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marks the unprecedented fall from grace of one of the most powerful figures in North Korea and the most serious political upheaval in the country in decades.
• Jang Song Thaek rose from municipal bureaucrat to vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party -- posts that put him in second in power only to Kim.
• A well-traveled operator with a network that spread to China, Jang was considered the chief architect of economic policy that focused on partnering with the neighbor and ally.
• His ties to Kim were more than political: Jang was married to the leader's aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, and in late 2008, he was assumed to be serving in a regency role while the young heir was being groomed to succeed father Kim Jong Il. Jang often accompanied Kim Jong Un on guidance trips, and stood at his elbow at public events.
• Rumors of Jang's dismissal began surfacing in Seoul earlier this month. On Sunday, he was fired from all posts at a special party meeting and dragged away by soldiers. Four days after his dramatic public arrest, Jang was tried for treason by a special military tribunal and executed Thursday, state media reported early Friday. He was 67.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American who vanished nearly seven years ago in Iran was working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence-gathering mission that, when it came to light inside the government, produced one of the most serious scandals in the recent history of the CIA -- but all in secret, an Associated Press investigation found.
• The CIA paid Robert Levinson's family $2.5 million to head off a revealing lawsuit. Three veteran analysts were forced out of the agency and seven others were disciplined.
• The U.S. publicly has described Levinson as a private citizen.
• "Robert Levinson went missing during a business trip to Kish Island, Iran," the White House said last month.
• That was just a cover story. In an extraordinary breach of the most basic CIA rules, a team of analysts -- with no authority to run spy operations -- paid Levinson to gather intelligence from some of the world's darkest corners. He vanished while investigating the Iranian regime for the U.S. government.

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