Main News of March 28

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours.

WORLD

 

* Bulgaria has abandoned plans to build a nuclear power plant with a Russian reactor at Belene, which Sofia and Moscow agreed on in 2008, the country’s Deputy Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said

* Khartoum has raised four paramilitary brigades of the People’s Defense Force to help the army in fighting against the republic of South Sudan, Khartoum State Governor Abdul-Rahman Al-Khidir said

* Ukrainian prosecutors have brought a new $2.4 million suit against jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Deputy Prosecutor General Yevhen Blazhivskiy said

 

RUSSIA

* Outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to submit proposals by June 1, 2012 on easing the visa regime for tourists, including those who visit the country on cruise liners and yachts, the Kremlin press service reported

* Russia's upper house of parliament passed a bill which would simplify the procedure for registering political parties

* The Kremlin plans to spend up to 26 million rubles ($867,000) on a lavish reception to mark the inauguration of Vladimir Putin as president on May 7 according to a tender document on the government purchasing agency's website.

BUSINESS

* The Moscow city government is to sell the downtown-located Metropol luxury hotel at auction this summer, a source in the state-run Auction House of the Russian Federation said

 

SPORTS

* Maria Sharapova breezed past No. 8 seed Li Na of China 6-3, 6-0 in a little over an hour to make the Miami Masters semifinals