KUALA LUMPUR/TEHRAN (Reuters) - More evidence emerged on Tuesday of the crippling impact of new sanctions on Iran, with international traders saying Tehran is having trouble buying rice, cooking oil and other staples to feed its 74 million people weeks before an election. New U.S. financial sanctions imposed since the beginning of this year to punish Tehran over its nuclear programme are playing havoc with Iran's ability to buy imports and receive payment for its oil exports, commodities traders said. ...

BUENOS AIRES/LONDON (Reuters) - Argentina's president accused Britain of "militarizing the South Atlantic" and said she would complain to the United Nations, as tension rises ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war. Britain, which rejected the accusation, went to war with Argentina over the British-ruled Falkland Islands in 1982. London has refused to start talks on sovereignty with Argentina unless the roughly 3,000 islanders want them. ...

India's most populous state went to the polls Wednesday in a contest pitting the scion of the Gandhi political dynasty against the ruling party of local low-caste leader Mayawati.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A few weeks ago, a leading opposition activist sat down in a downtown Khartoum office to talk to a journalist. The young man immediately removed the battery from his cellphone. "It's so they can't trace you," he said, placing the battery and the phone on the table. "Any one of the security agencies spread throughout the country can arrest you." Despite that danger, the activist, from an underground group called "Change Now," said he was convinced Sudan is on the brink of its own Arab Spring uprising. ...

MANAMA (Reuters) - The funeral march for Mohammed Yaacoub had barely ended last week when police and protesters faced off in the town of Sitra, an impoverished district of Bahrain that has borne the brunt of a year of unrest. Teenagers using scarves to mask their faces went on a rampage wielding iron bars and petrol bombs, and riot police in their prim blue uniforms and white helmets fired off teargas rounds and stormed down alleyways in their trademark jeeps. "People have no alternative -- all we have is tyres to burn and Molotovs to throw," one activist said. ...

The manager of a French shop selling sex toys went on trial Wednesday to determine whether he is violating pornography laws by selling his products within 200 metres (yards) of a school.

The ex-president of the Maldives who claims he was forced out of power by a coup called on his successor to step down Wednesday as thousands of protesters clashed with riot police in the capital.

A home video showing a four-year-old Chinese boy being forced by his parents to run almost naked through the snow in bitterly cold New York has sparked an online uproar in China.

Greece kept the eurozone and financial markets on edge on Wednesday in the final hours of talks on radical extra budget cuts and a debt deal to avert default.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces thrust into the rebellious city of Homs on Wednesday, killing dozens of civilians by the accounts of opposition activists, and Turkey appeared to be preparing a new push against President Bashar al-Assad. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who on Tuesday said he was making ready an initiative uniting those Western, Arab and other states which have called for Ankara's former ally Assad to step down, was due to speak to Russia's president, whose government has angered many by blocking a move against Assad at the U.N. ...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's veto of a Security Council resolution on Syria goes far beyond mere protection for a close ally and arms buyer - it showed Moscow's determination to crush what it sees as a Western crusade to use the United Nations to topple unfriendly regimes. The same holds true for China, which followed Russia's lead and joined Moscow in its second double veto to strike down a European-Arab draft resolution that would have endorsed an Arab League plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to his deputy to prepare free elections. ...

Three state ministers from southern India, including one holding a portfolio for women and child development, quit on Wednesday after being accused of watching porn in the local assembly.

MALE (Reuters) - The ousted president of the Maldives, credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean island resort, said on Wednesday he was forced out of power at gunpoint, prompting clashes between police and angry supporters. Police tried to break up the protests with tear gas and baton charges as former president Mohamed Nasheed's party said he too was "beaten" by police. The Maldives on Tuesday installed Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik as president who promptly denied being part of any coup against Nasheed after weeks of opposition protests and a mutiny by police. ...

Thousands of US Marines could leave Japan's Okinawa island before a controversial American base is closed, Washington and Tokyo announced Wednesday, in the latest twist in a long-running saga.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The ambitious chief of Chongqing in southwestern China, Bo Xilai, ran into a political storm on Wednesday after his deputy mayor went on leave amid unconfirmed rumours of infighting and even an attempted flight to a U.S. consulate by the deputy. The city administration said the municipality's deputy mayor Wang Lijun took sick leave for overwork. But his abrupt move after years of serving Bo fanned rumours that Wang sought refuge in the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, several hours drive from Chongqing, after a falling out amid a corruption probe. ...

Christian conservative Rick Santorum's unexpected trio of state wins has reignited his White House bid and raised new question marks over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Syrian forces pressed a relentless assault on the protest city of Homs Wednesday, with dozens of civilians reported killed, hours after President Bashar al-Assad said he was committed to ending the bloodshed.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional in a case that may lead to a showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court. Supporters of the ban said they would appeal the judgment, calling it "out of step with every other federal appellate and Supreme Court decision." Their appeal is likely to keep gay marriage in the state on hold pending future proceedings. ...

AYODHYA, India (Reuters) - Millions of voters went to the polls in India's most populous and politically important state on Wednesday, the first stage of an election that tests support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's troubled government ahead of a nationwide vote in two years. The election in Uttar Pradesh, a state that would be the world's fifth most populous nation if independent, could have a bearing on who next governs India. It is a closely fought four-way race pitting the scion of the elite Gandhi dynasty against a powerful low caste leader and two other parties. ...

