Politics

Rick Santorum wins the US Republican primary in Missouri and, according to initial results, is leading in Minnesota and Colorado.

Rick Santorum won the caucuses in Minnesota and a non-binding primary in Missouri on Tuesday, breaking Mitt Romney's streak of victories in nominating contests. With 45 percent of the Minnesota results in, Santorum had 57 percent, Romney 27 percent and Paul 12 percent.

Watch the latest news summary from BBC World News. International news updated 24 hours a day.

Time-lapse footage reveals how mushroom corals inflate and deflate to free themselves from smothering sand.

A study of hormones in whale faeces shows that right whales are stressed by propeller noise from shipping.

A missile attack by an unmanned US drone aircraft in north-west Pakistan kills eight people, Pakistani security officials say.

Missouri teen Alyssa Bustamante, who admitted murdering a nine-year-old girl in her neighborhood in 2009, wrote in her journal the night of the killing that it was a "pretty enjoyable" experience. Bustamente, now 18, wrote, "I just f------ killed someone. I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they're dead. I don't know how to feel atm. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the 'ohmygawd I can't do this' feeling, it's pretty enjoyable. I'm kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now ... lol."

Jamaica throws about 2,000 illegal firearms into a furnace as part of a programme to reduce gun trafficking and violent crime on the island.

A Republican Congressman from Louisiana expressed outrage on Facebook over plans by Planned Parenthood to build an $8 billion "Abortionplex" -- a satire published by The Onion a year ago. Rep. John Fleming's Facebook account linked the story with his comment, "More on Planned Parenthood, abortion by the wholesale." A spokesman for Fleming, a second-term Republican and family practice doctor, confirmed that the link was posted but would not comment further. Before the link was removed, one of Fleming's constituents commented, "The Onion is satire. How exactly did you get elected?"

A golfer in Texas was stabbed by a broken golf club during a Jan. 27 brawl that began over slow play at Resort Golf Club on Eagle Mountain Lake, suffering a punctured femoral artery and massive blood loss. Clay Carpenter, 48, was in a threesome that confronted a slower foursome ahead of them to play through. He said a club was swung at his head and he broke it, then was stabbed in the groin by the same man. A member of the foursome called 911. "He's passed out once already," he said. "We've got his artery clamped with our hand."

Profits for Walt Disney have risen thanks to the rising popularity of its theme parks and earnings from its television channels.

Argentina will make a formal complaint to the UN about British "militarisation" around the disputed Falkland Islands, says President Fernandez.

Anglo-Australian firm BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, reports lower profits due to falling prices of iron ore and coal.

An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned the sale of dolls of The Simpsons characters, but Superman and Spider-Man are still allowed. "They help oppressed people and they have a positive stance," said Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, secretary of policy-making at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, in an Iranian newspaper account. Though many elements of Western culture are banned in the theocratic state, many are available on the black market and Iran imported $57 million in toys last year.