Neymar, Rafinha and Kaka will all be missing for Brazil as they attempt to win a ninth Copa America when the 2016 edition starts this weekend.

Sixteen teams will compete in the 100th anniversary of football's oldest international championship, hosted by the United States for the first time.
Holders Chile start against Argentina, who have Lionel Messi in their squad, on Tuesday, 7 June (03:00 BST).
Colombia beat the United States 2-0 in the first game on Friday evening.
Five-time world champions Brazil, who have not won Copa America since 2007, face Ecuador in their first group game on Sunday (03:00 BST).
Barcelona forward Neymar is not playing as he prepares to represent his country at the Rio Olympics in August.
His club team-mate Rafinha, 23, is ruled out with a muscle injury while fellow midfielder Kaka, 34, is also on the treatment table.
Copa America 2016 fixtures and kick-off times
Juan Carlos Osorio: Coaching Mexico is the toughest job in football
Messi is linking up with 14-time winners Argentina after his court case for alleged tax fraud in Spain while Uruguay, who have won the tournament a record 15 times, hope Luis Suarez will feature despite the former Liverpool player suffering a hamstring injury last month.
The 2016 edition has been expanded by four teams and is being staged outside the South American Football Confederation for the first time.
The final is at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 27 June (01:00 BST).


This evening won't be like any other for Tom Carruthers.

Every year on the 25 August his mind fills up with vivid memories of a night as a teenager which he was lucky to survive.
And memories return of all the friends he lost in a fateful minute and a half.
As a 16-year-old, he joined the Merchant Navy and found himself a place as a deck cadet aboard the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company's ship, the Pecten.
He was among crew in August 1940 when it was part of an Atlantic convoy bringing precious wartime fuel oil from the Caribbean back to Britain.
But engine problems meant it was straggling behind the other vessels as it got close to the west coast of Scotland and that proved to be a fatal situation.
"We managed to keep up with them right across but we lost a bit of speed when we came into The Minch," said Mr Carruthers.
"We were about two miles behind the convoy - so we were a sitting duck."
It was a shot which the U-boat U-57 would not miss.
"The ship just moved sideways - it was funny, there was very little noise," Mr Carruthers recalled.
"Sitting in the saloon you just felt the whole ship move sideways and she got two torpedoes in her.
"You realised you had been hit but you did not know how badly."
However, everyone on board - including the young man from Dumfries and Galloway - realised they needed to act quickly.
"My action station was the bridge and the other boys all headed for the cabins to get the emergency gear they had stowed," he said.
"They just got trapped because she sank so quickly that the water would have come in on them."
The teenager found his path to the bridge blocked by a "wall of fire", so he tried another route.
"I got to the captain's cabin - his last order to me was to cut away the starboard lifeboat," he remembered.
"I tried to cut away the lifeboat but by this time I was up to my knees in water.
"I realised that she was sinking very quickly and my life jacket had got caught."
Only by freeing himself from the jacket was he able to get off the ship and fight his way to the surface of the water.
"I knew I had a chance of being picked up because there was a rescue ship allocated to the convoy," he said.
"Whether I could last long enough before I got picked up I didn't know.
"I became a very good swimmer that night."
He reckons he had to stay afloat about three hours before he was eventually found, picked up and ultimately landed in Belfast.
Records show that he was one of just eight survivors from a crew of 57.
"She sank so quickly and rolled that it put the fire out - I was lucky," he said.
"If it hadn't put the fire out I would have burned.
"I later learned from other ships that they reckon from start to finish - from the time she got hit to the time she disappeared - was a minute and a half."
Mr Carruthers went back to sea just a few months later and several more times during the war before being medically discharged.
He received the Atlantic Star and the 1939 to 1945 Star for his efforts during the conflict.
And now, aged 91 at his home in Carrutherstown, he still remembers the night he was lucky to live through.
"What saved me was doing my duty," he said.
"If I had tried to save myself or save anything from my cabin I would have been a goner.
"My job was on the bridge and I tried to get there and that is what saved me."
His voice cracks a little with emotion, though, when he remembers his friends who were not so lucky.
"I lost every mate," he said. "And I lost a very good captain."


The biblical story of the Good Samaritan came close to reality in Germany last weekend.

A gap-toothed little Syrian boy beamed as he was allowed to try on a Bavarian policeman's hat.
An exhausted man, unshaven for three days, couldn't help wiping a tear from his eye.
A cheerful young man was a picture of good humour, making a heart sign with his hands.
There were heart-warming scenes at Munich's main railway station. People who had spent weeks fleeing were greeted with applause, sweets and soft toys - not by some political activists, but by many ordinary citizens.
Those citizens had set off for the station in Munich and other German cities to demonstrate to the refugees: "You're not lepers, you're welcome - we respect you for what you've had to endure".
There were thousands of small gestures, made possible because Chancellor Angela Merkel had decided on one big gesture: Germany will take in the Syrian refugees who were stranded in Hungary.
The refugees were treated badly in Hungary; in Austria they were waved through - and in Germany they were welcomed.
It was touching and grand - it is historic. Munich is the big German reception centre, the place where refugees get first aid, from the state, from a well-run administration, from a mayor with a heart and from a hospitable civil society.
Such goodwill doesn't solve the many problems faced by the state and society in integrating the refugees.
But it helps to tackle those problems. And perhaps that goodwill is infectious.
Munich was the city of the 1938 Munich Agreement - the Hitler diktat that set in train the destruction and break-up of what World War One had still left intact.
Now in 2015 Munich could establish a new tradition: Munich as the name and symbol of protection and help.
The Prime Minister of Upper Bavaria, Christoph Hillenbrand, said a really remarkable thing at the weekend - so different from what one expects a German official to say: "Legal issues right now are not so important to me."
Above all, for the man responsible for receiving refugees in the greater Munich area, it is a question of "humanitarian management".
The official is picking up on the new line of Chancellor Merkel. Rules and instructions, Mrs Merkel says, are not as important right now as flexibility and first aid. The concern of quite a few European politicians that this help will attract more refugees is disgraceful, she argues.
Germany is establishing an alternative to the policy of deterring refugees.
EU migration: Crisis in graphics
Hungary border echoes of 1989 and 1956
Why Germany needs migrants more than UK
How can EU resolve migrant crisis?
What's happened? Are we witnessing a miracle? Has Germany overnight become a paradise of charity? We should not exaggerate. German society, like in Europe as a whole, is torn between a willingness to help, a sense of helplessness, defensiveness and incitement.
Germany has an increasingly toxic anti-immigrant scene - their messages are marked by brazenness, death threats and incendiary language.
The threats are directed at refugees - "We'll burn you" - but recently they have also targeted politicians who stand up for refugees.
Two weeks ago Mrs Merkel visited a migrant hostel in Heidenau, in the former East Germany, and got a sense of the hatred poured out by anti-immigrant activists. Her decision to accept refugees has to be seen in that light. She wanted to send a signal: Germany is no hotbed of neo-Nazis; Germany delivers help; Germany sets a good example for Europe.
Germany has two societies: one is enlightened, open, knowing that a good future depends on inclusion, and on making the four million Muslims living in Germany really feel at home. This generous society also knows that Europe cannot cut itself off and that a fortress Europe is absurd in a globalised world. Mrs Merkel is now in the vanguard of that civil society.
But alongside it is a second society, uncivil, noisy, hostile to foreigners, displayed in the so-called Pegida rallies in recent months.
Pegida is short for Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West. It gathers up grievances extending from the extreme right far into mainstream, middle-class Germany. But the many attacks on migrant hostels (almost 300 this year) have discredited the movement.
The big welcome for refugees in Germany is a reaction by bright, friendly Germany against dark, anti-foreigner Germany. But bright Germany has not yet won a final victory.
In the past decades Germany has become a multi-faith, multicultural country.
In 1950 Protestants and Catholics accounted for 96% of the population in both Germanies - east and west. Just 4% were either non-Christian or non-religious.
Today the picture looks substantially different: about 60% are Protestant or Catholic, 30% are non-religious and 10% belong to other faiths. Half of the latter are Muslims. The Jewish community is 100,000 strong.
Germany has become a colourful country, a migrant destination - yet Mrs Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc for a long time resisted that. The battle is over and the reception of the refugees is meant to show that - it's a new Germany now. Still the CSU in Bavaria is resisting a bit, because it doesn't want to lose some right-wing voters.
The acceptance of refugees, through the chancellor's policy decision, was first a message to her own party, second a message to German society and third, to the other EU member states.
To her party it means: gone are the days when the CDU strongly opposed immigration. To enlightened civil society the message is: I am with you, I respect fundamental human rights and stand up for them courageously. To the EU the message is: Germany is setting an example, Germany is helping, and hopes that you follow this example.
It is also an attempt to overcome the inertia in European asylum policy and to tackle a problem that will be with us for a century.
Mrs Merkel is showing leadership. She was cursed over her policy on Greece, accused of a lack of pity, especially in southern Europe. Now Germany's policy on refugees is contrasting with that.
The current welcoming policy will not lead to a German open-door policy. Soon there will be curbs again on the acceptance of refugees. The big, sudden welcome was an exception for an exceptional situation. But it was an historic decision.
It recalls a phrase from the White Rose leaflets, put out by a group that resisted Hitler in Munich: "If everyone waits for somebody else to begin, then nobody will begin!" That phrase comes from a bitter period - but it doesn't just belong in the museum of anti-Hitler resistance. Everyone must ponder for themselves today what that means, and what duty that points to. That goes for the EU heads of state and government, too.
Prof Heribert Prantl is a senior editor at German news daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, based in Munich.


So far, the GCSE exams in England and in Northern Ireland have kept pace.

