Main news of January 24

WORLD

* The death mask of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was sold on Tuesday for 3,600 British pounds ($5,600) at British auction house Mullock’s

* Gulf Arab States began to withdraw their 55 observers, who were part of the Arab League’s observer mission in Syria, the head of the Arab League’s Cairo operations room, Adnan al-Khudeir, said

* The 30-year-long state of emergency in Egypt will be lifted from Wednesday, the head of the country’s ruling military council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, said

* The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Oscar nominees, the world's leading film award

* A probe into the case of two jail officers possibly involved in the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has been completed, Investigations Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said

* The European Union is preparing to impose new sanctions against Belarusian companies and individuals that are deemed responsible for human rights violations, a European Council spokesperson said

RUSSIA

* Yabloko party founder Grigory Yavlinsky will be banned from the presidential race over invalid signatures in his support, the Central Elections Commission said

* The Russian Air Force is testing and will soon deploy an advanced tactical air-to-air missile that will greatly enhance its operational effectiveness, the service's commander Col Gen Alexander Zelin said

* Golos, Russia's leading independent electoral watchdog, may become homeless one month before the presidential elections, the group’s head said

* A Russian opposition leader vowed to organize a new rally against vote fraud on February 26 if the government fails to meet protester demands at a demonstration scheduled on February 4, Boris Nemtsov, the leader of the Solidarity party said

* Russia’s Defense Ministry has signed a contract for the manufacture of Bulava submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles through 2020, First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov said

* The marketing director of a subsidiary of Russia’s state-controlled nuclear corporation Rosatom has been sacked for throwing a New Year’s party paid for with public funds, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote

BUSINESS

* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its world growth projections in an update to its World Economic Outlook, British media reported