The state of Canada's economy has been the main topic for the country's three party leaders in their second election debate in Calgary.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a tetchy back and forth with opposition leaders Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau over the sluggish economy.
The country, hard hit by falling energy prices, officially entered a recession in the first half of this year.
Mr Harper said his rivals would damage the economy if they took power.
"The other parties are trying to tell us they will deal with the challenges of our economy, of our labour market, of international markets, by raising taxes and running deficits to finance vastly increased amounts of spending," he said.
His Conservative government this week reported a C$1.9bn (Â£900m) budget surplus, and he vowed to keep taxes and spending low.
"Mr Harper wants to hit the snooze button while Mr Trudeau is hitting the panic button," said New Democratic Party leader Mr Mulcair.
Mr Trudeau of the Liberals said the worst growth rate since the Great Depression was the fault of the Conservatives.
Given the tightness of the three-way race for control of the Canadian government, it's not surprising that Thursday night's leaders' debate got chippy early. All three candidates exchanged barbs and interrupted each other on topics like economic policy, the environment and immigration.
With his nation's economy struggling following the sharp decline of the Canadian energy sector, Prime Minster Stephen Harper's record 10-year tenure in office is clearly in jeopardy. From the start of the debate it seemed his goal was to paint Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party of being in favour of out-of-control deficit spending and the NDP's Thomas Mulcair of killing jobs by raising taxes, while promising stability in tough times.
Both of his opponents fought back, and occasionally directed swipes at their left-of-centre counterparts. Mr Trudeau asked if Canadians were better off now than they were 10 years ago, while Mr Mulcair accused Mr Harper of fearmongering when it came to immigration and national security.
The debate often descended into cacophony, evidence that on the debate stage, three is definitely a crowd.
The Conservatives have pointed to the surplus as a sign of its successful stewardship of the economy. Mr Harper maintains the recession is a temporary setback.
While Mr Mulcair has developed a slight lead in recent polls, the three-way race remains close.
Mr Harper's centre-right Conservative Party has been in office since 2006 and analysts say he could struggle to form another majority government.
The son of a former prime minister, Mr Trudeau benefits from high name recognition but has been criticised by his rivals for his lack of experience.
Mr Mulcair and the NDP, which earlier this year saw big gains in the Conservative stronghold of Alberta, are hoping to keep their momentum going, offering voters change as well as experience.
Next month's federal elections are a chance for Canadians to cast their verdict on the state of the country - and the government that's been running it.
Millions will vote on 19 October but each individual voice matters - and BBC Pop Up wants to know how you feel about your country.
Are you happy with your politicians and the political system? Are the parties addressing or ignoring the issues that matter to you? Is Canada heading in the right or wrong direction?
In five words, tell us how you feel about today's Canada. We'll share your thoughts with a global audience - and if you have a story idea that highlights an important issue for this election we may be able to come visit and film it.
Get involved using #bbcpopup on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or email us at bbcpopup@bbc.co.uk
Read more at bbc.com/popup


A Scottish charity has reached a significant milestone in its efforts to clear Sri Lanka of landmines.

The Halo Trust, which is based in Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway, has cleared 200,000 landmines from the country.
Their work has enabled 160,000 people to safely return to their homes, after 26 years of civil war.
Damian O'Brien, the charity's programme manager in Sri Lanka, said the country could be mine-free by 2020.
"This year, even though we have had a drop in work force by about 70% we are still on target to clear about 10,000 so that gives an indication of the density of the minefields that are remaining," he said.
"The Sri Lankan government has declared a target of 2020 for the country to be mine impact free and if we are able to maintain our level of funding, then that is realistic."
About 300,000 people were displaced during the conflict in Sri Lanka, which ended in 2009.
The Halo Trust employs 500 Sri Lankans to survey and clear mines, mainly from the north of the island.
About 45% of the workforce are women, many of whom were widowed during the conflict and are now the sole breadwinners.
James Cowan, the charity's CEO, said: "Whilst we have much progress to celebrate in Sri Lanka today, there are still many landmines posing a serious threat to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
"Mines continue to present an obstacle to the safe return of internally displaced people and block access to paddy fields, fishing jetties, grazing land and community infrastructure.
"The Sri Lankan government has set a target of 2020 for Sri Lanka to be mine-impact free, but we need long term donor commitment to reach that goal."
Earlier this year the Halo Trust ended its 22 year campaign to clear Mozambique of land mines after it was declared officially "mine-free".


A teenager travelling with his eight-year-old sister was "lucky" to escape without major injuries after their van and a lorry collided.

It took fire crews took an hour to cut the pair out of the blue van, which had become "embedded" underneath the lorry in the M6 crash in the West Midlands.
Paramedic Natalie Greaves said the 18-year-old driver was "so, so lucky" to escape with just a broken wrist.
His sister, who was in the front passenger seat, was uninjured.
See more stories from across Birmingham and the Black Country here
The crash happened at about 21:45 GMT on Tuesday on the southbound M6, just before junction 10a for the M54, near Essington, south Staffordshire.
The brother and sister travelling in the van are from Warwickshire.
West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Murray MacGregor said: "On arrival, ambulance staff found a blue van that was embedded under the rear of an articulated lorry.
"Due to the level of damage, it took firefighters an hour to cut away enough of the van to allow the two people inside the van to get out; throughout, the pair were receiving care from ambulance staff."
The lorry driver was shaken but otherwise unhurt.


Sean O'Connor, the editor of long-running Radio 4 soap The Archers, is taking over as executive producer on BBC One's EastEnders.

He will be replacing Dominic Treadwell-Collins who has been in charge for the past two and a half years.
Under his reign, EastEnders saw the arrival of the Carter family - with Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright - and the Who Killed Lucy Beale? plot.
O'Connor takes over from Treadwell-Collins in the late spring.
Before he leaves, Treadwell-Collins will oversee Dame Barbara Windsor's final episodes as Peggy Mitchell and the return of Peggy's son Grant, played by Ross Kemp.
Treadwell-Collins said: "After two and a half years of giving my blood to Walford, it is time for me to move on to other things - and keep EastEnders creatively refreshed, something that it has to do to stay at the top of its game.
"I made the decision to leave back in the summer, but decided to stay longer for two reasons. Firstly, to oversee Peggy's last episodes, which will air in May. When Dame Barbara comes to you to produce her final episodes, you cannot say no...
"Secondly, I needed to find the right person to take over from me. This is an incredible all-consuming show, and in Sean, I know that we have found someone who already has Albert Square in his bones and who adores EastEnders as much as I do."
O'Connor, who joined The Archers as editor in September 2013, returns to EastEnders after an 11-year gap, having previously worked on the programme as director, producer and story producer.
His storylines included the big reveal Kat Slater was Zoe Slater's mother and not her sister, the domestic violence storyline between Little Mo and Trevor and the courtship of Dot Cotton and Jim Branning.
"Dominic hands over EastEnders in robust health," he said. "It's a testament to his endless commitment, infectious enthusiasm and rich imagination that the programme remains BBC One's flagship drama.
"I'm thrilled to be back in Walford and particularly delighted to work once more with many dear friends and colleagues both backstage and on screen."


Gerry Adams has led Sinn Féin, Northern Ireland's second biggest political party, for more than 30 years.

