10 things you need to know right now

Oscar Pistorius is seeking an appeal against his conviction for murdering Reeva Steenkamp. Photo / AP

Your wrap of the world stories that broke overnight.

1. Oscar Pistorius is seeking an appeal against his conviction for murdering Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. His defence lawyers have lodged documents at the Constitutional Court urging a review of his conviction.

2. An aid convoy has entered the besieged town of Madaya in Syria. Trucks carrying food, medicine and hygiene kits will help relieve the suffering of starving people in the town. Medecins Sans Frontierres said a boy and four men died of starvation there on Monday. Convoys have also entered two villages in Syria's north, Fuoh and Kafraya.

3. Giant icebergs greater than 18km in length - although a symbol of global warming - are actually slowing climate change, the Guardian reports. A University of Sheffield study published in Nature Geoscience shows that the nutrient-rich plumes of waters that trail such icebergs are sinking carbon deep into the ocean and trapping millions of tonnes of it each year. Plumes of tiny algae stretch up to 1000km behind the giant icebergs in the Southern Ocean. When the algae fall to the bottom of the ocean carbon dioxide is taken from the surface.

4. Gangs in Cologne have attacked groups of foreigners in the wake of the assaults on women in the city at New Years. A local newspaper, Express, says the attacks have been arranged through Facebook. There were four seperate incidents on Monday. Police said the victims were two Pakistanis, two Syrians and a group of Africans. German authorities say that nearly all suspects in the New Years assaults were "of foreign origin".

5. Spain's Princess Cristina has become the first member of the country's royal family to go on trial. She is charged with being an accomplice in an alleged embezzlement scam involving her husband and 16 other defendants. The Princess, 50, faces eight years in jail if found guilty by a three-member panel of judges.

6. A man suspected of arson and vandalism has sent a selfie to police because he objected to the photo on his arrest warrant, the BBC reports. Fugitive Donald 'Chip' Pugh texted police in Lima, Ohio, a photo of himself and wrote "here is a better photo that one is terrible." He also told an Ohio radio station: "Man, they just did me wrong ... [It] made me look like I was a Thundercat or James Brown on the run."

7. Iran has removed the core of its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor and filled it with cement, the Fars news agency reported. It is a crucial step before sanctions relief can start.

8. Russian police were unamused and are probing a stunt by a group of passengers on the Moscow metro who stripped down to their underwear - beneath warm coats - as part of a worldwide flashmob. Images were posted online as part of the 'No Pants Subway Ride' event. It originated in New York in 2002 but has spread to other cities.

9. An Australian furniture company is recalling one of its dining chairs after claims its design has made people lose parts of their toes. Two people have seperately told Australian media they severed a toe after catching it inside the chair leg. Fantastic Furniture said it had sold about 100,000 metal Worx chairs since August 2014. The BBC reported that customers can either return the chairs or insert a free plug inside the chair which fixes the problem.

10. AFP reports an Indian court in Tamil Nadu has sentenced 35 sailors to five years in jail for illegally entering Indian waters carrying weapons on a US-operated anti-piracy boat in 2013. US maritime security firm AdvanFort which owns the Seaman Guard Ohio vessel denies the charges that it did not have the proper paperwork to carry weapons.