However, from this year they will diverge dramatically, and may even have different names.
Knowing that Education Secretary Michael Gove was about to radically revamp GCSEs, Northern Ireland's exams body, the CCEA, followed one of his reforms.
It is offering, for the first time in many years, additional marks for punctuation, spelling and use of grammar in a select number of subjects namely English literature, history, geography and religion.
There the similarities end, at least for the time being.
The next GCSE exams in England will scrap the modules which allow pupils to be examined in chunks.
The August 2013 results are the final ones in England to reflect modular testing.
Pupils who choose an English exam board in 2014 will only be tested at the end of their studies in system called a linear GCSE.
In Northern Ireland, however, the pupils using the local exam board, the CCEA, will continue to choose either modular or linear.
August will also see the publication of the first results of new, tougher, English exams in the sciences.
In Northern Ireland, 72% of exams are taken with the local exams' board, the CCEA.
However, the start of a whole programme of changes in England will prompt many of them to reconsider whether they continue to use non-Northern Ireland exam boards.
Some schools believe the modular style suits their pupils better and may abandon the English boards to give CCEA their custom.
The current, and proposed, changes have meant the CCEA ceasing to sell its exams in England, because the modular GCSEs it offers in Northern Ireland will not be permitted in England and it would not be cost-effective to offer two different styles of exam.
In the future, Northern Ireland's system may also change but the education minister has already said he will not move to a completely linear structure, which has one exam at the end of the course, instead of a series of tests over two years.
A consultation ordered by Education Minister John O'Dowd ended in May and he is still considering the future of GCSEs in Northern Ireland.
Wales and Northern Ireland have both resisted Michael Gove's total reforms.
They have complained about his cavalier attitude to making changes without reference to the other two regions which share the name of the GCSE exam.


A pregnant woman and her one-year-old child have been rescued from a car that became stuck in floodwater in Essex.

The vehicle got stuck in 4ft (1.2m) water in Buttsbury Wash near Ingatestone at about 19:15 GMT on Sunday.
Fire crews had to smash both the rear and passenger windows to get the trapped pair out of the car.
Essex Fire Service's specialist water rescue team rescued them just before 19:40 GMT.


A total of 58 people are dead or missing, presumed dead, following the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in west London, police have said.

Commander Stuart Cundy said that number "may increase". The BBC understands it could be about 70 people in total.
The recovery operation at the burnt-out block of flats has resumed and could take weeks, he said.
Meanwhile, PM Theresa May admitted support for families in the "initial hours" was "not good enough".
The statement came after Mrs May met volunteers and some of the people made homeless by the fire.
As they left Number 10, one representative spoke to reporters briefly, saying they would not make a full statement yet.
"We will be making this in the community, with the community," he said.
"We have had two-and-a-half hours with the prime minister in the last 48 hours and spoke about demands and what we expect."
Council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown said "lessons must be learned", adding that he was "heartbroken by the tragic fire and the appalling loss of life"
Earlier, residents caught up in the fire condemned the relief effort as "absolute chaos".
In her statement, Mrs May said: "Frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough."
She said phone lines would be better staffed and more staff would be deployed in the area.
They would wear high-visibility clothing so they could easily be found, dispense advice and ensure the right support is provided, she added.
Mrs May said she expected to announce the name of the judge for a public inquiry within the next few days. The inquiry will report back to the prime minister.
She has told councils to complete urgent safety checks on similar tower blocks.
Mr Paget-Brown said: "Kensington and Chelsea council is working closely with the government, charities, volunteer and resident groups and the emergency services to help re-house and assist all those affected," he said.
"Of course, people rightly have questions about the causes of the fire and why it spread so quickly and these will be answered."
Commander Cundy appealed for anyone who managed to escape from the building to let authorities know they were safe.
Pictures and footage showing the inside of the tower would be released on Sunday to help people understand why the search was taking so long, he said.
The search of the building was briefly stalled for safety reasons but resumed on Saturday.
"As soon as we can, we will locate and recover loved ones," he said.
In her official birthday message, the Queen reflected on the "sombre national mood" following tragedies in London and Manchester in recent weeks.
She said, in an unprecedented statement, that she had been "profoundly struck by the immediate inclination of people throughout the country to offer comfort and support to those in desperate need".
"Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity," she said.
In other developments:
Mrs May has come in for a barrage of criticism over her response to the disaster, including being jeered when she visited the North Kensington estate on Friday.
On Saturday afternoon, hundreds of protesters gathered in Whitehall, to call for her resignation.
First Secretary of State Damian Green has defended the prime minister, saying she was as "distraught as we all are".
The government has committed Â£5m for clothes, food and emergency supplies for the victims.
The BBC's Matthew Price said senior members of the residents' association described an "absolute chaos" of "no organisation" from officials.
Some residents said they no longer wanted Kensington and Chelsea council to be involved in any way.
He added: "They do not believe they are capable of managing the response. Such is the total and utter lack of trust."
Reverend Mike Long, from Notting Hill Methodist Church, said people in the community were angry and bewildered, and had lots of questions.
"They feel they're not being listened to and what they have been saying has not been listened to, and they don't know how to be able to express those things at the moment," he told BBC Radio 4's Today.
So far in the investigation:
The fire broke out at the 24-storey block, which contained 120 one and two-bedroom flats, shortly before 01:00 BST on Wednesday.
It tore through all floors of the building and took more than 200 firefighters 24 hours to bring under control.
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Welsh Labour has launched its assembly election manifesto with a "plan for prosperity" the party says will "get the country moving".

This includes a "development bank" to support small businesses and a promise to bring fast broadband to everyone.
Leader Carwyn Jones said it was "an ambitious plan ... focused on the economy, growth and fairness".
He said the aim was "to build economic growth and security for everyone in Wales".
"Over the last few years the Welsh economy has punched above its weight with high profile inward investments coming through Aston Martin and TVR," Mr Jones said on Tuesday, launching the manifesto at a college in the south Wales valleys.
"Our manifesto today seeks to build on those firm foundations with big and bold new ideas such as a new development bank for Wales and tax cuts for all small businesses to help boost economic growth even further in the years to come."
Details: What is in the Welsh Labour manifesto?
Mr Jones added: "Today is about taking our country forward. We ask the people of Wales to join us once again on that journey."
The focus on the economy comes after he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph there was more he could do to "whip government into shape" in how it helps businesses.
Welsh Labour was left feeling shocked and bruised by 2015's general election result and the party says it's been in listening mode ever since.
It's been all over the country asking people what they want from Labour.
The product of that consultation is this manifesto.
There are plenty of attractive promises, such as increased free childcare, more apprenticeships and an extension of its school-building programme.
But perhaps the more interesting aspect is what's not in the manifesto.
While it commits the party to an M4 relief road, it doesn't give a specific route.
And there's a promise to cut the number of councils, but we're not told how many there will be.
So Labour is keeping its options open on some controversial topics, perhaps with an eye on post-election discussions with other parties.


Great Britain's Para-rowers won gold and three silvers on day five of the World Rowing Championships in France.

The mixed four of Grace Clough, Dan Brown, Pamela Relph, James Fox and cox Oliver James defended their title but were pushed all the way by the US.
Rachel Morris took silver in the single scull with Tom Aggar second in the men's event.
The mixed double scull team of Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley also won silver.
All four boats had already secured their places at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.


The 58th Grammy Awards have been held in Los Angeles, with Taylor Swift winning the top prize of album of the year.

Here are some of the highlights of the ceremony, held at the Staples Center.


A West Midlands prison is being recategorised to hold more prisoners who will be allowed into the community on temporary licences.

The Prison Service has said 256 places at HMP Featherstone, near Wolverhampton will be changed.
The category C spaces will make way for category D prisoners who are eligible for release on temporary licences.
They will include those sentenced to life with a minimum tariff but not sex offenders under current plans.
Some of the prisoners moving to the new category D places are being held in higher-security conditions than they require and moving them will help cut costs, the Prison Service said.
No significant reductions of staff are expected, but "any limited reductions" will come from natural wastage and redeployment or, if necessary, voluntary exits, a spokeswoman added.
In changes to be completed early in the next financial year, Featherstone jail will offer 256 category D places, increasing its operational capacity by 16 to 703, as it will continue to have 447 category C spaces.
Category C inmates are those who cannot be trusted in an open prison but are unlikely to try to escape, while those assessed as category D present a low risk and are unlikely to escape.
The changes will affect indeterminate sentenced prisoners, set a minimum term they must serve before being considered for parole.
Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt said: "The prison estate should meet the needs of the prison population.
"Where prisoners have been assessed as suitable for open conditions, wherever possible they should be accommodated in appropriate conditions to progress their reintegration into the community."
The G4S-run Oakwood prison, near to Featherstone, opened in April and can hold 1,605 category C prisoners.


Darren Clarke carded three double-bogeys in a disappointing final round at the Thailand Golf Championship.

The European Ryder Cup captain from Dungannon also had a a bogey and four birdies as he finished with a three-over-par 75 in the Asian Tour event.
Clarke was joint 30th on four under and 17 shots behind winner Jamie Donaldson.
The Welshman, who started the day two shots behind overnight leader Clement Sordet, shot a 65 to win by three strokes from Lee Westwood.
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Manchester United are to play in Dublin against Italian side Sampdoria in a pre-season match in August.

The match against Italians - who finished 10th in Serie A - is to take place at the Aviva Stadium on 2 August.
Jose Mourinho's side play Ajax of the Netherlands in the Europa League final on Wednesday, having finished sixth in the Premier League.
Victory in Stockholm would see United secure a place in next season's Champions League.
United will come to Ireland after a five-match tour in the United States, and 10 days before the start of the Premier League season.
They last played in Dublin in 2010.
Former Republic of Ireland star Liam Brady, who played for Sampdoria from 1982 to 1984, predicted a capacity crowd at the 51,000-seater stadium.
"This will be a full house. It is going to be great for Sampdoria to come here," he said.
"There is a lot of history to Sampdoria - they are one of Italy's favourite teams."


People on a housing estate in Luton have launched their own "police" patrols following a serious sex attack.