The Belfast native is one of the most recognisable and controversial figures in Irish politics.
To some he is hailed as a peacemaker, for leading the republican movement away from its long, violent campaign towards peaceful and democratic means.
To others, he is a hate figure who publicly justified murders carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The paramilitary group is believed to be responsible for about 1,700 deaths during more than 30 years of violence, mostly in Northern Ireland, that became known as the Troubles.
The Sinn Féin leader has consistently denied that he was ever a member of the IRA, but has said he will never "disassociate" himself from the organisation.
Gerry Adams was born in October 1948 in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, and both of his parents came from families that had been active in armed republicanism.
His father, Gerry senior, had been shot while taking part in an IRA attack on a police patrol in 1942 and was subsequently imprisoned.
Influenced by his father, the young Adams became an active republican while still a teenager.
He worked as a barman at the Duke of York pub in Belfast where he was fascinated by the political gossip traded among the journalists and lawyers who frequented the bar.
However, as the civil rights movement gathered pace in the late 1960s, the young Adams did not spend long pulling pints.
Soon he was out on the streets, involved in the protests of the time, and in 1972 he was interned - imprisoned without charge - under the controversial Special Powers Art.
According to his own account, he was purely a political activist, but that same year, the IRA leadership insisted that the then 24-year-old be released from internment to take part in ceasefire talks with the British government.
The talks failed and were followed by the Bloody Friday murders, when the IRA detonated at least 20 bombs across Belfast in one day, killing nine people and injuring 130.
Security sources believed Gerry Adams was a senior IRA commander at the time, but interviewed after the organisation's formal apology 30 years on, he adamantly denied this.
In 1977, he was acquitted of IRA membership.
At the height of the 1981 IRA hunger strikes, he played a key role in the Fermanagh by-election in which Bobby Sands became an MP a month before his death.
Two years later Gerry Adams became MP for West Belfast on an absentionist platform, meaning he would represent the constituency but refuse to take his seat in the House of Commons.
Also in 1983, he replaced Ruairí Ó Bradaigh as president of Sinn Féin. Three years later, he dropped Sinn Féin's policy of refusing to sit in the Irish parliament in Dublin.
Despite the tentative moves towards democracy, the IRA's campaign of violence continued and Sinn Féin were considered political pariahs.
In the late 1980s, Gerry Adams entered secret peace talks with John Hume, the leader of the Sinn Féin's more moderate political rivals, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
The Hume Adams negotiations helped to bring Sinn Féin in from the political wilderness and paved the way for the peace process.
But treading a line between politics and violence was risky.
In 1984, Gerry Adams survived a gun attack by loyalist paramilitaries, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, in Belfast city centre. He and three companions were wounded but managed to drive to the Royal Victoria Hospital for treatment.
A second murder attempt was made at Milltown cemetery, west Belfast, in 1988 at a funeral for three IRA members. Three mourners were killed but loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone said his real targets were Adams and Martin McGuinness.
The 1993 Shankill bombing confirmed the tightrope Gerry Adams had to walk in order to keep hardline republicans on board with his political project.
He expressed regret for the bombing that killed nine people and one of the bombers, but did not condemn it.
Mr Adams then carried the coffin of the IRA man Thomas Begley, who died when the bomb exploded prematurely.
But the Hume-Adams talks were beginning to bear fruit. US President Bill Clinton withstood pressure from London to grant Gerry Adams a 48-hour visa for a peace conference in New York. The visit attracted worldwide attention and Adams used it as justification to press on with politics.
The Hume-Adams process eventually delivered the 1994 IRA ceasefire that ultimately provided the relatively peaceful backdrop against which the Good Friday Agreement was brokered.
In 1998, 90% of the party backed its president in taking seats in the new Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont - a remarkable piece of political management given Sinn Féin's "no return to Stormont" slogan in the 1997 general election campaign.
Mr Adams stayed out of the Stormont power-sharing executive, letting Martin McGuinness take a ministerial post.
When the power-sharing deal collapsed in 2003, Gerry Adams became a key player in the government's attempts to broker a new agreement between Sinn Féin and their one-time enemies, the Democratic Unionist Party.
The negotiations foundered at the end of 2004, but in October 2006 both Mr Adams and DUP leader Mr Paisley indicated their support for the St Andrews Agreement, drawn up after intensive talks in Scotland.
The deal led to a once-thinkable situation, a Stormont coalition led by the DUP and Sinn Féin.
A key element of the deal was Sinn Féin support for the police, whom the IRA had once deemed "legitimate targets".
It was unthinkable in the days of the Troubles, but persuading Irish republicans to embrace policing was another step on Adams' personal and political journey between war and peace.
In January 2011, Gerry Adams formally resigned as West Belfast MP in order to run for election in the Republic of Ireland.
The move was believed to be in response to fears that the party was too narrowly focused on Northern Ireland and needed to boost its all-island strategy.
The following month, he was elected as a Teachta Dála (member of the Irish Parliament), representing the border constituency of Louth and East Meath.
However, closer to home, personal turmoil was unfolding in the Adams family.
His brother, Liam Adams, was publicly accused of rape and child sexual abuse.  The allegations were made by Liam Adams' adult daughter Aine, who waived her right to anonymity in a bid to bring her father to justice.
Gerry Adams publicly named his own father as a child sex abuser as he spoke about the impact the allegations had made on his whole family.
He then became embroiled in the police investigation, when it emerged his niece had told him she had been abused several years earlier.
The Sinn Féin president said his brother had confessed the abuse to him in 2000 and added that he made his first report to the police about the allegations in 2007, shortly after his party voted to accept the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
In 2013, Liam Adams was jailed for 16 years for raping and abusing his daughter over a six-year period.
The following year, Gerry Adams was arrested by detectives investigating the 1972 murder of Belfast woman Jean McConville.
The widowed mother-of-10 was abducted by the IRA in 1972 and later shot dead and secretly buried on a County Louth beach.
Mr Adams said he was "innocent totally" of any involvement in the killing.
He was questioned for four days, before being released without charge. The PSNI sent a file to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
At the time, Sinn Féin accused the PSNI of "political policing" and claimed the arrest was due to a "dark side" within the service, conspiring with enemies of the peace process.
The PSNI said they had a duty to "impartially investigate serious crime" and said they were committed to treating "everyone equally before the law".


Polish PM Beata Szydlo has suffered minor injuries in a car accident in the south of the country, officials say.

They say Ms Szydlo was travelling in a government convoy when a private Fiat drove into her limousine, causing it to hit a tree in the town of Oswiecim.
The 53-year-old leader is in "good condition", but she is being flown to Warsaw for checks, officials say.
In November, Ms Szydlo's motorcade was involved in an accident in Israel. She was not injured.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz have also been involved in recent car accidents, though without injury.
In Friday's crash, the limousine's driver and an officer from the Government Protection Office (BOR) were also injured.
A police investigation is now under way.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak called an urgent meeting with top BOR officials to discuss the situation.


The NHS in England is in the grip of arguably its biggest financial crisis in its history.

NHS trusts have been racking up deficits en masse. Regulators and ministers are talking tough, telling hospitals (which are almost entirely responsible for the deficit) to get their house in order.
But another way of looking at it - and it's something that has been put to me often on Twitter recently - is that rather than the NHS overspending, the deficit is simply a sign of underfunding.
Now the government will quickly point out that it is increasing the budget this Parliament - by just over £8bn in real terms. And that is certainly generous when you look at what other departments have had.
But a counter-argument is that the increase is just a fraction of what the health service actually needs, given it is grappling with issues like the ageing population, obesity and the cost of new drugs. These factors are sometimes called NHS inflation and are said to increase costs by about 4% a year - well above the wider economy's rate of inflation in recent years.
That is why in return for the extra money, the NHS has promised to make savings - £22bn by 2020. Suffice to say it's a monumental ask.
So could - indeed should - the NHS get more? There is certainly a growing number of influential voices arguing it should.
This week Prof Don Berwick, the government's former patient safety adviser, raised the issue.
Speaking at an event in London, he gave a typically blunt appraisal of the challenges facing the NHS and government. His comments attracted the attention of the media because he suggested the government had been wrong to impose the contract on junior doctors.
But what wasn't picked up so widely was his criticism of the spending plans and the impact it was having on the ability of the NHS to, as he put it, "survive and thrive".
He told the audience of health professionals that the level of funding in the NHS may make the government's ambitions for the health service, which of course include seven-day services, "impossible". In doing so he highlighted the amount spent as a proportion of GDP (which stands for gross domestic product and measures the size of the economy).
This is a widely used way of comparing health spending across different nations. It was used by Tony Blair when he spoke about increasing health spending in the early years of his government.
In 2000 the UK spent 6.3% of its GDP on health once public and private spending is added together (this is done to take into account the social insurance schemes that exist in some countries). Under Labour this rose and by 2009 it had hit 8.8%, which was above the EU average in 2000.
But the boom years had also prompted other nations to increase their spending so that by 2009 the EU average (for the 14 other members compared in 2000) was now 10.1%.
Of course since then the global economy has had to cope with turbulent times and so spending on health has stopped rising. In the rest of the EU it has remained pretty constant, while in Britain it has fallen - as the graph below shows.
Now what is interesting is what happens if you look at the potential impact of the government's spending plans for this Parliament. This is something the highly respected King's Fund chief economist John Appleby has done.
His number crunching suggests that while the budget is going up as a proportion of GDP, spending will actually fall further because the economy will grow at a faster rate than the NHS budget.
If both were to match each other it would mean another £16bn being available by 2020, while if it was to be brought up to the EU average another £43bn would need to be ploughed in.
His conclusion? More could certainly be spent - it just comes down to the political choice of higher taxes, less spending elsewhere or slower deficit reduction.
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Political parties have been auditing their MLAs to ask if any of their family members are beneficiaries in the RHI scheme.

The Ulster Unionist Party has said an aunt and uncle of its Mid-Ulster MLA Sandra Overend have a business which is a recipient under the RHI scheme.
DUP MLA Carla Lockhart has indicated that her brother-in-law is a farmer and is in the scheme.
The party said Ms Lockhart "has only recently become aware of this."
DUP MLA William Irwin has a son-in-law who is a farmer and is in the scheme.
The wife of former Ulster Unionist MLA Neil Somerville has a wood pellet boiler under the scheme in a family business, Clogher Valley Horses Welcome.
There is no suggestion that any of the relations of Ms Lockhart, Mrs Overend, Mr Irwin or Mr Somerville operate the boilers inappropriately.
The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme was intended to increase the creation of heat from renewable sources.
However, businesses were receiving more in subsidies than they were paying for renewable fuel and the scheme became majorly oversubscribed.
The fallout from the scandal surrounding the scheme, which is approximately £490m over budget, resulted in the collapse of Stormont's institutions and the calling of snap elections on 2 March.
The UUP said it is contacting a small number of councillors by the end of the day who failed to respond to a request asking them if they benefited directly from the RHI scheme.
A spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party said: "We are aware that many who applied to the RHI scheme feel they are being unfairly vilified because of a catastrophic failure with the Department of Enterprise Trade & Investment.
"Given Mr Somerville served however briefly as a MLA, we call on Ofgem to fast track an audit of his boiler alongside those belonging to relatives of elected representatives. That is only fair, and the best way to ensure public confidence."
The DUP said neither Ms Lockhart nor Mr Irwin "was involved in lobbying for these individuals (their family members) and neither has any financial or other interests in the farms concerned.
"We would again want to point out that in the main those in the non domestic RHI scheme applied absolutely legitimately to what was a government approved scheme and should be viewed as such."


Irish PM Enda Kenny has said his actions were never about himself but about dealing with the challenges that faced the people and Ireland.

