China has successfully launched the world's first quantum-enabled satellite, state media said.

It was carried on a rocket which blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China's north west early on Tuesday.
The satellite is named after the ancient Chinese scientist and philosopher Micius.
The project tests a technology that could one day offer digital communication that is "hack-proof".
But even if it succeeds, it is a long way off that goal, and there is some mind-bending physics to get past first.
The satellite will create pairs of so-called entangled photons - tiny sub-atomic particles of light whose properties are dependent on each other - beaming one half of each pair down to base stations in China and Austria.
This special kind of laser has several curious properties, one of which is known as "the observer effect" - its quantum state cannot be observed without changing it.
So, if the satellite were to encode an encryption key in that quantum state, any interception would be obvious. It would also change the key, making it useless.
If it works, it will solve the central problem of encrypted communications - how to distribute keys without interception - promising hack-proof communications. The encrypted message itself can be transmitted normally after the key exchange.
Not from space, making this launch experimental. But fibre-optic quantum key distribution networks already exist in Europe, the US and China.
The signals weaken over distance though, which this project is hoping to minimise by sending the signals mostly through space, keeping attenuation to a minimum despite the distances involved.
But aside from the tricky physics, there is also the difficult matter of firing tiny sub-atomic particles at precise targets on the ground, across vast distances, while travelling incredibly fast through space. There are good reasons this is the first attempt.
It has the money. China has allocated vast amounts of money for basic scientific research in its latest five-year development plan. It's also willing to take big risks on some as-yet unproven technologies.
But while China is leading the project, officially titled Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), Austria is also involved.
The scientist who first proposed the idea to the European Space Agency (ESA), without success, in 2001, is University of Vienna physicist Anton Zeilinger. He is now working on the latest project under the man whose PhD he once supervised, Pan Jianwei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Yes, but with smaller, less risky projects. Canada, the US, Japan, the European Space Agency and others are also involved in the field. The UK's University of Strathclyde has also teamed up with the National University of Singapore to do quantum experiments on board tiny satellites. But China's is by far the most ambitious project to date.
If its attempt fails, the others' relative caution may seem sensible. If it succeeds, they will be playing catch-up fast.
In the face of ever more powerful hacking and surveillance - which could one day also include powerful quantum computers - the security of commercial communications is also increasingly important.
"Quantum computing is largely seen as the next big thing in communications," says Marc Einstein, Director of the Information Communications Technology (ICT) practice of Frost and Sullivan, Japan, citing secure transmission of credit card data as a likely early application.
The broader technology has applications for precision too, he says, in everything from healthcare to industrial production.
"There are millions of applications. Some people say quantum computing could change everything."


Standard and Poor's (S&P) has cut France's credit rating to AA from AA+.

The moves comes almost two years after the country lost its top-rated AAA status.
S&P said it downgraded France because high unemployment in the country was making it hard for the government to make important reforms which would boost growth,
The French government responded by saying that its debt rating was one of the safest in the eurozone.
S&P said it expected government debt to hit 86% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 and unemployment to remain above 10% until 2016.
The country's Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, said S&P had made "critical and inexact judgements".
He said in a statement: "During the last 18 months the government has implemented major reforms aimed at improving the French economic situation, restoring its public finances, and its competitiveness."
By Robert PestonBusiness editor
In theory, a lower credit rating makes borrowing more expensive.
The return for investors buying French debt indeed did rise after the announcement.
The yield on French government 10-year bonds rose more than 20 basis points to 2.389% from 2.158%.
S&P said in its statement: "We believe the French government's reforms to taxation, as well as to product, services and labour markets, will not substantially raise France's medium-term growth prospects and that ongoing high unemployment is weakening support for further significant fiscal and structural policy measures."
Our business editor, Robert Peston, said S&P was "very publicly criticising France for not doing more to lift its economy out of the economic doldrums and cut persistently high unemployment".
He said that, coming on the back of yesterday's decision by the European Central Bank to cut interest rates to almost zero, to ward off the threat of deflation and a return to recession, it was more evidence that the eurozone's structural weaknesses are far from being fixed.
The French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said France's ratings remained among the best in the world and that the agency did not take into account all the reforms made by the government.
However, the downgrade could be the last for some time.
S&P attached a "stable outlook" to France, which implies a less than one-in-three chance that it would change France's rating over the next two years.


Emptying bins, painting the walls and tiling the roof at a non-league club in Norfolk is a far cry from Euro 2016 - but Nigel Worthington doesn't mind.

The former Northern Ireland boss has watched them win their first ever European Championship game from afar, as he is immersed in life as a club ambassador at Fakenham Town, a club that finished 17th in the ninth tier of English football last season.
"I'll never be an artist, don't worry about that," he jokes with BBC Radio Norfolk of his painting skills.
"We are fortunate to have so many people who give up their time free of charge and it would be wrong for people like that to come in and do work and for myself, the chairman Andrew (Jarvis) not to.
"Everybody's hands on, we respect each other and what we are doing, and all want the club to go in a very positive and upward manner."
Since a spell as York City manager ended in October 2014, the 54-year-old has had a number of offers to return to the game.
But Worthington said he is much happier being hands-on in the area he has lived in ever since becoming Norwich manager in 2000 and at a club where his son used to play.
"I've been in the game for a long time, I missed my first two children growing up because of club and international commitments," he said.
"But I'm content in what I'm doing at the moment, and to give something back to football and the local community where I've lived for almost 16 years satisfies me very much."
Worthington's connections are proving very useful for the Eastern Counties League Premier Division side, with Norwich City and Premier League champions Leicester City both sending sides to Clipbush Park for pre-season friendlies this summer.
But he has a lot of work to do to make the place look "professional" before those two matches.
"I've been very lucky over many years to have had a load of people around me doing a lot of things for me, but to come in here and get my hands dirty, that's the nice thing.
"When you come up here and see the place full of more than 200 kids, and the place is being used to its maximum, it looks fantastic.
"This is very grounding. It's very humbling to see so many give up their time, and be so willing to get their hands dirty, to make the club a better place for the community."
Nigel Worthington was speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk's Chris Goreham
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British reporters who found themselves in Buenos Aires during the Falklands war of 1982 naturally wondered if the British government was serious about retaking the islands.

After all, the Royal Navy was no longer properly equipped for expeditionary warfare. It had no fleet airborne radar, for a start.
Its planners and political masters (including the Conservative government) had decided that its main role would be anti-submarine actions against the Soviet navy.
Its big aircraft carrier, Hermes, without which the Falklands would probably not have been retaken, was to be sold to India and replaced by a smaller ship.
Radar cover would be provided by the RAF from land. No such land, of course, was available in the South Atlantic.
So it was suggested that the despatch of the Task Force was a bluff designed to get as good a face-saving diplomatic settlement as possible.
For me, such naive notions were dispelled by Mrs Thatcher herself.
The BBC in London fed House of Commons debates and prime minister's question time down the phone to us in the Sheraton Hotel.
It was instructive listening and injected a dose of reality into the fantasies we had at odd moments entertained that the British government would not fight.
From her comments about the need to restore British sovereignty and her refusal to negotiate anything close to what the Argentine junta might accept (leaseback, a fixed term before a handover, shared rule, a UN protectorate), we knew that war was coming.
It turned out that she had not hesitated, having established in the first hours after the Argentine invasion that the Royal Navy thought a re-invasion could be carried out. The First Sea Lord Sir Henry Leach had told her that a task force could sail within days and it did.
"We have to recover those islands," she said. "We have to recover them for the people on them are British and British stock and they still owe allegiance to the crown and want to be British."
She had decided that if the Argentines could be removed by diplomacy, then that would be fine. If they could not, then it would be war.
There then followed some difficult days during which Mrs Thatcher's resolve was tested.
The sinking of the Argentine cruiser Belgrano, the shock of HMS Sheffield going down (that it was a French missile which destroyed it only added to the humiliation), the steady loss of British ships to the daring Argentine air force - none of this shook her.
The fact was that her basic instincts had been roused. She believed in the defence of what she saw as fundamental British interests.
The Falkland Islands may have been a couple of barren rocks inhabited mainly by sheep to some observers (President Reagan among them) but to Mrs Thatcher they were a British outpost.
They were not even an issue for argument. They became instead an issue for war.
And she soon got President Reagan to rally round. American air-to-air missiles followed.
Mrs Thatcher was always the practical grocer's daughter, knowing that words might lead the way but that weapons win wars.
Some of the tensions did show from time to time.
When South Georgia was recaptured early on, she made the announcement herself in Downing Street and, on being asked what would happen next, she turned back from returning inside to deliver to the cameras her famous instruction simply to "Rejoice!"
In overcoming the Argentines, she also overcame her political opponents at home and it was the war which set her up for an election win and many more years in power.


Japan's markets traded sharply lower on Friday, following global markets, and as a stronger yen against the dollar hurt the country's big exporters.

