Main news of March 28

A round up of what happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan for a surprise visit

* Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh put forward an initiative to establish the union of Arab nations similar to the European Union, the country's SABA news agency said

* NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed a new strategic arms reduction treaty, which will be signed between Russia and the United States soon

* Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva agreed to meet leaders of Thailand's red-shirted protesters in a bid to ease growing tension in the country

RUSSIA

* The new Russian-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty to be signed soon contains no clauses making it easier for the U.S. to build a missile shield posing a threat to Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* Possible harsher sanctions against Iran should not pave the way for future military actions against the Islamic Republic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said

* The U.K. could become one of Russia's leading partners in innovative technologies, Anatoly Chubais, the head of the country's hi-tech government corporation Rosnano said

* Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom is preparing an ambitious bid to become one of the biggest fuel suppliers in Britain, The Sunday Times reported

EX-SOVIET STATES

* Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko said that civilian nuclear power engineering, aircraft-building, transport and agriculture were priority areas of cooperation with Russia