Analysis of the oldest reported trace of human faeces has added weight to the view that Neanderthals ate vegetables.

Found at a dig in Spain, the ancient excrement showed chemical traces of both meat and plant digestion.
An earlier view of these early humans as purely meat-eating has already been partially discredited by plant remains found in their caves and teeth.
The new paper, in the journal PLOS One, claims to offer the best support to date for an omnivorous diet.
Poo is "the perfect evidence," said Ms Ainara Sistiaga, a PhD student at the University of La Laguna on the Canary Islands, and the study's first author, "because you're sure it was consumed".
Ms Sistiaga and her colleagues collected a number of samples from the remnants of a 50,000-year-old campfire in the El Salt dig site, a known Neanderthal habitation near Alicante on Spain's Mediterranean coast.
A year later, the samples were analysed in a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Ms Sistiaga is a visiting researcher.
The team used a technique called gas chromatography to separate the chemicals bound up in the ancient samples. This was combined with mass spectrometry to figure out which molecules were present and in what quantities.
Importantly, the relative concentration of an ester called coprostanol - used to detect human sewage - suggested that several samples were in fact traces of fossilised faeces.
The faecal matter came from the very top layer of the fire remains. Ms Sistiaga explained this probably means it was left behind after the fire was extinguished, perhaps on the periphery of another nearby campfire.
"The fire was not active at the moment of the deposit - it makes sense," she said with a chuckle.
In thin sections of soil from exactly the same area, the team also identified small "coprolites" - whole pieces of fossilised poo - which showed characteristics of human faeces, including their physical structure and a high phosphate content which makes them glow under blue light.
Dated at about 50,000 years old, based on the layer in which it was found, this is the oldest human excrement ever identified. Ms Sistiaga said her samples easily pre-date other fossilised faeces, belonging to modern humans (Homo sapiens) and found in Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek latrines.
The key finding, however, came from the chemical make-up of the miniscule traces of faeces in the campfire ashes. All these samples were dominated by products of meat digestion, but one in particular showed significant amounts of plant-derived esters as well.
So although the Neanderthal's predominant food source was meat, Ms Sistiaga explained that the chemistry of her sample suggested a "significant intake of plants".
"If you find it in the faeces, you are sure that it was ingested," she told BBC News. "This molecular fossil is perfect to try to know the proportion of both food sources in a Neanderthal meal."
Based on the history of the area, the vegetable matter that supplemented these ancient humans' mostly meaty diet could have been a mixture of berries, nuts and root vegetables.
Dr Stephen Buckley is an archaeologist at the University of York, who has previously reported evidence of plant matter in the dental tartar of Neanderthals - some of it cooked, and some of it possibly medicinal.
He described the new research as "something new and different" and a "hugely welcome addition" to the question of Neanderthal diet, which remains controversial among scientists.
"The start point, the teeth, and the end point, the faeces, show the same thing," Dr Buckley told the BBC. "The evidence is clear at both ends, if you like."
"It will be much harder, now, for people to dig their heels in and try to argue that Neanderthals just ate meat and not plants to any degree."
He added that their diet probably varied depending on where they lived.
"If you're in central Germany, it might make sense to eat more meat - the climate is cold, and you need more calories. But if you're in Spain, where there was a milder climate, then there might be more of a reason to consume plants."
Diet has been suggested as one of the reasons for the Neanderthals' extinction, some 30-40,000 years ago. As meat-eaters, the explanation goes, they were out-competed by the more adaptable Homo sapiens.
"Increasingly, it's obvious that the picture needs to be revised," Dr Buckley said.
Ms Sistiaga agrees: "We believe Neanderthals probably ate what was available in different situations, seasons, and climates," she said.


A governor at a Birmingham school alleged to be the target of an "Islamic takeover plot" has described the claims as a "witch hunt".