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner slammed Britain for its "militarization" of their conflict over the Falklands, saying she would lodge a formal complaint with the United Nations.

Survivors of a deadly quake in the Philippines begged rescuers to keep searching for dozens of people buried in landslides, but officials said hopes of finding them alive were dim.

DENVER (Reuters) - Former U.S. senator Rick Santorum rejuvenated his presidential hopes on Tuesday with a shocking sweep of the three nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, dealing a blow to wounded front-runner Mitt Romney. Even though Romney still holds strong advantages in financing and organization, his campaign will now have to refocus to fight back the challenge from the surging conservative Santorum. Backed by a wealthy "Super PAC" that pays for attack ads against rivals, Romney had excelled in major contests thus far in the race. ...

The United States is to shift 4,700 Marines from Okinawa to Guam without waiting for progress on controversial plans to relocate a US base on the Japanese island, it was expected to be announced on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has filed an appeal against appearing before the Supreme Court in a contempt hearing for failing to re-open corruption cases against the president, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The Supreme Court last week ordered Gilani to appear before it on February 13 to be charged with contempt of court in a case that has raised political tension. "I've filed the appeal," Gilani's lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, told reporters. ...

The Brazilian government has filed a lawsuit against Twitter and its users in a bid to stop publication of messages alerting drivers to police speed traps and drunk-driving checkpoints.

A US federal appeals court struck down a California law that strips gays and lesbians of the right to marry in the latest round of America's long-running battle over same-sex marriage.

LONDON (Reuters) - Egyptians must overcome economic and political differences to unite and put the country on the path to democracy and away from military rule, former presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said Wednesday. "It is time to set aside our differences. We need the strength of a unified Egypt: ensuring judicial independence, protecting media freedom and civil society, and tapping Egypt's potential as an emerging market," ElBaradei wrote in the Financial Times of London. The former head of the U.N. ...

Talks to end a strike by police who have occupied the legislature in Brazil's Bahia state for a week ended without agreement here Tuesday, with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

HAVANA (Reuters) - The 50th anniversary of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba on Tuesday was met with little fanfare on the island, where Cubans said it was a failed policy that had succeeded only in making their lives more difficult. They said if the embargo was lifted, they likely would live a little better, but some said it also would increase pressure on the Cuban government to fix problems that for years it has blamed on U.S. sanctions. On February 7, 1962 what had been a partial embargo became a nearly total one as President John F. ...

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday slammed Britain for its "militarization" of their conflict over the Falklands, saying she would lodge a formal complaint with the United Nations.

A drug gang warned its rivals to keep the peace during a papal visit to Mexico next month in banners hung around the central state of Guanajuato which Pope Benedict XVI is due to visit.

Russia said on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria, as his regime pounded the city of Homs for a fourth day and vowed no let-up.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the Obama administration weighs worst-case scenarios for Syria, one stands out: a civil war that develops into a proxy battle between Arabs and the West on one side, and Russia and Iran on the other. U.S. officials stress they do not want to play a military role in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on protests has killed more than 5,000 people and raised fears of a protracted power struggle in a country at the heart of the Arab world. But after U.S. and Arab-led efforts to craft consensus in the U.N. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite his strong showing in early state contests in the race for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination, Mitt Romney's support nationwide has dipped slightly during the past month, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. Romney was backed by 29 percent of Republican voters in the telephone poll conducted February 2-6, down from 30 percent in a survey in early January, although the change was within the poll's margin of error. ...

An Ecuadoran court has ordered two journalists to pay President Rafael Correa $2 million in damages in the latest high-profile court case testing freedom of expression in the South American nation.

Dark horse Rick Santorum enjoyed a rare surge Tuesday as Republicans voted in three more state contests, but was unlikely to knock Mitt Romney out of the presidential frontrunner saddle.

A US federal appeals court struck down a California law Tuesday that strips gays and lesbians of the right to marry, in the latest round in America's long-running battle over same-sex marriage.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran castigated its U.S. adversary on Tuesday over new financial measures to disrupt Iranian commerce, and a default on payment for rice purchases highlighted the encroachment of sanctions on the staples of everyday life. Lawmakers in Tehran vowed to ban crude exports to European countries even before an EU oil embargo takes effect. The U.S. sanctions, targeting Iran's central bank and giving U.S. ...

SOFIA (Reuters) - Heavy snowfall across eastern Europe cut off hundreds of villages on Tuesday and rescue teams struggled to evacuate people in southern Bulgaria where rain and melting snow had caused a dam wall to break, flooding an entire village. A river dike also broke under intense water pressure near Kapitan Andreevo at the border with Turkey, officials said. The cold snap has killed hundreds of people across Europe and temperatures in some countries plummeted to nearly minus 40C (minus 40F). Officials on Tuesday warned of flooding when temperatures rise and snow melts. ...

The Maldives' first freely elected president resigned Tuesday after what his party called a "coup d'etat" orchestrated by opposition leaders with the backing of security forces in the holiday paradise.