World News Update, what you need to know

Police and protesters have clashed in the centre of the Ukrainian capital Kiev after 200,000 turned up for an opposition rally in a show of defiance against strict new curbs on protests.

ELSEWHERE:

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has downplayed the planned no-show of key Western leaders at the Winter Olympics in Sochi and stressed that gays were welcome as he prepared to host one of the most controversial Games in modern history.

LONDON - The UK Independence Party has suspended a councillor who claimed recent floods were the result of the British government's decision to legalise gay marriage.

LOS ANGELES - Former basketball star Dennis Rodman, facing a backlash for a series of visits to North Korea, has checked himself into an alcohol-rehab facility, according to US media.

KABUL - Afghanistan's National Security Council has accused "foreign intelligence services" of being behind the deadly attack on a Kabul restaurant, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has blamed "diabolical" and "treacherous" Arab countries for a protracted surge in nationwide violence, but has stopped short of naming individual countries.

CAIRO - Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and 24 others, including top activists who opposed him and his predecessor, will stand trial for insulting the judiciary, state media and judicial sources say.