A teenage sailor, whose bravery during the World War One Zeebrugge Raid earned him a Victoria Cross, has been honoured with a statue and 48-gun salute.

Albert McKenzie took part in a mission to block German boats in the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge in 1918.
He was one of the few among his landing party who survived the raid on 23 April and the first London sailor to collect the Victoria Cross from King George V.
His statue stands off Tower Bridge Road in Bermondsey, south London.
A stone's throw from his childhood home, the memorial sits atop a concrete plinth made from a section of the Zeebrugge harbour wall donated by the people of Flanders.
The statue was unveiled at noon as HMS Belfast, anchored in the Thames, performed a gun salute in his honour.
Able Seaman McKenzie, 19, was onboard HMS Vindictive when it entered the Bruges-Zeebrugge canal shortly after midnight on St George's Day in 1918.
The British had planned to sink three old warships, blocking the canal entrance, while detonating two old submarines to damage the port of Bruges-Zeebrugge. The idea was to prevent German submarines from leaving the port and attacking the Allies.
HMS Vindictive led the raid and was meant to land a storming party to create a diversion and take out the German gun positions, enabling the three British warships to get into position.
However, an ill-fated wind blew Vindictive's smoke-screen away and the German gunners inflicted heavy casualties and forced the vessel off course.
Without the smoke-screen, Vindictive's crew suffered many casualties even before it pulled alongside the harbour wall to engage the German gunners.
"Well we got within 15 minutes' run of the Mole [harbour wall] when some marines got excited and fired their rifles. Up went four big star shells and they spotted us. That caused it. They hit us with the first two shells and killed seven marines. They were still hitting us when we got alongside.
There was a heavy swell on which smashed all our gangways but two, one aft [towards the stern and the rear of the ship] and one forward. I tucked the old Lewis gun under my arm and nipped over the gangway aft. There were two of my gun's crew killed inboard and I only had two left, with myself three.
I turned to my left and advanced about 50 yards then lay down. There was a spiral staircase which led down into the Mole and Commander Brock fired his revolver down and threw a Mills bomb. You ought to have seen them nip out and try to get across to the destroyer tied up against the Mole, but this little chicken met them half way with the box of tricks, and I ticked about a dozen off before I clicked.
My Lewis gun was shot spinning out of my hands and all I had left was the stock and pistol grip which I kindly took a bloke's photo with it, who looked too business-like for me, with a rifle and bayonet.
It half stunned him and gave me time to get my pistol out and finish him off. Then I found a rifle and bayonet and joined up our crowd who had just come off the destroyer. All I remember was pushing kicking and kneeing every German who got in the way.
When I was finished I couldn't climb the ladder so a mate of mine lifted me up and carried me up the ladder and then I crawled on my hands and knees inboard."
Able Seaman Mackenzie, armed with a Lewis gun and 400 rounds of ammunition, followed his officer onto the harbour wall to fight the German forces, his family said.
He killed many German fighters and forced some of the enemy to abandon their post but by the time he was ordered to withdraw, his Lewis gun had been blown out of his hands. The talented boxer had to fight his way back to safety using a pistol, bayonet and his wit.
Speaking at the unveiling of the statue, his great-nephew Colin McKenzie said: "It's is such a huge honour for Albert to be recognised in this way.
"We've always known about Albert. We've been brought up with the stories about him, but to share that with a much wider audience in this way, is almost overwhelming.
"I've got cousins here today who were in tears earlier."
During the raid Able Seaman McKenzie was wounded in the back and foot. On returning to the UK he was nominated by his shipmates to receive the Victoria Cross for bravery, presented by King George V.
A few weeks later the celebrated sailor caught Spanish flu during a global pandemic and died of pneumonia, aged 20, on 3 November 1918, days before the war officially ended.
He was buried in Camberwell Old Cemetery and a letter signed by "their Majesties" was read out at his funeral.
It read: "In the special circumstances of A.B. Albert E McKenzie's lamentable death and the fact of his being a VC, and the first London sailor to receive that most honourable reward, you are authorised to express at the public funeral the sympathy of their Majesties with the widowed mother and family.
"Their Majesties were grieved to hear of his untimely death and to think that he had been spared so short a time to wear the proud decoration which he so nobly won."


USA won their sixth successive Olympic women's basketball title, beating Spain 101-72 at Carioca Arena.

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Diana Taurasi and Lindsay Whalen scored 17 points apiece for USA, gold medallists for the eighth time in 10 appearances.
Victory extended USA's Olympic winning streak to 49, dating back to the bronze-medal match at Barcelona 1992.
Spain's silver was their first Olympic medal of any colour in women's basketball.
The world's third-ranked team had lost 103-63 to the United States in the group stage.
Spain's Alba Torrens scored a game-high 18 points, but USA were comfortable winners, leaving coach Geno Auriemma in tears.
Victory brought a fourth consecutive Olympic gold for Taurasi, captain Sue Bird, and Tamika Catchings.
Earlier, Serbia won bronze by beating France 70-63.
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Find out how to get into basketball with our special guide.


US First Lady Michelle Obama is visiting a school in London today to talk about girls' education.

16 June 2015 Last updated at 16:55 BST
It's part of an initiative called Let Girls Learn, which wants more girls around the world to go to school and complete their education.
Michelle's mum and two teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha, are also joining her on her visit to England.
But who is Michelle Obama, and what does she actually do?


A man accused of stabbing his neighbour 33 times after a "tit-for-tat" dispute has said his mind went "hazy" at the time of the attack.

Trevor Gibbon, 48, allegedly armed himself with two knives and fatally stabbed Alison Morrison, 45, in Harrow, north London, in December 2014.
The Old Bailey heard the killing came a day after he was handed a restraining order, having pleaded guilty to harassing Mrs Morrison.
He denies murder.
The prosecution said the dispute between the neighbours started when Ms Morrison, her husband Cedric and their son moved next door to Mr Gibbon and his partner, Maria Perrett, in Windsor Crescent, Harrow, in 2011.
Mrs Morrison was stabbed a day after the dispute was supposedly resolved in court, the jury previously heard.
During the hearing, Mr Gibbon told the court he had stashed two knives in a Tesco bag in his car because he was contemplating suicide following the "tit-for-tat" dispute.
But when he saw Mrs Morrison walking towards the railway station he "just went hazy".
He said: "I remember just getting out the car and walking that way.....I don't know what I was doing. I don't know what I was thinking."
Jurors heard Mr Gibbon was arrested 100 miles away and had dried blood on his hands.
The trial continues.


The chief executive of the NHS trust which runs Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth has left her post.

A statement from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust said Ursula Ward, who had held the role for 12 years, had "taken the decision to leave".
No reason has been given for her departure.
The trust has recently faced criticism over delays in its emergency department, with patients kept waiting in ambulances outside the hospital.
A statement said: "The Board would like to thank Ursula for her valued contribution and dedication and wish her every success in the future."
Tim Powell, current director of workforce and organisational development, has been appointed interim chief executive.
Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt paid tribute to Ms Ward's "hard work and effort".
"She was the first nursing director to become the CEO of a hospital and she has helped transform the QA, most notably in my book dramatically reducing infections," she said.
The hospital's emergency department was criticised in February when a third of Hampshire's on-duty fleet of 46 ambulances queued outside. The trust said it had been "exceptionally busy"


Five Seconds of Summer guitarist, Michael Clifford, has told his fans that he's "feeling loads better" after getting hurt on stage in London.

The band had to stop their gig at Wembley Arena after his hair and face were burnt by a flame that was being used during the concert.
The 19-year-old was treated in hospital and later posted a picture of his face in bandages.
He has sent messages on social media saying that his "face is fine".
The Australian star is not the only famous performer to have suffered an onstage accident.
Here's Newsround's look at some of the most awkward slip-ups.
In 2013, One Direction's Louis Tomlinson took a tumble half way through performing the group's single 'Kiss You' after a water fight at their gig in Adelaide, Australia.
But it did not stop Louis, who carried on singing as he lay on the stage.
The rest of the 1D boys made the most of the mishap too, spraying Louis with more water as he lay flat on his back.
Katy Perry loves putting on a show every time she gets up on stage to sing but it doesn't always go to plan.
In 2008, she decided to end one of her performances with an incredible stunt: diving into a large four-tiered cake.
But it all started to get messy when Katy tried to stand up and walk off stage.
The large amount of icing caused the star to take a second dive, this time slipping all over the stage.
A band mate did his best to help her, but there was no stopping Katy falling all over the place
Olly Murs had a bit of an embarrassing moment back in 2012 when performing at a music festival.
He was singing a cover version of Stevie Wonder's song 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' before deciding to run down the stairs next to the stage.
Olly ended up getting his feet in a twist and tumbling down the steps.
Pop star Madonna fell off the stage during her performance at the 2015 Brit Awards.
Madonna tumbled down a set of stairs and landed awkwardly, apparently after a dancer tried to remove a cape she was wearing at the start of her routine.
But she recovered and returned to continue her song, 'Living For Love'.
The 56-year-old issued a statement later saying she was "fine" and that her cape had been "tied too tight".
Foo Fighters star Dave Grohl broke his leg after falling off the stage during a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The band were two songs into their concert at the Ullevi stadium when the singer went to jump on a ramp but missed and fell into the security area.
"I think I just broke my leg," Grohl told the crowd as he lay on the ground.
"I'm going to go to hospital. I'm going to fix my leg. And then I'm going to come back."


One of the earliest relatives of dinosaurs had some features we associate today with crocodiles and alligators, a study suggests.

Many palaeontologists have wondered what the earliest dinosaur relatives looked like, as the fossil record in this time period is sparse.
Some assumed they walked on two legs, looking a bit like miniature dinosaurs.
But the newly described creature walked on four legs like a croc, the journal Nature reports.
The 2-3m (7-10ft) carnivorous animal, unearthed in southern Tanzania, lived some 245 million years ago during the Triassic Period. It pre-dated the earliest dinosaurs.
Prof Paul Barrett, from London's Natural History Museum, one of the authors on the new paper, said: "This is a little animal that we call Teleocrater. It's not very big...it probably would have weighed about the same as the average family dog."
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Visually, it would have looked a bit like a souped-up version of a komodo dragon, crossed maybe with something else. So it would have been a slender animal, not a big armoured thing like a crocodile."
Teleocrater rhadinus appeared just after a large group of animals known as archosaurs split into one branch that led to dinosaurs (and, eventually, birds) and another branch that led to today's alligators and crocodiles.
Its anatomy combines features present in the last common ancestor of these groups, such as a crocodilian-like ankle joint, with some features considered characteristic of dinosaurs.
The first fossils belonging to Teleocrater were discovered in 1933 in Tanzania. They were studied at London's Natural History Museum in the 1950s. But these specimens were missing crucial bones, such as the ankle.
Therefore, scientists at the time could not tell whether they were more closely related to crocs or to dinosaurs.
The new specimens were uncovered in the East African country in 2015, resolving some of those outstanding questions. They show that it is one of the earliest members of the archosaur family tree and that it walked like a crocodilian.
Sterling Nesbitt, one of the new study's authors from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, US, said: "The discovery of Teleocrater fundamentally changes our ideas about the earliest history of dinosaur relatives."
But he added: "It also raises far more questions than it answers."
Teleocrater, along with other dinosaur relatives, lived across a wide range of different regions, from Russia to India to Brazil.
The team's next steps are to return to southern Tanzania to look for more remains and missing pieces of the Teleocrater skeleton.
Follow Paul on Twitter.


Australia will create a new government super-ministry to oversee all its domestic national security agencies, PM Malcolm Turnbull has said.

The portfolio will be modelled on the UK Home Office.
The Home Affairs ministry, to be headed by current Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, will manage security agencies including police and intelligence.
Mr Turnbull described it as the most significant reform of national security arrangements "in more than 40 years".
"The new portfolio will be similar to the United Kingdom's Home Office arrangement, a federation, if you will, of border and security agencies," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"Let me be quite clear, this is not a United States-style Department of Homeland Security."
In explaining the distinction, Mr Turnbull said each agency will "retain their current statutory independence".
The portfolio will oversee major agencies including the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Border Force.
It will also include:
Mr Turnbull said the new ministry will allow Australia to better respond to future security threats.
"We cannot take an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach to security arrangements," he said.
"Not least because our adversaries are agile and nimble, constantly adapting and evolving to defeat our defences. We need more enduring and better integrated arrangements."
He said he expects the ministry overhaul will be completed by July next year.
On Monday, Mr Turnbull announced the Australian military would be given broad new powers to respond to domestic terrorist attacks.


The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) is examining allegations of child abuse in children's homes and other residential institutions in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.

It is the biggest child abuse public inquiry ever held in the UK, having been contacted by more than 400 people who said they were abused in childhood.
The HIA inquiry was first announced in 2010 and was formally set up by Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers on 31 May 2012.
Its aim is to establish if there were "systemic failings by institutions or the state in their duties towards those children in their care".
It will also determine if victims should receive an apology and compensation.
The inquiry was established as a result of a campaign for justice, which gathered momentum in 2009 following the damning findings of a similar institutional abuse inquiry in the Republic of Ireland.
The Ryan Report, published on 20 May 2009, examined allegations of child abuse at Catholic-run children's institutions in the Republic of Ireland over a 60-year period.
It found that church leaders knew sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys' institutions, where children lived in a "climate of fear".
434 people have made formal applications to speak to the inquiry
300+ witnesses are expected to testify during the public hearings
263 alleged victims have already given statements to the inquiry's acknowledgement forum
63 witness applications were from former residents now living in Great Britain
61 witness applications were from former residents now living in Australia
20 witness applications were from former residents now living in the Republic of Ireland
8 witness applications were from former residents now living in other countries
13 residential institutions are currently under investigation by the inquiry team
The Ryan report also concluded that physical and emotional abuse and neglect were features of Irish children's homes, reformatories and industrial schools and that the young residents faced a "daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from".
The findings of the nine-year-long inquiry made headlines around the world and led to calls for a government-backed investigation north of the border.
Within months, thousands of people had signed a petition called Justice for the Victims of Institutional Abuse in Northern Ireland.
The petition was delivered to the Northern Ireland Assembly in November 2009, when MLAs backed a motion calling for a similar assessment of the scale of child abuse in Northern Ireland.
The Stormont Executive agreed to set up a public inquiry in 2011, and the following year, on 31 May 2012, the terms of reference were announced by Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers.
On the same date, retired High Court judge Sir Anthony Hart was appointed to chair the inquiry. MLAs subsequently passed legislation, giving the inquiry team statutory powers to compel witnesses to testify.
When it was originally announced, ministers initially said the HIA inquiry would examine abuse claims over a 50-year period from 1945 to 1995.
However, in October 2012, just as the first stage of the inquiry began, its remit was extended to investigate allegations dating back to the foundation of the state in 1922.
Since October 2012, the inquiry has been taking evidence in private session from former residents of children's homes, borstals, training schools and other childcare institutions.
The inquiry's remit is limited to children's residential institutions in Northern Ireland, regardless if they were run by the state, religious organisations or voluntary groups.
It means that victims of clerical child abuse that took place outside residential institutions, those abused in foster care and former residents of Magdalene laundry-style homes in Northern Ireland, are excluded from taking part.
A joint campaign by clerical abuse victims and ex-residents of laundry-style institutions to be included in the proceedings has so far failed.
In December 2013, a woman who claimed she was molested in foster care lost a legal challenge to force the inquiry to examine her case.
The HIA has three main elements that are known as an acknowledgement forum, a research and investigative team and an inquiry and investigation panel.
The purpose of the acknowledgement forum is to record the experiences of people who claim they were abused in children's institutions.
There has been some criticism of the lack of face-to-face counselling provided for those who have come forward to tell their stories.
Last August, the campaign group Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) said some witnesses have been suicidal after giving testimony and claimed organisations like theirs were being left to "pick up the pieces".
But in a statement, a spokesperson for the inquiry said it had "dedicated witness support officers" and was making every effort to "ensure that sufficient emotional support is available for victims and survivors".
To date, 434 people have applied to testify to the inquiry or to speak to its acknowledgement forum.
More than a third of them are now living outside Northern Ireland, including 61 people who have moved to Australia.
The inquiry has established that between 1947 and 1956, about 120 children were sent from institutions in Northern Ireland to institutions in Australia, as part of a UK government policy of child migration.
A team from the HIA inquiry panel is making trips to Australia during the hearings in order to meet potential witnesses.
So far, the inquiry is investigating 13 residential institutions in Northern Ireland, but this number may be extended during the course of the public hearings.
The institutions under examination are a mixture of children's homes and training schools run by the state, by voluntary organisations and by the Catholic Church.
The inquiry does not have the legal power to find anyone guilty of a criminal offence, but if it receives information that a crime has been committed, the details will then be passed to the police.
The role of the the inquiry's research and investigative team is to compile and analyse all the witnesses statements gathered during the acknowledgement forum and submit a report - set within the historical context - to the inquiry and investigation panel.
The panel consists of the chairman and two other government-appointed inquiry members who will then produce a final report.
Their report will determine if there were systemic failures in the care of children and make recommendations on matters such as the possible need for a formal apology to victims and future compensation.
The HIA inquiry is due to complete its hearings by June 2015 and deliver its final report to the Northern Ireland Executive in January 2016.


Three men have been charged with firearms offences after police found a gun during a search of a car in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

The weapon was discovered when officers stopped and searched the vehicle on the Dublin Road on Friday afternoon.
The men, aged 21, 22 and 37, were questioned by the PSNI's reactive and organised crime branch.
The men are expected to appear at Enniskillen Magistrates' Court on Monday morning.
They face a number of charges including having a firearm in suspicious circumstances and possession of an offensive weapon.


A police officer pictured blowing a kiss to volunteers after the Manchester bomb attack has praised the "outpouring of appreciation" of people in the city.

Durham PC Nick Downing made the playful gesture to women offering "free hugs" in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack on Monday.
Natalie Thornley took the photo and posted it on social media.
PC Downing said he had been "proud" to have supported those affected by Salman Abedi's suicide bombing.
Ms Thornley, 24, had just intended to record the unusual sight of a heavily armed officer on the day after the bomb attack killed 22 people.
"When I put it online I thought maybe my mates and my family would share it - but now everyone is," she said.
The officer's gun clearly made a hug impossible, Ms Thornley said.
PC Downing said he got a call on Wednesday morning to come down to the city and was sent with two other Durham officers, a Cleveland Police officer and two Greater Manchester Police officers to patrol Albert Square in the city centre.
"Throughout the day the people and businesses of Manchester were extremely supportive," he said.
"I can't recall in the past 14 years such an outpouring of appreciation by the public. I shook so many hands and was photographed more than on my own wedding day - the Manchester public were amazing.
"I left Manchester that evening, a couple of hours after the vigil at Albert Square had finished and made my way back to County Durham arriving home at around midnight. It was a long, but rewarding shift.
"I am proud to have been able to support the people of Manchester, but I know if I hadn't taken that call there are many other officers who would have done just the same.
"I would like to say that although I played a small part, there are many other officers who worked longer hours, in more challenging situations, all of whom have my utmost respect."
Ms Thornley, a graphic designer from Altrincham, added: "You never really see heavily armed police patrolling the streets at all.
"It really shows the spirit people in Manchester maintained and the love that has spread throughout the city."


