* U.S. authorities have concluded that yes, the Chinese government was responsible for the and more than 30 other U.S. companies last winter. We are shocked -- shocked, we tell you -- to learn of such evildoing on behalf of our Chinese comrades.

* The Saudis are still the primary bankrollers of Al-Qaeda but also wouldn't mind seeing Iran bombed back to the stone age (or at least its pre-nuclear state).

* The increasing coziness between Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister/Party Animal-in-Chief Silvio Berlusconi has the United States a little worried.

* China is sick to death of Korea's Kim Jong Il and his ridiculous shenanigans. Even to Beijing, the puppet version of Jong Il in "South Park: The Movie" was less of a nut job.

Alternately, some of the revelations were, well, a bit more soap opera: