Sofia - The Bulgarian state railways director, Atanas Tonev, was sacked over accusations of negligence a month after employees were charged with exporting fuel to sanctions- hit Serbia. Reuter

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THEY talk in Boston of Yekini and Amokachi and Oliseh, exotic Nigerian names guaranteed to lift the hearts of supporters the world over. Elsewhere in this delightful city they talk of Roberto Baggio and, with the first mention of his name, comes a dramatic mood change among followers of Italy.

DIEGO MARADONA began the week expecting to make history. As he left the United States for Argentina yesterday, suspended indefinitely from football for taking a 'cocktail' of five banned substances, he was history.

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DIEGO MARADONA will set a World Cup record when he takes the field for Argentina in their final first-round Group D game against Bulgaria in Dallas tonight.

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NIGERIA and Bulgaria promise a feast of attacking football when they meet tonight in Dallas in a World Cup match neither dare lose. The group D rivals both believe attack is the best means of overcoming their weakness in defence.

The former Bulgarian dictator, Todor Zhivkov, the last living Soviet-bloc Stalinist leader, was reported seriously ill, AP reports from Sofia. The supreme court suspended a hearing on Zhivkov's appeal for a review of his seven-year jail sentence for embezzlement when he failed to appear. Zhivkov, under house arrest, is confined to bed with high blood pressure and heart disease.

AT LAST week's London Wine Trade Fair, Margarit Todorov was proudly displaying the Royal Warrant he (yes, he) had obtained from King Simeon of Bulgaria in the hope of promoting Bulgarian wines into the serious winebore league.

Checkpoint Charlie at dawn was a rather more exciting gateway to Eastern Europe than Victoria Coach Station is today. On an icy January morning in 1989, the main entrance to the Eastern bloc was cloaked in exactly the right mix of intrigue: swirling mist, stern barriers and sterner guards, watching every step as you crossed no man's land. The colour of your passport decided whether or not you would be free to return.

Bulgaria's government survived its fifth no-confidence vote, tabled by the anti-Communist opposition protesting at the growth of organised crime in the country, Reuter reports from Sofia.