Wales are into the semi-finals of Euro 2016 after a superb 3-1 victory over Belgium in Lille.

Chris Coleman's side fought back from an early Radja Nainggolan goal to triumph thanks to goals from Ashley Williams, Hal Robson-Kanu and Sam Vokes.
The Welsh fairytale in France continues - they now face Portugal in the semi-finals - this is how BBC Sport rated their players at Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Made an excellent early stop from Yannick Carrasco before being beaten from distance by Nainggolan's screamer. Looked like he would be in for a busy evening at that stage but, for all their late pressure, Belgium barely tested him after the break.
Needed help to cope with Eden Hazard down the Welsh right in the first 15 minutes but the Belgian blitz did not last. Kept venturing forward and got his reward with the cross for Sam Vokes' goal.
Another to look shaky at the start, especially when he picked up a booking for fouling Kevin de Bruyne, but like his team-mates he grew in confidence and composure as the game went on. Suspended for the semi-finals after being booked.
Has not looked himself up to now in France but this was the Wales captain at his best. Heading is not his strength but that did not stop him nodding the equaliser and he seemed to be in the right place whenever the ball came into the Wales box.
He and Gunter were given the task of shackling Hazard, and came out on top - the Chelsea forward only cut inside with any real menace once. Made some vital interceptions and blocks.
One of the Wales players to put his body on the line to stop what seemed like certain Belgium goals in the opening minutes. Like Gunter, kept going forward and was unlucky not to score before half-time.
Another tireless tackler who also used the ball simply and effectively to help Wales establish a degree of control in midfield as the game went on.
His passing radar was initially off - he surrendered possession for the move that led to Belgium's opener. But his work-rate never faltered and he gave everything to protect his centre-halves.
Belgium gave him time and space in their half and he punished them for it. Set up two of the three goals and now has four assists for the tournament but his second-half booking for handball means he will miss the semi-final. He did not stop running after that, and Wales will miss him massively too.
An open game suited him and his runs gave Belgium plenty to worry about. He continued to menace their defenders in the second half. No goals or assists this time but he will not care one bit.
What can you say? Amazing. His industry and effort are well-known but the skill he showed to turn half the Belgium defence and put Wales ahead is not. Without a club, for now, but part of Welsh footballing folklore for sure. The fans did not stop singing his name.
Came on to give Wales more legs in midfield when Ledley had used all his energy - did not let anyone down.
Legendary Wales striker John Hartson told me before the game that a Vokes goal was coming and boy was he right. Took the pressure off in the closing minutes with a trademark header.
Too late to earn a mark but will surely play a part against Portugal with Davies suspended.


Two-time Olympic medallist Paddy Barnes has signed a professional deal with the Marbella-based Macklin Gym.

Barnes, 29, announced on Friday that he had decided to switch to the professional ranks.
Matthew Macklin's MGM group revealed on Monday that it had agreed a management deal with the Northern Irishman.
"After the Olympics there was many offers on the table but being part of Team MGM was the natural choice," said the Belfast fighter.
"I honestly believe I have the ideal team to guide me to world title opportunities.
"I've enjoyed every minute of my time as an amateur and my achievements are something I am very proud of.
"Representing Ireland has always been my ambition and now I hope to emulate that success as a professional," added Barnes, who has indicated that he will move up to flyweight in the pro ranks after struggling with the light-flyweight limit during the final years of his amateur career.
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Barnes lost to Samuel Carmona in his opening bout at last month's Olympics in Rio and blamed weight problems for the surprise defeat.
His first professional bout could be in his native Belfast before Christmas although that has yet to be confirmed.
MGM described Barnes as "a special talent".
"We anticipate Paddy will feature prominently on the world stage and we look forward to many great nights for Irish boxing moving forward," added the MGM statement.
Barnes' fellow Belfast man, Commonwealth super-flyweight champion Jamie Conlan, is already in the MGM stable.
Conlan is the brother of Michael Conlan, who is also set to join the professional ranks following the Olympics.
In addition to his two Olympic achievements, Barnes won the European Amateur title and two Commonwealth Games gold medals.
Birmingham-born Macklin, whose parents are Irish, made three unsuccessful attempts to win the world middleweight title after winning the British and European belts.
Macklin ended his boxing career earlier this year two days short of his 34th birthday.


The BBC's Kawoon Khamoosh has been to Bamiyan province to see Afghans strap on skis and boards and tackle the white stuff.

When our 40-seater plane landed at Bamiyan airport, I wondered how it might be possible to hold a skiing race in such a remote part of Afghanistan.
The airport, without tarmac runway or passenger lounge, is a world away from Bamiyan's ambition as a tourism destination, but as you walk out, the clear blue skies and amazing mountain views are stunning.
I came to watch the 4th Afghan Ski Challenge, a competition for local and international skiers meant to promote winter sports in this mountain region. On the morning of the race I was as excited as the 50 male and female skiers who gathered at the Koh-e-Baba mountain range.
After the countdown, the group, including 30 Afghans, started racing up the hillside, a height difference of almost 500m (1640ft). No lifts here, but plenty of enthusiasm.
This year the ski challenge included a wooden ski category. Some locals are making their own skis from wood and plastic. One of the skiers told me that his father was too poor to buy him real skis. "It's easy to make something that you really want," he said.
Alishah Farhang was the first crossing the finishing line in the main race. "I tried hard to achieve this" he said, standing on the winner's podium. Later he told me how much it meant to him: "Since I came across skiing, my life has changed a lot, I have new experiences, new friends and new contacts."
Alishah is now working as a paid instructor for  Bamiyan ski club. The club provide classes in the winter season as well as skiing gear for hire.
Amateurs were also trying their luck on the slopes, often with mixed results.
Prizes for the winners included a Swiss watch, a sport camera and a ski jacket. But many competitors just turned up in their normal everyday clothing.
I was one of the few outsiders among the spectators because Bamiyan is remote and difficult to get to. The province's highways are dangerous with insurgents frequently stopping cars and air travel is very expensive.
The race was guarded by some armed policemen, but luckily they were not called on and were mainly busy protecting themselves from the sun.
For most Afghans, skiing is a very alien concept. But the Bamiyan ski club and the Aga Khan Foundation which supported the event are determined to attract more people and spectators to the sport.
Bamiyan has the best winter conditions in all of Afghanistan according to the organisers who also run short ski schools. In time they hope that the sport may attract more tourists to the province, its hotels and markets.


A man who worked as a hired killer for Colombia's late drug lord Pablo Escobar says he was robbed in Colombia's second-largest city, Medellin.

Jhon Jairo Velasquez, better known as Popeye, said two men on motorbikes pulled up alongside him as he was driving in his car.
They pointed guns at him and robbed him of his luxury brand glasses, two gold bracelets and a mobile phone, he said.
Velasquez was released in 2014 after spending 22 years in prison for murder.
Velasquez confessed to killing 300 people and also claimed a hand in up to 3,000 killings in the 1980s and 1990s, when he led a team of hired killers working for the Medellin drugs cartel.
Since his release, he has been living in Medellin and regularly broadcasts messages on his own YouTube channel commenting on everything from Colombian politics to the escape and recapture of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Velasquez said it was the second time he had been targeted in such a way but police said he had not reported the incidents.
He said the same had happened to him a few months back but at that time he had managed to knock one of the robbers over with his car.
Velasquez said that this time he did not put up any resistance because his lawyer had advised him to make sure he stayed within the law.
He criticised Medellin mayor Federico Gutierrez for what he said was a lack of security in the city.
"The mayor is an idiot, this city is totally in the hands of these motorcyclists," he said.
In response, Mayor Gutierrez tweeted [in Spanish]: "It's disconcerting that someone who caused so much damage should now lecture me about morality. We are fighting the illegality he helped create."
Residents of Medellin also took to Twitter to marvel at the irony of the man who once caused terror in the city falling victim to crime himself.
One woman suggested starting a collection for the "poor victim" so he could buy a new pair of Cartier glasses while another joked that she hoped he would get psychological help to overcome the shock.
But many others also said that the robbers must have been extremely brazen to target one of the most feared men in the country and wondered what that meant for the security of ordinary citizens.


The government must secure a transitional Brexit deal to protect the future of the UK car industry, a trade group has said.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said Britain was highly unlikely to reach a final agreement with the EU by the March 2019 deadline.
That meant carmakers could face a "cliff edge", whereby tariff-free trade was sharply pulled away.
It warned the industry would suffer without a back-up plan in place.
The EU is by far the UK's biggest automotive export market, buying more than half of its finished vehicles - four times as many as the next biggest market.
UK car plants also depend heavily on the free movement of components to and from the continent.
The SMMT said any new relationship with the EU would need to address tariff and non-tariff barriers, regulatory and labour issues, "all of which will take time to negotiate".
"We accept that we are leaving the European Union," said chief executive Mike Hawes.
"But our biggest fear is that, in two years' time, we fall off a cliff edge - no deal, outside the single market and customs union and trading on inferior World Trade Organization terms.
"This would undermine our competitiveness and our ability to attract the investment that is critical to future growth."
He called on the government to seek an interim arrangement, whereby the UK stayed in the single market and customs union until a new relationship was brokered.
UK car manufacturing generated Â£77.5bn of turnover last year and accounted for 12% of all goods exports, according to the trade group.
It added that almost a million people were employed across the wider automotive industry.


The decision to suspend the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police has won the backing of the region's Police and Crime Panel (PCP).

David Crompton was suspended by Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings after the Hillsborough inquests due to "eroding trust and confidence" in the force.
The PCP said it had concluded Dr Billings "should call upon" Mr Crompton to either resign or retire.
Dr Billings will consider the response before making a final decision.
In a statement released by the PCP, which met on Friday to consider the matter, panel chair Councillor Talib Hussain said: "I can confirm that the recommendation of the Police and Crime Panel is that the police and crime commissioner should call upon the chief constable to resign or retire."
Mr Crompton announced in March, just weeks before he was suspended, he intended to retire in November after four years in the post and 41 years in policing.
A report published by the PCP said Mr Crompton had made "a catastrophic error of judgement" in attempting to explain the force's legal approach to the Hillsborough inquests after the jury concluded police conduct contributed to or caused the disaster.
Having apologised in 2012 for the force's efforts to deflect responsibility for the disaster on to Liverpool supporters he was criticised by Andy Burnham MP for seemingly going back on the apology during the hearing.
In a statement published after the inquest he said the force had not tried to defend its failures but "these failures had to be put into the context of other contributory factors".
The PCP said his comments had led to "the inevitable risk that it would be perceived as rowing back on the previous apology" and suggested the force had "continued to put the protection of its own reputation above the welfare of the families".
The panel concluded that given the "damage" his words had done to the force and the "continuing damage" which would have been caused to that reputation if Mr Crompton were to stay in post, Dr Billings "was justified in his decision to suspend the chief constable".


South Korean prosecutors carried out further raids on businesses of the Lotte Group, a sprawling conglomerate at the centre of a bribery probe.

At least 10 divisions were raided including its chemical and confectionary businesses, a spokesman said.
The raids come after police swooped on the group's headquarters on Friday.
This caused the company to pull out of a stock market share sale worth as much as $4.5bn (Â£3bn).
The allegations and police action also led Korea's fifth largest conglomerate to pull out of bidding for the US chemicals company.
Shares in both the chemical and confectionary group have fallen sharply since Friday's raid.
People familiar with the matter told Reuters that Friday's raids, which involved about 200 prosecutors and investigators, were part of an investigation into a possible slush fund, although the Seoul prosecutors office could not be reached for comment.
Lotte's offer of shares to the public, known as an initial public offering, had been intended in part to simplify the ownership structure and improve corporate governance at the group.
This followed a bitter feud over succession among the founding Shin family last year drew wide public criticism.
The group has more than 90 firms in sectors as diverse as beer, hotels and chemicals, and annual revenues of around $60bn, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission.


First practice at the Chinese Grand Prix was badly disrupted by poor visibility that prevented all but a few minutes of on-track running.

The conditions made it impossible for the medical helicopter to operate, a prerequisite of cars being able to run.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the quickest time in the 10-minutes of running on a damp track.
The session was stopped twice when nothing could land at the hospital and when the local airport was closed.
Practice started on time on a damp track under smoggy, grey, misty skies but was red-flagged after just five minutes.
There was a 45-minute delay before the cars were sent out again, only for the session to be stopped again after less than 15 minutes.
In that time, both Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen spun at Turn 10 and were able to continue, before Renault's Nico Hulkenberg spun into the gravel at Turn Two.
A virtual safety car period was started to recover the Renault but the session was stopped before that could even be completed.
Verstappen set a best time of one minute 50.491 seconds, 1.5secs quicker than Felipe Massa's Williams in second place. The Brazilian was 0.5secs quicker than team-mate Lance Stroll in third.
Only 14 drivers set a time and championship leaders Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes were not among them.
Chinese Grand Prix practice results in full


Prolonged use of paracetamol and other painkillers during pregnancy may pose a health risk to baby boys, warn experts.

Danish research suggests the drugs raise the risk of undescended testicles in male babies, a condition linked to infertility and cancer in later life.
Doctors already advise pregnant women to avoid taking painkillers if possible to protect their unborn child.
Experts said the Human Reproduction journal findings warranted further research "as a matter of priority".
But they reassured women that taking the occasional painkiller for a headache should not cause any harm.
Current advice from the NHS is that women should avoid taking medicines while pregnant but that paracetamol is considered safe if used in small doses for short-term pain relief.
Yet more than half of pregnant women in Europe and the US report taking mild painkillers.
In this latest investigation, researchers from Denmark, Finland and France studied more than 2,000 pregnant women and their babies.
They found those women who used more than one painkiller simultaneously, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, had a seven-fold increased risk of giving birth to sons with some form of undescended testes, or cryptorchidism, compared to women who took nothing.
The second trimester - 14 to 27 weeks of pregnancy - appeared to be a particularly sensitive time.
Any analgesic use at this point in the pregnancy was linked to more than double the risk of cryptorchidism.
Of the individual painkillers, ibuprofen and aspirin use were linked with a quadrupled risk.
Paracetamol alone also appeared to raise the risk, although this result was not statistically significant.
Simultaneous use of more than one painkiller, including paracetamol, during the second trimester increased the risk 16-fold.
Taking painkillers for more than two weeks at a time also appeared to raise the risk significantly.
The researchers suspect that painkillers upset the natural balance of male hormones at work in unborn baby boys and this hinders normal development. Studies of rats back this theory.
By Fergus WalshMedical correspondent, BBC News
This large study, while interesting is not without limitations.
Of the individual painkillers, ibuprofen and aspirin approximately quadrupled the risk of cryptorchidism. Paracetamol doubled the risk, but the was not statistically significant.
This suggests that a link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and male fertility problems is not clear-cut.
Pregnant women who are alarmed by these studies should note:
It is only prolonged use that has an effect, and most women in this study who used paracetamol did not have a baby boy with cryptorchidism.
BBC - Fergus's Medical Files
Dr Henrik Leffers, senior scientist at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, who led the research, said: "If exposure to endocrine disruptors is the mechanism behind the increasing reproductive problems among young men in the Western world, this research suggests that particular attention should be paid to the use of mild analgesics during pregnancy, as this could be a major reason for the problems."
Despite some limitations in the study - not all of the women may have accurately recalled how often they took painkillers, for example - the researchers say their findings suggest that advice to pregnant women on analgesic use should be reconsidered.
They called for more research into the link.
Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "Scientists have been concerned for some time about chemicals that the mother may be exposed to during pregnancy having the potential to cause reproductive problems in male babies.
"However, there are relatively few concrete examples and much of the work to date has been theoretical.
"That makes these studies somewhat alarming as I doubt that anyone would have suspected that common painkillers would have these effects.
"Clearly further research is needed as a matter of priority."
Dr Basky Thilaganathan of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the findings needed to be interpreted with caution. For example, he explained: "The study shows an association rather than causation; it is entirely possible that mothers took these analgesics for an ailment, for example, a viral infection, in pregnancy that may have been the real cause for the noted problems."
Cryptorchidism affects about one in 20 boys in the UK.


Scotland women have qualified for their first major championship after Finland lost to Portugal.

Anna Signeul's side can finish no worse than second in their Euro 2017 qualifying group and are now assured of one of the six best runners-up spots.
It means next week's final group game with Iceland will simply be to determine who finishes top.
The finals will be in the Netherlands next year, with the games played from 16 July to 6 August.
Scotland women's first internationally recognised match was a 3-2 defeat to England in November 1972.
Since then, they have tried and failed on 13 occasions to make it to a tournament finals - seven European Championships and six World Cups.
They reached the play-off stage in trying to qualify for the 2009 and 2013 Euro finals and the 2015 World Cup.
In the 2009 European Championship play-offs, they turned around a 3-2 home defeat to win 2-1 in Nalchik but went out on the away goals rule.
The current campaign started with a 3-0 win away to Slovenia followed by 7-0 and 10-0 home wins over Belarus and Macedonia, respectively.
Slovenia were beaten again, 3-1 in Scotland, before Signeul's team sustained their first Group 1 defeat by Iceland, 4-0.
However, Jo Love's goal gave the Scots a narrow win in Belarus to take them on to 18 points from seven matches.


A study of the sea defences along two stretches of the East Yorkshire coastline affected by coastal erosion is to be carried out by the council.

It wants to look at defences from Hornsea to Mappleton and south of Withernsea because of eroding cliffs.
The defences had become "increasingly difficult to maintain and the cliffs would threaten housing and roads in the near future", the council said.
Though no properties were at "imminent danger", the local authority added.
Councillor Chris Matthews, portfolio holder for infrastructure, highways and emergency planning at the council, said: "The East Riding coast has a high rate of coastal erosion.
"Hopefully the results will identify a way forward.
"It may be that we need to have a managed retreat.
"We don't perceive there to be any imminent danger at the moment, but hopefully the study will give us some better information and we'll be able to plan for the future."
A public consultation into the study is scheduled for the summer, but dates are yet to be announced by the local authority.


The US Treasury has told a BBC investigation that it considers Russian President Vladimir Putin to be corrupt.