Victor Evelyn, from the Non-Violence Alliance, said it had helped to set up a "protective net" to make people feel safer on Marsh Farm.
Bedfordshire Police said it was investigating the assault on the woman, in the early hours of 7 February.
Insp Bernadette White said officers were "fully supportive" of the alliance.
As well as patrolling the estate, the group, which was set up in 2008 to campaign for safer streets, has a phone number available for "vulnerable" residents.
They can request lifts or ask for someone to accompany them home at night.
Mr Evelyn said it had taken action as it would be "waiting months" for police to do it.
"We are doing a reactionary response to create a protective net over Marsh Farm to make sure people are feeling safer straight away," he said.
"We are not vigilantes, we don't hunt people to try and beat them down or anything like that.
"We can police it ourselves without doing the violence."
Bedfordshire Police, which has safer neighbourhood teams based on the estate, said it had already been working with the group and had stepped up its patrols of the area since the attack.
Ms White said police were "working hard" to find the perpetrator of the attack and would meet the group at the weekend.
"We have a dedicated team of officers... following up several lines of inquiries," she said.
"We have also had officers carrying out additional patrols in the area to provide reassurance to the community and to help prevent further such incidents."


Politically-charged speeches were the order of the day at this year's Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, with many attendees choosing to speak out against President Trump's controversial immigration ban.

Yet that wasn't the only talking point at the Los Angeles ceremony, which also saw some more light-hearted moments, the odd surprise - and more than one fashion catastrophe.
Here are seven things that grabbed our attention.
The Oscar-winning star of Moulin Rouge turned heads on the red carpet by wearing two of them on her shoulders.
The Australian actress - who was up for an award for her work in Lion - frocked up in a green Gucci gown adorned with feathered parrot heads.
The dress saw her crowned by some media as the worst-dressed star at the event and quickly had people squawking in the Twittersphere.
"Every night in America should end with Nicole Kidman in a bird dress," wrote Vanity Fair columnist Richard Lawson.
Will someone try to top her bold fashion choice at Hollywood's next awards bash? After all, toucan play at that game.
Stranger Things actor David Harbour gave an impassioned speech when the show won its best ensemble award, calling on his fellow "craftsmen and women" to "battle against fear, self-centredness and exclusivity".
But his thunder was stolen somewhat by the facial expressions sported by his co-star Winona Ryder as she stood beside him.
Initially surprised at the weight of her prize statuette, the 45-year-old went on to emote delight, amazement and confusion before raising her fist in what appeared to be a mock salute.
"Next time Trump gives a speech, make Winona Ryder stand next to him and translate for all of us through her facial expressions," wrote the TV critic Emily Nussbaum.
Stranger Things's success came at the expense of another highly regarded sci-fi show that had also begun the evening with three nominations.
The TV makeover of Michael Crichton's Westworld ended up a bridesmaid though, missing out in all three categories in which it was shortlisted.
As well as missing out on the outstanding ensemble in a drama series prize, the show was also pipped to a stuntwork prize by Game of Thrones.
Thandie Newton, meanwhile, had to applaud politely when fellow Brit Claire Foy received the best actress in a drama series award.
But the 44-year-old made light of being passed over, posting a humorous picture on Twitter of herself necking a bottle of champagne.
Even William H Macy was surprised when he beat Transparent's Jeffrey Tambor to the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series.
"I'm shocked," the Shameless star told the audience. "I'm probably not as shocked as Jeffrey, but I'm pretty shocked."
Macy went on to "thank President Trump for making Frank Gallagher" - the debauched single father he plays in the Showtime TV series - "seem so normal".
Felicity Huffman, Macy's actress wife, tweeted a picture of her own delight at her husband's third SAG win.
Meryl Streep got a shout-out on Sunday from The Crown award-winner John Lithgow, who dedicated part of his acceptance speech to praise her for her much-publicised Trump tirade at the Golden Globes.
"I would like to honour... a great and underrated actress who somehow managed to speak my exact thoughts three weeks ago at another awards ceremony, and that's Meryl Streep," said the 71-year-old.
Streep - who was up for the best actress prize for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins - got additional love after photos were taken of her reaching over to straighten Ryan Gosling's dickie bow.
"Having Miranda Priestly voluntarily fix your outfit is the equivalent of being touched by an angel," gushed In Style's Olivia Bahou - a reference to Streep's magazine editor role in The Devil Wears Prada.
Manchester by the Sea - a cheery tale about a janitor coping with a series of tragic bereavements - had gone into Sunday's awards with the most nominations - four in all.
Yet Kenneth Lonergan's film went away empty-handed when Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges and Michelle Williams were all beaten in their respective awards categories.
The film also missed out on the outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture prize - the SAG equivalent of a best picture award.
Affleck's failure to win the best actor award - a prize won by Denzel Washington instead - was one of the bigger upsets of the night.
Not everyone was sad to see Ben Affleck's little brother miss out for once following a string of successes at other awards ceremonies. though: "Denzel winning over Casey Affleck at the SAG Awards is the best thing I've heard today," wrote one Twitter user.
Veteran actress Lily Tomlin made a topical reference to "alternative facts" - a phrase that has become common usage since its coinage by top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway - as she collected a lifetime achievement award on Sunday.
"Did you hear the Doomsday Clock has been moved up to two-and-a-half minutes before midnight?" she told a whooping audience at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium.
"This award came just in the nick of time."
The 77-year-old went on to offer such safe words of actorly advice as "don't be anxious about missing an opportunity" and "don't leave the house when you're drunk".
"Live your life so that when you are being honoured for your achievements, the people called upon to make laudatory remarks can feel reasonably honest about their comments,'' she went on.
"Otherwise, in these times, all their words or phrases might be perceived as alternative facts - or worse yet, fake news.''
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France has been marking the centenary of the Battle of Verdun - one of the most savagely fought and highest casualty battles of World War One.

About 300 people in period costume gathered at dawn at the site to march down the narrow lane where the fighting began exactly 100 years ago.
The battle lasted 300 days and left an estimated 800,000 soldiers dead, wounded or missing.
The Germans fired two million shells in the opening eight-hour bombardment.
About 30 million shells are estimated to have been fired over the course of the conflict in north-east France.
Schoolchildren from both Germany and France are attending the commemorations. With all those who took part in the battle now dead, the focus of the commemorations is now on educating the young.
"It was here, 100 years ago, that the first shells fell," said one of the actors taking part in the re-enactment of the opening of the battle, alongside the the sound of accompanying explosions.
The Verdun Memorial has been renovated for the centenary.
The aim of the German offensive, according to commander-in-chief Erich von Falkenhayn, was to "bleed France dry".
The ensuing carnage was waged over a tiny stretch of  land and ended with neither side making any significant headway.
Around 300,000 French and German soldiers died in the 10-month battle which became known as the "hell of Verdun".
The battle is also remembered for French General Robert Nivelle's stirring phrase, "On ne passe pas" ("They shall not pass") - words which came to exemplify French resistance to Germany.
Such was the trauma of the battle that it was not until 1984 that the governments of France and Germany could contemplate joint commemorations.
What caused Verdun to be the longest battle of WW1?


CCTV images of two men have been published after another man was assaulted at Haymarket station on the day of the Scottish Cup final.

British Transport Police (BTP) believe the men may have information about the attack on the 37-year-old.
He was treated in hospital for a head injury after the assault on platform three at about 21:45 on 21 May.
Earlier that day there were violent scenes at Hampden when fans spilled onto the pitch after Hibs beat Rangers.
One of the men captured on the cameras at Haymarket appears to have been wearing a green and white scarf.
The BTP said he was thin, with short blond hair and facial fair. He was wearing a white T-shirt, a black shirt, blue jeans and black shoes.
The second man was about 6ft tall, of heavy build, with short blond or red hair, and facial hair. He was wearing a black turtle neck top, grey dress trousers and black shoes.


New Zealand's shock 47-run victory over tournament favourites India in the opening match of the World Twenty20 Super 10s has sparked off a social media war.

Irate Indians have been battling it out with mocking cricket fans from other countries, most notably Pakistan.
The hashtag #IndvsNZ, which was trending on Twitter during the game, quickly turned into a battleground.
India were bowled out for 79 in pursuit of 127 on a slow surface in Nagpur.
India's poor performance initially led to much agony and hand wringing on Twitter by disappointed fans.
Some even tried to be sporting about it:
But that didn't help to stop the mockery, some of which came from Indians, but most from gloating Pakistan fans.
This predictably led to a slanging match on the social media platform:
All the heartburn and anger overshadowed the performance of the Indian women's cricket team which convincingly beat Bangladesh in their own game.
And it has also set the mood for India's high stakes encounter against Pakistan, which will take place in Kolkata (Calcutta) on Saturday.


Romelu Lukaku is set to have a medical with Manchester United after they agreed to pay Everton an initial £75m for the Belgium striker.

The deal for the 24-year-old, initially reported by BBC Sport on Thursday, is believed to include £15m in add-ons.
United said they were "delighted" to agree a deal, and the move was "subject to a medical and personal terms".
Chelsea had matched the Red Devils' bid, but appear set to miss out on re-signing their former player.
The Blues were not willing to match the fees Lukaku's agent, Mino Raiola, would earn if the forward moved to Old Trafford.
"A further announcement will be made in due course," United added.
Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho was manager of Chelsea when they sold Lukaku to Everton for £28m in July 2014.
The Belgian scored 25 Premier League goals last season, and United have been chasing him for most of the summer.
They are keen to conclude a deal before they depart for a pre-season tour to the United States on Sunday.
Lukaku is already in the US, where he and United midfielder Paul Pogba have been spending time and training together, with Pogba posting updates on his Instagram page.
Wayne Rooney is not expected to be part of United's squad for the trip as he looks set to return to Everton on a free transfer. The two deals are not connected.
Lukaku was 18 when he signed for Chelsea from Anderlecht in August 2011 for a fee reported to be about £20m.
He made just one Premier League start for the club and spent time on loan at West Bromwich Albion and Everton before sealing a permanent move to Goodison Park.
Lukaku turned down the most lucrative contract offer in Everton's history in March, thought to be worth £140,000 a week, and later said: "I don't want to stay at the same level. I want to improve and I know where I want to do that."
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Mourinho on Lukaku expressing surprise he was released by Chelsea to join Everton on loan in 2013:
"Romelu likes to speak. He's a young boy who likes to speak. But the only thing he didn't say is why he went to Everton on loan. That's the only thing he never says. And my last contact with him was to tell him exactly that - 'why do you never say why you are not here?'"
Lukaku on Mourinho in December 2015:
"Everyone says it is Mourinho's fault but it is not his fault because I made the decision [to leave Chelsea]. I went to his office to ask if I could go.
"I signed the deal with Everton at 11 o'clock and the first text message I got on my old BlackBerry was from Mourinho saying: 'Good luck, do your best and I will see you next season.'
Mourinho on selling Lukaku to Everton:
"Romelu was always very clear with us with his mentality and his approach was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation with Chelsea.
"He wanted to play for Chelsea but he clearly wanted to be first-choice striker - but for a club of our dimension it is very difficult to promise to a player."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


An American man, believed to be fighting alongside Islamist militants in Syria, has been killed, the White House has confirmed.