He was making his last address to the Dáil before resigning after six years as head of the Irish government.
He is the longest serving Fine Gael taoiseach (Irish prime minister) and the first in his party to serve two consecutive terms.
His successor Leo Varadkar has appointed Simon Coveney as his deputy.
The two men ran against each other in the party's leadership contest. Mr Varadkar said that together they would re-energise Fine Gael and guide its role in government.
Mr Kenny's tenure as taoiseach is likely to be remembered as being marked by the positive turnaround in the Republic's economy, the country's exit from the EU's bailout programme and the same-sex marriage referendum.
However, many in opposition parties are critical of how his government made €10bn (£8.8bn) in budgetary adjustments during the recession.
Enda Kenny came to power at a time of great uncertainty for the Republic of Ireland and Europe as a whole.
He was elected taoiseach in 2011, four months after the state was forced into a humiliating international financial bailout.
Despite having helped to steady the ship, navigating a path from crippling debt to economic recovery, it was not enough to prevent a slow mutiny.
He leaves the helm with new storms on the horizon - the biggest being Brexit.
The UK's exit from the European Union and the collapse of devolved government in Northern Ireland are just two of the challenges he hands on to his successor.
It is not the legacy nor the timescale he would have chosen, but Mr Kenny has dealt with his fair share of inherited problems.
Read more here.
In his last address to the Dáil (Irish parliament), he said while he would be the first to acknowledge he did not get everything right, his motivation was always to get the best for the Irish people.
Mr Kenny, who was due to return his seal of office to Irish President Michael D Higgins. later on Tuesday, said he understood people's disillusionment with politics and suggested that one way to counter this was for politicians to treat each other with respect.
Paying respect to the outgoing taoiseach, Micheál Martin, the leader of Fianna Fáil, the main opposition party, described Mr Kenny as a "courageous... Irish patriot and an Irish democrat."
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said there had been successes for Enda Kenny, including the marriage equality referendum.
But Mr Adams added that there had been failures including:
After returning his seal of office, Mr Kenny will remain as acting taoiseach until his successor as Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar, is elected by the Dáil on Wednesday.
Mr Varadkar is not predicted to make significant changes to the cabinet, although junior ministers Michael Ring and Eoghan Murphy are expected to be promoted.
Mr Kenny's career spans more than 40 years as a deputy in Ireland's parliament.


A man who beat his mother to death in their County Londonderry family home thought she was a witch after taking a so-called legal high he bought online.

Belfast Crown Court heard that Alun Kinney Evans, 34, suffered a drug induced psychosis after taking MXP, which mimics the effects of ketamine.
Margaret Evans, a 69-year old hairdresser who was known as Margo, was found dead in June 2014.
She was killed in her house in Knockancor Drive, Portstewart.
Alun Evans, who lived with his parents, had previously denied a charge of murdering his mother.
However, last month he admitted her manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Mother-of-three Mrs Evans ran the Madame Margo salon in Portstewart for several decades until she retired in January 2014, just months before she was killed.
The court heard that Alun Evans had been taking MXP and drinking alcohol in the days leading up to his mother's death while his parents were away visiting his sister in England.
He bought it from a website after researching a drug that had similar effects to ketamine, because he wanted to cure his depression.
After taking it for the first time, he said he "felt like Superman".
But after suffering hallucinations, he told his mother he wanted to get rid of the drug and get help for his addiction issues.
He was a user of herbal cannabis and other drugs.
On 4 June 2014, neighbours saw Alun Evans naked on his patio.
After going to investigate, they found the badly beaten body of Mrs Evans in her back garden and called police.
She had been kicked, punched, stamped upon and struck repeatedly with a piece of wood.
She died as a result of blunt force trauma to the chest and head.
At the scene, Alun Evans told police: "I think I killed her, I think I've killed my mum. I had to kill my mum today - she's a witch."
He told police that before he became "possessed", his mother had been urging him to drink water to flush the drugs from his system.
The court heard Alun Evans had tried to cut his wrists and neck with barbed wire after beating his mother, and had gone to a nearby field, where he rolled in cow excrement.
He was conveyed to Hollywell hospital and then Knockbracken, where he received treatment, before being transferred to Maghaberry prison.
The court heard Evans' brother and sister are supporting him.
The court heard that the company that supplied the drugs to Alun Evans online is UK based, and is still trading.
Mr Justice Treacy said Evans will be sentenced next week.


Liverpool Ladies captain Gemma Bonner will miss the remainder of the season with a serious ankle injury.

The 24-year-old central defender damaged the ligaments in her left ankle during Wednesday's 1-0 away defeat by Brescia in the Champions League.
A scan has now revealed Bonner will be out of action for eight to 12 weeks.
The Women's Super League ended last week but she will miss the Continental Cup semi-final on Sunday and Wednesday's return leg against Brescia.
Liverpool have sustained a large number of long term injuries to key players this season, including England midfielder Fara Williams and Nigerian forward Asisat Oshoala.
Manager Matt Beard admits Bonner's absence is a further set back.
"To lose Gemma at such an important part of the season is a big blow and again highlights how unlucky we have been with injuries this season," he said.
"Losing Gemma means we now have eight senior players who are unavailable through injury, which makes our next two games even tougher."


Triple bomb attacks claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group have killed at least 35 people and injured 24 in Yemen's south-eastern city of Mukalla.

The militants struck at sunset as soldiers were preparing to break their day-long fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, officials say.
The attacks involved a suicide bomber, a car bomb and an improvised explosive device, Reuters news agency reports.
An offshoot of al-Qaeda controlled the port city until recently.
It was recaptured in April by Yemeni government and Saudi-led coalition forces.
The first explosion occurred as an attacker detonated his suicide vest at a checkpoint on Mukalla's western approaches, Reuters says.
A bomb-laden car then exploded at the military intelligence headquarters, while the last bomb went off as soldiers were preparing to eat, the agency says.
The al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group had taken advantage of Yemen's civil war to seize territory, weapons and money.
Yemeni security officials believe there is an overlap between AQAP loyalists and IS, despite the rivalry between the two groups, Reuters says.
"Sleeper cells still exist in Mukalla and we are working against them every day," a security official was quoted as saying.
"Since the liberation of the city, security forces have arrested hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters in raids, uncovered plots and seized around 20 explosive cars."
Pro-government and coalition forces had previously focused on battling Houthi rebels and military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
More than 6,400 people, half of them civilians, have been killed in Yemen's conflict, while almost 2.8 million others have been displaced, according to the UN.


The number of viewer complaints over the audibility of BBC One drama Jamaica Inn has escalated, with the second episode seeing a decline in ratings.

A total of 252 people complained after the second episode on Tuesday, following the 546 who complained after Monday night's opening episode.
Episode two drew an average audience of 4.5 million, down on the 6.1 million who tuned in for the first instalment.
The three-part adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel concludes later.
The BBC apologised on Tuesday, attributing problems viewers had understanding the dialogue to "issues with the sound levels".
Some viewers said they had to use subtitles to understand the actors' apparent "mumbling", which one complainant said "was the worst [ever] heard in a TV drama".
Comedian Al Murray and Only Fools and Horses actor John Challis were among those to voice their displeasure on Twitter.
In a statement, the BBC apologised to viewers and said it would be "adjusting the dialogue levels in episode two and three to address audience concerns".
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Tuesday, director Philippa Lowthorpe said she was more "sad" than angry that the sound issues "may have disturbed a few people's enjoyment".
Set in 1821, Jamaica Inn tells of a young woman, played by former Downton Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay, who gets mixed up with smugglers in Cornwall.


Legendary investor George Soros has warned of "serious consequences" for British jobs and finances if the country leaves the EU.