The US government has already imposed sanctions on Mr Putin's aides, but it is thought to be the first time it has directly accused him of corruption.
His spokesman told the BBC that "none of these questions or issues needs to be answered, as they are pure fiction".
Last week a UK public inquiry said Mr Putin had "probably" approved the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Litvinenko, a former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent and fierce critic of Mr Putin, was poisoned in London with radioactive polonium in 2006.
Adam Szubin, who oversees US Treasury sanctions, has told BBC Panorama that the Russian president is corrupt and that the US government has known this for "many, many years".
He said: "We've seen him enriching his friends, his close allies, and marginalising those who he doesn't view as friends using state assets. Whether that's Russia's energy wealth, whether it's other state contracts, he directs those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don't. To me, that is a picture of corruption."
The US government imposed sanctions against a number of Kremlin insiders in 2014 and stated that Vladimir Putin had secret investments in the energy sector. However, the Americans did not directly accuse him of corruption at the time.
The sanctions - later expanded to include more individuals and organisations - coincided with similar EU measures against Russia. The trigger for them was Russia's annexation of Crimea, during political turmoil in Ukraine.
US government officials have been reluctant to be interviewed about President Putin's wealth, but Mr Szubin agreed to take part in a BBC Panorama programme investigating the issue.
Mr Szubin would not comment on a secret CIA report from 2007 that put Mr Putin's wealth at around $40bn (Â£28bn). But he said the Russian president had been amassing secret wealth.
"He supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year. That is not an accurate statement of the man's wealth, and he has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth."
The Kremlin denies such allegations. In 2008, President Putin personally addressed claims that he was the richest man in Europe, saying: "It's simply rubbish. They just picked all of it out of someone's nose and smeared it across their little papers."
But Panorama has spoken to former Russian insiders who say they have first-hand knowledge of Vladimir Putin's secret riches.
Dmitry Skarga, who used to run the state shipping company Sovcomflot, says he oversaw the transfer of a $35m yacht to Mr Putin. Mr Skarga says the 57m-long Olympia was a gift from Britain's most famous Russian - the Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich.
"It's a fact that Mr Abramovich, through his employee, transferred a yacht to Mr Putin," he said. "I was on board of this yacht at the end of March 2002, in Amsterdam. And there was a representative of Mr Abramovichâ€¦ He said that Roman is the owner of this yacht."
Mr Skarga says the Olympia was then given to the Russian president via an offshore company. He then oversaw the management of the yacht for Vladimir Putin and prepared reports on the boat's running costs.
He said: "This yacht was maintained and paid for running costs from the state budget."
Mr Skarga says the yacht was kept secret because it belonged personally to Vladimir Putin, rather than the state.
Panorama asked Mr Abramovich about the yacht. His lawyers dismissed claims about him as speculation and rumour.
President Putin declined to be interviewed for Panorama.
Panorama: Putin's Secret Riches is on BBC One at 20:30 GMT on Monday 25 January and will be available to watch later via BBC iPlayer.


A Buddhist monk is likely to face five years in prison for violating strict anti-smoking laws in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan.

Police have not named the monk but said he is 24 years old and was caught with 72 packets of chewing tobacco.
Bhutan says it is determined to become the world's first smoking-free nation. It banned the sale of tobacco in 2005.
But authorities admit that booming contraband traffic from neighbouring India has largely undermined the ban.
Critics say the flow of illegal cigarettes is so strong that the ban has failed to make much of an impact.
Kuensel newspaper said that the monk is the first person in the country to be charged under legislation passed in January which prohibits consuming and smuggling tobacco.
An earlier law passed in 2005 gives police sweeping powers to enter homes and search for tobacco products.
In addition it gives them power to jail shopkeepers for selling tobacco and arrest smokers if they fail to provide customs receipts for imported cigarettes - which are only permitted in very small quantities.
Smokers can legally import only up to 200 cigarettes or 150 grams of other tobacco products a month. They must provide a customs receipt when challenged by police.
A senior Bhutanese police official confirmed the arrest of the monk at the weekend after he failed to provide receipts to back his claim that he had purchased 72 packets of chewing tobacco from the Indian border town of Jaigaon.
"We will charge him with smuggling of controlled material, which is a fourth degree felony," an official of the Bhutanese Narcotic Drug and Law Enforcement unit told the BBC.
A fourth degree felony carries a sentence of five years.
The monk told the police he was "not aware of the new laws and had not kept the receipt" - a claim police have not accepted.
Monks are highly respected in a deeply religious society like Bhutan and thousands of them are maintained by the state.
Bhutanese people - some of whom drink and smoke heavily - have largely complied with the new laws, though somewhat grudgingly.


Aberdonians who were involved in health research nearly 50 years ago have been asked to sign up to another study.

Those who participated in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s project, which saw all primary pupils aged seven to 12 surveyed by the Medical Research Council in 1962, have been contacted.
They have been asked to take part in the Scottish Family Health Study, which is recruiting 50,000 people.
It aims to investigate why diseases such as cancer can run in families.
Those recruited will have their health tracked, with the intention of creating a Scottish "bio-bank" containing genetic, medical and family history and lifestyle information.
This will allow researchers to investigate the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to common conditions.
Blair Smith, a GP and professor of primary care medicine at Aberdeen University, will run the project.
He said: "We know that many diseases such as cancer, heart disease, mental illness and diabetes run in families and that tells us that genes are important.
"But we don't know yet which genes are important or how they relate to other things such as lifestyle.
"We can get more information about genes by studying DNA which carries the genetic blueprint handed down through the generations.
"That is why we are collecting and analysing blood samples and health information from thousands of families across Scotland."
He said the data gathered would help future research into the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of illnesses.


Campaigners fighting the erection of eight wind turbines in Lincolnshire have taken part in a protest march ahead of a public inquiry.

No Windfarm at Gayton (NOWAG) and East Lindsey District Council both oppose the planning application.
The protest march on Sunday morning raised money for legal costs as well as highlighting the campaign.
The developers say wind turbines contribute to renewable energy targets and help combat climate change.
But campaigner Melvin Grosvenor, who is working with NOWAG, questioned how efficiently the turbines would generate energy.
"It's a huge price for Lincolnshire to pay to host a suspect technology," he said.
"The developers say we need renewable energy, but at what cost to the landscape?"
Earlier this year Lincolnshire County Council issued a statement advising district councils not to grant planning permission if wind farms fail to meet strict criteria.
The council's leader, Martin Hill, said he did not want Lincolnshire to be "covered by a forest of the things".
Mr Grosvenor said wind turbines have more of a visual impact in Lincolnshire because the landscape is relatively flat.
"The issue we've got with Lincolnshire is because it's predominantly big open skies there are few visual detractors, and of course you've got the Lincolnshire Wolds [an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]," he said.
About 60 campaigners walked from near Theddlethorpe Church to Great Carlton, and many were sponsored.
They walked along a bridleway known as the Two Mile Bank, where the turbines would be erected.
The campaigners also flew a blimp at about 377ft (115m) to demonstrate the maximum height of the turbines.
There are already wind farms at Gayton le Marsh and Theddlethorpe, and Mr Grosvenor said the proposed turbines would "give the impression of a continuous line of turbines on the landscape."
The public inquiry is due to begin in January and the government will decide whether permission is granted or not.
Developer EnergieKontor said on its consultation website: "The UK is the windiest country in Europe and the deployment of wind farms could contribute significantly to renewable energy targets which aim to assist in combating climate change."


Administrative powers have returned to Tower Hamlets Council for the first time in two years.

Government-appointed commissioners took over some services in December 2014 after a report revealed a "culture of cronyism" at the council.
Councillors will again be able to award grants to not-for-profit organisations and regain procurement oversight, following "significant improvements".
Tower Hamlets Mayor, John Biggs, called the move "a real vote of confidence".
A 2014 review by PricewaterhouseCoopers found a "breakdown in democratic accountability" and significant risk of misuse of public funds under former mayor Lutfur Rahman.
Mr Rahman was found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices and removed from office in April 2015 and was replaced by Labour's Mr Biggs.
A new report by the lead commissioner at the council, Sir Ken Knight, highlighted progress at the council but warned there was still "much more to do".
Three commissioners will remain in charge of specific areas of council work.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid called the move "a positive step", but warned he would "halt the process if there are any concerns".
Mr Biggs said: "This is a real vote of confidence in the progress we have made turning the council around.
"Grant making was one of the most contentious areas under the previous mayor, it's a real achievement to now have grants back under local control."


Emergency services in Zimbabwe's public hospitals are grinding to a halt after nurses joined doctors on strike.

Many nurses have reportedly stayed away from the main hospitals in Harare and nearby Chitungwiza in an indefinite protest over pay and conditions.
Last week, army doctors were brought in to help cope with the doctors' strike.
The BBC's Shingai Nyoka in Harare says Zimbabwe's medical professionals are some of the worst paid in the region and their salaries are often paid late.
Africa Live: More on this and other stories
Hospitals have been turning away the sick and patients have been discharged early following a doctors strike over allowances and job security.
There is a concern that army personnel brought in as a stop-gap will not be able to cope without nurses.
The nurses' main demand is that the government honours its commitment to pay out 2016 bonuses.


Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has been challenged over how Labour would pay for £63bn spending promises if it gets voted into government.

12 March 2017 Last updated at 15:54 GMT
The BBC's Andrew Marr said the party's fiscal credibility was at stake because Ms Long-Bailey was unable to provide a detailed breakdown of its plans - suggesting her numbers were "£30bn short".
But she maintained independent research showed reversing a series of Conservative tax cuts benefiting the most wealthy in society would raise £70bn by 2020.


Author Bill Bryson has called on publishers to give away e-books when people buy the printed versions in order to boost sales of physical books.

The travel writer said he resented being "forced" to choose digital books over print because e-books were more convenient to take on the road.
"It would be such a terrible thing to lose physical books," he told BBC News.
"That's the direction we're heading in because publishers are not responding as effectively as they ought to."
The "solution to the industry's malaise" is to give buyers a free download code when they buy a printed book, he said.
His comments come weeks after Amazon announced a plan to offer buyers of printed books in the US a free or discounted digital version. Similar schemes have been rolled out for magazines and music.
"If they [publishers] don't move to that really quickly people will be forced to take the digital version whether they really want to or not," Bryson said.
"Somebody gave me a digital reader as a gift last spring and I now find that when I'm travelling I take digital books with me.
"I'd like to possess both versions but I'm forced by the book world to choose one or the other, and sometimes I'm being forced to take digital books.
"I've nothing against digital books but I want both. I'm being forced to make the choice and I feel that by buying a digital book I'm not supporting a bookshop, I'm not supporting the physical book and that makes me feel guilty.
"I'm being forced into that and I kind of resent it."
Bryson was speaking at the Booksellers Association conference ahead of the publication of his latest book, One Summer: America 1927.
Richard Mollet, chief executive of the Publishers Association, said some companies had looked into bundling e-books with physical sales. "But it is important not to underestimate the enormous technical and commercial challenges behind what may appear to be a straightforward idea," he said.
Publishers are "leading the way in providing books in the format that consumers want to read them", he said, adding that "the physical book is going to remain a prominent feature in the market for a considerable time to come".
"The option between the wonderful mass portability of e-books, or the inimitable presence and feel of a physical book is an important choice, and one which readers are currently happy to make according to their needs."
Earlier this month, Amazon announced its MatchBook scheme, which will offer digital copies of 10,000 titles when they are bought in print. Some will be free, while others will cost up to $2.99 (Â£1.92).
At that time, independent book industry commentator Neill Denny told the BBC the scheme may help the print industry "because by bundling the content it locks the analogue to the successful digital model in a way that publishers have been struggling to find".
However, Philip Jones, editor of trade publication the Bookseller magazine, was sceptical about whether book-lovers would actually want both versions.


American search giant Yahoo says it will complete the sale of its core internet assets to telecoms firm Verizon later than originally planned.

The $4.8bn (Â£4bn) deal was thrown into doubt last year after Yahoo revealed two vast data security breaches at the company.
Hundreds of thousands of user accounts were affected by the attacks.
Yahoo now says the sale will be completed in the second quarter this year, not the first.
"Yahoo has continued to work with Verizon on integration planning for the sale of its core business," the company said in a release.
One of the original early internet search providers, Yahoo admitted in December 2016 it had been hit by a large cyber attack in 2013 which affected more than a billion customer accounts.
Yahoo had already admitted another breach in 2014 that had affected around half a billion users.
The company has focused since then on restoring confidence in its key search business. But results published on Monday showed a fall in search revenue of 6% in the final quarter of 2016.
Revenue from other parts of the business - the mobile, video, native and social advertising units  - grew more strongly.
The company reported a $162m profit in the final three months of last year.
"Our top priority continues to be enhancing security for our users," Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer said.
America's Security and Exchange Commission is investigating why it took Yahoo so long to report the attacks, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.


A former bus company employee has admitted false accounting involving claim forms, causing Gwynedd council to suffer a loss.

Darren Price, 45, from Llanrug, was bailed for a pre-sentence report at Caernarfon Crown Court.
The case followed a probe into Padarn Buses at Llanberis which closed in May 2014 with the loss of 84 jobs.
Fraud and false accounting charges denied by Anne Price, 29, from Llanberis, are to lie on file.
Prosecutor Jayne La Grua told the hearing: "The issue would have been the extent of her knowledge."


Delays in discharging people from hospital are rising more rapidly in mental health trusts than other parts of the NHS in England, a study shows.

NHS England data found a 56% rise in the number of bed days lost to delayed discharge in psychiatric trusts in October 2016 compared to November 2015.
There was a comparable rise in acute trusts of 30%.
A spokeswoman said the Department of Health was investing Â£400m over four years to support people in their homes.
"No-one should face unnecessary delays in being discharged," she said. "The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health will transform services by 2020/21 to make sure urgent improvements are made."
Oliver Lang, from Norfolk, spent two months longer than necessary in a psychiatric unit. The 27-year-old, who has Asperger's syndrome, was initially detained under the Mental Health Act.
But weeks after he was told he could leave, he remained in the unit while two separate mental trusts argued over who should pay for his care.
"I felt I was in danger in there because a lot of things happen in (psychiatric) hospitals. I felt if someone attacked me, I'd have to defend myself," he said.
"But if I did defend myself and hurt someone, they'd say I was a danger to the public still and they'd keep me locked up for longer. So I was trying to be whiter than white."
A delayed discharge occurs when a patient is declared medically well enough to leave hospital but something else hinders their departure.
NHS England says 17,509 bed days were lost in October 2016 in the 24 trusts which particularly specialise in mental health and learning disability care, an increase of nearly 56% on the previous November.
A broader analysis - including trusts that provide community as well as mental health services - shows a 43% increase between the two months.
Many of the problems are caused by a lack of social care packages available to support people once they leave hospital because of cuts to local authority budgets and rising demand.
But experts say mental health patients are further disadvantaged by poor community psychiatric provision and reduction to other support services such as detox, which has had a disproportionate impact on mental health.
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat MP and former care minister, requested the research.
He said: "Its all part of a system under impossible strain. Mental health has suffered much more in terms of financial terms than the rest of the NHS, there's a discrimination."
In 2015, an inquiry ordered by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that the main reason that some mental health patients were having to travel long distances to get a hospital bed was because of delayed discharges and a lack of community psychiatric provision.
A report last May from the National Audit Office estimated that delayed discharges across England were costing the NHS Â£820m a year.
A BBC investigation in 2016 found that delayed discharges were also affecting mental health patients in Northern Ireland.
Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said: "When you are hospitalised in a mental health crisis, you are at your most unwell and desperately need the right care at the right time.
"The time after leaving hospital is critical as that is when people are at the greatest risk of taking their own lives. People need the right support to recover and manage their mental health properly and trusts should be planning properly for discharge from the point at which someone goes into hospital.
"These types of problems are symptomatic of mental health historically not being given the attention and funding it deserves - mental health services have been underfunded for decades, at a time of rising demand."


An avalanche has hit the main settlement on Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, killing one person and injuring nine others.

It sent snow and ice hurtling down Mount Sukkertoppen into Longyearbyen, a town of 2,000 people, at 11:00 (09:00 GMT) after a fierce overnight storm.
Cars were overturned and wooden houses displaced from their foundations.
The rescue operation was carried out in darkness, as Svalbard sees no direct sun from late November to mid-February.
A local resident in his 40s was declared dead and nine other people, including four children, were taken to hospital, where three are in serious condition.
"It's complete chaos here," Kine Bakkeli told Norway's NRK television after she had managed to escape from her house through a window.
Another woman was rescued from deep snow after she banged on an oven to alert rescue workers.
Some 40 houses were evacuated as a safety precaution and the authorities are confident they have now accounted for all residents.
Svalbard had been hit by a severe storm on Friday night, with winds of up to 95km/h (60mph), which blew the roof off the community's school, depositing it on a nearby sports pitch.
The airport was closed for some hours, but by Saturday afternoon it had reopened.
Most people in Svalbard live in Longyearbyen, the world's most northerly town, on the territory which lies 800km (500 miles) north of the Norwegian mainland.


A major investor in a planned marine energy park at Immingham on the Humber estuary has withdrawn from the scheme.

Dong Energy had been expected to use the park as a hub for its offshore wind operations but said it no longer believed it was cost effective.
The company is currently developing one of the world's largest offshore wind farms off the east coast.
Able UK, the developer of the marine energy park, said it remained committed to the project.
Read more about this and other stories from across East Yorkshire and The Humber
The energy park, which is described as a bespoke port facility for the renewable energy sector, was granted planning approval in 2013 but legal challenges delayed construction.
It is expected to create around 4,000 jobs and is due to become operational from 2018.
Analysis by Sarah Corker, BBC Look North
I reported in May there were serious concerns about the future investment in the Able Energy Park by Dong Energy.
When I visited Able UK they were still pushing ahead with the ground work for this huge development stretching along the South Bank of the Humber.
Dong Energy was supposed to be the "anchor" company which would attract other suppliers.
Today's announcement casts serious doubts over the future of the Able Marine Energy Plant.
Dong had initially agreed to consider basing its onshore operations at the site but has now ruled out using it for any of its projects.
The decision to withdraw follows a review of East Coast Staging and Construction Facilities for the Offshore Wind Industry Council, the company said.
"It [the review] has concluded that current ports can support demand from the anticipated offshore wind project pipeline and it would be difficult to justify the scale of investment required to promote a single large-scale staging and manufacturing facility," it added.
Able UK said it was still examining the report and its implications for the site but still believed the park could play a "crucial" role in making the Humber a "world-class energy estuary".
Dong said it remained committed to the Humber region and was expecting to invest Â£6bn in the area by 2019.
The Danish firm, which is one of the UK's largest offshore wind operators, confirmed in February it would fund construction of the large offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project One.


A man has been shot dead by police after a confrontation outside Australia's busiest railway station.

The incident happened near a flower shop at one of the main entrances to Sydney's Central station during peak-hour on Wednesday evening.
Police had been called following reports of an armed robbery, and the man was killed a short time later.
New South Wales Police said the incident was not terrorism-related.
Witnesses told local media the man had been armed with scissors when he was shot dead.
Florist Manuel Theoharas said the man had moments earlier held a bottle to his neck and demanded he call police.
"He said to me: 'Don't move, call the police'," Mr Theoharas told the BBC.
"When I ran away from him, he grabbed the scissors from here, from the shop."
Witnesses reported seeing police officers surround the shop before shots were fired.
One man, Nick Mavros, told Australian Broadcasting Corp: "I heard 'put it down, put it down'."
Police acting assistant commissioner Mark Walton said: "A critical incident investigation has commenced following the death of a man during a confrontation with police."
"A male of Asian appearance has died following that confrontation with the police.
"The homicide squad will now investigate all the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the discharge of a police firearms during the confrontation with the man."
Police appealed for witnesses to come forward.