A cousin of Douglas McAuthur McCain told the BBC the US government had called his mother to confirm his death.
McCain was found dead by Free Syrian Army fighters after a battle at the weekend, according to NBC.
The US government believes a small number of Americans have travelled to Syria to fight for extremist groups.
Senior US officials told broadcaster CNN McCain was fighting for Islamic State (IS), which now controls large areas of Iraq and Syria.
"My family is accepting the confirmation that was given to us by the government," his cousin Jocelyn Smith told the BBC. "I am really shocked."
Ms Smith said the family had not been surprised when McCain converted to Islam a decade ago, but had no idea he had travelled to Syria or was potentially fighting for militants there.
"He was a beautiful person and whatever thoughts that were going on that made him make this decision were not out of hate," she said.
"I thought he was in Turkey and why he was in Turkey was unclear to us."
McCain was born in the US state of Minnesota and had moved to California with family, she added.
Americans killed fighting in Syria
Hundreds of foreign fighters have gone to Syria in recent years. Two of them, Nicole Lynn Mansfield and Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, 22 have died in the conflict.
Mansfield, 33, was a Muslim convert. She died in May 2013, apparently while trying to attack Syrian government forces.
Salha, who is originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, died in an explosion on 25 May during an attack on the Syrian army.
He had joined a rebel group, Nusra Front, and became the first American suicide bomber in the Syria conflict.
Western officials have warned of foreign fighters returning to the US and Europe after receiving training in Syria.
"We were aware of US citizen Douglas McAuthur McCain's presence in Syria and can confirm his death," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement.
"We continue to use every tool we possess to disrupt and dissuade individuals from traveling abroad for violent jihad and to track and engage those who return."
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby told the BBC's Katty Kay the death "brings home one of the real threats here about [IS] and why we think about them in an imminent way".
The US ordered air strikes against IS in Iraq and Mr Obama has called the militant group a "cancer".
After the killing of journalist James Foley by the group, they are demanding more than $6m (Â£3.6m) for the ransom of a female foreign aid worker, US media report.
The 26-year old woman was working for a number of humanitarian organisations in Syria when she was kidnapped last year.
The US government and the woman's family have requested she not be named because of fears for her safety.
The woman is one of at least three known hostages currently held by IS militants.
Another is the US journalist, Steven Sotloff, who was seen alive at the end of the footage that showed James Foley's execution.
The militants have also demanded the release of the Pakistani neuroscientist, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is being held in a Texan jail after she was convicted in 2010 of planning to attack US officials.


Police are attempting to trace two children who have been missing from the Irvine area of North Ayrshire.

Willie Boy O'Neill, three, and Tojo O'Neill, two, formerly of Caldon Road, were last seen on 3 August.
They are believed to be in the company of their parents, Claire Watson, 32 and 39-year-old Robert O'Neill (39).
The children were reported missing after council officials became concerned for their welfare after failing to contact the family.
Willie Boy is described as being of slim build with fair hair, whilst Tojo is stocky with fair hair.
Since being reported missing to police last week, officers have made extensive inquiries in England - where there are family connections - to trace the family.
So far, there have been no positive sightings of the children, except for the whole family being seen together within the Rivergate Shopping Centre in Irvine at 14:45 on Sunday 3 August.
Police have appealed for anyone with information about the children's whereabouts to contact them urgently.


A 55-year-old motorcyclist from Greater Manchester has been killed in a crash involving a car on the Isle of Man.

Police said the Bolton man was riding a BMW motorbike when it collided with a Citroen car driven by a local man on Hailwood's Rise on the (A18) Mountain Road at 06:45 BST.
The rider was treated at the scene but was pronounced dead on arrival at Noble's Hospital.
Both vehicles were travelling in the direction of Douglas.
Insp Dave Dobbie said it was a "very sad outcome".
Police closed the road for four hours following the crash and are appealing for witnesses.


A school went into "lockdown" when travellers with up to 30 caravans moved onto its playing field while pupils were in their lessons.

They parked up at Hazelwick School in Crawley, West Sussex, after a padlock securing the grounds was cut open.
GCSE exams had to be moved, pupils were kept in their classrooms during breaks, and they had to travel in groups to go to the toilet.
Sussex Police arrived at 11:00 BST and served a notice to leave.
The travellers initially pulled up on a verge close to the 1,800-pupil school, but quickly moved on to the playing field.
They set up pens for their horses and more travellers arrived.
The school confirmed it went into "lockdown" over concerns for pupils' safety, and students sitting PE and Latin GCSE exams had to be moved into another hall.
Head teacher Ann Fearon said: "I am angered and frustrated by this.
"There is no getting away from the fact it's been an extremely difficult day, and having that number of people illegally on your grounds is very annoying and worrying."
At 15:00 police formally gave the group an hour to leave, but anticipated it would take longer to move them on.
A West Sussex County Council spokesman confirmed 22 caravans initially parked up on the site "having forced entry on to the school field by cutting a padlock".
The travellers were making their way out by 18:30.
One traveller, who did not wish to be named, said they did not know the land was school property - and are now heading to Scotland.
They are believed to be the same group who set up camp in the town's Manor Royal area and left after being given notice to quit by the landowner, police and the local authority.


Mae Ofcom, y corff sy'n cadw golwg ar ddarlledu, wedi gwahodd cynigion ar gyfer lansio gorsafoedd teledu lleol ym Mangor a'r Wyddgrug.

Dywedodd Ofcom eu bod wedi ailhysbysebu'r drwydded ar gyfer teledu lleol yn Abertawe am nad oedd ymgeisydd yn ystod rownd gyntaf y broses drwyddedu.
Y llynedd Made TV oedd y cynigydd llwyddiannus i redeg yr orsaf leol yng Nghaerdydd.
Mae Llywodraeth y DU wedi dweud bod 'na alw am fwy o raglenni lleol ar wahân i'r rheiny sy'n cael eu cynnig gan y BBC a darlledwyr masnachol.
Cafodd Bangor a'r Wyddgrug eu cynnwys ar restr lleoliadau posib ar gyfer teledu lleol gafodd ei chyhoeddi gan Yr Adran dros Ddiwylliant, y Cyfryngau a Chwaraeon  yn 2011.
Ond nid oedden nhw ymysg y lleoliadau gafodd eu hysbysebu ar gyfer rownd gyntaf trwyddedu.
Ddydd Mercher fe wnaeth Ofcom wahodd cynigion i ddarparu gwasanaethau teledu lleol mewn 30 ardal yn y DU cyn yr ail rownd o drwyddedu gael eu cyhoeddi yn ddiweddarach eleni.
Y diwrnod cau ar gyfer y cynigion yw Ebrill 24.
Yn gynharach ym mis Mawrth cyhoeddodd Ofcom eu bod wedi dyfarnu 19 trwydded ar gyfer ardaloedd gafodd eu hysbysebu yn y rownd gyntaf.
Y gobaith yw i rai sianelu a enillodd y trwyddedau hyn ddarlledu cyn diwedd 2013.


Next month in Bradford, 800 children will attempt to break the world record for Tamboo Bamboo, as part of the third annual BBC Music Day.

If you haven't heard of it before, Tamboo Bamboo originates from the carnival traditions of the Caribbean, and involves hammering carved sticks on the ground to create complex rhythms.
It originally emerged in Trinidad, after skinned drums were banned by the British government in 1884. The word Tamboo comes from the French word Tambour, which itself means drum.
Trinidad began holding carnivals in the late 1700s when French planters arrived, and their slaves formed their own festival, fuelled by drum music.
After emancipation in 1834, the celebrations became noisier and more colourful, but disturbances led the government to clamp down on the use of sticks and drums.
In 1934 the Tamboo Bamboo was banned too, after the instruments were sharpened to a vicious point and used as weapons between rival gangs.
Musicians adopted the Steel Drum as a replacement, but the Bamboo tradition has recently re-emerged as a simple way of introducing children to music.
Sadly, it has nothing to do with pandas.
The world record attempt will take place in Bradford's City Park on BBC Music Day, which takes place on Thursday, 15 June.
Schoolchildren in Portsmouth will also gather to create a new drumming world record - and both attempts will be covered on CBBC.
BBC Music Day, which was established in 2015, is a celebration of music that "aims to unite communities and generations".
The line-up for this year's event has just been announced and includes:
In addition, Radio 2 will broadcast a series called Songs my Sons Loved, in which the mothers of four soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will remember their sons through the music they loved.
Presented by Jeremy Vine, the documentaries will be broadcast daily in the week commencing 12 June.
BBC Music Day was originally scheduled for 9 June, 2017, but the day was changed to accommodate the UK's General Election. Some events, especially ticketed ones, will still take place on the first date.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


A mother from Swansea has made an emotional plea for motorists not to drink and drive after her son died in the run up to Christmas.

