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Jailed Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky stands in the defendants' cage before the start of a court session in Moscow
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet at the Palace on Water in Warsaw
National Security

Japan to Bolster Military, Boost Asia Ties to Counter China

Japan's military spending had fallen for 10 years until this year

Reuters
December 17, 2013
Senate Budget Committee chairman Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) (R) and House Budget Committee chairman Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) (L) hold a news conference to introduce The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013
Free Syrian Army fighters walk along a street in Deir al-Zor, eastern Syria, Dec. 12, 2013
Russia may have deployed missiles into Poland.
Earl Dennison Woods Jr.
Issues

Half-Brother of Golfer Tiger Woods Arrested Over Bomb Threat

Earl Woods Jr. threatened to blow up an Arizona Department of Economic Security

Reuters
December 13, 2013
Ake Sellstrom (L), Head of the United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, hands his report over to Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters in New York December 12, 2013. Chemical weapons were likely used in five out of seven attacks investigated by U.N. experts in Syria, where a 2-1/2-year civil war has killed over 100,000 people, according to the U.N. report published on Thursday.
Man passing himself off as a sign language interpreter punches the air during a speech being given by India's President Mukherjee at memorial service for late South African President Mandela in Johannesburg
A car bomb's aftermath after an October 2013 attack in Baghdad
National Security

Al Qaeda Tightens Grip on Western Iraq in Bid For Islamic State

Iraqi insurgents join forces with Syrian al Qaeda affiliates

Reuters
December 11, 2013