A 71-year-old man has died in a motorbike crash on a road along the shores of Loch Ness.

The one-vehicle collision happened on the B852 between Dores and Inverfarigaig, part of General Wade's Military Road.
Police were informed of the collision shortly before 12:40.
The road was closed while an investigation took place. The man's next-of-kin have been informed.


Two people were treated in hospital after a "substance" was thrown over them on a train in London, police said.

Passengers threw water over the male rail worker and female commuter after the attack on an overground service near South Tottenham station on Wednesday.
British Transport Police (BTP) said officers were hunting for suspects.
The type of substance used in the attack has yet to be identified. Police said it caused eye irritation.
A BTP spokesman said: "This did not result in any serious injuries although both the male staff member and the female passenger were taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure and have since been released."


Police are re-investigating the murders of two Catholics because of information from interviews about the Troubles by former loyalist paramilitaries for a history project by Boston College.

The cases were re-opened after officers heard tapes seized from the American university, the BBC understands.
The murders being re-examined are those of John Benedict Devine in July 1989 and John Joseph O'Hara in April 1991.
No-one has ever been charged in connection with the two murders.
It is the first time loyalist killings have been investigated as a result of details in the Boston tapes.
Police say the two men were killed simply because of their religion.
Mr Devine, a 37-year-old father-of-three, was shot in front of his 13-year-old son at his home in Fallswater Street in west Belfast.
Mr O'Hara, a father-of-five, was working as a taxi driver when he was shot in Dunluce Avenue in south Belfast in April 1991.
Police have said they have new information that could help them to catch the killers.
"As a result of information we have recently received, we believe we are now in a position to progress both of these investigations.
"However, we need the help of the public," said Det Insp Neil McGuinness.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland will not comment on the nature of the new information.
But the BBC believes the decision to re-open these cases was taken after detectives listened to tapes seized from Boston College in recent months.
Dozens of former paramilitaries, most of them republican, gave interviews to university researchers compiling an oral history of the Troubles.
They did so on the understanding that the tapes would not be made public until after their deaths.
But police took legal action and were granted permission to access some of the recordings.
It is understood police believe information contained on some of the seized tapes could help them identify those responsible for these two killings.
Detectives are now trying to find other supporting evidence.
They have appealed to anyone with information about the killings to come forward.


He's the big band leader whose death is being mourned around the world - James Last sold millions of records and was the man behind dozens of iconic compositions.

His music has been a regular fixture on screens big and small over the past five decades.
But across the island of Ireland, Last is best remembered by many for one piece of instantly recognisable music - the theme song from The Sunday Game.
Known as Jagerlatein (Hunters' Yarns), the piece's distinctive blasts of brass and quickstep marching beat have been introducing RTÉ's flagship Gaelic games programme since it began in 1979.
For GAA fans it's considered the sound of the summer - synonymous with car journeys to far-flung stadiums, ham sandwiches on the terraces and championships won and lost on the turf of Croke Park.
It's also an insidious, brain-invading earworm, likely to have you humming the tune all week after hearing even the briefest note or two on any given Sunday.
The song is so popular that when RTÉ replaced it in 2004 as part of a "remodernisation of The Sunday Game", it caused uproar.
The network reinstated it four years later.
Speaking at the time, Paul Byrnes, the programme's editor, said RTÉ had been "inundated with requests from the public" to bring back the theme.
"Travelling the length and breadth of the country with The Sunday Game over the last few years, the replacement of the theme tune was always much talked about and lamented," he said.
Michael Lyster, the programme's presenter, told RTÉ's The Late Late Show in April that "people just demanded that it be brought back again and rightly so as well".
There are some drawbacks to being at close proximity to such a catchy slice of Irish television history though.
"At the end of the season of The Sunday Game, you park the whole thing for a couple of months and you get a break from it all," Lyster told the Late Late Show.
"This is good because at the start of the season, it's all very fresh again and you're ready to go.
"But you hear the Sunday Game music so often and it's not just on the Sundays, but obviously in the office there's somebody rehearsing a piece of footage - and over and over and over again and you get to the point where you think to yourself, if I hear this one more time, I'm actually going to go scatty."
However, Michael Lyster will have to forgive people if they break out a chanted, hummed or whistled version of Jagerlatein in memory of the man who inadvertently gave Gaelic games its iconic theme.


Fresh doubt has been cast on assurances Mo Farah says he was given by Alberto Salazar about his links to Mary Slaney, who failed a drugs test in 1996.

More evidence has emerged that Salazar was coaching the American runner when she tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone.
After a long appeal, middle-distance runner Slaney was eventually banned.
According to Farah, Salazar has assured him he was not coaching her when she failed the test at the Olympic trials.
"That's the question I asked before [joining Salazar's training camp in 2011] and Alberto said he wasn't coaching her at the time," said Farah.
But contemporary coverage suggests otherwise.
The BBC has discovered a joint interview with Salazar and Slaney, who used her maiden name Decker for much of her running career, in the June 1996 edition of Runner's World.
The Cuban-born Salazar, 56, is described as "her coach" and they are pictured running together. The article quotes Salazar on Slaney's chances at the trials and he details her training regime.
The article clearly places Slaney, best remembered in the UK for tangling with Zola Budd in the final of the 3,000m at the 1984 Olympics, and Salazar together in the run-up to the US trials.
There is another article with a picture of the pair in the St Alban's Messenger, a newspaper from Vermont, dated 19 February 1997.
"Slaney confers with coach Alberto Salazar after the Olympic time trials," is the caption below the picture.
Coverage of the two can be found in an article in a Massachusetts newspaper, too - the Worcester Telegraph and Gazette - written on 19 June 1996, two days after the trials.
It says:
"Mary is like a race horse," said coach Alberto Salazar, who has tried to rein in Slaney's obsession by limiting her training.
"She's got a lot of heart and she'll run herself into the ground. She is so biomechanically gifted. Maybe 99% of her body is ready to do something and 1% - one little tendon - isn't ready."
Coverage of their athlete-coach partnership can also be found in national titles.
A 1994 profile of the athlete in People magazine said Slaney "turned to her friend Alberto Salazar… to help devise an injury-free programme for her", while a New York Times article from May 1996 refers to Salazar as "her coach of two years".
These reports - and numerous others - chime with the memories of two men close to the situation in the summer of 1996.
John Cook, a former colleague of Salazar's, told the BBC that the Cuban-born coach was part of Slaney's camp.
"[Salazar] told me he was coaching her, so I guess now he's removing himself from that," said the American, who helped Salazar set up his Nike Oregon Project running stable.
"But he was certainly her coach. Mary had several coaches at [her US running team] Athletics West."
When asked to clarify that Salazar was one of those coaches, Cook said: "Absolutely, he takes credit for that."
Cook's recollection corroborates what a senior American athletics reporter told the BBC this week - Salazar "was absolutely coaching Slaney" when she failed her test.
The reporter, who does not wish to be named, said he spoke to both of them at the news conference in Atlanta after the then 37-year-old Slaney had confirmed her qualification for the 1996 Olympics in the 5,000m.
According to further press clippings, their relationship continued after Slaney's positive test.
A report from 1997, in The Oregonian, quotes Salazar - "Slaney's coach and confidant" - as saying she would return to the sport, and the pair have always denied that Slaney took testosterone, blaming the positive test on birth control pills.
A 1998 article in a South Carolina newspaper, The Item, reported that Salazar had found the two Duke University law professors she used for her unsuccessful appeal against a two-year drugs ban.
The link between them is even referred to in Salazar's 2013 autobiography, in which he wrote: "I also coached my good friend Mary Slaney, the American middle-distance legend, at the end of her career."
On Friday, Slaney said she disputed the test and the finding, with her lawyers arguing her case should never have been brought or prosecuted. But she did not clarify her relationship with Salazar.
The BBC has asked Salazar to clarify his relationship with Slaney in 1996, but he has yet to respond.
Farah's comment about the assurance Salazar had given him on his links to Slaney came during an emotional news conference dominated by questions about the wider allegations against the coach, specifically that he doped Farah's training partner Galen Rupp in 2002.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Farah's part, while both Rupp and Salazar strongly deny the allegations.
The Slaney story predates these claims but now has a fresh significance because of what Salazar told him about his ties to the runner.
It also raises questions about the "due diligence" UK Athletics claims it did on Salazar before letting Farah join the Oregon Project and again when it gave Salazar a consultancy role with UK Athletics in 2013.
UKA's performance director Neil Black was seated alongside Farah, a double Olympic and three-time world champion, on Saturday and assured journalists that the governing body had quizzed Salazar about Slaney.
Ian Stewart, the national governing body's former head of endurance, told the Daily Mail on Thursday that he "knows for a fact" that Salazar "never coached" Slaney.
When asked for a response to the evidence outlined above, UKA replied: "Whilst the internal review [into the allegations against Salazar] is taking place it is inappropriate for us to comment on individual matters raised by reports."
Salazar has not spoken publicly since the BBC and ProPublica revealed the results of their investigation.
But he has issued a statement that said he intended to "document and present facts as quickly as I can so that Galen and Mo can focus on what they love doing and have worked so hard to achieve".
Farah pulled out of the 1,500m at the Birmingham Grand Prix on Sunday, saying he was not in the right mental state to compete and would be returning to the US to seek answers from Salazar.
Farah, who has repeatedly said he has never been asked by Salazar to do anything that would fall foul of World Anti-Doping Agency rules or witnessed any such behaviour, said he would quit the Nike Oregon Project if "clear evidence" of cheating emerged.