Writing in the Guardian, he said sterling would "decline precipitously" if the Leave camp won Thursday's vote.
Meanwhile, former retail bosses of the UK's biggest chains warned the price of essentials such as food and clothing would rise in the event of a Brexit.
But Vote Leave said the UK would be more prosperous outside the EU.
"The EU is costly, bureaucratic and blind to the impact it has had on people's wages and soaring energy bills," said Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott, who accused Mr Soros of wanting to give more power to Brussels.
Mr Soros made a fortune betting against the pound on Black Wednesday in 1992, when Britain left the ERM, and said Brexit would cause even bigger disruption.
Mr Soros said in his article that leaving the EU would see sterling fall by at least 15%, and possibly more than 20%, to below $1.15 from its current level of around $1.46.
"The value of the pound would decline precipitously," he writes. "It would also have an immediate and dramatic impact on financial markets, investment, prices and jobs.
"I would expect this devaluation to be bigger and also more disruptive than the 15% devaluation that occurred in September 1992, when I was fortunate enough to make a substantial profit for my hedge fund investors.
"British voters are now grossly underestimating the true costs of Brexit. Too many believe that a vote to leave the EU will have no effect on their personal financial position. This is wishful thinking."
Justice secretary and Leave campaigner Michael Gove said Mr Soros had long been a strong supporter of deeper economic integration and had been wrong over the euro, believing it would be an "anchor of stability" for Europe.
"The truth is that economic forecasters like George Soros have got things wrong in the past," he told Radio 4's Today. "They were the people who argued that we should join the single currency. The single currency has brought misery to the continent."
The expected drop in the pound coupled with supply chain disruption would cause the prices of food, drink and clothing to spike, according to the former chief executives of the UK's biggest supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose as well as M&S and B&Q.
The average household could be £580 a year worse off as a result, retail union USDAW has predicted.
USDAW said it had calculated its figure based on an expected fall in sterling in the event of the UK's exit from the EU, together with expected new tariffs imposed on imported EU goods including food, drink and clothing.
Mr Soros warned that the Bank of England's ability to respond to a recession or fall in house prices was limited, with many monetary tools already having been used to steer the UK out of the global financial meltdown.
Sixty years of investing experience had taught him that the only winners would be financial speculators, he said.
Mr Soros writes: "Today, there are speculative forces in the markets much bigger and more powerful. And they will be eager to exploit any miscalculations by the British government or British voters,"
"Brexit would make some people very rich - but most voters considerably poorer," Mr Soros said.
Sterling has already see-sawed in the run-up to the referendum as investors speculate on the likely outcome.
How trade and the UK's economy are affected by membership of the EU.
Last week, the pound fell sharply after polls suggested the Leave camp was gaining ground. On Monday sterling saw its biggest daily gain since 2009 on fresh polls suggesting Remain had renewed momentum.
In 1992, Mr Soros used his Quantum Fund investment vehicle to bet successfully that sterling was overvalued against the Deutsche Mark, forcing then-Prime Minister John Major to pull the pound out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
On Thursday evening and through the night, some of the world's biggest banks are expected to have senior traders working during what some people think could be the most volatile trading for sterling since Black Wednesday.
Vote Leave hit back at claims that an EU-exit would mean a rise in the cost of living.
"Independent experts are clear, EU membership and the meddling court that comes with it have put up prices and hurt our economic growth," Mr Elliott said. "If we Vote Leave, we can take back control of the £350m we hand to Brussels every week and spend it on our priorities."
The claim and counter-claim from business and industry has intensified as the Referendum nears.
Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao, who has already said he backs Remain, has urged the UK to stay part of the growing "digital single market".
"We think the digital single market is the next big opportunity for the economy in Europe in general and for Britain in particular," he told the BBC's Today programme.
"So from our point of view it would be a missed opportunity - a great missed opportunity if Britain was trying to sit outside of of it and not shaping it from inside."
Earlier this month Lord Bamford, chairman of JCB - one of Britain's most successful manufacturers - wrote to his company's 6,500 employees in the UK to explain why he favoured a vote to leave the European Union.
And last week, entrepreneur Sir James Dyson told the Daily Telegraph Britain would gain more from leaving the EU than it would lose.


An investigation into the disappearance of a woman who was allegedly murdered is to be probed by the police watchdog.

The body of India Chipchase, 20, a bar worker, was found in Northampton on Sunday.
Book-keeper Edward Tenniswood, 51, from Stanley Road, faces a charge of murder and has appeared at crown court.
Northamptonshire Police referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over its "responses before and during" the search.
Read this and other stories from Northamptonshire
A statement issued by the force said: "Northamptonshire Police has made a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to ensure transparency in examining police action and responses before and during the search for India Chipchase.
"We await the decision of the IPCC and will not be commenting further as the criminal investigation is now in the court process."
On Thursday Mr Tenniswood appeared at Northampton Crown Court via video link from Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes.
When asked if he could hear, Mr Tenniswood told the clerk of the court: "I can hear you, definitely."
After that he spoke only to confirm he could see the Judge Rupert Mayo, prosecutor Mary Loram and his lawyer Derek Johashen.
There was no application for bail and he was remanded in custody.
Ms Chipchase was last seen by friends on Bridge Street at about 01:15 GMT on Saturday.
Her disappearance was reported later that day after she failed to turn up to work at The Collingtree pub and restaurant.
Her body was found at the defendant's terraced house in Stanley Road. A post-mortem examination concluded she died as a result of pressure to the neck.
There will be a plea hearing on the 25 May, and a trial date was set for 18 July, to last for 10 days.


Parents' views are not considered enough over their children's education, according to a survey of parents.

More than eight out of 10 parents want to be consulted more, according to an annual survey from PTA UK, representing parents groups in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The biggest concern for parents was about bullying in school.
PTA UK head Emma Williams said: "Parents want to have a say in education."
"Many of the decisions made by government and schools affect parents one way or another, so it's only right that they should be able to contribute their views," said Ms Williams.
She said without proper engagement, parents would remain an "untapped resource" for schools.
According to the survey, almost half of parents did not expect the government to listen to them on school policy.
Bullying and cyber-bullying were the top issues where parents wanted schools to take action.
There were also concerns about the costs associated with school - with almost three-quarters saying parental payments were increasing for costs such as school trips and uniforms.
More than a third had been asked to make donations to school funds.
The parent-teacher organisations said the education system needed to pay closer attention to the views of parents on such issues of costs and funding.
"PTA UK calls on the government, education authorities and schools to redouble their efforts to involve and engage all parents," said Ms Williams.


A man in the US state of Connecticut has been charged after allegedly taking a police horse for a drunken joy ride.

The 41-year-old man returned at night to the stables where he works and took one of the horses for a ride around the city of Hartford.
Police told the Hartford Courant newspaper they received a number of calls about a man in a cowboy hat riding a horse and holding up traffic.
A Hartford sergeant confirmed to the BBC a police horse had been stolen.
The horse, named by the Hartford Courant as Handsome, was not injured and was in good spirits, the sergeant said.
Police arrested the man after tracing him to the stables, where they found him in an intoxicated state, leading Hanson around. The horse was reportedly still wearing a saddle.
The man has been charged with disorderly conduct, riding an animal on a road and failing to have lights while riding an animal.


A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea by walking across the heavily protected Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), say officials in Seoul.

The man crossed the eastern section of the border unarmed on Thursday morning, said South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), with no shots fired.
He is now being investigated, said JCS.
The DMZ is fortified with landmines and barbed wire and guarded by tens of thousands of troops on both side. Defections across it are very rare.
In June last year, a teenage recruit from the North surrendered to his Southern counterparts at Hwacheon.
In 2012 a soldier from the North made it through rows of surveillance cameras and electric fencing before eventually managing to hand himself over - an embarrassment that cost three South Korean field commanders their posts.
The border and its fortifications have been in place since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953.
Seoul says more than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the Korean War, most of them via China.
They receive some government help integrating, although some still complain of financial difficulties and discrimination.
The latest defection follows media reports that a young North Korean who defected while competing in a maths competition in Hong Kong left the territory for South Korea on the weekend.
The 18-year-old had spent two months living in the South Korean consulate, which was heavily guarded during his stay.
South Korea has not commented on the reports.


European Union leaders have said they want to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland as part of its Brexit negotiating guidelines with the UK.

The 27 EU leaders unanimously agreed on Saturday the guidelines issued in March by European Council President Donald Tusk.
In a letter to the leaders of the EU-27 ahead of the summit, Mr Tusk wrote that progress on "people, money and Ireland" must come before negotiations on the EU's future relationship with the UK.
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Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Enda Kenny hailed the outcome of the summit in Brussels as "a huge endorsement of the government's approach to the Brexit negotiations and a clear recognition of the unique and specific challenges facing Ireland".
Mr Kenny said the declaration on Irish unity, in which the EU affirmed that in the event of a successful referendum on a united Ireland, Northern Ireland would automatically rejoin the EU, was hugely important.
"It is important to provide reassurance that it does not undermine any provision in the Good Friday Agreement, and if the provision on unity by peaceful means and by consent and democratic means is invoked at some time in future, EU membership is assured, and is now unanimously accepted by the European Council to endorse that legal base," he said.
"Let me be clear, this is not about triggering any mechanism. I've been very consistent in my view that the conditions for a referendum do not currently exist. But an acknowledgement of the principle of the potential within the Good Friday Agreement is hugely important."
The UK's Brexit Secretary David Davis had previously said that in the event of such a vote, Northern Ireland could become "part of an existing EU member state".
Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald said EU leaders were helping to create a united Ireland.
"We welcome the fact that European leaders have recognised the provision within Good Friday (agreement) to end partition and to create a united Ireland," she said.
"We welcome the fact that a reunified Ireland would in its entirety automatically fall within the European Union.
"We think that that is logical and fair and we welcome the fact that European leaders have said that now out loud."
Talks with the UK will begin after the general election on 8 June.  The deadline for completing the negotiations is 29 March 2019.
Former First Minister Lord Trimble said the issue of tariffs would be important in whether or not there would be a hard border after Brexit and said there may need to be a change in EU law.
"If there are tariffs and under existing EU law a member state who has part of the EU's external border has to put in place on that border appropriate installations to enable them to monitor the movement of that border," he said.
"If on the basis of where we're going, if there are tariffs, then it becomes a hardish border and it comes so by virtue of EU law."
The separation talks will seek to agree the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, as well as Britons living in the EU, plus a settlement for the UK's financial obligations as an EU member state. A deal must also be agreed to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Mr Tusk wrote.
However, the UK government has said made clear that it want talks on trade relations to run in parallel with the separation negotiations.
EU officials estimate that the UK faces a bill of €60bn (£51bn; $65bn) because of EU budget rules. UK politicians have said the government will not pay a sum of that size.


