Main News of March 20

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* India successfully test fired a submarine-launched version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on Wednesday, the BrahMos Aerospace Russian-Indian company said

* A Texas firm aiming to manufacture guns using a 3-D printer – and publicly share the online files with anyone who wants to do the same – has been issued a license to build and sell 3-D weapons from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

* The Venezuelan government has awarded with state medals four Cuban doctors and three nurses who provided medical care to late President Hugo Chavez in Cuba during his two-year-long fight with cancer, Venezuelan media reported

* Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades discussed the economic situation in Cyprus after Cypriot lawmakers rejected the Eurogroup’s bailout proposals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

RUSSIA

* Russia’s top investigator struck a defiant note Wednesday against an impending official US blacklist naming Russian officials suspected of rights abuses, saying he would be honored to be included

* The majority of Russian ministers are against a recently approved ban on US nationals adopting Russian children, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said

* President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma the candidacy of his economic advisor, Elvira Nabiullina, for the head of Russia’s Central Bank, the Kremlin said

* Moscow city authorities have rejected a request by an opposition group to hold a rally on March 31, an official said

BUSINESS

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday slammed the European Union and Cyprus for their handling of the island nation’s debt woes

* Yamal LNG, a joint venture between Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek and France’s energy firm Total, has been granted permission to build a liquefied natural gas plant in the Russian Arctic, the company said

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called on Wednesday for the further consolidation of the defense industry, calling it a key to the country’s economic development

SCIENCE

* It’s been a long, long journey – more than 35 years and billions of miles. And now NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first man-made object to leave the solar system, according to new scientific findings posted online Wednesday

DEFENSE

* More than 500 weapon systems, 50 aircraft and some 2,000 troops have been deployed in a large-scale air-defense exercise in eastern Russia, military officials said

* Russia needs to determine exactly who its enemies are and develop its Armed Forces accordingly, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said

* The United States launched on Tuesday a military satellite designed for infrared detection of ballistic missile launches, US media reported