Main news of March 3

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

*Syrian pro-government forces that continue shelling the opposition stronghold of Homs, denied access to the besieged city on Saturday for a humanitarian convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that was seeking entry to the city to help the injured, the world’s media reported

*Tajik authorities have blocked access to several web sites, including, among others, news web sites critical to the president Emomali Rakhmon and the popular social network Facebook, Tajik news agency Asia Plus reported on Saturday

*Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Russian-Georgian diplomatic relations would be fully restored if Russia withdrew troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia and annulled its recognition of independence of the breakaway republics, Novosti-Georgia news agency reported on Saturday

*About 600,000 Russians have registered on webvybory2012.ru site which will broadcast the course of the March 4 presidential elections, chief Moscow municipal electoral commission Valentin Gorbunov said on Saturday

*A suicide bomber blew himself up in a camp belonging to Yemen’s Republican Guard troops in the southwest of the country days after Al-Qaeda claimed a similar attack that killed 26 soldiers, world media said referring to the Yemeni army

*The United States will soon lose its influence over the Middle East, Russia and China will replace this nation, Top Syrian Mufti Ahmed Badr al-Din Hassoun said on Saturday

*Russia is playing a ‘dangerous role’ by supplying arms to Syria amid the ongoing violent clashes in the country between the authorities and protesters, Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State said

RUSSIA

*One of the two militants, killed in a special operation on Saturday in Russian North Caucasus Republic of Ingushetia, was identified as the leader of a local terrorist sabotage group, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) said

*Several Russian Pro-Kremlin youth movements will hold a total of 26 rallies in Moscow on Sunday and Monday as Russians will vote in the presidential election on March 4, Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported

SPORTS

*Russia endured a third medal-free event at the World Biathlon Championships on Saturday, after none of its athletes finished higher than seventh in the women’s sprint

*Felipe Caicedo scored one goal and set up a second to give Lokomotiv Moscow a 2-0 win against FC Kuban in the Russian Premier League and keep his team in the hunt for Champions League qualification

*Zenit midfielder Roman Shirokov praised the performance of the CSKA post after hitting it with a header in a 2-2 Russian Premier League draw on Saturday

*Russia will raise its game after missing out on the medals in the first two events at the World Biathlon Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, 2010 Olympic bronze medalist Anton Shipulin vowed Saturday

*CSKA Moscow winger Ahmed Musa rescued a 2-2 draw on his league debut against Zenit in the Russian Premier League on Saturday, preventing the St. Petersburg side from extending their six-point lead at the top

*Russian disappointment continued at the World Biathlon Championships on Saturday as the men failed to finish in the sprint medals

*Regular-season champion Traktor Chelyabinsk suffered a blow in the playoffs with a surprise 5-2 defeat to lowly Yugra Khanty-Mansiisk in a night of shocks in the KHL’s Eastern Conference