Arran Coen, 25, had 102 milligrams of alcohol in his blood when his car crashed on the M4 near Swansea last November.
The legal drink-drive limit is 80.
His mother Angela Coen, who was making Christmas cards with her grandchildren when police told her he had died, said the grief was "horrendous".
"Our lives have never been the same without him," she said.
Ms Coen made the appeal as police forces launched a Wales-wide crackdown on Thursday in Merthyr Tydfil ahead of the Christmas party season.
Drivers will be breathalysed and also checked for drugs during the month-long campaign after a change to the law last spring.
More than 500 drivers failed drink driving tests during last year's clampdown, with almost 100 more drivers arrested for getting behind the wheel after taking drugs.
Ms Coen described how she went for a meal with her son on the night of the crash and even put money in his bank account so he could get a taxi to a friend's house - but he used it for petrol to drive instead.
He had drunk two and a half pints and looked sober so must have thought he was not over the limit, she said.
"If I could go back to that night and knew that he was going to get in that car I would have physically had my partner knock him out and drag him in the house, and I would have tied him to something rather than let him go," she told BBC Wales.
"But he made me a promise he wasn't driving."
The former Gowerton School pupil and aspiring fashion designer was hit by a dumbell in the back of the head, which a coroner said may have contributed to his death.
Ms Coen wants to see the law changed so there is a zero tolerance approach to drinking any alcohol and getting behind the wheel.
"He had everything in this world to live for, he had never been so happy in his life and he died on the Saturday, all for the sake of what was the equivalent of half a lager," she added.
Ms Coen said the impact on the family was "devastating", she lost more than five stone, had two nervous breakdowns and has considered taking her own life since his death.
Assistant Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan, of South Wales Police, said forces would take a zero tolerance approach to those who break the law.
"As Christmas is all about spending time with friends and family, our campaign focuses on showing the true impact either committing or falling victim to this crime can have on the communities of Wales," he said.
"Since the improvements of roadside testing for alcohol and drugs, there is nowhere to hide for those that break the law."
Susan Storch, chairwoman of Road Safety Wales, said the majority of drivers had taken the "don't drink and drive" message to heart following last year's campaign.
During last year's campaign, South Wales Police topped the table for failed drink-drive tests, with 205 motorists out of 4,409 stopped over the legal limit - a 4.6% fail rate.
In the Gwent force area, police stopped just over 1,100 drivers, with 47 arrests - a rate of 4.2%
North Wales Police stopped the most drivers - 8,894 - but had the lowest drink-drive rate in Wales, with 82 over the limit - less than 1%.
The force also revealed it had randomly tested its own officers for drink and drugs, with all tests coming back negative.
A further 8,400 motorists were checked by Dyfed-Powys Police, with 164 fails - just under 2%.


For four years and five months, she clung to the rock and guarded her eggs.

In a feat that surely made good use of all eight arms, an octopus revealed a new secret of deep sea life when ecologists observed her record-breaking behaviour from a robotic submarine.
This doubles the longest brooding time ever seen in the animal kingdom, giving embryos time to develop in the cold.
The discovery, published in the journal PLOS One, was made in a canyon 1.4km beneath the Pacific, off California.
Dr Bruce Robison led the research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). He told BBC News his team had stumbled upon the plucky mother in the days before she settled down and glued her eggs to the rock face.
She was heading, slowly, for a known brooding site.
By looking at characteristic scars in one of her eight armpits, the team identified the same octopus on the next dive, one month later.
"The first time that we dropped back down... and realised that she had gone up and laid a clutch of eggs, it was very exciting," Dr Robison said. "We knew that we had the beginning."
"No-one had ever had the good fortune to come upon the beginning of a brooding period."
That was May 2007 - Tony Blair was still in office and the world had only seen two Shrek movies.
For the next four and a half years, the team paid the devoted cephalopod 18 more visits, thanks to multimillion-dollar remote diving vehicles equipped with cameras, robotic arms, and laser lights to make physical measurements.
"Each time we went down it was more of a surprise," Dr Robison said, "because we found her there again and again and again, past the point that anybody expected she'd persist.
"It got to be like a sports team we were rooting for. We wanted her to survive and to succeed."
Octopus and eggs were all still firmly in place in September 2011. By October, the same month that David Cameron urged his government to support same sex marriage and the first Puss in Boots spin-off landed, she had disappeared.
Empty egg cases littered the scene of her encampment.
The octopus probably died shortly after completing her vigil, according to Dr Robison. The brooding period typically takes up the final quarter of a female octopus's life.
"She has only one job once those eggs are deposited," he said.
He added she quite possibly ate nothing for the whole 53 months.
"Everything we know suggests she probably didn't eat," Dr Robison said. Most octopuses do not feed while brooding, he explained, and in countless dives his team had "never seen a clutch of eggs untended".
The only time the cameras saw this particular devoted mother pay any attention to the crabs or shrimps that strayed nearby - normally a square meal for an octopus - was when she batted them away from her 150 precious eggs.
Even when the team used one of the submarine's appendages to offer her a snack, they were resolutely ignored.
Kerry Perkins, an aquarist at the Sea Life aquarium in Brighton, said a four-year fast was a possibility, but noted that the octopus may have got nutrients from unlaid eggs or very occasional, unobserved titbits.
"They're exceptionally good mothers," she said. "It is very, very cold water and they're not moving much, so their metabolic rate would be pretty low - but still, you'd think in four and a half years you'd probably have to have a snack at some point."
Ms Perkins said she was "quite amazed" by the findings, which contribute to our still very rudimentary understanding of these deep-sea dwellers.
"They're still very much the aliens of the sea."
Dr Robison believes the icy temperature at these depths - about 3C - is what governs the extraordinary brooding routine.
"The low temperature slows everything down," he said. A low metabolism allows the mother to survive on little or no food, while she protects the eggs and flushes water over them, keeping their oxygen supply up as they gradually develop.
The previous record for the longest known brooding time was 20 months, and belonged to a giant red shrimp.


A permanent memorial is to be created as a "fitting, lasting tribute" to the 11 men who were killed in the Shoreham air disaster in August.

Adur District Council said it was looking into the possibility of a memorial walk along the River Adur.
People are being invited to submit their thoughts and suggestions to the shorehamremembers.org website.
A shortlist of ideas will be created in January, followed by a public consultation in March.
Eleven men were killed on 22 August when a vintage Hawker Hunter plummeted into the A27 in West Sussex during the Shoreham Air Show.
In a statement, Adur District Council said: "It has been suggested that a new memorial, close to both the river and the proposed site for a new slipway, could form the start and finish of a beautiful walk between the recreation ground and Old Tollbridge.
"This idea potentially also incorporates the temporary memorial board and archway erected by the county council in a meaningful way, and could create a multitude of spaces and perspectives for reflection along the walk's length."
It continues: "While other ideas are being invited this particular one appears to be currently gathering support throughout the community."
In the days after the crash, thousands of flowers, cards, pictures and messages of condolence were left on the Old Shoreham Toll Bridge, which became known as the "Bridge of Flowers".
A memorial service was held at Lancing College's gothic chapel on 22 November, three months after the disaster.
During the service, the Bishop of Chichester, The Right Reverend Dr Martin Warner, praised the "human courage, generosity and compassion" of the emergency services and said this was a time when "grief must blend with love" in a celebration of those who died.


Turkish baths which were earmarked for closure as part of £100m council cuts have been saved.

The Grade II listed City Pool and Turkish Baths in Newcastle shut in 2013 due to the "high investment" needed.
Fusion Lifestyle Ltd has now been granted a lease for the site and plans to renovate the building and restore the historic baths.
The Re-open Newcastle Turkish Baths campaign group said it was "delighted" by the news.
The facility, which opened on Northumberland Road in 1928, is one of only 11 of its kind in England.
Cait Read, from the group, said: "We are excited to continue to be involved in the future of the building, to ensure that it re-opens as a valuable resource for the people of Newcastle and an attraction to people visiting the city."
Fusion has also taken over the City Hall, which was under threat of closure as part of a consultation into multi-million pound budget cuts in the city.
It will be sub-leased it to the Newcastle Theatre Royal Trust, which will continue to operate it as a concert and entertainment venue.
City Hall Action group chairman Tony Stephenson, said: "We're very pleased to see that this deal means the City Hall will continue as a viable music venue in the future."


A week ago France's capital city, Paris, was attacked.

20 November 2015 Last updated at 11:44 GMT
More than 120 people were killed by an extremist group, known as IS or Islamic State, shocking millions around the world.
The people living in Paris are trying to get back to normal life, but events like this can be hard to deal with for lots of children, as well as adults.
Newsround asked children in the UK how they've been affected by what happened and how they're helping each other to move forward.


An orphaned lamb and her sheepdog "best friend" have gone missing together.

Bella and canine companion Blake disappeared from their owner Natalie Haywood's garden on Monday.
The spring lamb, who is still being bottle fed, was paired with the one-year-old Border Collie after the loss of her mother.
Newark and Sherwood District Council, which is looking into the disappearance, said the pair might have escaped.
But Ms Haywood, of Perlethorpe, near Sherwood Forest, said she fears they may have been stolen.
Updates on this story and more from the East Midlands.
She said five-week-old Bella was given to her by a farmer neighbour a week ago.
"They are the best of friends, she follows him around everywhere," she said.
Ms Haywood said she had gone out leaving the animals secured in the garden but when she returned the gate was wide open and the pals were gone.
The home borders 3,800-acre Clumber Park which the pair might have entered.
A council spokesman said: "We think they may have escaped, but we can't rule anything out.
"The lamb is bottle-fed and needs a regular feed. If you have any information please contact our dog warden service."


What scientific discoveries lie just around the corner in 2012?

