Have sex to save the country. That's essentially the meaning of the "Do It For Denmark" campaign sponsored by travel company Spies Rejser. One of the ads (seen above) frets that Denmark's birthrate is not looking so hot these days and is at its lowest level in decades. 

Moscow has no intention of sending troops into Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. His comments came after the US and Russian presidents discussed a possible diplomatic solution to the crisis. The US-backed plan calls for Russia to halt to its military build-up on the border with Ukraine and withdraw its troops in Crimea to their bases.

Does being around the most popular person on the planet make you popular, too? Apparently that’s the hope. Judging by the way the world’s elite are flocking to Vatican City, you might think Pope Francis is sprinkling magic pixie dust, not holy water.

"Ballot" is not originally an English word: It comes from the Venetian word ballotta, or "little ball." For centuries, councils elected the Doge of Venice, who ruled the city-state, with small silver and gold balls. Now Venetians have put their modern equivalent to good use in a bid to declare independence from Italy. And they have a pretty good case to make for restoring their once-mighty republic.

Poland is to put $100 million (300 million Zloty) into supporting small Ukranian companies, which will obviously include tech companies by implication, and allow more Ukranian companies to list on its stock exchange.

There's clearly something about March that makes people think about secession. While Crimea monopolized the front pages when its residents voted to secede from Ukraine, Venetians were taking an online poll on whether they wanted to quit Italy and turn their Italian region of Veneto into its own country.

The Russian embassy in London has warned the "British side should mind its language" following a tweet yesterday by the UK embassy in Moscow on Russia's annexation of the Crimea region in Ukraine.

The outcome of the crisis in Ukraine depends to an unusual extent on the intentions of one man: Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the last few weeks, since the collapse of Viktor Yanukovych’s Russia-friendly regime and Moscow’s precipitous invasion of Crimea, analysts have been obsessed with trying to get inside the Russian leader’s mind.