A GP surgery which lost its licence after an investigation revealed a series of failings has lost its bid to have the decision overturned.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the Grafton Surgery in Canvey Island failed to properly monitor patients.
Inspectors also found it had inadequate procedures in place to follow up cervical cancer smear test results.
Their concerns were so serious the surgery's registration was cancelled by a magistrate in June.
Appealing against the decision before the Care Standards Tribunal, the surgery's registered manager, Dr Saia Noorah, argued it was unnecessary.
Although she admitted the surgery, which served 6,200 patients, faced serious problems, she said it should have been given two months' grace to make necessary improvements.
Dr Noorah disputed some of the allegations, including that the surgery had a bullying and blame culture.
Among other failings, the CQC said there were inadequate procedures in place to follow up cervical cancer smear test patients.
Patient satisfaction was "below average", there was no system for reporting accidents at work and staff were unable to locate a first aid kit.
Judge Meleri Tudur confirmed the "urgent cancellation" of the surgery's registration to carry out regulated activities.
The failings admitted by Dr Noorah were by themselves enough to cause "serious risk to patients' life, health or well-being", she said.
The judge concluded there was no clear action plan to bring the surgery up to scratch and that, given the number of patients put at risk, cancellation was necessary.
The CQC said it was working to ensure the surgery's patients had access to "alternative GP services".
Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group says the surgery remains open under caretaker management.


A man has been rescued from a rip tide in Cardigan Bay by a body boarder off the Gwynedd coast.

Holyhead Coastguard was alerted to a person in the water off the coast of Tywyn at about 19:30 BST on Tuesday.
Aberdovey RNLI also took part in the rescue but the man was pulled from the water by the body boarder that had raised the alarm.
The coastguard said the man refused medical treatment after he was safely brought to shore.


Claudio Ranieri said "the Champions League music woke up" Riyad Mahrez, who scored twice as Leicester beat Club Brugge 3-0 on their competition debut.

"It was good because he scored twice, including a fantastic free-kick, and he worked so hard," the Foxes boss said.
"Maybe he is tired of hearing dilly ding dilly dong all the time," the Italian added of Mahrez, who scored Leicester's third with a penalty.
"Now we have to stay calm and put our mind to the next match on Saturday."
Mahrez had scored once in four Premier League appearances before Wednesday's European tie.
Analysis: Why we need Leicester to shake up the Champions League too
"Dilly ding dilly dong" is how Ranieri described the imaginary bell he would shake when he thought players were "sleeping" last season - before they stunned the football world by claiming the Premier League title.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live after his side's first Group C match, the Italian added: "With Rostov [of Russia] we are the only two teams who have never played in the Champions League before.
"For us it is very tough to play against teams with very good experience, like Brugge, FC Porto and FC Copenhagen.
"It's not easy but it's OK. We started well, and that gives us confidence."
Foxes winger Marc Albrighton got the opener against Belgian champions Brugge on Wednesday and said scoring his club's first ever Champions League goal was "just how I'd seen it in my dreams".
"To score the goal was an unbelievable feeling," the 26-year-old added on BT Sport.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola described his side's dominant 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach as "the most important game of the season to now".
City - who have seven wins from seven this season - had 23 shots at goal against the Bundesliga side.
"Considering the opponent, the pressure that we had, we played really, really good," added Guardiola, who watched on as Sergio Aguero scored the second-hat-trick of this campaign.
Guardiola, who has worked with strikers such as Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, David Villa and Robert Lewandowski, said Aguero was "one of the best" when asked how the Argentine ranked out of those he has coached.
"He has a special quality in the box," added the Spaniard. "He's a special player."
City, second in Group C behind Barcelona - who beat Celtic 7-0 on Tuesday - on goal difference, also handed a debut to Ilkay Gundogan following his recovery from injury.
"After three or four months out injured, he played with such intelligence," said Guardiola. "He is an amazing player. He was dribbling, he arrived in the box at the right moment at the right tempo, we are so happy to have him here."
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Tottenham's Champions League campaign began disappointingly as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat against AS Monaco before an English record for a home crowd of 85,011 at Wembley.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino blamed his team's defensive frailties for the loss, with their first-half sloppiness allowing Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar to score the goals which put the Ligue 1 side in control.
"We conceded a goal after 16 minutes that, at this level, you cannot concede," said the Argentine.
"We conceded the second in the same circumstances as the first. We improved in the second half and had chances to win the game but after conceding the first they started to play comfortably with the ball and with calmness.
"They had only two shots on target and scored twice. We feel very disappointed with the result.
"It is true that we had more chances. We were better than Monaco but they were more effective. It is not new. We need to win games, we need to be more aggressive with the ball."


US researchers have developed what they call a "molten glass sewing machine" by combining 3D printing of glass with a mathematical model of how a liquid thread forms different types of loop.

When the nozzle releasing a stream of molten glass is raised above a certain level, that thread begins to wobble.
It traces out waves or loops - which the team found could be controlled by adjusting the speed of the nozzle.
Those shapes then become the building blocks for intricate, 3D objects.
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pioneered a method for glass 3D printing in 2015. They then started to work with mathematician Pierre-Thomas Brun, who has studied the fluid dynamics of liquid "ropes".
The results are documented in a video, which the team presented in the American Physical Society's "Gallery of Fluid Motion" in November.
It all started with a collaboration between two labs at MIT, Dr Brun told the BBC - one specialising in glass and the other in "mediated matter".
Runny honey
"Normally when you 3D print, the nozzle is very close to the piece that you're printing - that's the conventional method. But what they started working with was having a large offset.
"And in that case, instead of having a thread that falls down and moves straight, you can create coil-like patterns like honey on toast."
That coiling process, as it happens, is exactly what Dr Brun studied during his PhD.
"I came up with a reduced model that explained the dynamics of these things," he said. "So I have a way to rationalise the patterns they observed, and we started working together in order to create some structures that take those patterns as building blocks."
Suddenly, instead of being a potential flaw in the system, the wobbling of the liquid glass became a tunable design feature.
And what is more, some of the tiny loops are smaller than anything that could be created by moving the nozzle itself around. The physics of the dribbling glass itself was now a precision instrument.
What most impressed Dr Brun was how simple it was to control that instrument. For a given nozzle height, he explained, everything boils down to how fast the glass is being poured, relative to how fast the nozzle is moving forward.
"These coils may seem complex, but you can rationalise them in a very simple way. And to do that you need one number: how fast is the glass falling onto the surface?"
If the dribbling of the glass starts to outstrip the forward progress of the nozzle, the thread will trace out a meandering, wavy line instead of a straight one.
Then if the forward motion gets even slower, the glass will start to trace small, alternating loops. Even slower, and the loops become one big coil.
It was a surprise, Dr Brun said, that this simple ratio produced such a variety of shapes.
"This is a very complex system, but you can forget about all the other properties. That's a big statement, which has no reason to be true - but it is, in this case."
Following the lead of other researchers, studying the dynamics of viscous liquid threads nearly 10 years ago, Dr Brun and his colleagues called their system a "sewing machine".
"It does exactly what a sewing machine does," he observed. "You go from a thread, to patterns which are tied to each other like stitching patterns - but this time they're made out of glass."
Many of his collaborators at MIT are interested in potential applications for architecture, and the design may also prove useful in sculpture and in 3D printing - or "additive manufacturing" - more widely.
"There are many possibilities, but for now this is just a proof of concept," Dr Brun said.
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The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has folded with a debt of more than US$6m (£4.1m) and has reformed under a different name, the president of the governing body has said.

The new body is called the National Football Association of Zimbabwe, president Phillip Chiyangwa said.
He said the debt, which he blamed on the organization's previous leadership, will now be dealt with by a liquidator.
"I can tell you now that we don't owe anybody anymore," Chiyangwa said.
He added the process has been approved by Fifa and done with the "blessings" of football's world governing body.
However, Fifa said it "has not received any communication on the outcome of Zifa's  extraordinary congress on 4 June 2016 to decide on the possible dissolution of the association".
Zimbabwe's federation had been in financial crisis for years because of a combination of mismanagement, alleged corruption, and the serious economic woes of the southern African nation.
At one point Zifa had to sell off assets, including an artificial training field, to raise money to pay its debts.
Zimbabwe was thrown out of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup by Fifa for failing, after numerous warnings, to pay a former coach wages it owed him.
The federation's latest problems came as Zimbabwe qualified for the African Cup of Nations on Sunday for the first time in 10 years.
One of the last acts of the old Zifa was to hand bans ranging from 10 years to life to a former national team assistant coach and two former federation officials for attempting to fix games.
Former assistant coach Nation Dube Ian Gorowa and former executive committee member Edzai Kasinauyo were banned for 10 years. Henrietta Rushwaya, once the federation chief executive, received a life ban for the second time for involvement in the attempted fixing.
Rushwaya was banned for life after a previous match-fixing scandal, but that sanction was overturned. The latest bans have not been ratified by Fifa.


The victim of a racially-motivated revenge attack for the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby believes his movements may have been tracked.

