ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The case of an unarmed black teenager shot dead by a white neighborhood watch captain who police have failed to arrest will go before a grand jury, Florida prosecutors said on Tuesday. State prosecutor Norm Wolfinger made the announcement as the victim's family lawyer said 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was on his cellphone with a girlfriend, giving her a chilling, minute-by-minute account of what was happening in the moments before he died. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Blown out in Illinois, Rick Santorum now has a far tougher path to the Republican presidential nomination and looks more like he is reduced to playing the role of spoiler against rival Mitt Romney. The former Pennsylvania senator could have upended Romney's up-and-down campaign with a surprise upset in Illinois. Instead, Santorum will face important questions about he can possibly overtake Romney's lead in the race for the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination. ...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Two large suburbs of Damascus came under heavy tank bombardment on Wednesday following renewed Free Syrian Army attacks on forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists said. Artillery and anti-aircraft gun barrages hit the suburbs of Harasta and Irbin, retaken by Assad's forces from rebels two months ago, and army helicopters were heard flying over the area, on the eastern edge of the capital, they said. ...

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States will hold another round of official talks "shortly" to discuss reductions in South Korea's hefty imports of Iranian oil, a source at Korean economy ministry said on Wednesday. "We had one round official talks with the U.S. where we talked about the range by which we could possibly reduce Iranian oil imports, and we will continue to discuss it shortly," said the source, who had direct knowledge of the matter but declined to be identified as he was not authorized to talk to media. ...

(Reuters) - Presidential campaigns and political action committees, or PACs, filed financial reports on Tuesday showing how much they had raised and spent this campaign season, as of February 29. The Federal Election Commission filings also offered a snapshot of who has been donating how much to the "Super PACs," which operate independently from campaigns and can raise unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations and unions. ...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel has asked Egypt for permission to send planes to remove the contents of its Cairo embassy, Egyptian foreign ministry and airport sources said on Tuesday, highlighting deteriorating ties between the two states since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. It was not immediately clear what prompted the request but a parliamentary committee issued a statement last week in the wake of Israeli raids on Gaza demanding the Israeli envoy be expelled from Cairo and for a review of ties with the Jewish state. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court rejected two patents on a method for monitoring a patient's blood to determine the best dosage for a drug, a decision that may affect the profitability of personalized medicine. The justices unanimously overturned on Tuesday a ruling by an appeals court that allowed the patents for Nestle SA unit Prometheus, with the high court saying that companies could not patent observations about a natural phenomenon. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mitt Romney had nearly twice as many votes in the Illinois Republican presidential primary as his closest rival Rick Santorum on Tuesday, with 11 percent of the vote counted. U.S. television networks projected Romney as the winner of the latest battle in the volatile campaign for the White House. With 11 percent of the vote counted, he had 56 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for Santorum. (Reporting by Deborah Charles; Editing by Eric Beech)

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti set a collision course with the country's biggest trade union after talks on a historic reform to employment protection law failed to produce a deal. The left-wing CGIL union, which has six million members, will meet on Wednesday to decide how to protest against a reform which its leader called an attack on workers and an attempt to solve Italy's labor problems by "easy firing". ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military's ability to detect and identify attackers in cyberspace is improving rapidly but is still being outstripped by the growing number of threats, the head of the Cyber Command said on Tuesday. General Keith Alexander told a House of Representatives panel that "the risks that face our country are growing faster than our progress," a trend he said the military would have to work hard to reverse. But he said any aggressor should be wary of trying to disrupt America's computer networks. ...