David Hughes, a governor at Park View School, defended it against what he said were "unfounded attacks".
The Department for Education (DfE) is investigating 12 schools over the alleged plot.
Ten MPs have asked for the council and DfE to jointly review any lessons to be learned following the investigation.
In a letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove the Birmingham MPs said it was "essential" such a review was undertaken, led by an advisor appointed by the two organisations.
A so-called "Operation Trojan Horse" letter claimed responsibility for leadership changes at four Birmingham schools, but its authenticity has not been established.
Mr Hughes, who describes himself as a "white, practising Anglican Christian", has been a governor at the Alum Rock school for more than 15 years.
"In all my time as a governor we have not received a single complaint about 'extremism' or 'radicalism'.
"If we had we would have investigated it openly and thoroughly," he said.
Ofsted has confirmed it is carrying out a number of snap inspections at Birmingham schools, including Park View, at the request of the DfE.
Mr Hughes said he suspected the school would receive a negative Ofsted report, despite previously being rated as "outstanding".
"The revisit of the inspection team gave every indication of having no wish other than to condemn the school - even the outstanding features," he said.
"Are there areas to improve at the school? Yes of course, as there are at most schools."
An Ofsted spokeswoman declined to comment on the remarks.
Last week Michael White, a former teacher at Park View School, said he was dismissed in 2003 after raising concerns about extremism among governors.
But Mr Hughes dismissed the claims, saying "at no time" during a disciplinary panel had Mr White raised concerns.
He said some former staff members were "smearing" the school and "sharing fictitious allegations".
The allegations were "socially divisive and dangerous for a settled, stable, multi-cultural Birmingham," he said.
Birmingham City Council has said it is continuing to investigate the allegations and cannot comment further.


Croatia boss Ante Cacic has called the supporters who threw flares on to the pitch in their Euro 2016 draw with the Czech Republic "sports terrorists".

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The match, which ended 2-2, was halted in the 86th minute when flares from the Croatia end rained down on the Saint-Etienne pitch.
Uefa has confirmed it will investigate the incident.
"They are not really Croatia supporters. These people are scary and I call them hooligans," said Cacic.
Croatia have already been charged by Uefa after crowd trouble in their opening Group D game against Turkey.
Uefa said disciplinary proceedings would be opened on Saturday once they had received the official reports about the trouble from the match delegate and English referee Mark Clattenburg.
Cacic also hopes the Croatian FA will take action, adding: "The 95% of Croatian supporters are ashamed in front of Europe.
"These are sports terrorists. This is maybe just a question about six to 10 individuals. I hope they can be identified and punished. I hope the Croatia FA is doing everything to prevent this, but it is impossible to avoid."
Uefa is also expected to open disciplinary proceedings against the Turkish FA after some of the country's fans set off flares at the end of their 3-0 defeat by Spain in Nice.
Before that game, three Spanish "ultras" fans were arrested for trying to bring flares into the stadium, while another three were arrested for carrying neo-Nazi banners.
Croatia were winning 2-1 when trouble broke out, with a number of flares thrown onto the corner of the pitch, while some Croatia fans began fighting among themselves.
Journalist Andy Mitten, who was at the game, told BBC Radio 5 live: "I was in a section full of Croatia fans. The team was playing really well, everything was good, the people around me were happy but then I noticed a big line of police and soldiers building up in front of the Croatia end.
"It became clear they knew something was going to happen and it did happen. I saw fighting. It was horrible to watch."
The Croatian players appealed to their fans to calm down, and after several minutes, play was finally able to resume.
However, with Cacic's side seemingly affected by the events, the Czech Republic equalised in the 93rd minute through Tomas Necid's penalty after a handball.
"We have to say sorry to Uefa, sorry to the Czech Republic and to everyone around the world who loves football," said Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic.
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"Most supporters support this team and are real supporters. But 10 individuals can make all these problems. It is clear that the Croatian FA and [Croatian FA president] Davor Suker are fighting against this.
"I hope Uefa can understand this."
Croatia were sanctioned by Fifa last month because of "discriminatory chants by fans" during friendlies with Israel and Hungary in March, meaning they will play their next two 2018 World Cup qualifiers behind closed doors.
Former Croatia boss Slaven Bilic condemned the scenes, but warned there will be more crowd trouble.
The West Ham manager suggested some fans had only travelled to the tournament from Croatia to cause trouble.
"It's unbelievable what those people are doing," Bilic told ITV. "Some of them are there on a mission. It's probably not the last time they'll do it," he said.
"Back home it's not the greatest league, but it's competitive. When there's a big derby between Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split people are not taking their kids because they know it'll be dangerous."