The Zika virus has been found in the sperm of an Italian man six months after his first symptoms, twice as long as in previously reported cases.

Doctors at the Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome said it pointed to the possibility that the virus was reproducing itself in the male genital tract.
The infection is suspected of leading to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains.
Zika is spread by mosquitos.
The outbreak was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organisation in February.
Zika outbreak: What you need to know
The doctors' report suggests the potential for the sexual transmission of the virus may be greater than previously thought.
Current guidelines recommend infected patients should use condoms or abstain from sex for at least six months after the onset of symptoms.
The doctors said in light of this new evidence an extension of this recommendation might be advised, as well as the continued testing of semen after six months.
Christian Lindmeier from the WHO told the BBC the report would be looked at.
"The Zika outbreak is a constantly evolving situation and every new piece of evidence is looked into and evaluated as to whether or not guidelines will need to be revised."
The patient, who was in his early 40s, first presented symptoms after returning to Italy after a two-week visit to Haiti in January.
The patient reported he had received mosquito bites in Haiti, and his symptoms included fever, fatigue and a skin rash.
Follow-up testing showed the Zika virus was still present in his urine, saliva and sperm, 91 days after the onset of symptoms.
After 134 days it was only detectable in his sperm and this remained positive after 181 days.
Previously the longest registered symptoms remaining in the body after their onset was 93 days, found in a 27-year-old Frenchman.
"The results of this study confirm that the virus could replicate specifically in the male genital tract and may persist in semen," the Italian team said.


Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince Charles are heading to Saudi Arabia to join world leaders paying respects to the country's King Abdullah - who died on Thursday.

He was the world's longest reigning monarch, but ruled one of the most oppressive countries.
Just days ago, blogger Raif Badawi was lashed 50 times for "cybercrime" and "insulting Islam". He faces 1000 lashes in total.
Here's what else you need to know about Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia is one of the world's biggest oil producers, which is why it is such a wealthy nation.
It sits on more than 25% of the world's known oil reserves. It is currently able to produce more than 10 million barrels per day.
King Abdullah's death caused a spike in oil prices because uncertainty makes markets volatile.
King Abdullah had very close ties with the US, largely driven by Saudi Arabia's oil power and America's security strength.
The two nations also had a common enemy in  al-Qaeda, the terror group behind the 9/11 attacks on the US back in 2001.
Of the 19 hijackers, 15 were Saudis, including Osama bin Laden. Abdullah eventually beat back al-Qaeda, forcing them to flee to Yemen.
In a statement, George H W Bush called Abdullah a "wise and reliable ally." Tony Blair also released a statement saying the king was "loved".
Westminster Abbey and the Foreign Office are two of the British institutions flying their flags at half mast.
David Cameron and Barack Obama have paid tribute to Abdullah.
Away from politics, Kim Kardashian is reportedly being paid $1m (Â£667,347) to spend an evening with a Saudi prince.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia might have been listed at number 26 with $20bn (Â£15bn) on the Forbes rich list, but that was not good enough for the Saudi businessman.
He claimed he was worth $9bn (Â£6m) more and threatened to sever all links with the magazine.
In one letter, his chief financial officer wrote: "Forbes is putting down the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that is a slap in the face of modernity and progress."
Forbes refused to make the changes.
The Saudi royal family own the sixth largest super yacht in the world, the Prince Abdulaziz.
The 5,200-tonne yacht has a deck that is said to resemble the Titanic. It also has a mosque, a cinema and a hospital on board.
Falconry is a popular hobby in the Middle East, so fashionable that a hawk seat (yes, a seat for a hawk) has been developed for private jets.
Lufthansa Technik has come up with a gadget for those who want to keep their bird of prey by their side when travelling.
Called the Falcon Master, the platform and stand for transporting falcons or other birds can slot above a folded-down seat in a range of Airbus or Boeing aircraft.
Citizens of Saudi Arabia are some of the biggest users of Twitter. There are 2.4 million active users, the most in the Arab world, according to the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai.
One of the reasons ordinary Saudis say they like using Twitter is because it allows them to discuss what they really feel.
The hashtag #WhydidTwittersucceedinSaudiArabia began trending a year ago, with users sharing their reasons they liked the site.
One user tweeted: "People need an outlet to express themselves, to start to disclose what's hidden and drop the masks, without fear or commands, or censorship from anyone."
Another posted: "The reason is that none of the newspapers are concerned with your worries nor do any officials care about you."
The new King Salman wasted no time in changing his Twitter handle, suspending his old account @HRHPSalman to @KingSalman. He has 1.27m followers and follows no one.
Google Maps was rapid too. Within 24 hours of the news Prince Salman road was changed to King Salman road.
Some of the tributes to King Abdullah have described him as a "great reformer".
Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), an organisation which controls the world's money, said: "In a very discreet way, he was a strong advocate of women.
"It was very gradual, appropriately so probably for the country. I discussed that issue with him several times and he was a strong believer."
While King Abdullah did appoint 30 women to a council which could make recommendations to the government, they were still unable to drive themselves to work.
However in 2013 Saudi Arabia's religious police lifted a ban on women riding bicycles and motorbikes, but only in recreational areas and while dressed in full Islamic veil and accompanied by a male relative, it's claimed.
Saudi Arabia has a male guardianship system, which means that women cannot apply for a passport, marry, travel, or access higher education without male approval.
Some hospitals also require male consent for women to receive treatment.
Human Rights Watch released a statement on King Abdullah's death saying: "King Abdullah came to power promising reforms, but his agenda fell far short of achieving lasting institutional gains on basic rights for Saudi citizens."
It's probably advisable to read  this advice on the UK government's website before you travel.
Bringing porn magazines with you is forbidden, as is bacon (or any pork products, should you have a stick of pepperoni in your hand luggage).
If you get off the plane drunk you could be imprisoned too.
A Filipino man was sentenced to jail and 75 lashings for bringing two chocolate bars containing alcohol into the country.
He claimed he had bought the chocolates on a flight stopover and hadn't realised they were alcoholic.
Men should not wear shorts in public and women should wear loose fitting clothing. Saudi Arabia carries the death penalty for importing drugs.
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Politicians and businesses have been reacting to United Airlines ending their flights from Belfast to Newark Airport.

The cessation comes despite attempts to rescue the route in a £9m emergency deal, mostly from Stormont.
Economy Minister Simon Hamilton had previously said the rescue package was crucial to attracted US-inward investment for Northern Ireland.
A United Airlines statement said: 'We have regretfully taken this decision because of the route's poor financial performance."
The ruling by the European Commission to block the funding package to protect Northern Ireland's one and only scheduled trans-Atlantic service defies logic and is an example of "abysmal Brussels decision-making".
Managing Director Graham Keddie said:  "You could hardly get a worse example of process-driven madness.
"This is a vital link for business and losing it will be a body blow to executive ministers who use it to promote Northern Ireland to would-be investors from the United States.
"This is a bad day for the executive and a bad day for Northern Ireland."
"The executive did the right thing with its bid to save this key route. There was a risk to the flight and we stepped in to save it. Faced with the same circumstances again, I would make the same decisions. All public money has been recouped with interest and we retained the route for a longer period.
"Our decision to support the route was praised by many and, had we not have made an effort to save the United flight, we would have been rightly criticised.
"We were always aware of the potential of an issue around state aid compliance, but given the tight timescale to put a package of support in place, approval by the European Commission could not be sought in advance of agreeing a deal with United."
"This is an international embarrassment.
"This is a huge blow to our international standing and the minister must tell us what he intends to do to sort it out."
"Awarding a £9m subsidy for a global corporation, which makes billions every year, against the advice of senior civil service officials and against state aid rules, was a dangerous commitment of resources at a time of already stretched budgets.
"The gamble taken by the executive has spectacularly crash landed and there are now very serious questions for the economy minister to answer.
"We need to know what communication the minister had with the European Commission before and after he issued a ministerial direction, ignoring the advice of senior civil servants.
"Additionally, Simon Hamilton must outline how much public money has been spent advertising the route since the direction was issued."
Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson said the decision by United Airlines to halt its Belfast to Newark route is a serious blow to Northern Ireland, in economic and social terms.
He said: "To lose our only direct air route from Northern Ireland to the United States will have a serious impact on our business community as well as local people using it to visit family or for holidays. Coming just weeks after United was offered £9 million to keep the route open after they threatened to pull it is a slap in the face to our Executive.
"We now learn that the funding was blocked by the EU Commission and I am calling on the Executive to explain what discussions were held with the Commission before the announcement, which was made with great fanfare. Is this another case of the Executive seeking good news headlines without adequate preparation? Did they even bother to check if this funding could break EU rules? It looks like the Executive and the Department for the Economy have let us down again.
"I have consistently challenged the Minister for Economy to reveal the evidence that he used in deciding to allocate this money to United Airlines in the first place. Every time he has been unable to give a satisfactory answer.
"Now that he has also been knocked back by the European Union, it is evident that he didn't even bother to check whether he was allowed to do it, let alone complete an economic appraisal for it.
"Maybe, in future, the minister will consider the need for proper due process to ensure that money is being spent on things that it can actually be spent on, and that will actually have a benefit to society as a whole."
"I was against this subsidy being given to United in the first place.
"There are better uses for the £9m, especially when we are always being told that money's too tight to mention for a lot of departments.
"There was never a guarantee. If the European Commission had not put a stop to it (the deal), there was no guarantee United was going to preserve the route anyway."