Main News of March 12

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The Roman Catholic Church’s 115 cardinals locked themselves inside the Sistine Chapel after hours of prayers to elect their 226th leader

* Almost 21 tons of heroin have been seized in an operation in eastern Afghanistan , the head of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) said

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said he intends to nominate his Economic Adviser Elvira Nabiullina as a candidate to head Russia's Central Bank

* The Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, passed in the first reading a bill containing a raft of strict measures aimed at stamping out match-fixing

* Over 300 cast and crew members of the Bolshoi Theater signed a letter in support of their colleague, charged with masterminding an acid attack on the theater's artistic director

* A former officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) suspected by the British authorities of poisoning Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko said he will pull out of the inquest into the killing, blaming political pressure from London

* Russia will complete a plan for a program to protect itself against threats from space by the end of this year, Civil Defense and Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said