As voters elsewhere clock the three Icelandic MPs, they may see a Pirate Party vote less as a political statement, and more as a realistic option.

FORBES: Cutlasses Between Their Teeth, Three Pirate MPs Board Iceland's Parliament

Lady Ashton has tried to propose an alternative to full UN membership: the Vatican option, plus a Quartet statement setting out the terms and timetable for new talks on Palestinian statehood.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

Now, as long as they have a supporting statement from a doctor, people will have the option of marking the gender section of their passports with an 'X', the Associated Press reports.

BBC: In brief: Australia adds a third gender option to passports

Robert Smith (R-NH), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's Strategic Forces Subcommittee, for permission to rescind a statement using the inflated estimate of the costs of the AEGIS Option.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

"I heard talk about establishing a preventative bloc - I want to take this option off the table, " Mr Lapid said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

BBC: Yair Lapid (23 January 2013)

His statement differed from comments by some other Democratic leaders, who call the public option essential for any health care legislation.

CNN: Sources: Obama to address Congress on health care

"The club notes the apology made by Mr Price but given the seriousness of the incident had no option but to apply a life ban, " said a Leicester statement.

BBC: SPORT | Football | Premiership | Walker escapes FA action

"The statement from the Catholic Heads Association sets out what is patently obvious, that the best option is regulation - that is what I have spent my time in office trying to bring about, " she said.

BBC: Principals back selection tests