Main News of April 2

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The UN General Assembly approved the first global treaty to regulate international trade in conventional weapons, the UN News Centre said

* Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris has tendered his resignation after concluding talks with the troika of international lenders on a controversial bailout deal to rescue the island nation from financial collapse, Cypriot TV channels reported

* Georgia rules out any type of military solutions to the territorial disputes with its former republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Alasaniya said

* Ukrainian opposition lawmakers have blocked the speaker’s rostrum and presidium of the country’s parliament after the pro-presidential majority refused to set up the date for mayor and city council elections in the capital Kiev

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that allows regions to decide whether they want to elect a governor by a direct popular vote or let regional legislatures choose them from nominees approved by the president

* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees to help implement laws obliging state officials to declare their income and expenses, in a bid to crack down on corruption

* An online portal to promote public petitions was officially launched by the Foundation for Information Democracy in Russia

* The Russian Investigative Committee opened several criminal cases against a group of people in central Russia’s Veliky Novgorod Region suspected of misappropriating half a billion rubles ($16 million) of budget funds allocated for road maintenance.

* The Barneo-2013 drifting base opened near the North Pole, the Russian Geographical Society reported citing its First Vice President Artur Chilingarov