A proposal to promote Suffolk as 'The Curious County' is being criticised by politicians.

The slogan is being considered by Visit Suffolk for a tourism campaign in 2013.
Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, said: "It could mean interesting and unusual, but it also means odd and it doesn't stand out as the right branding."
The advertising agency behind it said it was meant to describe the range of attractions on offer and generate conversation and reaction.
Mr Aldous said: "To my mind it doesn't seem the most obvious way of marketing the county and getting people to come here."
Guy McGregor, a Suffolk Country Councillor, said: "Are the coast, Constable Country or the Waveney Valley curious?
"It's certainly an attractive place to visit, but will the slogan make it a more attractive place to visit?
"There's got to be a grain of truth, but I'm not sure the idea of Suffolk as a curious county will resonate with people."
James Kindred, from the agency Condiment, said: "We wanted to get people's interest piqued a little bit from outside Suffolk in a way that would generate conversation and a reaction, which is one of the most important things in marketing."
Chris Waters, from Condiment, said: "It's very difficult to describe a quintessential Suffolk scene - is it the coast, the countryside or the coastal towns which, even when they're next to each other such as Lowestoft and Southwold, are very different?
"Ultimately, we think we've created something that's good and we stand by our idea."
Amanda Bond, brand manager for Visit Suffolk, said: "The crux of the concept is simple and unlike anything that's been done before, which is why there's naturally trepidation.
"We want holidaymakers to visit our curious assets for themselves."


One of Tesco's biggest shareholders has warned the supermarket's £3.7bn bid for wholesaler Booker is too generous.

Schroders fund manager Nick Kirrage told the BBC's Today programme that Tesco was paying a "premium" and he had "major concerns" about the deal.
Tesco chief Dave Lewis has confirmed that the company is "completely committed" to the Booker deal.
It brings together the UK's largest supermarket and the biggest cash-and carry business.
Schroders, which owns a 4.5% stake in Tesco, has warned that Booker is an expensive option.
"Booker is a business that has been doing extremely well, its profits have been growing very quickly and profit margins have been expanding rapidly," Mr Kirrage said.
"Tesco have had to pay a premium and have made an assumption that profits are going to continue to grow in the future.
"History suggests that the vast bulk of acquisitions destroy value for the acquiring shareholders in instances where you buy a high multiple.
"Even fewer deals create value and so we objectively think, looking back at history, that this is a deal that is going to struggle to create value. We have major concerns about it," he said.
Since becoming chief executive in 2014, Mr Lewis has worked on turning around the crisis-hit supermarket which reported a £6.4bn loss in 2015 - the worst in its history.
It comes as Tesco agrees to pay a fine of £129m to avoid prosecution for overstating its profits in 2014.
The supermarket said in a statement that it believed the deal would improve its recovery plans.
"We have been working on the transaction for over 12 months and believe the strategic and financial rationale is compelling," a spokesperson said.
The deal would drive growth for the two firms and help Tesco to source, distribute and sell food in the UK market, they said.
"Since announcing the transaction the majority of our top 10 shareholders have chosen to increase their shareholding in Tesco and we hope to convince all our shareholders of the merits of the transaction."
Another major Tesco shareholder, Artisan Partners, which also owns a 4.5% stake, has questioned the deal as well, according to reports.
Tesco surprised investors in January when it announced the £3.7bn takeover of Booker. As well as its wholesale business, Booker also owns the Premier, Budgens and Londis convenience-store brands.
The acquisition has already cost Tesco its senior independent director, Richard Cousins, who left because he disagreed with the takeover.
Mr Kirrage added: "We've had a constructive period of engagement with Tesco in private, but we've now come to a point where we are unable to go any further.
"Tesco have made it clear in private to us that they are compelled to do the deal and that they feel committed to it and therefore we feel that it's in the best interests of our clients to move into the public arena and try to raise some awareness and see if there are other shareholders who have concerns like ourselves."
Artisan Partners was unavailable for comment.