Will we get the final word on the Higgs boson? And what is Nasa's next mission to Mars likely to turn up?
The BBC News website science team signs the office crystal ball out of the equipment cupboard to tease out the stories likely to make headlines over the coming year.
One news story we can bank on for 2012 is a definitive answer to the question: "Does the Higgs boson exist?" First proposed in the 1960s by English theoretical physicist Peter Higgs and others, the particle is a vital missing piece in the most accepted theory of particle physics. It is an essential and fundamental building block of the Universe, which explains why everything around us has "mass". Yet the particle has so far evaded detection by experiments.
But it can't hide for much longer. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has narrowed the "search area" down to a tiny strip in the allowed mass range for the Higgs. Physicists on two independent experiments have said they see hints of the Higgs boson in roughly the same place - at a mass of about 130 times that of the proton. But the statistical certainty is still not large enough to formally claim a discovery. The LHC re-starts in March 2012 following its winter shutdown period to save on electricity costs. And Dr Pippa Wells from the LHC's Atlas experiment told BBC News that if all goes well, scientists could have about 20 inverse femtobarns of data by next summer - about four times as much as they currently have. This should resolve the Higgs question once and for all.
While the discovery of the Higgs would confirm what many particle physicists have thought for years, a more unexpected observation is likely to make headlines next year. Members of the Opera experiment at Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy noticed that neutrinos fired from Cern 730km away showed up 60 billionths of a second earlier than light would have. Though it seems like a tiny discrepancy, it is one that occurs consistently. The apparent breaking of the ultimate speed limit by neutrinos will surely be put under further scrutiny in 2012. Next year is likely to see the publication of the team's work in a scientific journal and there will also be independent cross-checks of the results from the US experiment Minos and the Japanese T2K experiment.
The discovery of planets orbiting other stars has become so commonplace that each new one barely elicits mention in the media (unless they come as a six pack). The Kepler space telescope is consistently turning up exoplanet candidates in bulk; at the time of writing it had found a total of 2,326 of them (but there are probably more by the time of reading). What seems inevitable is that one of them will end up being a dead ringer for Earth.
Already telescopes have confirmed a Kepler find as the first roughly Earth-sized planet around a Sun-like star that could play host to water - but the confirmation of a far-flung rocky world with oceans and an atmosphere awaits. There are 47 promising chances in Kepler's catalogue already, and plenty more yet to be confirmed. Next year we are likely to see something decisively more like our home planet, and we can then move on to the more daunting but more intriguing questions about whether other planets host life.
Following the publication of genomes from two of our ancient evolutionary cousins - the Neanderthals and Denisovans - geneticists have been mining the information for insights into human history. Fascinating discoveries came to light in 2011, such as clear signs there was widespread interbreeding between our ancestors and the mysterious people known as the Denisovans in Asia. Indeed, we now know that present-day non-African people derive about 4% of their DNA from these ancient humans who interbred with our ancestors as the latter spread from Africa 60,000-70,000 years ago.
Sexual relations between so-called modern humans and archaic people they met introduced genes that help us cope with viruses to this day. Scientists are now on the hunt for other parts of the genome - acquired from Neanderthals, Denisovans or some other ancient group - that might have helped our ancestors adapt as they moved into new environments. Prof Svante Paabo, the leading researcher in this field, has also been studying for the relatively small number of genes that differentiate modern humans from their ancient cousins. This could yield clues to advantages that may have given our ancestors a leg up. The analysis of DNA from more recent humans may also shed light on unresolved questions from the past, such as the degree to which modern Europeans are descended from Palaeolithic hunters or Neolithic farmers. The upcoming publication of Oetzi the Iceman's genome could also provide clues to how populations have changed since the Stone Age.
2011 saw a few advances in the world of materials science, including the first computer chip not made of silicon. But there was much discussion also of the now-familiar "wonder material" graphene, which has proven its mettle in a few applications; we may soon see it used in chemical detectors. As of 2011, it can be spun into fibres or conductive mats that may even get in on the game of stretchable electronics. Such electronics have been "just around the corner" for a number of years now. Crane your neck and we may finally see them.
But in the 21st Century, any discussion of materials must also include metamaterials - those engineered structures that play tricks with light (or, as we saw in June, with sound) and can lead to "invisibility cloaking". The first steps toward invisibility cloaks necessarily involved making the effect work with visible light. But what is likely to happen before we get Harry Potter-style cloaks is that metamaterials will sneak into other applications. Next year, we will most likely see what is called "gain" in the materials, resulting in lasers that are actually smaller than the wavelength of the light they produce. Integrating those with existing electronics ideas could, in ensuing years, speed up computers and communications greatly. And applied on the outside, the same stuff could make them invisible - if ever we should need that.
Nasa's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is en route to its rust-coloured target. The biggest and most capable robot rover ever sent to the surface of another planet launched successfully from Florida in November. It is due to arrive at Mars on 6 August 2012 (GMT). But the high failure rate of Mars missions has led to jokes about a "great galactic ghoul" that swallows up missions to the Red Planet.
MSL will use a new rocket-powered descent system able to place the $2.5bn rover very precisely in the 150-km wide depression at the planet's equator where the rover will serve out its mission. If MSL can get safely to the surface, it will "wake up" in one of the most exciting locations on the planet. Scientists have sent MSL to explore Gale Crater because it is the geological equivalent of a sweet shop.
One of the deepest holes on the Red Planet, Gale has a central mound with a series of layers that cut across a billion years of Martian history. Some of the rocks inside the crater may have been deposited when Mars was a wetter place and perhaps more hospitable to life. Scientists on the mission stress the rover is not there to search for life itself, but it should be able to describe how comfortable a home Mars once was for any potential life forms, along with identifying a range of complex carbon-containing molecules, including some of the building blocks of biology.


As settings go, the roof of the Scotland team hotel in downtown Singapore wasn't the worst place for Gregor Townsend to name his first team as coach of the national side.

Sitting in an urban utopia - a sky garden overlooking Hong Lim Park, surrounded by hanging vines, infinity pools, pavilions shaped like giant birdcages and 15,000 square metres of greenery - Townsend announced his line-up to face Italy at the air-cooled indoor national stadium on Saturday amid an architectural wonder.
What Townsend is about to build on the rugby field is unknown, but this was the first stop.
In the absence of Richie Gray through injury and his brother Jonny, who sits out Saturday's Test but will feature against the Wallabies next weekend, he has a new second-row partnership.
Glasgow's Tim Swinson and Ben Toolis, the Edinburgh lock being one of the few who managed to rise above the team's malaise in the season just gone, pair up in the engine room.
"Ben gets his reward for the form he's been in with Edinburgh," said Townsend. "His work-rate, his physicality, his athleticism is really good and it gives Jonny the chance to get up to full match fitness."
This will be Toolis' second cap and his first start. His one and only cap lasted just eight minutes off the bench in a game that has gone down as one of the most painful in recent years, for Scotland as a collective and for Toolis as an individual.
It was February 2015 and the lock replaced his Saturday partner, Swinson, after 69 minutes of the Six Nations game with Italy at Murrayfield.
Scotland were ahead 19-15 at the time. In the 77th minute, Toolis got sin-binned and the Scots ended up losing the game in what was arguably the low point of Vern Cotter's time in charge.
Toolis hasn't played a Test since. Against the same opposition in Singapore, Toolis has a shot at changing his Scotland story.
With Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour away with the Lions, Townsend has converted Duncan Taylor into a full-back and, on the wing, he gives Damien Hoyland his first cap since last summer.
It will be Hoyland's second start for Scotland in what will be his third cap. His debut was also against Italy in August 2015.
WP Nel returns at tight-head after the most frustrating injury-plagued year of his career, the same going for Taylor who has not played for his country in 12 months, a period that he described last week as a "mental battle".
The Saracen had two different hamstring injuries that put him out for two months, two operations on his ankle that cost him four months, a head injury that kept him out four weeks, then shoulder damage that had him in treatment for another four.
He made it back in time for Saracens' Champions Cup retention, appearing as a second-half substitute.
Josh Strauss also comes into the side after being invalided out of the Six Nations in France while at the peak of his powers.
Townsend joked that, in the searing humidity in training, his players have been using Strauss' magnificent beard - in its own way a fabulous creation to rival anything on the Singapore skyline - as a towel to dry their hands.
This, though, is serious business and it's seriously good news that Strauss, Taylor and Nel are back in the frame.
"It's great for us who haven't worked with WP before to see him in training," said Townsend of the Edinburgh prop who returned to action with a cameo for the Barbarians against England 10 days ago.
"He got a lot of confidence from that game and he's really getting stuck into everything at training - contact, attack, defence, especially the scrum.
"I'm looking forward to seeing him play. It might take him a few games to get back to his very best level, but it's great to have him."
Townsend now has the luxury of using Zander Fagerson off the bench as opposed to the fate that befell Cotter during the Six Nations - namely, having to play the promising young prop for as long as was humanely possible in games because of the weakness of his back-up.
Nel, with Fagerson as his deputy, is an altogether healthier outlook for the Scottish scrum.
Strauss' reappearance also broadens Townsend's options at number eight, with Ryan Wilson lying in wait.
Strauss starts in the back row, flanked by John Barclay and John Hardie, who gets the nod ahead of Hamish Watson for this one.
"In his recovery from injury, Josh has just had 10 weeks of training, six of those weeks with contact," Townsend said. "He's done a lot of fitness work. So he'll be a big plus and having Duncan available is another major boost.
"Duncan's adaptability is the thing. He steps up at full-back instead of Hoggy. He's played there at a high level before.
"His rugby knowledge is really exciting. He works hard, communicates well, he's an excellent defensive leader and we want to see him get his hands on the ball because he can really play."
With Greig Laidlaw too on Lions duty, Barclay continues as skipper and he has Finn Russell as one of his vice-captains.
Townsend said he's been seeing a changed version of Russell these past weeks compared to the character he nurtured at Glasgow.
"Yeah, I see a different Finn," the coach said of his fly-half. "He's becoming a leader, he's contributing more in meetings, he's taking a lot of responsibility on himself. I think he feels that extra bit of confidence being a vice-captain."
Scotland put Italy away 29-0 in the final game of the Six Nations. Townsend's team for the rematch shows nine changes to the one that Cotter put out that day.
Townsend may have lost Hogg, Seymour and Huw Jones from the rout at Murrayfield, but the availability of Nel, Taylor and Strauss make up for it.
Italy's coach, Conor O'Shea, has given the great Sergio Parisse the summer off, so an already weak side will be all the weaker for the loss of its leader.
Scotland will expect the Townsend era to get off to a flyer.
The stadium will be a touch eerie - the capacity is 55,000 with around 7,000 tickets sold in a city that is trying to build its rugby profile - but the size of the crowd will be irrelevant to Townsend.
The only thing that matters to him is the scale of the performance.