In early trade, the benchmark Nikkei 225 fell as much as 5.4%. By the close, it had recovered slightly, but was still down 4.85% to 14,952.61 points.
That was below the psychologically important level of 15,000 points and its lowest close since October 2014.
Friday's losses end what has been a turbulent week of trade for Japan.
The index has shed more than 11% over the trading week, which was short because of a public holiday on Thursday.
Big exporters in Japan were hurt on Friday as the dollar fell to a 15-month low against the yen. A stronger yen against the dollar hurts Japan's exporters, as it makes their products more expensive to purchase overseas.
Toyota finished Japan's trading day down 7%, while Honda lost 5.5% and Nissan shed 5.8%.
Overnight, benchmark indexes in London, the US and Europe posted sharp declines amid continued worries about oil prices and over the strength of the global economy - particularly the outlook for the world's largest economy, the US.
US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's gloomy economic assessment on Wednesday was continuing to hurt investor sentiment around the world, analysts said.
Ms Yellen said financial conditions in the US had become "less supportive" of growth, dousing hopes of a second rise in interest rates in the near future.
Why are global markets in turmoil? - Kamal Ahmed, Economics editor, BBC News
It's a mix - part economic fundamentals, part market emotion as herding investors follow each other down a negative spiral, fearful of being left beached as the tide goes out, and part brute market forces, the major trading houses looking to make a profitable turn on share prices which they bet are not going up any time soon.
Read more: Global market turmoil explained
Elsewhere, Australian stocks were hurt by worries over oil prices, with some energy-related stocks, together with the country's big lenders, weighing down the index.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 1.16% to 4,765.30 points.
Meanwhile, South Korea's benchmark Kospi index closed down 1.41% to 1,835.28, in line with regional markets.
Investors were closely watching markets in Hong Kong after the Hang Seng index shed more than 4% on Thursday. The index finished a further 1.2% lower at 18,319.58 on Friday.
The Shanghai Composite remains closed until next week for the Lunar New Year break.


An unbeaten 130 from Kumar Sangakkara saw Surrey squeeze into the semi-finals of the One-Day Cup with a last-ball win against Northamptonshire.

Sangakkara struck Mohammed Azharullah for four to seal a one-wicket win after Surrey had collapsed in pursuit of 277.
The visitors needed 12 runs to win off the final over after slumping from 234-5 to 250-9 in the closing stages.
Earlier, Rory Kleinveldt's unbeaten 76 meant Northants posted 276 after a last-wicket partnership added 49 runs.
Surrey will face Yorkshire away in the semi-finals on 28 August after the White Rose beat Kent by 11 runs in their quarter-final at Canterbury.
Northants must pick themselves up ahead of a T20 Blast semi-final against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Alex Wakely's side looked set to pull off a surprise victory as lower-order wickets fell around Sangakkara and Surrey needed 27 off the last 14 balls.
Sangakkara brought that equation down to 12 off the last over and scooped the third delivery from an Azharullah full toss to fine leg for six.
Last man Jade Dernbach scrambled through for a bye to leave two to win off the final ball, which former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Sangakkara struck to the boundary.
All this came after he had been dropped on just seven before going on to register his 37th career List A century.
Northants had earlier looked set to finish well below par after slumping to 227-9. But seven fours and three sixes in all-rounder Kleinveldt's 62-ball knock rescued them with a last-wicket stand alongside Azharullah.
Opener Josh Cobb (66) also caught the eye with an innings including seven fours and three sixes, but Dernbach proved the pick of Surrey's bowlers with 4-39.
Surrey coach Michael di Venuto told BBC Radio London:
"It was a hell of a game for the spectators, I'm not sure about us watching. Yet again, I'm having a heart attack watching us play one-day cricket.
"Kumar was magnificent at the end and throughout the whole innings. He showed his class and showed why he's still one of the best players in the world.
"I was pretty disappointed with the way we batted in the last 10 overs and the way we went about it, we just lost all intent.
"We had to leave it all up to Kumar to do the job. Luckily, Jade Dernbach stayed with him and kept his head and we're lucky enough to be in the last four."


Niko Kranjcar is one of the main reasons I don't have an FA Cup winners medal.

In 2008 he played a starring role for Portsmouth in a famous win against Cardiff City. Curiously, he was partnered in centre midfield beside former Ibrox idol Pedro Mendes who was brilliant.
I came on as a substitute, replacing the now QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for the last 20 minutes.
Kranjcar's contribution at Wembley that day was simply breathtaking.
Attacking midfielders are often the chief composers for team's attacking threat. Awareness, creativity, precision are words that spring to mind when describing the craft.
They seek out and explore space between opposition, midfield and defence probing for the incisive pass, always scanning for the next opportunity.
In addition, they have to be able to turn with the ball under pressure, dribble past defenders and score goals. It becomes clear why the attacking midfielder is such a valuable role.
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Kranjcar is the depiction of such a player. However, having watched him struggle against an industrious Hamilton on Saturday at a packed Ibrox, I couldn't help think he was a shadow of the opponent I faced in that FA Cup final.
The Croatian looked laboured, was caught in possession often and had no impact on the match whatsoever.
There is no question that he isn't up to speed in terms of his match sharpness but Hamilton deserve massive credit as their midfield five didn't give Rangers any time to imprint their usual fluid passing game.
In Ali Crawford the visitors have a very talented attacking midfielder who showed his high-profile adversary how it's done with an exquisite turn and finish for the opening goal.
The question is do Rangers persist with Kranjcar until he finds his sharpness or do they give one of the many other players in the same position an opportunity?
Harry Forrester changed the game when he came on for Rangers with his outstanding assist and positive runs. He looked much more of a threat than Kranjcar.
I hope Kranjcar rediscovers his undoubted ability soon as Scottish football is a better place with a player of his profile and experience and, at 31, he still has a good few years of entertaining supporters before he brings down the curtain on a distinguished career.


A "very mild" strain of bird flu has been identified on a Fife farm, the Scottish government has confirmed.

A one kilometre protection zone has been set up around Craigies Poultry Farm on the outskirts of Dunfermline.
Confirmation of the strain of Avian Influenza (H5N1) was issued shortly after 18:00.
Initial tests indicate a "low pathogenic" strain and the risk to human health is said to be "very low".
All 40,000 birds will now be culled on site on Wednesday.
There have been a number of recent cases of avian influenza across continental Europe in recent months including three cases in other parts of the UK in 2015.
Within the control zone a range of different controls are in place which include restrictions of the movement of poultry, carcasses, eggs, used poultry litter and manure and restrictions on bird gatherings.
Scotland's Chief Veterinary Officer, Sheila Voas, said: "We have taken immediate action to contain this case as part of our robust procedures for dealing swiftly with avian flu.
"Evidence suggests this is a low severity form of the virus however we are taking action to ensure that the disease does not spread or develop into a more severe form.
"I would urge poultry keepers in the surrounding area to be vigilant for any signs of disease and to ensure they are maintaining good biosecurity on their premises."
The Scottish government's Rural Affairs Secretary, Richard Lochhead, said: "Livestock owners and the general public should be assured that we are doing everything we can to control and prevent the spread of the disease.
"Any poultry producers who are concerned should immediately seek veterinary advice."
Dr Jim McMenamin, consultant epidemiologist and respiratory infection lead for Health Protection Scotland, said: "Based on what we know about this strain of avian influenza and the actions that have been taken, the risk to human health in this case is considered very low.
"Health Protection Scotland continues to work closely with Animal Health throughout this investigation."
Rita Botto, head veterinarian of Food Standard Scotland said: "On the basis of current scientific evidence, Food Standards Scotland's advice is that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers."
Penny Johnston, NFU Scotland policy manager, told BBC Scotland: "It's something that could happen at any time so it was not unexpected.
"There were a couple of cases in England last year so you would expect the odd case to pop up here.
"We have well-rehearsed contingency plans so hopefully we can control it and stop it spreading.
"It's not a huge disaster so it should not cause widespread panic.
"Unfortunately we have to live with it but we we will try to keep it in a small zone."


Each day we feature one of the fabulous photographs sent in by the BBC News website audience across England.

Here, we look back at at some of the most popular Big Pictures we've featured in 2015.
If you have a picture you'd like to share, email us at england@bbc.co.uk, post it on Facebook or tweet it to @BBCEngland. You can also find us on Instagram - use #englandsbigpicture to share an image there.
When emailing pictures, please make sure you include the following information:
Please note that whilst we welcome all your pictures, we are more likely to use those which have been taken in the past week.
If you submit a picture, you do so in accordance with the BBC's Terms and Conditions.
In contributing to England's Big Picture you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way that we want, and in any media worldwide.
It's important to note, however, that you still own the copyright to everything you contribute to England's Big Picture, and that if your image is accepted, we will publish your name alongside.
The BBC cannot guarantee that all pictures will be used and we reserve the right to edit your comments.
At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws collecting any kind of media.


Reckless drivers in north Wales could be prosecuted through "dashcam" evidence sent in by the public.

North Wales Police is encouraging members of the public to send in footage of poor driving.
Operation Snap has been launched in response to "ever-increasing submissions" of video and photographic evidence.
Officers said they "want to hear from people" after seeing some "very close passes".
Ch Insp Darren Wareing, from the force's roads policing unit, said: "If you have footage from a dash cam, your pedal cycle cam or any other source that you feel supports you as a witness to an alleged motoring offence, we want to hear from you.
"Over recent months we have received footage capturing motoring offences including careless and dangerous driving, people on mobile telephones and people being distracted whilst using their smart devices behind the wheel."
In north Wales, 252 motorists were issued with fines for careless driving between 2013 and 2015 for offences including reading maps at the wheel and lane hogging.
Police said cyclists, motorcyclists and horse riders are also using cameras to record dangerous drivers.
Officers said they would review evidence submitted via an online form and take a decision on appropriate action.
Ch Insp Wareing added: "If people know there is a much bigger chance of being prosecuted and risk losing their licence then maybe, just maybe, they'll think twice about not making that call, not answering that text, not update their status or stick a 'like' to a dancing kitten whilst driving."


A tipper truck driver has been jailed after the lorry he was driving rolled, killing his son.

Tony Aitken, 33, formerly of Melton Mowbray, lost control of his truck on 4 May and his son Luke was thrown from the vehicle.
The boy was celebrating his 12th birthday when he died at Langar Industrial Unit, in Nottinghamshire, police said.
He died later from injuries sustained when the truck fell on top of him.
The truck had three children in the front seat, despite the vehicle only being meant to hold two passengers, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The other children in the vehicle, aged 12 and five, were treated in hospital for minor injuries.
Aitken pleaded guilty to driving whilst unfit and causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for five-and-a-half years, Nottinghamshire Police said. He was also disqualified from driving for seven years.