Dr Sarandev Bhambra, 25, was attacked with a machete by Zack Davies at a Tesco in Mold, Flintshire, in January.
Neo-Nazi Davies, 26, from Mold, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years for attempted murder.
Dr Bhambra questioned whether the "barbaric incident" could have been prevented and called Davies a coward.
"He attacked me from behind and tried to behead me," dentist Dr Bhambra said outside court.
"By the grace of God I remained conscious and was able to defend myself.
"It is abhorrent that he has claimed that he tried to kill me in Lee Rigby's honour. My thoughts and prayers go out to Lee Rigby and his family."
Dr Bhambra, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, added: "While Zack Davies has been convicted and sentenced for attempting to kill me, I am convinced the background behind the incident has not been explored fully.
"Was I targeted? Mold is a small market town. Davies may have been aware of my movements.
"By his own admission Davies was a man that harboured a real hatred for non-whites. He had a history of violence and always carried a knife.
"He was, by his own admission, known to the police. Could this attack have been prevented?"
The trial heard items associated with white supremacy and Nazism were found at Davies's home, including banners, swastika badges and stickers for the extreme rightwing racist group, Combat 18.
During the attack, he was heard to say "white power", leading Dr Bhambra to also question why Davies was not considered a "terrorist" given his political ideals.
After the guilty verdict was delivered in June, Dr Bhambra's brother, Dr Tarlochan Singh Bhambra, said he was "in no doubt" the case would have been reported as an "act of terror" had the "racial disposition of this case been reversed".
The victim also said he would be meeting Peter Fuller, who is being honoured for coming to his defence during the attack.
Since the attack, Dr Bhambra has undergone intense physiotherapy and rehabilitation.
"Incidents of this nature are avoidable and have no place in our multicultural society," he added.
"There are no winners here and true justice is never served. I am moving on with my life both emotionally and professionally in an attempt to catch up on time that has been robbed from me.
"I will never understand racial hatred. What possesses a man to have so much distain for another person? I would not wish this experience on anyone and I will endeavour to gain positively from this totally negative ordeal."
North Wales Police Det Ch Insp Alun Oldfield defended the force's actions, insisting that racist and extremist incidents are taken "very seriously".
He said: "Having consulted with a number of agencies, including the Crown Prosecution Service, a joint decision was made to charge Davies with racially aggravated attempted murder.
"Although Davies was known to the police before this incident, there was nothing to suggest he posed an immediate risk to the public."


Nick Blackwell says he is getting "better by the day" after surviving the "toughest fight of his life".

The 25-year-old boxer suffered a bleed on the skull and was placed in an induced coma after losing his British middleweight title to Chris Eubank Jr.
"Just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has been there for me," said Englishman Blackwell, who woke from his coma on 2 April.
"It's been the toughest fight of my life and you made it that bit easier."
Writing on his brother's Facebook page, he added: "All my friends and family, those who wished me well and those who raised money for me. I couldn't have done it without you."
Referee Victor Loughlin stopped Blackwell's British middleweight title contest with Eubank Jr on the advice of the ringside doctor, who said Blackwell was unable to continue because of swelling over his left eye.
After the fight, Blackwell received medical attention in the ring before being taken away while receiving oxygen.
The British Boxing Board of Control said it was satisfied with the way the fight was handled.
Respected trainer Adam Booth told BBC Radio 5 live that Loughlin had "acted immaculately", while former world champion Barry McGuigan, now a promoter, said it was an "isolated incident" and "nobody was to blame".


Chelsea's 4-2 home defeat by League One side Bradford was the biggest FA Cup shock of all time, says former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler.

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And in a BBC Match of the Day vote 77.2% agreed with him.
"Chelsea are by far the best team in England at the minute. They are 2-0 up at home against little Bradford," said the 39-year-old, who won the Cup with Liverpool in 2001.
"For me this is the biggest shock."
Ex-Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas added: "This is what we all love about the FA Cup. The shock exit.
"The thought that Bradford could go to Stamford Bridge and win was not on anybody's mind. The fact that they are 2-0 down away from home and can go on and have the spirit to win is amazing."
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Chelsea 2-4 Bradford - No fluke
The League One side's victory over the Premier League leaders at Stamford Bridge left Blues boss Jose Mourinho to admit he was "ashamed" of the FA Cup exit.
Here is how the rest of the football world reacted:
Former England winger Chris Waddle, BBC Radio 5 live:
"It's an incredible day. That is an amazing result.
"It doesn't matter what side Chelsea put out, they should beat Bradford City. That's no disrespect to Bradford - give them credit, they've stuck at it, they've had a big following down there and they've enjoyed their day."
Former Chelsea midfielder Nigel Spackman, BBC Radio 5 live:
"I think Bradford they deserved to win the cup tie. It was an amazing cup tie. Chelsea put all the big guns on but weren't able to break Bradford down.
"In the second half, Bradford were absolutely magnificent. I think Chelsea were a little bit complacent at 2-0 up. At that stage, it looked as though the match was over. It just shows you what FA Cup football is all about. You keep going until the whistle."
QPR goalkeeper Robert Green on Final Score:
"Did the changes to their starting line-up make a difference? You'd think so. But you'd say they could make 40 changes with the squad they've got, with the players out on loan. They can make as many changes as they want, they have enough quality in every team they'd ever put out to win that game."
BBC football analyst Steve Claridge on BBC Radio 5 live:
"There was absolutely no fluke about that. Bradford fully deserved it. Some of the quality of their play was brilliant."
Man City 0-2 Middlesbrough - Lack of respect?
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City rode their luck against Football League opposition Sheffield Wednesday in the last round where they came from behind to secure a late 2-1 win, but that luck ran out against Aitor Karanka's side, who are second in the Championship.
Waddle:
"I think Manchester City have only got themselves to blame. Flying back the night before the game, landing at 7pm, after playing a midweek friendly - what are they thinking about? I just can't believe it.
"If you don't treat the FA Cup with respect, you get your fingers burned."
Jenas:
"This is a Boro team that has conceded six goals in 15 games. They are well drilled and know their roles.
"When needed, bodies were put on the line. But they were never worried, they knew their jobs and made blocks and City had no answers. An all-round brilliant performance."
Green:
"Has the trip to Abu Dhabi had an effect on City? You'd probably say not, but I think if manager Manuel Pellegrini had been given a choice, knowing the owners of Manchester City, he wouldn't have gone.
"I think it was something that's probably been forced on them. If he gets a phone call this evening, the first thing he'll probably say is: 'Well, I didn't want to go there.'
"But if you look at the squad, and the quality in it, they should be breaking teams down."
Tottenham 1-2 Leicester
Southampton 2-3 Crystal Palace
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A 36-year-old man found dead at the T in the Park festival has been named as Andrew West.

Police said his death was currently being treated as unexplained but not suspicious.
Mr West, who came from the north of England, is believed to have been found in toilets at the Strathallan Castle site in Auchterarder on Saturday.
A spokesman for the festival said: "We are extremely saddened by this news, and our thoughts are with the family."
He said the organisers were helping police with their inquiries.
Officers are also making inquiries into a video which appears to show an assault taking place at the campsite and have appealed for anyone with information to come forward "urgently".
Police Scotland said it had made 44 arrests since campsites opened on Thursday and the Scottish Ambulance Service reported 606 visits to the hospital tent, compared with 858 in 2014.
Organisers apologised after some of those attending the festival complained about waiting hours at the pick-up and drop-off areas.
Some cars had to be towed after becoming stuck in the mud at the new site on Saturday night.
The festival's director Geoff Ellis said: "A few things contributed to the delays.
"It's a brand new site and the weather wasn't kind to us on Saturday which led to a lot of people having to be towed from the west car park slowing us down because we don't have the benefit of 18 years of infrastructure that we did at Balado.
"We have continuously advised that there are no suitable pedestrian walkways in or out of the venue but over the last two nights, a high volume of people have done this anyway.
"This meant that the traffic coming in to the pick-up points could not access the event, causing tailbacks and increasing the numbers walking as they tried to meet their pick-ups further along the road."
He added: "We do apologise and we know that things should have been better than they were."


Guatemalans have been making quite a noise in recent months.

Whether it was the shout repeatedly asking the president to: "Resign, now," or the honking of the vuvuzelas in the crowds, their cries seem to have been heard.
Earlier this month, President Otto Perez Molina stood down, after Congress voted to strip him of his immunity.
He is now behind bars, awaiting trial over an alleged corruption scandal that has outraged Guatemalans.
Mr Perez Molina has been accused of involvement in a case known as "La Linea" (The Line), named after a hotline businesses allegedly called to access corrupt officials.
Prosecutors say millions of dollars were paid in bribes.
The allegations emerged in April in an investigation by the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a UN body created in 2006 to strengthen the country's rule of law.
Former Vice-President Eduardo Stein, who helped establish the commission, says Guatemala wanted to learn how to carry through criminal investigations that had previously been weak and often knocked down at the beginning of the trial.
"Since the UN has a way of handling post-war societies, through the Security Council, we thought, 'Why can't we ask for a different kind of help from the international community that could strengthen our judiciary?'" he says.
The commission's role has evolved to include alleged corruption cases.
There was no precedent for the CICIG, according to Adriana Beltran from the Washington Office on Latin America. It was not easy to set up either.
But it has proven successful.
Unable to look up to their leadership, Guatemalans' modern-day hero is Ivan Velasquez, who is in charge of the CICIG.
He is a superstar in Guatemala at the moment, and now many in the region want a CICIG of their own.
"It's something each country has to evaluate," Mr Velasquez tells BBC Mundo.
He acknowledges there is a desire for a CICIG in places such as Honduras, which has seen its own protests over alleged corruption in recent months. There are also calls from Mexico.
"But it has to be with cooperation from the government, because this isn't just a commission brought in by anyone," Mr Velasquez adds.
"There has to be a will from the country to establish a commission like this."
Former Mexican Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda agrees the next logical candidate for a UN-type body is Honduras.
It is far less likely to happen in Mexico, although he says there is a growing acceptance by the Mexican authorities of outside help.
The best example of that is with the investigation into the 43 students who disappeared last year.
With families unsatisfied with the government's efforts, six months ago, a group of independent foreign experts were hired by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to look in to the investigation.
On Sunday, they released a damning report, challenging the government's version of what had happened on the night the students disappeared.
There are similar cases where there is pressure for external reviews, such as with an alleged shootout by federal police in Tanhuato, torture in the town of Tlatlaya and an alleged massacre in Apatzingan.
"It's not impossible that a little later you'll move on to corruption," says Mr Castaneda.
Last year, Mexico ranked 103 out of 175 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions list. According to Mexico's statistics institute, 98% of homicides in 2012 went unsolved.
This issue of impunity is right at the heart of what people are dissatisfied with in Mexico, according to Duncan Wood, of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Centre in Washington.
"The fact that a country like Guatemala has been able to take this step forward just highlights how backwards things are in Mexico," he says.
Mr Wood says there has been progress, with a recently-passed anti-corruption law, and acknowledges Mexico has an advanced legal framework.
"But when it comes down to implementation and execution, it doesn't do a particularly good job historically," he says.
Many of the recent political controversies in Mexico have been issues of conflict of interest, such as the so-called "White House scandal", which raised questions about how the president and First Lady Angelica Rivera acquired their $7m (Â£4m) private home.
And Mr Wood thinks the country has not yet reached its tipping point.
"Mexican society has a unique alchemy," he says.
"The same conditions that would force a change in Guatemala are not going to force the same change in Mexico."


