WORLD
* Japan scrambled military jets to intercept two Russian fighter planes believed to have violated its airspace, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported, citing the country’s Defense Ministry. The Russian military denied its aircraft had entered Japanese airspace
* Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said he will dissolve the Islamist-led government and form a new national unity administration, Al Jazeera reported
* US President Barack Obama and his administration may consider themselves capable of correctly determining whether a US citizen can be assassinated for their ties to al-Qaida
RUSSIA
* A group of prominent Russian artists appealed to President Vladimir Putin to allow dozens of US families to complete previously started adoptions of Russian children, despite introduction of a law earlier this year banning Americans from adopting Russian minors
* The original 1991 agreement on the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is missing, a representative of the CIS Executive Committee said
* Police searched the apartment of Vladimir Ashurkov, a Moscow-based anti-corruption foundation director, as part of an investigation into an embezzlement case involving famous opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the Investigative Committee said
Russia’s budget watchdog has found nearly $4 billion was lost in financial violations in the country’s defense spending for 2012, a lawmaker said after hearing a report on the findings
* In the latest plagiarism scandal, yet another State Duma deputy, Rishat Abubakirov, is facing allegations of copying chunks of his dissertation from another source, the Dozhd TV channel reported
BUSINESS
* Ukraine plans to buy more gas from Europe, starting imports via Slovakia and Hungary in the first quarter of this year, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavitsky said