Main News of February 24

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Conservative candidate Nicos Anastasiades has won Cyprus's presidential run-off election, the Interior Ministry's website said 

* Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday signed a decree to bring forward the start of the country's parliamentary elections, whose first round in Cairo and four other provinces would now be held on April 22-23 instead of April 27-28, media reported

* Tens of thousands of people marched across Spain to protest austerity measures and corruption, media reported

* Italians will on Sunday go to vote in general elections that are seen as very important for the country’s effort to address its economic problems, media reported

* Two security officers were killed and three others wounded after a suicide car bomber struck an Afghan intelligence agency office in eastern Afghanistan, local officials said

* Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have brought down a foreign reconnaissance drone during a military exercise in southeast Iran, the official news agency IRNA reported

* Pro-gun activists in the United States have held a ‘day of resistance’, protesting against President Barack Obama's plans to ban assault weapons, the BBC reported

* Over 200,000 people gathered at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sunday to hear Pope Benedict XVI final public blessing before he retires

* Activists of women's rights group Femen stripped to the waist at a polling station in Milan on Sunday where ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi arrived to vote in Italy's general election, Italian state TV has reported

* Several thousand opposition supporters rallied in Yerevan protesting the outcome of Armenia’s presidential election, challenged by the country’s opposition leader Raffi Hovhannisyan, Armenia's state TV reported

* NATO’s patriot missile systems, requested by Turkey to protect it from a potential Syrian attack, are expected to cost Ankara 15 million liras ($8.5 million) annually, local media have reported citing the Turkish defense minister

* The death of a Palestinian inmate in Israeli custody has sparked violent protests in West Bank in which more than 20 people have been injured, local media reported

RUSSIA

* Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova has unveiled plans to introduce a single system monitoring health of orphans and a network providing psychological support for vulnerable children in Russia

* French film star Gerard Depardieu, who was recently granted Russian citizenship, has selected cheese for a small restaurant he plans to open in Mordovia, central Russia, the republic's press and information minister said

* Emergency services have repaired most of the damage caused by a meteor that shook Russia’s Urals Region, the regional Emergencies Center reported

* A Russian Emergencies Ministry aircraft has delivered humanitarian aid to Mali, the ministry said

* Two people were injured as a train collided with a car in the northwest of the Moscow Region, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has reported

* Russia clinched the team sprint gold medal at the Nordic world ski championships in Italy