John Menzies, the aviation and print distribution business, has said it could take up to a year to prepare for a split of its two divisions.

With its half-year results, the new chairman said the move would be complex as it affects the pension scheme.
The Edinburgh-based company is under pressure from a German shareholder which has just bought a 7% stake.
It wants to split the ground handling operations from the distribution division.
The latter has suffered from the downturn in newspaper circulations, down 3.7% in the first half of the year, and magazine sales, down 4.7%.
That was partly offset in its six-month results by collectable stickers linked to the UEFA European football championship, and by the expansion into online shopping deliveries.
John Menzies is using its overnight newspaper delivery vans for daytime work.
It says that efficiency has helped it win a three-year national distribution contract supplying retailer WH Smith.
Boardroom tensions led to four members of the board departing earlier this year, including the former chief executive and former finance director.
One of the four newly appointed directors is Dr Dermot F Smurfit, who became chairman last month, who told shareholders: "One of my tasks will be to review the structure of the group in order that we can maximise shareholder value.
"This will include looking at whether our two operating businesses are best placed to prosper while they are part of one group.
"The situation is complex, particularly with regard to our pension schemes. Management have already engaged with specialist advisers and our pension trustees, and work is underway to structure the pension scheme in such a way as to give the board the maximum amount of flexibility in future. I expect this work to take up to 12 months."
In its results for January to June, John Menzies reported revenue flat at just over Â£1 bn. Profits fell by nearly half to Â£3m.
The aviation division moved out of loss, while distribution made a Â£12m profit.
The company said the Brexit vote leaves uncertainty, but it hopes to gain from earning 80% of its aviation income in currencies other than sterling, which convert into sterling at rates that help boost results.
The company's aviation business operates at 149 airports in 32 countries. Its distribution division employs 3,500 people from 43 different sites across Britain and Ireland, delivering around six million newspapers and magazines each day.
Also affected by the downturn in the newspaper industry, Johnston Press was given a "negative" rating Moody's the credit rating agency, down from "stable". This follows weak half year figures published earlier this month by the owner of The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post and around 200 local titles.
The rating said the results highlighted the risk to liquidity, despite the company's ability to generate cash through newspaper cover sales. It said there is concern that the publisher could break the covenant conditions on one of its loans.


Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will win Olympic gold in the women's 470 sailing if they finish Wednesday's medal race.

Mills, 28, and Clark, 36, hold a 20-point lead going into the finale, after finishing second and third in Tuesday's races.
The duo missed out on gold at London 2012, taking silver as New Zealand edged them out in the medal race.
"It feel like we've been sailing forever to get this gold," said Clark.
Find out about how to get into sailing with our special guide.
"It's completely surreal. We've sailed out of our skin in a marathon event."
The pair have dominated throughout the event, winning three races and finishing in the top eight in all 10.
However, a medal is now out of reach for male 470 pair Luke Patience and Chris Grube, who are sixth going in to the medal race.
Alain Sign and Dylan Fletcher stand a chance of claiming a medal in Thursday's 49er medal race, sitting fourth, but Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth are seventh.
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World indoor champion Richard Kilty was disqualified for a false start in the 60m final on his indoor comeback at the Glasgow International Match.

The 25-year-old was competing indoors for the first time since he set a personal best of 6.49 seconds in winning 60m gold in Poland last March.
Kilty was representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the four nations meeting at the Emirates Arena.
Germany won the meet ahead of France with GB & NI third and Scotland fourth.
France's Emmanuel Biron won the 60m final in a time of 6.69.
The GB & NI team was captained by 400m runner Conrad Williams and the team had six senior debutants.
World junior silver medallist Jessica Judd won the  1500m in a time of 4:14.53, Kelly Massey took the 400m title in 52.95 and Serita Solomon set a personal best of 8.13 to claim victory in the 60m hurdles.
British Commonwealth Games pole vault silver medallist Luke Cutts was runner-up to Frenchman Jerome Clavier while 19-year-old Chris Kandu won the high jump with a personal best mark of 2.23.
Chris Tomlinson, 2008 World indoor long jump silver medallist, pulled out of the long jump after the first round with a hamstring injury.
The men's and women's 4x400m relays were both won by Britain.


Widnes are still without a win in the 2017 Super League season after Albert Kelly scored two tries for Hull FC.

Aaron Heremaia's fourth-minute try was the only time the visitors were ahead and Hull led by six points at the break thanks to Kelly and Mahe Fonua.
Danny Houghton, Jamie Shaul and Kelly's second try of the night saw the hosts move up to second in the table.
Lloyd White ran in a late consolation for Widnes but they have now lost four of their opening five matches.
Hull move level on points with leaders Castleford who travel to Salford on Sunday.
The visitors went in front when Heremaia threw a dummy to open up the Hull defence and go over, while White added the extras.
But Hull hit straight back as a Marc Sneyd's cross-field kick was caught by Fonua, who set up Kelly to score.
Fonua dived in for his first try of the season following a pass by Kelly as the home side led 14-6 at the break.
Hull scored two tries in three minutes when Houghton pounced on Sneyd's kick-through, before Mark Minichiello's break down the left freed Shaul to go over.
Sneyd added the extras on both occasions to go with the six points he scored in the first half.
Two minutes later, Minichiello was held up but Kelly powered over after a smart dummy and Sneyd put over the conversion.
White converted his own try with eight minutes remaining, but it was too little too late for winless Widnes.
Hull coach Lee Radford:
"First and foremost I'm pleased with the result. How we started the second half went a long way towards dictating the scoreline.
"I'm pleased with the way we went about our business. There was some fluency in what we did, which I said would come.
"It sets us up nicely for the fixture next week. Wigan at Wigan is a tough fixture and it's one we're looking forward to."
Widnes coach Denis Betts:
"We keep giving sides 18 points by rolling over in patches in the game. We are making it easy for sides.
"We were up against a side running pretty hot with threats from all over the field, but I felt we handled them well for big patches of the game.
"We went toe to toe with them in the first half, which shows we're not far off but then we hit a patch and look like a side that looks like it doesn't know what it's doing."
Hull: Shaul, Fonua, Tuimavave, Griffin, Michaels, Kelly, Sneyd, Taylor, Houghton, Bowden, Manu, Minichiello, Thompson.
Replacements: Connor, Ellis, Green, Washbrook.
Widnes: Thompson, Marsh, Bridge, Armstrong, Runciman, Heremaia, Craven, J. Chapelhow, White, Buchanan, Houston, Whitley, Cahill.
Replacements: T. Chapelhow, Leuluai, Olbison, Johnstone.
Referee: Chris Campbell (RFL).


Offering the meningitis B vaccine to all children is "not cost effective" and would be a waste of NHS money, the UK government says.

Public support for extending the vaccine grew after the mother of two-year-old Faye Burdett shared pictures of her dying from the infection.
The jab is offered to children in their first year of life.
But more than 800,000 people signed a petition for it to be given to all children under 11.
Faye, from Maidstone, died on Valentine's Day after fighting the infection for 11 days. Her mother Jenny said the family had endured "a pain you cannot describe".
And soon after ex-England rugby captain Matt Dawson talked about how his two-year-old son Sam survived meningitis W after "two weeks of hell".
In response to the most popular petition in parliamentary history, the Department of Health said it was following the expert advice of its Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
It said: "With this programme, our priority is to protect those children most at risk of Men B, in line with JCVI's recommendation.
"The NHS budget is a finite resource, it is therefore essential that JCVI's recommendations are underpinned by evidence of cost-effectiveness.
"Offering the vaccine outside of JCVI's advice would not be cost effective, and would not therefore represent a good use of NHS resources which should be used to benefit the health and care of the most people possible."
It added: "When any new immunisation programme is introduced, there has to be a cut-off date to determine eligibility.
"While this is extremely difficult for parents whose children aren't eligible, there is no other way of establishing new programmes to target those at highest risk without introducing inequalities."
The UK is the only country in the world to offer the vaccine routinely to children of any age.
It is offered only in the first year of life when infants are most vulnerable to the infection.
The issue is still scheduled to be debated in the House of Commons.
Lee Booth, who set up the petition, said: "It's very disappointing that that's the initial sort of reaction to the campaign.
"Y'know there's 817-thousand people that have obviously raised concerns over the lack of the meningitis B vaccine being available, to their children.
"It beggars belief really that the government are putting costs ahead of saving childrens' lives."
Follow James on Twitter.


Dumfries-born DJ Calvin Harris has withdrawn from the MTV European Music Awards because of illness.

Award organisers posted on Facebook: "We have some really sad news. Calvin Harris has taken ill and will not be able to perform at tomorrow's show.
"He sends his sincere apologies. Get well soon, Calvin!"
On Twitter, the 30-year-old DJ is reported to have said: "No EMAs for me this weekend. Got some heart problems. Heading home to see if it can be fixed x."


Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has made a rare public appearance, amid concerns for his ailing health.

In television footage released on Monday by the palace he is seen swearing in judges at a Bangkok hospital where he has been staying.
He has received treatment for a number of ailments including a lung infection.
The health of the 88-year-old monarch is of public concern as he is widely revered and seen as an arbiter in the country's divided political arena.
The king, who is the world's longest serving monarch, was last seen in September in a video released by the palace.
He missed his birthday celebrations for the second consecutive year on 5 December. The event was marked by a cycling event last week in Bangkok led by his son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Palace officials did not give any further details of the king's health on Monday.
King Bhumibol has been in and out of hospitals for the past few years and has had operations to remove his gallbladder and to treat hydrocephalus - an excessive build-up of fluid on the brain.
He was re-admitted to Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok in June, shortly after he was discharged.
The king's popularity stems partly from his long reign, but he is also seen as a pillar of stability in Thailand which has been wracked by political strife in recent years and is currently governed by a military-led government.
Strict lese majeste laws ban any criticism of him or the royal family.