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition leader Henrique Capriles dismissed as irresponsible on Tuesday a government warning of an assassination plot against him that further stirred up an already volatile election campaign. President Hugo Chavez made the surprise announcement on Monday evening, implying that elements within the opposition were behind a plan to kill Capriles, the 39-year-old Miranda state governor who is challenging him in an October 7 election. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As the investigation continues into last month's fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida, psychology researchers can point to one aspect of the tragedy: how easy it is to "see" that someone is holding a gun when he is not. In the latest research, scientists found that simply holding a gun, as George Zimmerman was when he confronted Martin in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, has an effect. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With long-term transportation legislation still eluding lawmakers, House Republican leaders are planning another temporary extension of federal highway and transit funding that would keep construction projects and gas tax collections on track. Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica said on Tuesday that he expects a "clean," or non-controversial bill to emerge in coming days that the chamber can pass before the extension authorizing current funding, approved last September, expires on March 31. ...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The sharply divided U.N. Security Council struggled on Tuesday to reach agreement on a statement of support for U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's mission to end violence in Syria that has brought the country to the brink of civil war. The 15-nation panel held two rounds of negotiations on Tuesday on a Western-drafted statement, obtained by Reuters, that would express "full support" for Annan's peace efforts while threatening Damascus with "further measures" if it fails to comply the council's demands within seven days. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid moved on Tuesday to give final congressional approval to a stalled bill to impose new curbs on insider trading by members of Congress, giving up on efforts to strengthen the measure. Unable to obtain an agreement to try to iron out differences between versions of the bill passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, Reid said his chamber would vote on the House legislation. A test vote will likely be held on Thursday, clearing the way for the Senate to pass it as early as Friday. ...

MANAMA (Reuters) - Bahrain will go ahead with the prosecution of 20 medics who treated wounded protesters during an uprising last year, despite a statement suggesting most of the cases would be dropped, the justice minister said on Tuesday. The prosecution of doctors drew international criticism, with rights groups saying the medics were being punished for helping civilians hurt by state forces during anti-government demonstrations. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A surge in tax refund fraud and identity theft has prompted the Internal Revenue Service to consider sharing more tax return information with police, a senior official told a congressional hearing on Tuesday. In a move that could spark concerns over personal privacy, the IRS said it is considering a pilot program in Tampa, Florida, where identity theft and refund fraud are rife. "We are limited in what we can supply to local law enforcement," said Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement. ...

(Reuters) - The campaigns of presidential candidates are limited to receiving donations of up to $2,500 per person, once for the state-by-state party nominating season and again for the general election. But independent "Super PACs" have no limits on what they can raise from individuals, corporations or labor unions. Here is a look at wealthy individuals who have contributed at least $500,000 to the major political action committees (PACs) as disclosed to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). RESTORE OUR FUTURE Total raised as of February 29: $43. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama set the goal of eventually ridding the world of nuclear weapons as a central theme of his presidency and pledged dramatic steps to lead the way. But after plenty of lofty rhetoric and a few steps forward, Obama is facing fresh doubts about whether he is willing to take the political, diplomatic and budgetary risks needed to bring his vision closer to reality. ...

(Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a law allowing state employees to be randomly tested for drugs, a measure likely to draw a legal challenge over its constitutionality. The Republican governor signed the Drug-free Workplace Act, which will permit state agencies to randomly test up to 10 percent of their employees, his office said on Monday. Tests could be conducted once every 90 days under the measure, which takes effect July 1. It would allow agencies to fire or discipline employees the first time they test positive for drugs. ...

REUTERS - A proposed 30 percent minimum tax on millionaires backed by President Barack Obama -- dubbed the 'Buffett tax' after investor Warren Buffett who supports it -- would raise about $31 billion over a decade, said a congressional report released on Tuesday. That's far less than the $1 trillion or more that would be lost from scrapping the alternative minimum tax, The AMT is also meant to be a minimum tax on the wealthy. Democrats have said that the Buffett tax could replace the AMT. The Buffett tax would raise $30. ...

(Reuters) - New York state looked on track to easily beat its April 1 deadline for passing its budget the second time in a row, but political analysts say that after several hurdles were cleared last week, optimism appears to have withered. The negotiations might come closer to the deadline due to new pressure on legislators from unions angry about Democratic support for new legislation cutting pension benefits as well as from lawmakers upset about new lines redrawing election districts. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has proposed a $132.5 billion budget to close a deficit of $2 billion. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected two patents on a method for monitoring a patient's blood to determine the best dosage for a drug, a decision that may affect the profitability of personalized medicine. The justices unanimously overturned on Tuesday a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that allowed the patents for Nestle SA unit Prometheus, with the high court saying that companies could not patent observations about a natural phenomenon. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - National farm and crop insurance subsidies would be cut by $30 billion over 10 years under a proposal made by the House of Representatives Budget Committee chairman on Tuesday, far larger reductions than agricultural-state lawmakers suggested. Budget chairman Paul Ryan called for reductions in the $5-billion-a-year "direct payment" subsidy and for reforms to control the soaring cost of federally subsidized crop insurance, the largest part of the farm safety net at nearly $9 billion a year. ...