Five jailed for 34 years over England's 'biggest' heist
Five men involved in a daring London heist that drew comparisons with the film Ocean's Eleven - albeit with pensioners filling the lead roles - were jailed for a combined total of 34 years on Wednesday.
Prosecutors called the raid on Hatton Garden, London's jewellery district, the "biggest burglary in English legal history", netting £14 million (S$27 million) worth of booty including jewellery, gold and cash.
A jury at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London last month convicted Carl Wood, 59, and William Lincoln, 60, of conspiracy to commit burglary, and also conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.
Republicans sue State Department for Clinton emails
The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed two lawsuits on Wednesday seeking to obtain emails related to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's tenure as the United States' secretary of state.
Clinton, front-runner to be her party's candidate in November's general election, has faced questions about her emails since it emerged a year ago that she used a private email account and a private server during her time in the post from 2009 to 2013.
Clinton has apologised for the email arrangement, which is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but has said she did nothing wrong and believes the government will vindicate her.
Sharapova drug prevalent in tennis, says former WADA chief
The use of meldonium, the drug taken by Maria Sharapova, was common in tennis before it was banned, Dick Pound, chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency's investigation into Russian athletics, said on Wednesday.
Five-times grand slam champion Sharapova tested positive for the drug at this year's Australian Open and faces a ban of up to four years, pending an investigation by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Pound said Sharapova only had herself to blame for not realising meldonium, which some researchers have linked to increased athletic performance and endurance, had been outlawed since Jan 1.
The eyes have it: scientists grow lenses from stem cells
People suffering vision loss may one day have new corneas and lenses grown from their own cells, and be spared the invasive transplants required today, according to research published on Wednesday.
In papers published in the journal Nature, a research team said they had managed to engineer corneas from stem cells in the lab, while another regenerated lenses inside the human eye.
"These two studies illustrate the remarkable regenerative and therapeutic potential of stem cells," wrote Julie Daniels of the University College London Institute of Opthalmology, who analysed the work in a paper also carried by Nature.
Severed head found at Amsterdam hookah bar
Dutch authorities closed down a notorious Amsterdam hookah bar on Wednesday after a severed human head was discovered at its entrance, a grisly find believed to be linked to a drug war between rival gangs.
A passer-by signalled the gruesome scene to police, who linked it to the discovery of a decapitated body in a burnt-out car elsewhere in the city.
Police said the body belonged to 23-year-old Amsterdam resident Nabil Amzieb, who was known to the authorities.
