Syrian forces bombard Homs, Lavrov arrives for talks

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces renewed their bombardment of Homs on Tuesday as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Damascus for talks aimed at pressing President Bashar al-Assad to end a bloody crackdown on a popular revolt and carry out reforms.

Iran: US assets ban "antagonistic," will have no impact

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Tuesday denounced as "an antagonistic move" a tightening of U.S. sanctions targeting Tehran's central bank and giving U.S. banks new powers to freeze Iranian government assets, and said it would have no impact.

Maldives president quits after mutiny on paradise islands

MALE (Reuters) - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the hideaway resort islands, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of opposition protests erupted into a police mutiny.

Netanyahu can't fly solo in Israel to attack Iran

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Three decades ago, an Israeli prime minister faced his cabinet and invoked the Holocaust in an emotional appeal to approve an air strike against an Arab atomic reactor.

Exclusive: Iran defaults on rice payments to India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Iranian buyers have defaulted on payment for about 200,000 tonnes of rice from their top supplier India, exporters and rice millers said on Tuesday, as trade between the two countries comes under mounting pressure from a new wave of Western sanctions against Tehran.

U.S. lifts restrictions to support IFIs work in Myanmar

(Reuters) - The United States has eased some restrictions on Myanmar to support ongoing work by International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the Asian Development Bank carrying out economic assessments and technical assistance to its new civilian government.

Toll from Pakistan factory collapse rises to 17 dead

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - The death toll from the collapse of a three-storey factory in the Pakistani city of Lahore rose to 17 Tuesday as rescue workers continued to search for survivors amidst the rubble, an emergency official said.

Kidnapped Chinese workers in Sudan freed: Xinhua

BEIJING (Reuters) - The 29 Chinese workers kidnapped by rebel forces in Sudan's border state of South Kordofan were released to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday, more than a week after they were abducted, state news agency Xinhua said.

Rescuers search for missing after Philippine quake

TAYASAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine rescuers searched on Tuesday for 29 residents of a mountainside community feared dead after a landslide triggered by an earthquake engulfed their homes.

"Price tag" graffiti daubed on Jerusalem monastery

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Jerusalem monastery, built on the site where tradition says the tree used in the making of Jesus's cross once stood, was defaced with "Death to Christians" graffiti on Tuesday.