position doesn't look natural to a human as much as to an action figure.

The way the right edge of the fabric banner is frayed seems too bushy for the size it would have to be.

AP News Photo - Captured GI (hoax)

] In interviews for this article over many months, western
] policymakers, Chinese experts, North Korean exiles and
] human rights activists built up a picture of a tightly
] knit clan leadership in Pyongyang that is on the verge of
] collapse.
]
] Some of those interviewed believe the "Dear Leader",
] Kim Jong-il, has already lost his personal authority to a
] clique of generals and party cadres. Without any public
] announcement, governments from Tokyo to Washington are
] preparing for a change of regime.

Times Online - Chairman Kim’s dissolving kingdom

] Security Force as of 1/19/05 Planned Trained Percent

] Iraqi Police Service 135,000 55,059 41
] Civil Intervention Force 4,920 2,862 58
] Emergency Response Unit 270 205 76
] Border Enforcement 28,360 14,786 52
] Dignitary Protection 500 484 97
] Highway Patrol 6,300 354 6
] Overall Interior Ministry 175,350 73,750 42
] Army 24,425 7,598 31
] National Guard 61,904 36,827 59
] Intervention Force 6,360 5,884 93
] Special Operations Force 1,967 674 34
] Air Force 453 145 32
] Navy 582 495 85

] Overall Military 95,691 51,623 54
] Overall Security forces 271,041 125,373 46

Yahoo! News - Security Force in Iraq As of 1/19/05

] The Fermi II nuclear power plant was suddenly shut down
] today after hundreds of gallons of possibly radioactive
] water leaked into a containment structure. The leak was
] reported stopped about 10 p.m.
]
] "They have an unidentified leakage in the dry well,"?
] Viktoria Mitlyng, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory
] Commission, said Monday night. "Basically it is water.
] Where it came from we don't know. It may or may not
] have radioactivity in it."

Nuclear accident outside Detroit... Being someone who grew up next to a nuclear power plant, I always make note of these.

toledoblade.com | Water leak shuts Fermi II nuclear plant

] U.S. veterans from the war in Iraq are beginning to show
] up at homeless shelters around the country, and advocates
] fear they are the leading edge of a new generation of
] homeless vets not seen since the Vietnam era.

Unacceptable.

Homeless Iraq vets showing up at shelters - (United Press International)

] Locations marked show total or near-total destruction of
] structures and do not convey lesser damage not visible
] from satellite images of this resolution. While there is
] reported extensive damage to the city and its inhabitants
] the 26 locations marked appear to indicate that major
] devastation is limited. A more complete and accurate
] account awaits the availability of comprehensive ground
] level images and reports.

Be sure to check out Cryptome's Fallujah coverage. This is one example. There are many, many others.

Eyeballing the Fallujah Kill Zone - 7

I was correct, there is drama taking place.. TV style drama no less. The lover dying of breast cancer as a coup takes place.

] This followed the death of Koh Young-hee, a dancer who
] had provided Mr Kim with an heir-apparent to the world's
] only communist dynasty.
]
] "The loss of this woman was a blow," said a foreign
] diplomat.

] The story of how personal bereavement and international
] crisis became intertwined began with the shipment of an
] elaborate coffin from Paris to Pyongyang during the summer.
]
] North Korean diplomats had ordered it for Koh, 51, who
] flew home to die after specialists at an exclusive Paris clinic
] decided she could not be saved from breast cancer.

The Australian: Consort's death rocks Kim Jong-il

] A Moscow diplomacy source also said, "The removal of
] Chairman Kim Jong Il's pictures from public places is
] well known among foreigners living in Pyongyang, and
] diplomats of each country are working on understanding
] the meaning of this"
]
] He conveyed, "Opinions like 'unsound health,' that
] Chairman Kim recently got an operation, and an
] 'internal conflict for power'? are spreading, but none
] has been confirmed."

Interesting. A drama is clearly taking place. Kim's pictures being removed cannot mean good things for him, but it does not necessarily mean good things for his people. It would be a stretch of the imagination to believe that the other possible power holders waiting and plotting in the wings are any better then he is. I have a hard time imagining anything other then a new ego maniac taking on the title of Great Leader for himself, along with a slightly less confrontational style of dealing with the United States.

However this plays out, lets hope it doesn't end with the shelling of Seoul.

Maybe Kim Jong Il saw Team America and it killed him.

Dong-A | Pictures of Kim Jong Il coming down in Pyongyang

] Despite his popularity, Powell will be remembered for
] presenting flawed evidence about Iraq's weapons of mass
] destruction to the United Nations when he made the case
] for war on behalf of Bush.

...as he did so with Tenet sitting behind him, who is also no longer part of this governments leadership either.

I guess in the end, the secret service are not the only ones who will take a bullet, real or otherwise, for the president. Powell and his legacy are riddled with holes at this point, and its unclear how many of them were ones he leapt for versus hit him directly.

Rice may be his replacement.

] Powell is the highest-level official to quit since Bush
] won re-election, and one of four cabinet members whose
] resignations were announced on Monday. The others were
] Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Education Secretary Rod
] Paige and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

... and that's not all. Major shakeup. This isn't last term's administration.

Powell Resigns!!