A man has netted £1m after placing a bet on Portugal striker Eder to score the first goal in the Euro 2016 final.

Kitchen fitter Daman Chick, 32, from Birmingham, had predicted a goal in the 84th minute, but Eder scored in the 109th minute as France lost 1-0.
BetVictor said as the closest bet he won the Million Pound Goal prize.
The Aston Villa fan only realised his good fortune when an appeal appeared in the Birmingham Mail urging the prize-winner to come forward.
It was a welcome piece of good fortune for Mr Chick whose beloved Villa had a woeful season, finishing bottom of the table after a campaign in which the club got through four managers - more than the number of Premier League wins they secured.
Read more news for Birmingham and the Black Country
Mr Chick said he was boarding a flight to Greece with his wife and two children and had "rushed" the prediction after making others.
He said: "I just sort of scrolled through the page, pressed the minute, flicked up and pressed the player and then I got on the plane.
"My motto with gambling is always expect the unexpected because it happens so often."
Eder, who now plays for French side Lille OSC, failed to find the net during a stint at Swansea last season and was an outsider bet to score in the final.
BetVictor had to start its #MissingMillionaire social media campaign, appealing for a 32-year-old Aston Villa fan from Birmingham to get in touch, after Mr Chick failed to claim his prize.
The bookmaker eventually tracked him down days after the final while he was still poolside.
Mr Chick said: "In all honesty, it was hard to speak through the surge of tears that came over me. I thought I'd just had one too many by the pool."


Live music will be performed on 40 bridges around the UK as part of the second annual BBC Music Day on 3 June.

Rock bands and choirs will take part in the shows, with locations including the iconic Tees Transporter Bridge.
Other events on the day include the Ulster Orchestra performing in the grounds of the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast.
In Bristol, a children's "vegetable orchestra" will be led by Shaun The Sheep at Colston Hall.
Duran Duran have already been announced as the headliners at a special concert in Cornwall's Eden Project, with Laura Mvula now confirmed as the support act.
BBC Radio 2 will broadcast the concert live, while highlights will be shown on BBC One on Sunday, 5 June.
In Scotland, Travis will play a one-off, free show with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow's Barrowlands venue.
"It's the coolest thing we've been asked to do," singer Fran Healy said. "The fact the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will join us on our turf at the Barrowlands - and not in their usual habitat - is something I feel the audience will love."
A UK-wide bell-ringing event is also planned for 19:00 BST on BBC Music Day, with more than 50 church towers ringing simultaneously, including Bristol and Manchester cathedral and smaller parish churches like Saint Francis Xaviers in Liverpool and St Mary's at Turville in Buckinghamshire.
BBC Wales will host a dawn performance by choristers Only Men Aloud, premiering a new song composed by Amy Wadge, co-writer of Ed Sheeran's Grammy-winning song Thinking Out Loud.
And CBBC is asking its young audience to submit recordings of the Danger Mouse theme tune, which will be stitched together to create a crowd-sourced version of the song.
Full details of events around the UK can be found on the BBC Press Website.
BBC Music Day launched last year, billed as a "UK-wide celebration of sound".
Events included a day-long musical relay along the length of Hadrian's Wall, and Manic Street Preachers performing to 10,000 people at Cardiff Castle.
A world record for the longest distance between singers of a duet was also set - as classical musician Shan Cothi in Cardiff sang the Welsh hymn Calon Lan with Andres Evans, a member of the Welsh community in Patagonia - 12,120 kilometres away.


A motorcyclist has died following a crash involving a 4x4 in the Vale of Glamorgan.

South Wales Police said the 52-year-old man died at the scene on the B4268 between Pentre Meyrick Cross and Llysworney.
The incident involving a blue Land Rover Freelander happened at about 13:55 BST on Saturday and the road was closed for five hours.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101.


A new short film from a Muslim comedian aims to stop teenagers in the East Midlands from being radicalised by extremist groups.

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13 October 2014 Last updated at 20:29 BST
The police have recruited Humza Arshad, also known as Badman, to make the film.
Jeremy Ball reports from Leicester.


Roma will have to shut down part of their stadium for one game next season after the club's supporters repeated racist chants about Mario Balotelli.

The Serie A side reacted by vowing to ban anyone identified with the songs.
Roma were fined £42,400 after the game against Balotelli's AC Milan was halted and restarted on 12 May.
After the striker was the target of more racial abuse in Sunday's game with Napoli, the south stand of Roma's ground will be temporarily closed.
"What occurred Sunday night is appalling and unacceptable. AS Roma does not want those individuals [who are] responsible as fans," the club said in a statement.
"The actions of this small group are hateful and also hurt our club and our loyal law-abiding supporters.
"We have not yet received a detailed report from the league or federation but will continue to work with them and law enforcement to ensure that everything possible is done to identify and ban those involved from football stadia."
As well as having to shut the Curva Sud section for one game at the start of next season, Roma have been issued with another 50,000 euros (£42,400) fine.
That 8,486-capacity Curva Sud part of Stadio Olimpico houses the club's most hardcore fans - called 'Ultras'.
Roma's partial stadium closure does not apply to Sunday's Coppa Italia derby at the ground with neighbours Lazio.
Balotelli's former club Inter Milan was also punished with a 50,000 euros fine - but no stadium ban - after their fans abused him in their 5-2 defeat at Udinese on Sunday.
In February, Inter were fined the same amount for singing offensive songs about the Italy international during the Milan derby.
Balotelli was one of three black players the Italian football authorities declared had been victimised after play in the 0-0 draw between Milan and Roma was stopped for about two minutes.
Despite both Roma and Napoli players wearing anti-racism T-shirts while warming up before last weekend's 2-1 win for the hosts, the chants reoccurred after news filtered through to the Olimpico crowd that Balotelli had scored a late penalty in Milan's 2-1 victory at Siena which helped secure the club's Champions League qualifying place.
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Last week, Balotelli - who has scored 12 goals in 13 appearances since joining from Manchester City in January - threatened to walk off the pitch if he is ever again subjected to racist abuse from fans.
"If it happens one more time, I'm going to leave the pitch, because it's so stupid," the Italy international told CNN.
"I always said if it happens in the stadium, I would just behave as if nobody had done anything and that I don't care, but now I think I've changed my mind a bit."
There have been a number of other incidents this season involving racial abuse of AC Milan's players.
A January friendly between Milan and Pro Patria was suspended because of racist chants aimed at Kevin-Prince Boateng.
And in April, champions Juventus were fined 30,000 euros (£25,000) after their supporters racially abused AC Milan players.


The son and wife of imprisoned former Chinese security chief Zhou Yongkang have been jailed after they were found guilty of corruption, officials say.

Zhou's son Zhou Bin was imprisoned for 18 years while his his wife Jia Xiaoyue will serve nine years.
Zhou Yongkang was once one of the most powerful officials in China, running the internal security forces.
He was jailed for life after his corruption conviction last year, partly as a result of his family's testimony.
Zhou is the most senior official to fall as part of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, which was launched in 2012.
A court in the central city of Yichang found Zhou Bin guilty of taking 222 million yuan ($34m; Â£24m) in bribes and running an illegal business trading in restricted commodities, the CCTV state broadcaster reported.
The court confiscated what it said were his illicit gains and fined him a total of 350 million yuan ($53m; Â£37m), CCTV said.
The same court also imprisoned Zhou Yongkang's wife Jia Xiaoye - a former TV journalist - for taking bribes. She was fined 1m yuan ($150,000; Â£105,000)
Zhou Bin initially escaped arrest by going to the US in early 2013, sources told the Reuters news agency. But he returned to China after negotiations with Chinese authorities. It is not clear whether he had legal representation.
Zhou Bin used his father's influence "in collaboration with others"  to accept valuable property, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Zhou Yongkang was a member of China's elite Politburo Standing Committee and was responsible for the police, the judiciary and domestic surveillance.
But he became one of the most senior leaders to be imprisoned by the Communist Party took since the early 1980s, when the Gang of Four were put on trial for instigating the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
Scores of Zhou's associates have also been arrested, mostly in the southern province of Sichuan where he was head of the Communist Party from 1999 to 2002.
President Xi has warned that corruption is widespread and jeopardises the Chinese Communist Party's future survival.
The president's campaign against graft has embroiled senior party officials, the government, the military and state-owned companies.


The European Central Bank has the most powerful card, the ace of trumps if you like, when it comes to dealing with the Greek crisis.

If it chose, Mario Draghi, the president of the ECB, could put Greece in a position that would leave it little choice but to start printing its own currency, and in effect leave the eurozone.
But it's not a card that he wants to play.
As the clouds have gathered again over Greece's economic future, customers have been pulling their money out of Greek commercial banks.  Private sector bank deposits in Greece declined by â‚¬23bn (Â£16.3bn), or 18%, between November 2014 and March this year, according to figures from the Bank of Greece.
So far, what has happened in Greece is not a full-scale run on the banks. In a previous episode of instability three years ago it was called a "bank jog". But it's at a fast enough pace to be causing concern. Because if customers take enough of their money out, and if the bank can't raise enough new funds to allow them to pay out, then banks could fail.
For now, banks are able to rely on borrowing money from the Bank of Greece (the country's central bank) using an arrangement known as emergency liquidity assistance (ELA). That is currently reported to be â‚¬80bn and has been raised repeatedly in recent months.
And this is the trump card: it's the ECB's governing council that tells the Bank of Greece whether this should continue, whether it should limit the payments or whether it should stop funding the banks.
Is there a point beyond which the ECB would call a halt to the funds channelled through the ELA?
Certainly, though it's hard to put a specific figure on it.
The key point is that ELA is supposed to be available to European banks that are solvent, but facing temporary liquidity problems.
So if the ECB's governing council took the view that the Greek banks were not solvent it would have to tell the Bank of Greece to pull the plug.
It's a principle behind ELA and behind central bank lending in general - you don't, or should not, lend to and prop up banks that are bust. Although admittedly it is not always straightforward in practice to identify whether a struggling bank is bust or just having temporary liquidity trouble.
We know enough about what happened in the case of Cyprus to be sure that it is something the ECB would consider.
The ECB did publicly  threaten to put a stop to ELA for the Cypriot banks, unless there was an international bailout that would ensure they were solvent.  There was a similar threat to Ireland in correspondence which has since been published.
As for the Greek banks today, the ECB's president Mario Draghi has said they will continue to receive funding as long they remain solvent and have adequate collateral.
The view at the ECB appears to be that the banks are in temporary difficulty. Executive board member Peter Praet said in April:
"The assessment that we get is that [Greek] banks are solvent, but it is true that it is a stressful situation".
The financial troubles of the Greek state are one of the sources of that stress.  There's a kind of toxic embrace between the finances of the government and the banks. The banks own Greek government debt, and some of their capital is dependent on the Greek state.
So, if the interminable political negotiations between Greece and its eurozone partners conclude with the Greek state defaulting on its debts, the country's banks will also sustain financial damage. For its part the government is ticking over - just - partly due to short term borrowing from the banks.
Another factor with a bearing on the banks' solvency is the performance of the Greek economy. The worse it gets the more loans to business and households will not be repaid.
If at any point the ECB concludes the banks are bust it could yet decide to order the Bank of Greece to turn off the taps. Arguably, it should do so in those circumstances.
If the ECB pulled the plug, then Greece's banks would collapse.
The government could try to impose financial controls (as Cyprus did for a time) but the banking expert Frances Coppola doesn't think that would work. Instead, she writes, if the ELA were turned off: "Greece would have no choice but to create a completely new currency and reflate its economy directly via the central bank. That means leaving the euro, at least temporarily."
So the ECB's trump card, if it were played, could have very dramatic consequences that would be profoundly political.
It is arguable that, legally, giving up the euro is incompatible with staying in the European Union.  In those circumstances, perhaps Greece would make closer friends with other powers that the EU doesn't greatly care for, such as Russia and China.
There is also the idea built into EU treaties and ideology that the euro is supposed to be for ever. A departure from that principle would have serious political ramifications and as such would constitute intervention far beyond the remit of what was envisaged for a technocratic central bank.
The ECB's main job is supposed to be stabilising prices - not redrawing the European political map. It is far from relishing the powerful hand of cards it holds.
The bank probably wishes it wasn't at the table, or better still: that there was no game underway at all.


Stagecoach has blamed the Paris terror attacks for a slowdown in revenue growth at the transport group.

The rail and bus operator cut its full-year earnings forecast as it said passengers had cut back on trips to big cities since last month's attacks.
The company also said there had been "softer than expected revenue" for several of its regional UK bus businesses.
Shares in Stagecoach closed down 14.4% to 304.7p in response.
However, the fall in the share price was also due to other factors mentioned in the statement released with its half-year results, said Nomura analyst James Hollins.
"The combination of a cautious outlook, withdrawal from the East Anglia rail bidding process and clear indication from management that exceptional shareholder returns should not be expected near-term are likely to drive market concerns," he said.
Chief executive Martin Griffiths admitted that "challenges remain in our sector in the short-term".
Stagecoach said that discretionary travel had been worst hit, with fewer journeys to London on its South West train network outside usual commuter times.
There were also fewer journeys between Oxford and the capital on its regular coach service.
Finance director Ross Paterson said passenger journeys had started to return to more normal levels.
"We are certainly seeing it recovering, the growth rates, particularly over the last week - they're starting to pick up again," he said.
Stagecoach runs East Midlands Trains and operates the East Coast and West Coast rail franchises in partnership with Virgin.
The company also has bus operations in cities including London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Cambridge as well as Megabus long-distance coaches in North America, Europe and the UK.
Lower motoring costs in the US and Canada had reduced demand for Megabus inter-city services, Stagecoach said, prompting a review of its operations there.
For the six months to 31 October, revenue rose £430m to £1.97bn, with pre-tax profit up £12.9m to £121.5m.
The interim dividend was raised by 9.4% to 3.5p.


Worcestershire batsman Tom Fell has signed a two-year extension to his contract.

Fell, 23, hit more than 1,000 County Championship runs in 2015 before two bouts of cancer, only getting the all-clear halfway through last season.
He has scored 2,867 first-class runs in his career, at an average of 33.72, but is averaging around half that in 2017.
"Hopefully I'm just one score away and it should all fall into place again," Fell told Worcestershire's website.
"It is a good time to be at the club. I think the future definitely looks good and it's nice to know I'm going to be a part of that future and hopefully keep taking the club forward."
Last summer, Fell won the MCC Spirit of Cricket award after signalling his foot had touched the rope when trying to stop a boundary in the County Championship match with Sussex at Hove.
His new deal comes just two days after 19-year-old paceman Josh Tongue agreed a four-year contract with the club.


A constable who shot Pava spray in another officer's face as "banter" has been found guilty of misconduct.

PC Greg Taylor said he accidentally shot the officer in the forehead with the spray for speaking during a police briefing he was leading in Northampton.
A panel at a police disciplinary hearing found him guilty of misconduct but cleared him of gross misconduct.
He was given a final written warning which will remain on his file for 18 months.
Prosecuting solicitor David Ring told the panel there had been a stand-off between PC Taylor, who had been acting as a sergeant, and another officer in the team.
Mr Ring said: "He (PC Taylor) said if he did not stop talking he would spray him."
He said the second officer, who cannot be named, challenged PC Taylor at Campbell Square police station in Northampton on 22 June.
"In an element of bravado, he dared him to spray him and he took off his glasses to give him a clear shot," Mr Ring said.
"PC Taylor removed the cap and depressed the plunger in short bursts. It hit him in the forehead.
"Everyone in the room thought it was extremely funny."
PC Taylor, 37, told the hearing that he had not intended to fire the spray, which is used to incapacitate suspects, and that he had been stupid.
He said: "I hate to use the word banter but there is a culture of wit and mockery."
Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Swann, who chaired the panel, found him guilty of misconduct.
She said he had been "irresponsible and foolish" but had not breached standards of honesty.
The panel said his actions "fell well below" that expected of a police officer.


Thousands of people have taken part in London's New Year's Day parade, which celebrated the transport network.

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1 January 2015 Last updated at 19:03 GMT
More than 500,000 people were expected at the event, which started outside The Ritz Hotel, in Piccadilly, and came to an end in Parliament Square.
Its route included Lower Regent Street, Pall Mall and Trafalgar Square.
BBC London's Chris Rogers joined the crowds.


While the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal has dominated the headlines in recent months, only the Belfast Telegraph has devoted its front page to the saga on Monday.

The newspaper says the clock is ticking as pressure mounts on the DUP and Sinn Féin to resolve the stand-off over the controversial scheme, which could cost the Northern Ireland taxpayer £490m.
It goes with the bold headline "Seven days to save Stormont" and says First Minister Arlene Foster has told the paper she could accept a full public inquiry - but will not step aside. It adds that unless she does, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will leave the executive, prompting an election.
On a related note, DUP MP Sammy Wilson claims in the News Letter that Sinn Féin plans to use the RHI debacle to extract political concessions from Mrs Foster.
He also believes his party would be justified in using a petition of concern to block Sinn Féin's motion of no-confidence in assembly speaker Robin Newton, expected to be lodged on Monday.
The Belfast Telegraph features quotes from Kyle Black, the son of murdered prison officer David Black.
He says his family feels betrayed by the justice system after it emerged that a man facing trial on charges linked to the murder, Damien Joseph McLaughlin, 40, of Kilmascally Road near Ardboe, has not been seen since November.
It is the main story in the News Letter, which says it asked a series of questions to police on Sunday about Mr McLaughlin's disappearance, but was told by a spokesperson that it "cannot comment on named individuals".
The Irish News focuses on the new Casement Park stadium in west Belfast and says police warned of an "unacceptable risk" in emergency evacuation plans for the development.
The paper says it has uncovered an email from a police officer which said the risk of injury would be "greatly increased" by proposals to use the Stockman's Lane area as the "main egress route for evacuation".
According to the paper, the correspondence was sent in November, weeks after the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) unveiled its new stadium design plans. Ulster GAA has said it is "confident of resolving all aspects pertaining to safety".
More than 1,300 complaints have been reported in the past five years involving Translink buses carrying school pupils, according to the Irish News.
Translink has said it carries about 55,000 pupils a day on its services. It adds that "any complaints are fully investigated and the vast majority are resolved promptly, with only a very small number relating to serious allegations of antisocial behaviour".
The Daily Mirror is urging us to wrap up warm as it predicts the "big freeze" is set to hit Northern Ireland on Wednesday night, with sub-zero temperatures and snow expected.
A weather expert told the newspaper Thursday will be a "bitterly cold day" with temperatures only rising to between 3C and 6C.
The paper also features a story about police in Northern Ireland posting a warning to parents about texting 'codes' that some teenagers use to disguise their phone or online messages.
The Facebook post by the PSNI in Newry and Mourne references a list published by a US technology show.
Some of the abbreviations are relatively bland, such as HAK, meaning hugs and kisses, or WYCM for Will you call me?
Others refer to sexual acts, drugs and suicide.


How would the current England team perform in the Premier League?

The top-flight's executive chairman Richard Scudamore has posed this question while defending the division's elite sides' right to buy foreign players.
The 55-year-old was unable to provide a clear answer: "Would they win it, or finish 10th? I don't know."
But Scudamore suggested England could still compete at major tournaments with a side comprised of players from the bottom half of the top-flight and top half of the Championship.
"We get hung up about how players can't possibly be good enough unless they're playing for Chelsea or Manchester United," he said.
"Of course they can be good enough. How are they going to get into the first teams of Chelsea and Manchester City? Widen your horizons.
"Why shouldn't the England team come from the top 12 teams in the Championship and the bottom 10 teams of the Premier League?"
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While the English top-flight revels in its stellar reputation and record television deals, the national team are without a major trophy since winning the World Cup in 1966 and have not reached the semi-finals of the competition since 1990, crashing out at the group stage in Brazil last summer without a win to their name.
With only 35% of last season's Premier League players eligible to play for England, there have been calls to impose a quota on foreign players to aid the growth of homegrown talent, with Football Association chairman Greg Dyke particularly vocal.
"I'd love to see a decent sprinkling of English talent in our top clubs," said Scudamore. "But that is a desire and an aspiration.
"My objective is to put on the best possible show and for our clubs to attract the best players.
"If that means they buy some foreign players, well, they've been doing that since the league began and nothing is going to stop that now."
"Costa Rica played very well in the last World Cup and where were they playing their league football," declared Scudamore.
"We believe in the investment and progress we are making in youth development. You've just got to produce players who are capable of holding their own at the highest level."
Last season, over 10 games, England's starting XI was predominantly comprised of players from clubs finishing in the top half of the Premier League, with 85% coming from the top 10 and 60% coming from the top four.
If national boss Roy Hodgson were to select a team from the bottom 10 of last season's Premier League teams, this is how it could look:
The winners of the last three World Cups have been nations hosting three of the top four leagues in Europe. The Premier League is the fourth.
For their respective victories, Italy (2006), Spain (2010) and Germany (2014) all had squads containing a high amount of players from clubs finishing in the top half of their respective top-flights.
Of the 23 players Germany took to Brazil, 14 played for clubs who finished the season before in the top half of the Bundesliga (many of them from Bayern Munich), with five playing for clubs elsewhere in Europe who finished in the top half of their respective league.
Spain had 20 players in their winning squad who played for top-half La Liga clubs (principally Barcelona or Real Madrid), while Italy's squad were all based in Italy, 21 of whom played for clubs who finished the season before in the top 10 of Serie A.


Some police forces are putting the public at risk by rationing their response as they struggle with cutbacks, the police standards watchdog has warned.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary said some forces are "downgrading" 999 calls, in order to justify responding to them more slowly.
HMIC's report found that most of the 43 forces in England and Wales were providing a good service.
But that others have let victims down.
The inspectors said there are now too few detectives and in some areas an erosion of neighbourhood policing.
The former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Peter Fahy, said that forces will have to do things differently in the future, if the government continues to ask them "to do more with less".
In its annual report on forces, the inspectors said officers were arresting fewer people and too many crimes were being shelved without proper investigation.
It found that 67,000 people suspected of crimes were not entered onto the police national computer - so that all forces were made aware of them.
The report highlighted measures some forces had deployed to manage demand - although in each case it was not entirely clear whether they were directly caused by cuts or local management decisions.
HMIC said:
"We are leading to a very serious conclusion regarding the potentially perilous state of British policing," said Zoe Billingham, the lead inspector.
"Over the last few years, HMIC has said consistently that police forces were managing well in increasingly difficult circumstances.
"Nonetheless, today, I'm raising a red flag to warn forces of the consequences of what is, to all intents and purposes, an unconscious form of rationing."
Rated "Outstanding": Durham
Rated "Good": Avon & Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, City of London, Cleveland, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Dorset, Essex, Greater Manchester, Gwent, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Wales, North Yorkshire, Northumbria, South Wales, Suffolk, Surrey, Thames Valley, Warwickshire, West Mercia, West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Wiltshire.
Rated "Requires Improvement": Devon & Cornwall, Dyfed-Powys, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Leicestershire, Metropolitan Police, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Sussex
Rated "Inadequate": Bedfordshire
HMIC also warned there was now a "national crisis" caused by a shortage of detectives - with the Metropolitan Police alone short by 700.
One ex-detective has told the Victoria Derbyshire programme why she quit her "dream job".
These shortages had led to excessive workloads and stress for investigators who were sometimes carrying out complex investigations without the right skills and experience.
In one area, inspectors found a uniformed officer carrying out a rape investigation. HMIC has urged police chiefs to come up with a plan by the summer to attract, recruit and train more detectives.
Ms Billingham warned that while neighbourhood teams were the "bedrock of British policing" they were being "chipped away... sometimes by stealth".
A survey of neighbourhood officers found they were being pulled from local duties at least once a week to supervise the detention or transport of suspects. A fifth of the officers said they could find themselves on other duties three times a week.
One police officer resigned last week after 13 years in the Devon and Cornwall, publishing a damning resignation letter on social media criticising police for "putting their employees last".
Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think I've ever read a report from the Inspectorate that was quite as sobering as this."
Dr Billings said there was "no doubt" that neighbourhood policing was under pressure, adding: "I think that's true of my own area - because if people are really pressured to answer 999 calls, deal with incidents, they're going to pull officers out of neighbourhood areas."
He said HMIC's report reflects what is happening across the public sector.
"You can't get away from the fact that all of us are now trying to do more and better with less.
"And year on year, we're receiving less funding. Now of course a police force cannot run a deficit - so you have to make the books balance, and that leads sometimes to poor decisions."
Chief Constable Michael Barton of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said budgets had fallen by 22% in five years - leading to a loss of 32,000 officers and staff - at a time when many crimes were changing.
"It's a simple reality that we are required to prioritise more," he said. "Difficult decisions are being made between resourcing neighbourhood teams, response units, specialist investigations and digital and cyber-enabled crime. There are no easy answers."
Ms Billingham said the failings were "not simply about money" because there was a huge variation in results, in particular in how well forces were winning the support of domestic violence victims in how they investigated and concluded cases.
Policing Minister Brandon Lewis said: "This Government has protected police funding, through the 2015 spending review.
"There can be no excuse for any force that fails to deliver on its obligations. Those identified as inadequate or requiring improvement must take HMIC's findings very seriously and I expect to see rapid improvement
But the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file members, described the report as a "worrying wake-up call".
And Jon Boutcher, chief constable of Bedfordshire, criticised his force's rating as inadequate, saying community policing had to change because of the huge demand for specialist officers to deal with domestic abuse, sexual offences and the rising threat of online-related crimes.


Stormont institutions under threat, new deals and fresh faces leading political parties - It's been another busy year in Northern Ireland's political world.

It hasn't gone away you know. Or it is a thing of the past. Believe whichever version you like, but for a few weeks, a body which was supposed to have been consigned to history seemed to hold the key to whether Stormont stood or fell. An independent panel, set up in the wake of Kevin McGuigan's murder, concluded that although IRA members believe the Army Council oversees both that organisation and Sinn Féin, it had a wholly political focus. It was enough to calm DUP nerves and get the Executive working again.
Seemingly oblivious to the fact that political Washington on St Patrick's Day has an open door policy, the Vice President decided to spice things up with a pre-breakfast joke for the cameras. "If you're wearing orange you're not welcome in here" he cracked beside the Taoiseach who won the award for smiling through adversity while probably wishing he'd opted for room service and a later start.
Too much sausage, beans and chips is bad for you apparently. Who knew? Seemingly not the First Minister Peter Robinson who put his heart attack down, not to stress, but his unhealthy lifestyle. He revealed that in the week before he took ill he had two chinese meals, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, a McDonald's and the aforementioned delicacy. Chip shops from Ballymacarrett to Ballymena gave thanks for the plug...
Otherwise known as A Fresh Start and still intact at time of going to press in which Sinn Féin swallowed hard over Welfare Reform; the DUP swallowed hard over the IRA; and victims found the whole thing impossible to swallow because they got left out. But at least Stormont was saved. Again.
The list of well known MLAs who have gone or will go before next year's Assembly election grows by the week. Some willingly, others less so. It is lead by Peter Robinson and includes other notables such as Anna Lo, John Dallat, Pat Ramsey, Phil Flanagan and Stephen Moutray. The electorate will be lying in wait for others meaning the Assembly benches will look very different after next May.
Not the first leader of Unionism to come from Fermanagh but certainly the first female Fermanagh leader. And while we're at it, she's also the first Church of Ireland-attending, former Ulster Unionist, to lead the DUP. Not that its had many leaders. In fact, so successful has Arlene Foster's immersion in the DUP been that none of those things have seemed to matter for a very long time. A fairytale ending to a year in which she also brought us the fantasy budget.
In which unionists discovered that when they work together they're more likely to win at the polls. Their pact saw off Sinn Féin in Fermanagh South Tyrone, a constituency many thought would never have a unionist MP again. But the fact that it was required to defeat Alliance in one of Northern Ireland's most heavily unionist constituencies, East Belfast, was seen by many as a hollow victory. Don't tell that to Peter Robinson, however. Or for that matter Gavin Robinson.
The old dance was given a Stormont twist becoming "put your Simon Hamilton/Michelle McIlveen/Mervyn Storey/Jonathan Bell in.....put your Simon Hamilton/Michelle McIlveen/Mervyn Storey/Jonathan Bell out.....etc." The DUP certainly managed to shake it all about with their rolling ministerial resignations. Problem was it seemed to put the party out of step with almost everyone, especially those who thought the Health Minister would have been better employed at his desk during a continuing health crisis.
(see Army Council)
His 15 minutes were supposed to be over long ago. But boy, were we wrong. Long after the flag protest, well, flagged, he was back at the centre of one of the biggest political stories of the year. He began making a series of allegations which ended with him making an explosive appearance before the Assembly's Finance committee during which he alleged Peter Robinson stood to benefit from the sale of NAMA's Northern Ireland portfolio. Mr Robinson strongly denied it. No evidence has yet been produced to show any politician or others named by Mr Bryson were to benefit.
As if being the cousin of Chris De Burgh and living in a castle wasn't enough for him, this MLA/art dealer and former soldier, wanted to be an MP as well. And in what was possibly the shock general election result in Northern Ireland he managed to topple the DUP's William McCrea in South Antrim.  Doesn't make "Lady In Red" any more acceptable, however.
What not to do when you're already in trouble over remarks you claim you didn't make over same sex couples and child abuse? Well, don't have a row with a lesbian couple in Rathfriland that's what. Having already had to issue one apology for whatever he did or didn't say at a hustings event, the then Health Minister Jim Wells went canvassing in deepest Co Down when he came across a Lesbian couple and was allegedly critical of their lifestyle. He later returned to try to apologise and was rebuffed. Two days later he had resigned saying he wanted to spend time caring for his wife who had suffered a stroke.
"Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be...." goes the song which just about covered the events of Monday, March 9. The Stormont House Agreement was agreed and the DUP and Sinn Féin were getting on famously. Then Sinn Féin announced they were going to vote against the Welfare Bill, accusing the DUP of trying to implement Tory cuts to benefits by subterfuge. Suddenly "I Don't Like Mondays" was everyone's preferred tune. What was needed was (another) Fresh Start....
See J is for Jamie and W is for Wallace
Like a bride (or groom) left jilted at the altar, the Northern Ireland Executive waited for the Chancellor to reveal how he was going to proceed with his devious plan to cut tax credits after the House of Lords sent him back to think again. And think again he did... by scrapping the whole idea. To the surprise of the Executive which had set aside £240 million from other departments to deal with the problem. Ministers now have a different problem - how to reallocate all that money. They couldn't fall out over something like that. Could they?
A few months ago Emma Pengelly was a special adviser in the office of the first minister. Today she's one of Northern Ireland's best known politicians. The political equivalent of a debut single going straight in at Number One (OK, not quite Number One but stick with it) in late September she was co-opted to replace the retiring Jimmy Spratt in south Belfast. The bitter pill of almost halving her salary to do so was offset by a £45,000 severance pay-off from which she later said she would spend a "considerable amount" on her constituency work. A month later she was made a junior minister where her pay rose to £60,000. Along the way some noses were put out of joint, notably Ruth Patterson's. She was subsequently expelled for speaking out. Next May Ms Pengelly must try to persuade the voters of South Belfast this was all a good idea. One to watch.
As in God Save the. Not an anthem normally played in the presence of Martin McGuinness and other Sinn Féin members. But that's what happened when the Assembly's Sinn Féin Speaker Mitchel McLaughlin held a remembrance event in Stormont's Great Hall. It wasn't supposed to feature but the TUV press officer Sammy Morrison decided it should and sung it, quickly joined by other unionists. Mr McGuinness got to his feet. The Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt apologised to him for what happened but later said the Anthem should always be an official part of the event. Sinn Féin called the whole affair a stunt.
That's Belfast for blushing because you've humiliated yourself and if it's good enough for the culture minister it is good enough for us. "I'm actually glad to see you taking a redner" goes into Hansard as Stormont's put down of the year. It was Carál Ní Chuilín's retort to Nelson McCausland when he asked a question she didn't like. In return, he looked scunnered as they say in his beloved Ulster Scots.
The other fresh start agreed this year was the replacement of 66-year-old Alasdair McDonnell with 32-year-old Colum Eastwood as the SDLP's youngest leader. Except it wasn't agreed at all and led to the first ever challenge to a sitting leader in the party's history. Eastwood won comfortably which was a major shock to Dr McDonnell who had confidently predicted he would see off the insurrection. All the Foyle MLA has to do now is succeed where everyone after John Hume has failed and revive the fortunes of a party which has fallen far behind Sinn Féin in the battle for nationalist votes.
Where would we be without a flag row? Hard to say since we always have one. Except this year's was a first, courtesy of whoever decided to fly the Irish Tricolour from one of the flagpoles above Parliament Buildings at Stormont. It was there for only eight minutes and but for a sharp eyed member of the public with a camera phone may have gone unnoticed. Cue separate investigations by the Stormont authorities and the PSNI. Martin McGuinness called it "much ado about nothing". Unionists didn't agree.
Leaving the Executive after the murder of Kevin McGuigan was the easy part. Making a cogent argument for getting back in (or not) after the Assembly election may be harder. It's also an election which will tell whether the party's Westminster result was really a fresh start or a false start. Mike Nesbitt is on a roll. He needs gains and seats for it to continue.
No Fresh Start for them because agreement could not be reached.
As in Mick. The Irish TD with the flowing blonde locks and a fondness for pink claimed in the Dáil that a Northern Ireland politician was to have benefitted from NI's biggest ever property sale,  courtesy of the Republic's National Asset Management Agency. Having lit the blue touch paper, he didn't stand well back but made a series of other allegations. And so began a chain of events which eventually saw First Minister Peter Robinson appearing before a Stormont committee to deny he was the one after subsequent claims by the Loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson. This story can't possibly get any more bizarre. Can it?
Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan made an apparent reference to a four-letter word in an exchange on social media. In his New Year message he tweeted that 2015 offered the Republic the choice of "constitutional politics or cult politics". A Sinn Féin TD responded by posting an image of the Blueshirts, a pre-cursor to Fine Gael adding "Hopefully cult politics doesn't make a comeback." Another user suggested that the tweet had been misspelled, to which the minister replied: "yep left out the 'n'". He apologised.
The big man with the white beard and the sack was in danger of being usurped in Northern Ireland by the politicians who were trying to avoid the sack. For two years they had talked up to - and even through - Christmas. But not this year. The deal done in November - even if it should have been concluded in October.
The number of challengers Arlene Foster faced to lead the DUP. Sammy Wilson might have done so if he hadn't backed Nigel Dodds who then withdrew and backed Arlene Foster.


The threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism to Great Britain has increased, the government's new counter-terrorism strategy says.

The strategy concentrates on international terrorism and potential threats to the Olympic Games.
Support for dissident republican terrorists in NI remains low, it says.
But it notes the frequency of attacks within Northern Ireland has increased significantly from 22 in 2009 to 40 in 2010, and 16 attacks so far this year.
It claims many more attacks have been successfully disrupted.
Whilst the level of the terrorist threat within Northern Ireland is rated as severe, in Great Britain the threat level is considered substantial, meaning there is a strong possibility of an attack.
The document says the number of terrorist-related arrests in Northern Ireland was 98% higher in 2010 than in 2009.
The arrests rose from 106 in 2009 to 210 in 2010. Those 316 arrests led to 97 charges between January 2009 and December 2010.
However the strategy document only lists nine convictions for terrorist offences over the same period.
It says the number of arrests for Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Great Britain over the same period was relatively small - dropping from six arrests in 2009 to one arrest in 2010.
One of the initiatives the government is considering for tackling terrorism is to allow post-charge questioning in cases where further substantial evidence emerges after charges have been brought.
The Home Office says it will work with the Stormont government to ensure any changes are compliant with the legal system in Northern Ireland.
The strategy states that significant additional funding has already been given to the PSNI to build its capabilities to investigate and disrupt terrorist attacks over the next four years.
It adds that a significant percentage of security service operational resources will remain devoted to Northern Ireland-related terrorism.


Hull FC winger Mahe Fonua will leave the Super League side at the end of the season due to family reasons.

The 24-year-old has a year left on his contract but the Tonga international has been allowed to return to Australia, the country of his birth.
The club say he is expected to sign for a team in the National Rugby League later this week for the 2018 campaign.
"I'd like to thank everyone for the support they've shown while we've made this difficult decision," Fonua said.
Hull FC head coach Lee Radford added: "It is not the way of our club to stand in the way of a player in these circumstances, and Mahe and his family will leave with our blessing and best wishes."


Brighton will hope to have defenders Bruno (hamstring) and Gaetan Bong (thigh) back in contention.

Otherwise, boss Chris Hughton has no new injury or suspension worries.
Leeds midfielder Liam Bridcutt is set to return against his former club having missed the 1-1 draw with Fulham due to personal reasons.
Striker Chris Wood (hamstring) remains sidelined, while centre-back Giuseppe Bellusci serves the second game of a two-match ban.


A plane travelling from Mumbai to London was forced to turn back mid-flight after a rat was spotted on board, local media report.

Flight AI 131  travelling to London on Wednesday was flying over Iran when someone on board said they spotted the rodent, reports said.
Passengers continued their journey on a replacement aircraft some time later.
Air India has said that the plane will be fumigated and the presence of a rodent was being investigated.
Rats occasionally get on board aircraft along with catering and other supplies but can pose a serious technical as well as a health hazard if they chew through wires.
The airline said that "though the presence of the rodent was not confirmed," the decision to abort the flight was precautionary and in the interests of passenger safety.
It is not the first time a rat sighting has been reported on an Air India jet this year, with one of their aircraft forced to return to New Delhi during a flight to Milan in July because of a rodent.
It is the latest setback to hit the state-owned airline, which has had to cut costs to improve its financial health.
Earlier in December, an Air India technician was sucked into an aircraft engine and killed at Mumbai airport.


Motherwell captain Keith Lasley has defended boss Mark McGhee in the wake of the 5-1 home defeat by Dundee.

Well have lost four in a row, conceding 17 goals in that run, leading to fans protesting against McGhee on Saturday.
"We never got beat 5-1 by Dundee because they came up with some formation that we couldn't handle," Lasley told BBC Scotland
"It was because again we couldn't defend our box and never competed well enough - that's our responsibility."
The Fir Park outfit were recently beaten 7-2 at Aberdeen and were missing regular defenders Stephen McManus, Steven Hammell and Richard Tait against Dundee.
McGhee was keen to protect his players after the latest heavy defeat, insisting it is up to him to find a way to snap the losing run.
But Lasley said: "The players take responsibility and it's up to us to build that trust with the fans again.
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"I'm telling you it is the case - we are not in this run because Mark McGhee has got it tactically wrong.
"The manager can put us out in any sort of shape - at Aberdeen we could have been in any shape and wouldn't have won that game - it's the players, individually against your opponent and collectively, and that's what we're not doing at the moment. It's up to us top change that."
Lasley, 37, was on the bench for the Dundee defeat and had no complaints about the manager's selection.
"Any player that's not playing is frustrated but there's a bigger picture here and it's not about whether I was out there," he said. "I was involved in the 7-2 defeat at Aberdeen so don't worry about that, I'm as responsible as the next player."
And the midfielder retains belief that Well, who are now third-bottom of the Premiership, just two points above second-bottom Inverness Caledonian Thistle, can move back up the table.
"We know the league is still tight and we came out of the game thinking it's a relegation battle, which it is, but we still feel we are capable of going and winning a game of football on Saturday," Lasley said.
"What we have got, I think, is two of the best strikers in the league [Scott McDonald and Louis Moult], and if we give them enough service they will put the ball in the net."


A village has been recreated in edible form - using Christmas cake, icing and marzipan - to raise money towards restoring a church roof.

Villagers in Youlgrave in Derbyshire pitched in by donating ingredients then sharing out the 35 cakes to bake in their ovens.
Keen cake maker Lynn Nolan then cut, shaped and iced the incredibly detailed 16 buildings with skilled helpers.
Baking began back in June, and the icing alone took 387 hours.
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Mrs Nolan, a retired florist, said: "I kept finding eggs in my little porch and little old ladies would come to the door with a packet of sugar and butter.
"We also got a mystery man phone up and say whatever the shortfall was he would provide it, because he owned a bakery."
The cakes are still edible because they have been soaked in whisky, which preserves them.
"I've eaten one after five years and it was fine," Mrs Nolan said.
The models are on display at All Saints Church in the village.
They will be auctioned on 15 December, and the money raised will go towards restoring the church roof.
Barbara Scrivener, from the church, said: "It is all very Christmassy and looks absolutely amazing with lights twinkling from the buildings and Christmas trees scattered around everywhere."


Emirates Team New Zealand beat Sweden's Artemis Racing by only half-a-second to go 4-2 up in the best-of-nine America's Cup challenger play-off final.

Trailing 2-1 from Saturday, the Swedish team took Sunday's first race in Bermuda by 15 seconds to level matters.
New Zealand came from behind to win the next two, the most dramatic of which came via a sprint finish in the last.
Artemis protested over the course steered by New Zealand but the umpire ruled there had been no fault.
The final will conclude on Monday.
Emirates Team New Zealand have six Olympians in their squad, while Artemis have a total of eight, including Britain's Iain Percy, who won two golds and a silver across three Olympics from 2000 to 2012.
Holders Oracle Team USA await the winners of the challenger final in the America's Cup.
The first to seven points wins the America's Cup, or the Auld Mug as the trophy is known, with a possible 13 races to be sailed on 17-18 and 24-27 June.
The America's Cup, the oldest competition in international sport, was first raced in 1851 around the Isle of Wight and has been won by only four nations.


French prosecutors have charged one of the "terrorist commandos of young women" arrested over a foiled attack near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Ornella G, 29, was charged with alleged involvement in a terrorist act and attempted murder.
Three other women are still being questioned by police, after a car packed with gas cylinders was found last Sunday close to the cathedral.
They are alleged to have been planning other "imminent and violent" attacks.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said on Friday that Ornella G's fingerprints were found inside the car. She was known to intelligence agents as someone who was considering going to Syria.
She was arrested in southern France on Tuesday with her boyfriend, who has since been released.
The three other women being questioned by police were arrested on Thursday with a man. Police say they were directed by so-called Islamic State.
One of them, identified as Sarah H, aged 23, had been engaged separately to two French jihadists, both now dead, who carried out attacks this year.
Another, identified as Ines Madani, aged 19, reportedly declared her allegiance to IS in a letter. Mr Molins said she had tried several times to travel to Syria.
The third woman was identified as Amel S, 39. Her 15-year-old daughter, who had been radicalised, was also taken into custody, the prosecutor said.
The women and their associates had already been under surveillance but the discovery of the gas-filled car near Notre Dame had pitted the security forces in "a race against time" to arrest them, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
Mr Molins said the investigation of the aborted attack had led to the dismantling of a ``terrorist commando of young women'' aligned with the Islamic State group.


Shares in Hornby have soared by more than a third after the toymaker said Richard Ames would step down as chief executive.

His departure comes after shares in the company, whose brands include Scalextric, Airfix and Corgi, crashed last week after a "disappointing" start to the year.
Chairman Roger Canham will now lead the group for the "foreseeable future".
Hornby shares were up 9p, or 36.73%, to 33.5p by close of trading in London.
However, the company is still worth just £18m.
Mr Ames took over in 2014 and during his first 12 months in charge led the company to its first profit in three years.
However, results worsened during 2015 amid a costly IT upgrade, management changes and international supply problems for its model railways.
The Kent-based company last week issued its second profit warning in the space of six months, forecasting pre-tax losses of between £5.5m and £6m this year.
It also revealed a £1m write-off and said it was in talks with its lender, as the scale of losses could result in the firm breaching its banking agreements.
Hornby enjoyed buoyant trading in the run-up to Christmas, with a 17% rise in like-for-like sales during November and December. Yet conditions since the start of this have been in "stark contrast", the company added.
Although UK trading is expected to improve in February and March, sales would still be "significantly" behind previous expectations.


Children need to be protected from pervasive junk food adverts in apps, social media and video blogs, the World Health Organization says.

Its report warns parents are often unaware of the sheer volume of such adverts as they are precisely targeting children.
The WHO also criticised governments for failing to keep up with a revolution in the way people consume media.
Children's doctors said strict measures were needed to stop childhood obesity.
The report attacked the way some video bloggers - vloggers - get paid by junk food retailers to promote their food.
It quotes a US analysis that suggests vloggers are now more influential at promoting brands than film or TV because of perceived authenticity.
It also raised concern about the way fast food chains encourage kids through their doors by making restaurants important locations in augmented reality games like Pokemon Go.
And said data on children - their age, location, likes and preferences - were being collected to target them with junk food adverts.
Dr Joao Breda, the WHO programme manager for nutrition, physical activity and obesity, told the BBC News website: "It is going digital very strongly and we know that existing models of regulation have holes and gaps that don't cover the needs of our children.
"We think it's huge, but parents don't know - sometimes they don't realise their children are being exposed.
"You could argue that is it more dangerous [than traditional media like TV]."
Some countries such as the UK have introduced rules to protect children from junk-food advertising such as bans during children's television, however, the report said regulation had "failed to keep up with the pace and scope of change in the media".
On Thursday, figures in England showed nearly one-in-five children were obese when they left primary school.
"With the obesogenic environment they are living in today, it really isn't a surprise," said Prof Russell Viner, from the UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
He added: "It is reprehensible that children are targeted online, through billboard advertising and on television as they watch their favourite shows."
Prof Viner said there needed to be "strict measures put in place to protect" children and that governments needed to act urgently to prevent "marketers cynically targeting children online, on our streets and on television".
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: "Our evidence review shows that all forms of advertising and marketing - including the use of characters, advergames and digital marketing - affect the balance of children's diets."
The organisation is currently reviewing what foods and drinks can be advertised to children.
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Police investigating a sex attack on a 16-year-old girl in a Glasgow city centre car park have appealed for help to trace two possible witnesses.

The teenager was with a 17-year-old male when she was assaulted on the 12th floor stairwell of the car park in Oswald Street at about 11:00 on 29 July.
Police said a dark-haired woman carrying books entered the landing just before the attack and a man in a dark suit passed by shortly after.
Officers want to speak to both people.
Det Insp Craig Willison, of Police Scotland, said: "We are keen to trace these two witnesses, who potentially could provide us with information which may help with our inquiry.
"I'd like to reassure the public that we are following a positive line of inquiry in this case, and I would like to reiterate that Police Scotland takes any report of any sexual assault very seriously."


League One side Rochdale have renamed their Spotland ground to the Crown Oil Arena after agreeing a six-figure five-year sponsorship deal.

It is the first time that the ground has been renamed for a sponsor.
Dale, who bought the stadium outright earlier this year, groundshare with rugby league side Rochdale Hornets.
"Today is a landmark day for Rochdale and one which at times over the past 10 years I could only ever dream would happen," said chairman Chris Dunphy.
"The board of directors and I were unanimous in our decision, which we believe will bolster our future sustainability and are extremely proud to announce them as our major commercial partner."


China's manufacturing activity slowed less quickly in July, than in the previous month, a preliminary survey by HSBC has showed.

The HSBC Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) rose to 49.5 in July, a five-month high and up from 48.2 in June.
The data comes amid fears of a sharp slowdown in China's economy.
China's economy, the world's second-largest, expanded at an annual rate of 7.6% in the second quarter, the slowest pace of growth in three years.
Some analysts said the data indicated that recent measures implemented by the government to boost growth, including lowering interest rates, had started to take effect and that the economy was likely to rebound in the coming months.
"This suggests the effect of policy easing is being transmitted to the economy and reinforces our view that growth has bottomed in second quarter at 7.6% and will rebound in the third quarter to 8.1%," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Nomura.
The PMI is a key indicator of activity in the manufacturing sector. A reading above 50 shows expansion, while one below that, indicates contraction.
The HSBC PMI reading has remained below the threshold 50 mark for the past nine months.
China's manufacturing sector has been hurt by falling demand from key markets such as the US and eurozone.
And as those regions continue to grapple with economic issues and slower growth, there have been concerns that China's manufacturing may slow further.
Analysts said that even though the latest data indicated that the pace of contraction had slowed, the sector had yet to fully recover.
"China's manufacturing slowdown momentum has yet to be fully reversed," Qu Hongbin, Co-head of Asian Economics Research at HSBC said in a statement.
"The current PMI reading remains below break-even level."
As demand from its key overseas markets has declined and the pace of its economic growth slowed, China's policymakers have taken steps to ease monetary policy in a bid to boost domestic demand and sustain growth.
China's central bank has cut its key interest rates twice in the past two months.
It has also lowered the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve, thrice in the past few months, in a bid to boost lending in the country.
However, analysts said that Beijing needed to introduce fresh measures to spur growth.
"This calls for more easing efforts to support growth and jobs," said HSBC's Qu Hongbin.
"We believe the fast falling inflation allows Beijing to do so and a more meaningful improvement of growth is expected in the coming months when these measures fully filter through."


