Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 13 Jan 2016
- 1. Iran releases US sailors held in Gulf waters
- 2. Attempts begin to avoid second doctors' strike
- 3. Obama regrets 'rancour' in last State of Union
- 4. MH370 hunt: shipwreck discovered on ocean floor
- 5. Pakistan: bomb near polio centre 'kills 14'
- 6. £33m lottery jackpot winners unveiled
- 7. Two-year-old girl leads police to mother's body
- 8. Calls for England to get a new sporting anthem
- 9. New idea could save traditional lightbulb
- 10. Briefing: will the Anglican Church split over homosexuality?
1. Iran releases US sailors held in Gulf waters
Iran has freed ten US sailors who were held after they allegedly strayed into Iranian waters on Tuesday. Iranian state media said the group had been released after apologising. It said the incursion was "unintentional". The Pentagon said one of the boats broke down as they travelled between between Kuwait and Bahrain.
Iran frees ten US sailors detained in Persian Gulf
2. Attempts begin to avoid second doctors' strike
Junior doctors went back to work this morning at 8am after a 24-hour strike in protest at government plans they say will reduce their pay, increase working hours and could be dangerous for patients. Negotiations are under way in the hope of averting the second of three planned stoppages, a 48-hour strike from 26 January.
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3. Obama regrets 'rancour' in last State of Union
Barack Obama has delivered his last State of the Union address, saying the key regret of his presidency is that the "rancour and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse". He urged optimism about the US economy and made veiled references to Donald Trump, bemoaning that "only the most extreme voices get attention".
Trump travel ban: Judge expands definition of relatives
4. MH370 hunt: shipwreck discovered on ocean floor
One of the ships searching the southern Indian ocean for the remains of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, last seen on 8 March, 2014, has found what experts believe is the wreck of a ship from the turn of the 19th Century, 3,700 metres down on the ocean floor. It is the second shipwreck to be found during the search.
5. Pakistan: bomb near polio centre 'kills 14'
At least 14 people have died in a bombing outside a polio vaccination centre in the Quetta, south-west Pakistan. Many of the casualties were police officers who had been guarding the clinic. Vaccination centres are often targeted by Islamists who say vaccination is a conspiracy by the West to sterilise Pakistani children.
6. £33m lottery jackpot winners unveiled
A couple from Hawick in Scotland say they will take early retirement after scooping half the record £66m National Lottery jackpot. David and Carol Martin, 54, won £33m after correctly predicting the six winning numbers in Saturday's draw, following 14 consecutive rollovers. They only realised they had won when they checked their ticket on Sunday.
7. Two-year-old girl leads police to mother's body
An off-duty policeman in Staffordshire has been praised after he spotted a two-year-old girl on her own in the street when he was out with his wife. The officer stopped, and the girl told him she was walking to nursery on her own because she couldn't wake her mother. She led him to her home and he found the mother dead.
8. Calls for England to get a new sporting anthem
MPs have backed calls for England to adopt its own sporting anthem, replacing the British anthem God Save the Queen. Labour MP Toby Perkins recieved the support of the House of Commons today. He argued that it was "incongruous" for English teams to sing the British anthem, while the other home nations had other songs. The idea will be debated again at a second reading in March.
England anthem: don't hold your breath
9. New idea could save traditional lightbulb
Scientists at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have advanced the technology of the traditional incandescent lightbulb, now phased out in many countries because it wastes a lot of energy as heat. The new technique recycles the heat, focusing it back on the filament to create yet more visible light.
10. Briefing: will the Anglican Church split over homosexuality?
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is meeting with all 38 national Primates of the Anglican Church this week in a "last throw of the dice" to avoid a permanent split in the Church of England. Church leaders from six African countries are expected to walk out of the talks if, in the words of Ugandan Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, "discipline and godly order is not restored". At the same time, western Anglicans accuse their church of treating gay people as a problem to be solved, rather than human beings.
Church of England takes 'step towards gay marriage'
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