There comes a point when the weight of criticism becomes so much that the dam bursts.

For NHS England - and its Care.data project - that point was reached on Tuesday.
When you have a group of bodies as disparate as the British Medical Association, privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch and the Association of Medical Research Charities united in their condemnation, you know you have a problem.
The organisation has defused the problem for now by agreeing to delay the data-sharing project by six months.
But how did it get to this point? After all, the concept of the giant database has the backing of almost the entire medical community, many charities and some of the most influential patient groups.
When it is compiled, Care.data will be a giant database of medical records showing how individuals have been cared for across the GP and hospital sectors.
Researchers believe the information will be vital in helping them develop new treatments as well as assessing the performance of NHS services.
The records will be pseudonymised, which means the identifiable data has been taken out. Instead, it will just contain the patient's age range, gender and area they live in.
However, researchers can apply for those safeguards to be lifted in exceptional circumstances, such as during an epidemic. This will need the permission of the health secretary.
While the furore over the scheme may have only exploded into life since Christmas, the actual idea has been 25 years in the making.
Since 1989, the NHS has been collecting data on hospital stays, known as hospital episode statistics (HES).
This has proved invaluable. For example, HES data played a role in uncovering both the Bristol heart and Mid-Staffordshire scandals.
It also provided some of the evidence that led to the introduction of targeted bowel cancer screening in 2006.
The idea with Care.data is to expand this database to include what happens to patients when they are under the care of GPs.
The belief is this could help researchers develop new treatments and improve the monitoring of performance.
But most would argue none of this was communicated by NHS England.
Instead, the organisation focused its attention on a leaflet drop of every household in England.
The problem was many people could not recall getting them - a BBC poll last week suggested as many as two-thirds of the public had not seen them come through their letterboxes.
It is not clear exactly what happened here. NHS England says it agreed a deal with Royal Mail that they would hit 99% of households - the industry-considered standard for national mailouts - and the leaflets would not be nestled inside other mail.
But reports have emerged of them being found tucked inside pizza menus and other junk mail.
NHS England is now in discussions with Royal Mail to find out what happened.
A video animation was also produced (the video is on the right), but it went only on YouTube and NHS England's website.
There was no national TV campaign.
Nor was a press conference called to launch the marketing campaign.
That is unusual for a project on this scale.
Officials at the Department of Health, which until a year ago was in charge of the day-to-day running of the NHS, have told me they would never have run it like this.
Questions have also been asked about why a decision has yet to be taken about what some consider the most controversial aspect of the project - the sharing of data with private companies.
This will not be decided until a meeting in March. It meant the public were being asked whether they wanted to opt out without knowing who was going to get access to their largely anonymised medical records.
Unsurprisingly, there is now a lot of soul-searching at NHS England.
The organisation admits it made mistakes - particularly in not doing enough to explain the benefits of Care.data.
Some of the explanations offered are understandable. For example, there was a desire not to spend too much on marketing at a time when front-line budgets are being squeezed.
However, the challenge now for NHS England is to work out how they can move on.
One suggestion is that big money should be spent on a TV and radio campaign - although this could be seen as a "hard sell".
Some believe personalised letters should be delivered to households instead of the generic leaflets.
NHS England is also likely to explore the possibility of getting other organisations, such as patient groups and well-known charities, involved in explaining the scheme.
But the fear now inside the organisation - and among the many supporters of Care.data - is that the concept has become so tarnished that whatever is done now will be wrong.


A senior Scottish Labour politician has had a death threat left on his answering machine, the party has said.

The message threatening to shoot the party's former deputy leader Anas Sarwar was left on the machine of his Glasgow office between 8 and 10 April.
Scottish Labour said the matter had been reported to police.
Police Scotland said it had no comment to make at this time. Mr Sarwar is standing to hold his seat for Glasgow Central.
The threat was condemned by Scottish Labour's current deputy leader, Kezia Dugdale, who said it had "no place in our society" but that it would not deter Mr Sarwar.


A woman whose partner died after a car crash in Aberdeenshire has told a trial she felt as if she was "in a washing machine" after the collision.

Driver Henry McPherson, 61, from St Fergus, died after the accident on the A952 near Mintlaw in 2014.
Pauline Flynn, 36, denies causing death by careless driving.
Mr McPherson's partner Patricia McPherson, 52, told Peterhead Sheriff Court she remembered the look of fear on his face.
Ms Flynn, of Mintlaw, allegedly crossed on to the opposite side of the carriageway while driving along the Clola to Toll of Birness road.
Mrs McPherson said: "I became aware that I was to be in a crash when I saw lights cross from the other carriageway lighting up the central line, the driving line of the road.
"The lights were right in my face.
"The next thing I remember after that is a feeling like I was in a washing machine.
"It was a bit surreal. I felt like I was in a washing machine going round and round and can remember hearing myself screaming.
"And I can remember looking over at Harry and he had a look of fear on his face that I had never seen in my life."
Mrs McPherson described Mr McPerson as a masculine man who would not have shown anyone when he was scared.
She went on: "I think he knew it wasn't going to end well."
Mrs McPherson said her partner of 34 years, who was known as Harry, had his arms stretched straight out in front on him on the steering wheel.
She said she then felt as if she was being crushed from the front of her chest to her back and could  barely breathe.
Mrs McPherson said: "I can remember being in the car and feeling crushed and I can remember a strange smell of earth or soil.
"I couldn't understand why I was smelling earth. I didn't at that stage realise the situation I was in.
"I didn't realise I was in a crash."
Defence lawyer Susan Duffy asked Mrs McPherson if she wanted someone to be responsible for the death of Mr McPherson and her subsequent fracture injuries.
She replied: "I don't want anyone to be responsible for that no. I want to have my partner back."
The trial continues.


A 16-year-old Swedish girl rescued from Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq has described life under the jihadist group's rule as "really hard".

The teenager told an Iraqi Kurdish TV station that she was duped into going to Syria by her boyfriend last May.
She was rescued by Kurdish special forces near the city of Mosul a week ago, Kurdish authorities say.
At least 300 Swedes and thousands of other Westerners are believed to have joined IS in recent years.
In the interview with Kurdistan 24, the girl said she had met her boyfriend in 2014 after dropping out of school in south-western Sweden.
What is 'Islamic State'?
What life is like under IS in Mosul
"First it was good together but then he started to look at Isis videos and speak about them and stuff like that," she said in English, using the acronym of the previous name for IS.
"Then he said he wanted to go to Isis and I said 'OK, no problem', because I did not know what Isis meant or what Islam was - nothing."
Last year, when she was 15 and pregnant, the couple left the Swedish town of Boras and travelled through Europe by bus and train until reaching the Turkish border province of Gaziantep. From there, they crossed into Syria.
Then IS militants ferried them and other men and women by bus to the Iraqi city of Mosul, which has been under the group's control since 2014.
There, she said, they were given a house which had no electricity or running water.
"In Sweden we have everything, and when I was there, I did not have anything," she said in the interview, looking relaxed and healthy.
"I did not have any money either - it was a really hard life. When I had a phone I started to contact my mum and I said: 'I want to go home'."
Kurdish officials said on Tuesday that she was in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and would be handed over to Swedish authorities.
They said nothing about the fate of her baby, reportedly a boy.


The government has launched its plan to keep the UK at the forefront of the digital revolution in the wake of its impending exit from the European Union.

It includes plans to offer digital skills to millions of individuals, charities and businesses by 2020.
It also plans to create five international technology hubs in emerging markets to allow UK companies to maintain their global edge.
Experts said the strategy was lacking in detail.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley said: "The UK's world-leading digital sectors are a major driver of growth and productivity, and we are determined to protect and strengthen them.
"This digital strategy sets a path to make Britain the best place to start and grow a digital business, trial a new technology, or undertake advanced research as part of the government's plan to build a modern, dynamic and global trading nation."
The government wants to help adults who lack core digital skills to access free training.
It has secured the following pledges from private sector organisations:
Chris Pennell, an analyst with research company Ovum, said the plans did not go far enough.
"We need to invest in education and start-ups and skills," he said.
"I would like to see more long-term thinking about education and digital skills because digital businesses will be crucial to the economy after Brexit," he told the BBC.
The government also plans to create two forums, one for the government and the technology community "to work together to spark growth in the digital economy" and the other to help businesses better access fast broadband.
But Mr Pennell questioned the need for what he called talking shops.
"We already have technology forums so why do we need more?" he asked.
"We would be better off joining up the ones that we already have."
Tech City UK chief executive Gerard Grech said:  "The UK's tech sector is rapidly becoming a global force to reckon with, but we must ensure that we stay ahead by continuing to provide a supportive environment for British start-ups and digital companies to grow in, especially since other countries are trying to take advantage of our departure from the European Union."
Earlier this week, the government announced a major review into artificial intelligence to ensure the nascent technology could thrive in the UK.
It included Â£17.3m of funding for robotics and AI research at UK universities.
The digital strategy builds on the Government Transformation Strategy, launched earlier this month, which maps out how the government intends to improve the relationship between citizens and the state and improve public services.
It includes plans to make it easier to renew passports and report crimes.


