News Headlines - 04 September 2013

▽U.S. resolution on Syria strike passes first hurdle in Senate | Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama's effort to win legislative backing for military strikes against Syria passed its first hurdle on Wednesday when a Senate committee voted in favour, but the narrow margin of victory showed the depth of U.S. caution.

▽BBC News - Brazil's lower house bans secret voting after protests

Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has approved a ban on secret voting in both houses of Congress. The measure, which will now have to be approved by the Senate, had been a key demand by protesters who took to the streets of major cities in June. They said they wanted more transparency to know where their parliamentary representatives stood on key decisions.

▽Only time will tell for Samsung smartwatch - FT.com

Samsung’s launch of its Galaxy Gear smartwatch was trailed as a new beginning for wearable technology after a decade of false starts... Sony has already launched a smartwatch, albeit to mixed reviews, and Apple, Google and LG are all working on devices of their own. Mobile chipmakers such as Qualcomm and Broadcom are championing the technology as the next big thing and venture capitalists are investing tens of millions of dollars in hardware start-ups.

▽BBC Sport - Wayne Rooney posts head injury picture after England criticism

Wayne Rooney has posted a picture of his head injury on Facebook after the striker was questioned over his commitment to the England squad. Rooney suffered the cut via the boot of Manchester United team-mate Phil Jones, forcing him out of England's World Cup qualifiers on Friday and Tuesday.

▽BBC Nature - African fish is fastest-maturing vertebrate

One of the studied species of killifish - Nothobranchius kadleci - started to reproduce at the age of 17 days. Researchers found that some eggs reached hatching stage in 15 days meaning they also have the shortest minimum generation time in vertebrates. The results are published in the open access journal EvoDevo.