Jewcy Zeitgeist: Zimbabweans Getting Sick, 16th-Century-Style, Drinkin' Pee in Space and Russia Does As Russia Does

Last one before the news takes a couple of days off so that those who cover it can enjoy the holiday...

• Defense Secretary Robert Gates will get to keep his job, at least for now.
• Ibrahim Nasir, the first president of independent Maldives, died on Saturday in Singapore.
• Michael Vick has entered a guilty plea for last year's dogfighting charges and could be granted early release from prison on grounds of being a famous person.
• A Russian economics professor predicts that America will collapse and break up into several autonomous countries, with Russia and China becoming the world's financial regulators.
• Venezuela is playing host to several Russian warships, the first Russian presence in Latin America since the Cold War.
• Like the Jewcy staff, astronauts aboard the International Space Station are hoarding their urine for future consumption. 
• Americans are stockpiling weapons amidst fears that the incoming Obama Administration will take measures to restrict gun ownership.
• 360 people in Zimbabwe have died of cholera since August. 
• Robots can now act in Japan.
• An Italian right-wing political party is offering 1500 Euros to any families who will name their children after Mussolini or his wife.
• Atlantic Records reports that digital downloading has surpassed physical CD sales for the first time in the company's history.