Juventus have signed Fiorentina forward Federico Bernardeschi on a five-year deal for £35m.

The 23-year-old, who scored 11 league goals last season, has spent three years in Florence.
Bernardeschi, who has nine senior Italy caps, impressed during this summer's European Under-21 Championship, and Juve described him as one of Europe's "most promising attacking talents".
Juve are looking to win the league title for the seventh successive year.
Prior to Bernardeschi's signing, they had already recruited Wojciech Szczesny, Juan Cuadrado, Medhi Benatia and Douglas Costa.
Bernardeschi is now expected to travel to the United States, where Juventus are on a pre-season tour.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Andy Murray accepts that he will be the underdog when he meets Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final on Sunday.

The world number two is in the final of the year's first Grand Slam for the fifth time, having lost to the 28-year-old Serb in 2011,2013 and 2015.
The Briton, who was also beaten in the 2010 final by Roger Federer, is chasing a third major title.
"I don't think many people are expecting me to win. I have to just believe in myself," said Murray, 28.
Djokovic has lost only three sets in six matches at Melbourne Park this year, and could equal Roy Emerson's record of winning six Australian Opens.
If the Scot, who has also only gone beyond three sets twice at this year's tournament, was to beat Djokovic he would become the first man to lose four finals at a Grand Slam before claiming the title.
"It's one tennis match, it doesn't matter what's happened in the past really," added Murray, who has lost 21 of the pair's 30 meetings.
Victory for Djokovic on Sunday would give him his 11th Grand Slam title, moving him level with Sweden's Bjorn Borg and Australian Rod Laver and one behind Emerson, whose six Australian Open wins in his homeland were played on grass.
"These are the kind of matches that you work for. These are the kind of occasions that define you as a tennis player," said the reigning Australian, Wimbledon and US Open champion.
Djokovic beat Federer 6-1 6-2 3-6 6-3 in Thursday's semi-final, making just six unforced errors in an impressive opening two sets.
Among the few flaws of his passage to the final were the 100 unforced errors he made in a five-set win over France's Gilles Simon in the fourth round.
Murray beat Djokovic to claim his two Grand Slams, in the 2012 US Open and at Wimbledon the following year, but has lost 10 of their past 11 meetings.
When asked whether all-out attack may be the best policy against the world number one, Murray pointed out several challenges of facing his regular opponent.
"Roger tried to do that the other day and it's not that easy, whereas (Gilles) Simon played a completely different way and was very successful for a large part of that match.
"If you want to win against Novak you have to maintain your intensity for a long time and your level for a very long time."


A priest who was investigated but never charged after concerns were raised about the safeguarding of children is to retire after a Church inquiry.

Fr Paul Symonds stepped aside from ministry in County Antrim in 2009 to facilitate a police investigation.
After a decision was made to not to prosecute him, the Catholic Church resumed its internal inquiry.
The Down and Connor diocese said this concluded he will "live as a retired priest without any public ministry".
Fr Symonds is originally from England, but was working as a priest in Ballymena, County Antrim, when the police investigation began.
The BBC tried to contact Fr Symonds on Friday, but without success.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Diocese of Down and Connor said: "In 2011, after statutory investigation, with which the Diocese and Fr Symonds co-operated fully, and during which Fr Symonds was never charged with a criminal offence, the determination of the Prosecution Service was not to prosecute.
"Thereafter the Church's own internal canonical inquiry resumed.
"The canonical investigation has reached the decision that Fr Paul Symonds will live as a retired priest without any public ministry."


Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Aviemore on Monday.

The claim: 260,000 children in Scotland are living in poverty, 40,000 up on last year.
Reality Check verdict: The best available figures suggest he is right to say there has been a jump in child poverty in Scotland to 260,000 after several years of little change.
He highlighted the increase in relative child poverty in Scotland, saying that 260,000 children are living in relative poverty, which is up 40,000 on last year.
The figures come from a Scottish Government publication, which calculates relative poverty as living in households with incomes below 60% of the median income for the UK, after housing costs have been paid.
The median income is the one for which half of UK households have a higher income and half have a lower one.
The most recent figure is for the financial year 2015-16, and suggests that 260,000 children were living in relative poverty after housing costs, which is 26% of children in Scotland. That's up from 220,000 or 22% in 2014-15.
The figures in this report come from the Family Resources Survey, which collects information about 2,700 households in Scotland.
That's a large survey, but it still has a margin of error, so when it suggests that 260,000 children are living in poverty it means that the statisticians are 95% confident that the actual figure is somewhere between 190,000 and 320,000. That means that even though 40,000 is an unusually large increase, it is well within the margin of error and so the change is not statistically significant.
The Scottish Government proposed a Child Poverty Bill last year. The bill will set ambitious targets for reducing child poverty by 2030.
The report itself warns against placing too much emphasis on a single year's figures. "More data will be required to judge whether these changes are indicative of a longer term trend," it says.
Nonetheless, these are official figures and they are the best figures available, suggesting there may have been a jump after several years of little change.
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Comedian and actor Billy Connolly has had surgery for prostate cancer and has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

"The operation was a total success, and Billy is fully recovered," his spokeswoman said.
The 70-year-old Scot began working as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards but quit in the late 1960s to become a folk singer before turning to stand-up.
He has also starred in films including the Oscar-nominated Mrs Brown.
"Billy Connolly recently underwent minor surgery in America after being diagnosed with the very early stages of prostate cancer," his spokeswoman said.
"In addition, Billy has been assessed as having the initial symptoms of Parkinson's disease, for which he is receiving the appropriate treatment."
She added the star would continue to work as normal.
"Billy has been assured by experts that the findings will in no way inhibit or affect his ability to work, and he will start filming a TV series in the near future, as well as undertaking an extensive theatrical tour of New Zealand in the new year," she said.
Steve Ford, chief executive at Parkinson's UK, said: "Many people, with the right medication, continue to live a full and active life with Parkinson's, but for some, it can be life-changing and it is vital that Billy gets the support he needs to live with this complex condition.
"We salute Billy's bravery in speaking out about his condition at this difficult time."
Owen Sharp, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK, said: "It is always concerning to hear that anyone is faced with prostate cancer, but it is very good news if Billy Connolly's treatment has been successful and we wish him the best in his recovery."
Singer and campaigner Bob Geldof told Channel 5 News: "He's helped me lots in my endeavours. Pam and Bill are great mates. He's as strong as an ox mentally from everything he's been through as a kid. So I don't think this will deter him from being that individual that we know."
Other recent films in which Connolly has starred include the Oscar-winning animated film Brave where he voiced the lead male character and Quartet, which saw him play a womanising former opera star.
In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, he said he wanted to stay young at heart: "Stay young. Me? I'm 37! I haven't changed my attitude to things since I was 37."
He also played a dwarf warrior in the second part of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit franchise and finished filming the third instalment at the end of last year.
In December 2012, the star was given the Bafta Scotland award for outstanding contribution.
Connolly began his stand-up career touring clubs known as the bearded Big Yin.
His Great Northern Welly Boot Show eventually reached the London Palladium.
An appearance on Parkinson in the 1970s helped introduce him to a wider audience, and he later said his appearance on the show changed his life. By 2007 he had appeared on the chat show 12 or 13 times.
He completed his first world tour in 1987, including six nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In June 1992, Connolly performed his 25th anniversary concert in Glasgow. It was the subject of an episode of The South Bank Show later that year.
In early January 1994, Connolly began a 40-date "world tour of Scotland" which was broadcast by the BBC, and two years later he did a similar tour in Australia which was also broadcast.
His acting career began to take off in the 1990s as he played a Glaswegian hard man in Down Among the Big Boys and then an 18th Century Scottish inventor of the trap-door gallows in Deacon Brodie, both for the BBC.
Connolly has been married twice, and has five children.  His second wife is writer, actress, broadcaster and psychotherapist Pamela Stephenson.


A 25-year-old man suffered serious injuries after being shot in what police say was a targeted attack.

West Yorkshire Police said the man was taken to hospital at about 15:00 GMT on Christmas Eve with abdominal injuries.
Part of Thornville Road, close to the junction with Alexandra Road, in Burley, Leeds, was cordoned off, while officers carried out forensic searches.
Police said the injured man had undergone surgery and is described as being in a stable condition.
Det Ch Insp Mark McManus said: "The incident continues to be treated as a targeted attack."
He said that two vehicles met at the location of the shooting, close to a BP petrol station.
"Officers have recovered a white-coloured Audi vehicle, but we are still keen to trace a dark or black-coloured hatchback car which we believe is connected to those involved in the shooting."
Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.