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AROUND THE WORLD;19-03-2014

1.India not to support Western sanctions against Russia

With Russia facing sanctions from the United States and some other countries after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine, India on Wednesday made it clear that it will not support any “unilateral measures”
against Russian government.“India has never supported unilateral sanctions against any country e.g. Iraq or Iran. Therefore, we will also not support any unilateral measures by a country or a group of countries,” sources in the government said here

2.Biden warns Russia, says US will defend NATO allies

Issuing an outright warning to Moscow, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden declared on Wednesday the United States will respond to any aggression against its NATO allies, as Russia’s neighbours looked warily to the escalating crisis in nearby Ukraine.

3.Thailand may have detected MH370 pass

Thailand’s military said on Tuesday that its radar detected a plane — that may have been Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — just minutes after the jetliner’s communications went down, and that it didn’t share the information with Malaysia earlier because it wasn’t specifically asked for it.

4.Pakistan's first LNG terminal to be ready by November

Faced with a severe power crunch, Pakistan which is planning to import LNG as a stop gap arrangement, expects the first terminal in the country at Karachi to be ready by November this year.

4.Russia, Crimea sign accession pact

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a treaty on Crimea’s accession to Russia after delivering a defiant speech defending his move and blasting the West for pursuing “containment” of Russia and flouting international law. The treaty was also signed by the Crimean leaders who attended a special joint session of the Russian Parliament in the Kremlin. Mr. Putin said he was confident the Russian Parliament would ratify the pact

5.Royal mint unveils new pound coin

The Royal Mint announced plans on Wednesday to replace the weighty flat piece with a 12-sided coin made with two separate metals. It resembles a “threepenny bit” a coin that circulated in Britain from 1937-1971.

6.U.S. troops for Baltic states

The three Baltic states, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are members of NATO, but have no NATO troops on the ground, except for a few fighter jets patrolling their airspace.

In a swift reaction to Russia’s acceptance of Crimea into its fold the United States announced plans to deploy American troops to the former Soviet Baltic states and slap further sanctions on Moscow.

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