Main news of February 7

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly defeated Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine's presidential election with different exit polls giving him from 48.7% to 50.26%

* Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych who, according to exit polls and preliminary official data, narrowly won Sunday's presidential election runoff in Ukraine, has pledged to launch reforms to scale down the consequences of the crisis

* Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who appears to have narrowly lost Sunday's presidential election runoff to rival opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, said it was too early to name the winner, and pledged to defend each vote cast for her

* The launch of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour has been delayed by 24 hours due to cloudy weather over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA officials said

* NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Sunday he did not rule out the possibility for Russia to join the alliance's operation in Afghanistan

* Romania's initiative to host missiles as part of a U.S. missile defense shield in Europe could turn neighboring Moldova into a front-line area, Moldovan ex-president Vladimir Voronin said

* Iran has started production of two domestically-developed missiles with enhanced armor-penetration capability, the Iranian media has reported

RUSSIA

* A senior Russian diplomat who spoke on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany called on the international community on Sunday to find ways to enhance security