Wales Rally GB will showcase the nation to the world, the deputy tourism minister has said.

Ken Skates was speaking at an event ahead of the race which starts in Llandudno, Conwy county, on 12 November and finishes in Deeside, Flintshire, on 15 November.
The final round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) will get Â£4.5m from the Welsh government over three years.
The race is thought to be worth Â£10m annually to the Welsh economy.
About 160 drivers and thousands of supporters are expected to take part with an estimated global TV audience of 60 million people.
Mr Skates was given the chance to ride in the navigator's seat alongside Welshman Elfyn Evans, M-Sport World Rally team driver.
Evans finished in a career-best second in the French round of the WRC in Corsica this month.
Mr Skates said: "It was incredible. At one point we took off."
Ben Taylor, managing director of International Motor Sports Ltd, organisers of Wales GB Rally, said the event had been "reinvigorated" since moving from Cardiff to north Wales in 2013, with fans coming from the north west of England and further afield.


Meet ten-year-old Colm, he is a massive New Zealand All Blacks rugby fan.

7 July 2017 Last updated at 17:47 BST
He became obsessed with the team after a visit to the country and has learnt how to do the Haka, a famous tribal dance the team do before their matches.
The Haka is part of the Maori warrior culture, and a great way to try to scare your rugby opponents.
Colm's sister filmed his efforts and entered him in a special competition.
Colm beat almost 2,000 people to become an apprentice for the New Zealand national team.
The role involves joining having lunch with the team and watching the game from the sidelines.
Here are Colm's top tips on how to do the perfect Haka.


Lots of you will already be back at school or getting ready to start a new school year.

21 August 2017 Last updated at 06:48 BST
It's not always easy to fit into a new school or a new situation, and can be even harder if you have a disability.
Thirteen-year-old PJ uses a wheelchair and says his advice to anyone starting high school is: "Anybody who is starting school with a wheelchair, stay positive, get stuck in, get involved like everyone else."
Watch the video to hear more about PJ's story.


All 16 to 18-year-olds in Wales will be able to save a third off the price of adult bus fares from 1 September, Welsh ministers have announced.

The Welsh Young Persons Discounted Travel Scheme applies to local journeys and longer distance TrawsCymru routes.
The project, costing Â£15m between now and April 2017, is part of a Labour-Liberal Democrat deal to pass the Welsh government's budget.
The first minister launched the scheme at an event in Corwen, Denbighshire.
Carwyn Jones encouraged all 110,000 16 to 18-year-olds in Wales to register their interest  at Gov.wales/mytravelpass.


The northern Syrian city of Aleppo was caught in a brutal four-year deadlock.
It was a key battleground in the war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels who want to overthrow him.
In November, Syrian government forces launched a renewed assault, and rapidly retook almost all of the opposition-held east. By mid-December they had pushed the rebels into just a few neighbourhoods.
Tens of thousands of civilians fled those districts. The UN said it had received allegations that hundreds of men had gone missing since crossing into government-controlled areas - and that rebels  prevented some civilians from leaving.
On 15 December, the warring sides reached an agreement to end the fighting, and on 22 December the government declared it had taken full control of the city following days of evacuations.
The rebels had been rapidly pushed back into a small enclave, where, along with thousands of civilians, they came under intense bombing. The deal was negotiated between one of the rebels' key backers, Turkey, and Syria's ally Russia.
It follows a pattern of similar, local ceasefire and evacuation deals which have ended fighting in other besieged rebel-held parts of Syria, such as the Old City of Homs in 2014 and the Damascus suburb of Daraya this August.
Under the terms of the Aleppo deal, rebels and civilians were allowed to be evacuated to rebel-held Idlib province, while civilians in the rebel-besieged mainly Shia villages of Foua and Kefraya in Idlib were allowed to leave in return - at the insistence of Iran, sponsor of pro-government Shia Muslim militias fighting in Aleppo.
Aleppo was once Syria's largest city, with a population of about 2.3 million. It was also the country's industrial and financial centre.
The old city is a Unesco World Heritage site and was famous for its 13th Century citadel, 12th Century Great Mosque and huge covered markets, or souks.
When the uprising against President Assad erupted in 2011, Aleppo did not see the large protests or the deadly violence that shook other towns and cities.
But it suddenly became a battleground in July 2012.
Rebel fighters launched an offensive to kick out government forces and gain control over northern Syria but the rebel assault was not decisive.
Aleppo ended up divided roughly in half - the opposition in control of the east, and the government the west.
Over the next four years, the battle for Aleppo became a microcosm of the wider conflict in Syria.
It highlighted the weakness of both sides, as well as the failure of the international community to protect civilians and broker a peace agreement.
On the government side, state forces are being supported by Russian air strikes and Shia militias, including fighters from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Pakistan.
The predominantly Sunni Muslim opposition is made of several rebel groups, many of whom have received financial aid from key opponents of President Assad, including the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Hardline Sunni Islamist groups are involved too, most notably Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which earlier this year changed its name from the Nusra Front and announced it was cutting ties with al-Qaeda.
4 Jan: At the start of the year, the rebels hold eastern Aleppo, linked to the border with Turkey via territory to the north and west. Turkey's government is a key backer of the rebellion against Mr Assad.
27 Jul: At the end of July, government forces surround the rebels, taking control of the strategically-important Castello Road in northern Aleppo, the only route into the rebel-held east. About 275,000 people suddenly find themselves under siege.
Early Aug: Rebels and al-Qaeda-linked jihadist fighters in the countryside outside Aleppo seize back control of a route through the Ramousseh district in the south of the city linking them up with the outside world again.
Mid-Oct: Government forces retake the area in early September and resume the siege. There is a brief pause in the offensive in mid-October to allow civilians and rebels to leave, but few take up the offer.
28 Nov: Syrian government forces recapture more than a third of rebel-held territory in eastern Aleppo. The rebels lose all of the northern neighbourhoods, leaving them with under two-thirds of the territory they had in the city.
6 Dec: Troops advance further, seizing more districts in the east. The gains mean the government has now recaptured more than 70% of the rebel-held area.
12 Dec: The Syrian army makes more gains, taking several districts, including the key Sheikh Saeed area, from the rebels, leaving them confined to a small enclave.
13 Dec: Following intense bombardment from pro-government forces, the rebels are squeezed into ever smaller areas of the city, retreating into just a handful of neighbourhoods.
15 Dec: A ceasefire deal is reached. Buses begin to take fighters, their families, and wounded people from east Aleppo to rebel-held areas in Idlib province. More buses are sent to evacuate residents of two villages, Foah and Kefraya, besieged by rebels in north-western Syria, as demanded by the government after an attempted deal the previous day collapsed.
22 Dec: Government declares full control over Aleppo for the first time in four years.
After the government resumed its air campaign on 15 November, troops pushed into several northern Aleppo districts and forced rebels and jihadists to retreat southwards. Tens of thousands of civilians fled their homes.
By 13 December, more than 90% of the city had fallen to the government. The UN warned up to 100,000 people were trapped in "ever-shrinking" areas of eastern Aleppo, adding that rebels were stopping people from leaving.
Food and fuel in the rebel-held areas were running out, and basic infrastructure and health care facilities had been obliterated - at one point in November, all hospitals in eastern Aleppo were virtually out of action as a result of air strikes.
The UN says hundreds of civilians died, but the government and Russia denied targeting them. Rebel rocket and mortar fire has also killed dozens of people in the government-controlled west.
With the rebels defeated in Aleppo, the government retook full control of the neighbourhoods they held, which means it once again holds the country's four largest cities.
President Assad may hope that the gains made in Aleppo will snowball into something more and help bring the civil war to an end.
But with rebel forces, jihadist groups and Kurds still controlling large parts of the country, there would still be a long way to go.
So there is a possibility that it may become a different type of war - with rebels not trying to hold territory and create their own entity but instead pursuing a hit-and-run insurgency.


Anni Dewani, who was killed while on honeymoon in South Africa in November 2010, had wanted a divorce from her new husband, a court has been told.

Sneha Mashru, Anni's cousin, told Western Cape High Court she confided in her about her relationship.
Shrien Dewani, 34, from Bristol, denies arranging the murder of his wife, who was shot dead in a hijacked taxi.
The court was also told Anni went to a doctor before she left because she was planning to get pregnant.
Ms Mashru told the court the couple had a lot of problems leading up to their wedding.
"That is why after the wedding, when they came back from India, Anni and I were talking about a divorce because she felt like she could not live with Shrien," she said.
She said Anni had told her after the wedding she was not keen to spend time with Mr Dewani because they "did not get on very well".
"She went to have lunch with him and then she came back to the pool and said 'it felt very stiff between us'."
Mr Dewani's lawyer Francois van Zyl told the court medical notes showed Anni visited her doctor just before the honeymoon and told him she was trying to conceive.
In cross-examining of Ms Mashru, Mr van Zyl said: "I have to put it to you that what she told the doctor, that she wanted to become pregnant, that she wanted to get medication, flies in the face of what you told me about divorce."
She replied that when Anni came back from her wedding in India, she told her she did not want to go on honeymoon.
Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni have already been convicted of their role in Anni's murder. Mngeni died in custody last weekend.
The prosecution argues that Mr Dewani was leading a secret double-life and wanted out of his marriage, so arranged a staged hijacking in which he escaped and Anni was killed.
On the first day of the trial he revealed that he is bisexual.
It was also revealed in court that a male escort, Leo Leisser, claimed he had met with Mr Dewani and tried to sell his story to The Sun newspaper for Â£30,000.
Before the court case, Mr Dewani denied ever having met Mr Leisser.
The trial, which is expected to last at least until December, continues.