One year after it was sold by retail billionaire Sir Philip Green for £1 to a consortium of investors, BHS has gone into administration.

A big concern for employees - past and present - is the state of the pension fund.
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is expected to rescue the BHS scheme, which has around 20,000 members.
The PPF is a statutory lifeboat fund set up to ensure pensions are paid when a company goes bust.
But there are questions over why BHS had such a large hole in its pension pot in the first place.
Sir Philip bought BHS in 2000 for £200m. As a company it was not performing well but its two defined benefit pension schemes were in surplus.
Today they have a combined deficit - that's the difference between what they need to pay out over the coming years and how much they have - of £571m. That's what is called the "buy-out cost", a conservative estimate made by insurance companies looking to plug the hole.
Some have accused Sir Philip of taking too much money out of BHS - money that could have been invested in the company to modernise it and boost the pension fund.
Sir Philip says he sold the business in a good state with a chance at a sustainable future. He suggests that it is mismanagement by the new owners that have led to its current problems.
Sir Philip's takeover of BHS saw a dramatic boost in its performance: pre-tax profits increased from £18.5m to £94.8m in a single year.
At this point the pension scheme had a surplus of £17.4m.
Profits remained around £100m a year until 2004. Over the same period, BHS paid out £414m in dividends to shareholders.
Most of this money went to Sir Philip Green and his immediate family, the owners of BHS.
In 2005 his wife, Lady Christina Green, became the ultimate controlling party.
BHS has not paid a dividend since then.
But the pension scheme was struggling. In 2004 the shortfall had hit £80.8m.
It started to improve until 2008 when it returned to a surplus of £3.4m.
That was when the financial crisis hit. Any pension fund relies on its income from investing in the financial markets and as those investment returns lessened the surplus disappeared and the fund has been in deficit ever since.
Worse was to come. BHS was struggling to compete with online rivals and cheaper High Street competitors.
Chris Martin has been chairman of the BHS pension fund's board of trustees since January 2014. He said: "It was apparent that trading was poor and getting worse and as the trading gets worse you get a more conservative funding target."
In other words the trustees began to worry about how much BHS would be able to put aside for pensions.
Things were so bad that they wrote to members last December to tell them the deficit had hit £225.6m. Since then it has risen again, although it may not be quite as bad as the "buy-out cost" of £571m which is calculated using a different accounting method.
BHS has been part of a wider group of retailers - Arcadia - since 2009, and there are questions over whether money that could have helped BHS - and its pension fund - was drained out of the company into the group.
Sir Philip bought Arcadia in 2002 including other High Street shops like Topman, Topshop, Burton Menswear and Dorothy Perkins.
His retail empire certainly invested in BHS every year since the 2000 takeover until at least 2014.
But since 2000, BHS paid £141m of rent to companies owned by Sir Philip and his family.
It has also paid out £252m of management charges over five years to 2014.
Taken together the dividends, management charges and rent paid between 2000 and 2014 come to £807m, according to calculations by Nick Hood, a former chairman of insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor and now business risk adviser at Opus Restructuring.
In defence, Sir Philip has said rent and management charges would have to be paid regardless. In fact, he has claimed that far from taking money out of BHS, the sale of the company last year amounted to a £430m loss to Arcadia.
Arcadia also agreed to write off a £200m charge over BHS assets, and left £65m of cash in the business along with £100m freehold and long leasehold for the new owners Retail Acquisitions.
And it is thought Sir Philip has offered to pay £40m of cash and write off a further £40m as a dowry.
Even so regulators may want a bigger contribution from the billionaire.


A primary school teacher who sent Instagram messages filled with "sexual innuendo" to an 11-year-old pupil has been banned from teaching indefinitely.

Kay Elizabeth Hollingsworth, 31, told the boy she was "single and ready to mingle" and "about to have a shower".
She was dismissed from the school in Braintree, Essex, last May, for gross misconduct.
A teaching misconduct panel found her behaviour was "inappropriate and serious" but said she showed remorse.
Other messages sent to the 11-year-old included: "U probs distracted thinking about how fabulous I am" and "Going to bed now dimples xx".
She admitted asking his parents - who had found out about the messages - not to tell the school.
As well as the Instagram conversations with the boy, she had also exchanged Snapchat messages with a former pupil.
Alan Meyrick, deputy director of the National College of Teaching and Leadership, said Ms Hollingsworth recognised "she had acted in violation of her position" by asking the 11-year-old's parents not to say anything.
In a statement, she said: "I am shocked and horrified by what I wrote, putting the pupil in an inappropriate position, the school's reputation in jeopardy and my own career, [to] which I have dedicated nine successful years, in ruin."
Mr Meyrick said her conduct was "a serious departure from the personal and professional conduct elements of Teachers Standards".
Ms Hollingsworth can seek to have the ban lifted after two years, and is able to appeal against it at the High Court.


Data manager Simon Wood has been crowned champion of this year's MasterChef.

The 38-year-old father-of-four, from Oldham, fought off competition from fellow finalists Emma Spitzer and Tony Rodd to lift the BBC One show trophy.
All three had to cook three-course meals for judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace to end the competition.
Mr Wood, who has dreamed of being a chef since he was eight, said the experience was "life changing".
He told 5 Live's Breakfast on Saturday that he gets the inspiration to invent dishes when he is out running.
He said it was surprising what you were able to come up with "just to keep your mind busy".
Greg Wallace, in his discussions with Torode as they decided the winner in Friday's programme, said Mr Wood had got "better and better" during the competition and he had "no doubt" he would have a professional career in food.
Speaking after he was announced the winner, Mr Wood said: "It's everything I wanted it to be, and more besides."
The winning menu consisted of: a starter of octopus, served with chorizo crisps, cannellini bean and chorizo salad, brunoise tomatoes and a sherry and smoked paprika vinaigrette; a main course of squab pigeon served two ways with three types of carrots, pommes parisienne, girolle and trumpet mushrooms, carrot puree, watercress puree and a cassis jus; and ending with a lemon posset dessert.
Wallace added: "He came in here with enormous ambition, he wanted to cook like a chef, and right now he is."


Several popular webmail providers are investigating a report that millions of their users' login details are being shared online by a hacker.

Google Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Hotmail and Mail.ru are among the services said to have been affected.
The security firm that flagged the issue said that it believed many of the usernames and passwords involved had not been leaked before.
However, it is not clear whether users' accounts have actually been breached.
Hold Security said it had obtained a total of 272 million unique pairs of email addresses and unencrypted passwords from the hacker, 42.5 million of which the company had not seen in earlier leaks.
It said the cybercriminal had initially asked for 50 roubles (75 cents; 52 pence) in exchange for the list, but eventually gave a copy away without charge after Hold's staff posted favourable comments about him in a forum.
Even if many of the credentials are out of date or inaccurate they could still be abused, the company warned.
"There are hacker sites that advertise 'brute forcing' popular services and store fronts by taking a large amount of credentials and running them one-by-one against the site," Alex Holden, the firm's chief information security officer, told the BBC.
"What makes this discovery more significant is the hacker's willingness to share these credentials virtually for free, increasing the number of... malicious people who might have this information."
According to Hold's analysis:
However, Mail.ru - Russia's most used webmail service - said its initial investigation suggested the problem might not be as bad as the figures indicated.
"A large number of usernames are repeated with different passwords," a spokeswoman said.
"We are now checking whether any combinations of username/password match [active accounts] - and as soon as we have enough information we will warn the users who might have been affected.
"The first check of a sample of data showed that it does not consist of any real live combinations of usernames and passwords."
Microsoft said it had measures in place to identify compromised accounts.
"[We would require] additional information to verify the account owner and help them regain sole access," said a spokesman.
Google said: "We are still investigating, so we don't have a comment at this time."
And Yahoo added: "We've seen the reports and our team is reaching out to Hold Security to obtain the list of accounts now. We'll update going forward."
Hold Security has a track record for bringing significant cyber-breaches to light, including past hacks of Adobe and the US retailer Target.
Independent security consultant Alan Woodward said people should remain alert to the dangers of phishing emails.
Even if the vast majority of the passwords did not work, he explained, cybercriminals could still use the list of email addresses to bulk-send scams.
"Assuming the email addresses are valid, they still give criminals the ability to mount certain types of attack," he said.
However he added there was "no need to panic" or for people to change their passwords at this point.


Fisheries Ministers at the European Union have decided to ban fishermen from throwing unwanted dead fish back into the sea.

27 February 2013 Last updated at 17:20 GMT
The UN says Europe has the world's worst record of throwing away fish.
Almost a quarter of all catches go back overboard dead because they are not the fish the crews wanted to catch.
Readthe full Newsround story


Mae lein-yp Maes B yn Eisteddfod Gendlaethol Ynys Môn eleni wedi ei chyhoeddi.

Mae'r trefnwyr yn hyderus y bydd y gigs yr un mor llwyddiannus a rhai 'steddfodau'r gorffennol. 'Dych chi'n cofio rhai o'r rhain?