Three people have been injured in a collision involving two vehicles on the A40 at Crickhowell.

A Mid and West Wales Fire Service spokesman said they were called to the crash at the Manor Hotel at 14:45 GMT.
A man was airlifted to hospital and there were two other casualties, he said.
Crews from Crickhowell and Abergavenny are there. Traffic Wales says the A40 between Crickhowell and Bwlch is closed in both directions.


Samsung has shown off the Gear 2, its second attempt at releasing a smartwatch that has mass appeal with consumers.

The company demonstrated the device along side another new model, the lighter Gear 2 Neo.
Both have a heart rate sensor, a pedometer and various tools to measure exercise, sleep and stress levels.
The watches run on Tizen OS, a fledgling mobile operating system, rather than Google's Android software.
The move is being seen as part of a wider strategy from Samsung to move away from Google's platform and to lessen its reliance on the search giant's product.
Crucial to Tizen's longer-term success will be whether it can attract the same breadth and quality of apps compared to Apple's App Store and Google Play.
Currently there are offerings from the likes of CNN, Ebay, Evernote and Paypal available on Tizen, as well as some slightly clunky but nonetheless functional workarounds that allow Android apps to run on the platform.
At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress on Monday night, Samsung is expected to launch the latest iteration of its flagship smartphone range, presumably to be called the Galaxy S5.
The current model, the S4, has proved to be a hugely popular product for the South Korean firm, and is widely considered the only real rival to Apple's iPhone.
The Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches are companion devices to the Galaxy smartphones, although last year's model was poorly received by both critics and consumers.
Samsung will hope a number of enhancements will turn things around.
Firstly, the battery life of the new devices is considerably better. Samsung promises two to three days of power - much more than the charge-every-night issue suffered by the company's first effort.
The Gear 2's camera is now situated on the main body of the device, taking it away from the strap and removing some of the rigid bulk of the Galaxy Gear.
The Gear 2 Neo does not have a camera, but is 13g lighter as a result.
Samsung has heralded both devices as offering "freedom and style" - but despite bringing in extra design expertise, the watch still looks very much a technology product, rather than a fashion accessory.


Jeremy Corbyn says he will not take the blame if the UK votes to leave EU.

The Labour leader said he was hoping for a vote to Remain, but said this was "not unconditional by any means".
On a Sky News Q&A he said the EU was needed to tackle climate change and solve the refugee crisis - but called for it to change "dramatically" and become more "democratic".
He also said EU state aid rules would not prevent a Labour government from nationalising Britain's railways.
Plans put forward by Brussels would open up domestic networks to cross-border competition by December 2019, with mandatory tendering of contracts.
Unions say this would scupper Mr Corbyn's commitment to bring the railways back into public ownership - but he said Labour would fulfil its pledge if elected - "and if that means an argument, then we'll have that argument".
Vote Leave said the EU would "have the final say" on whether Mr Corbyn could get his way.
The UK votes on Thursday on whether to remain in the European Union or to leave.
There has been a renewed push in recent weeks by the Remain side to appeal to Labour voters, amid fears the party's core supporters are drifting towards Leave.
Mr Corbyn, who has previously expressed Eurosceptic views, said he was "not a lover" of the EU which he said needed to change to "share our wealth and improve our living standards and our working conditions all across the whole continent".
Asked if he would shoulder some of the blame if Britain votes to leave, he replied: "I'm not going to take the blame for people's decisions.
"There will be a decision made on Thursday.
"I'm hoping there is going to be a Remain vote, there may well be a Remain vote, there may well be a Leave vote."
Told he did not sound "too keen" on the EU, he replied: "Whatever the result, we have got to work with it."
Mr Corbyn told the audience of young voters the referendum was "a big decision".
"If we stay in Europe there are implications; if we leave Europe there are massive implications."
He criticised the proposed EU-US trade deal, saying it would "import the worst working conditions and standards from the US into Europe", and said Europe "shields tax havens".
However, he said that issues like climate change and the refugee crisis could only be tackled "across national borders".
He added: "I want to remain in Europe in order to work with others to change it."
Mr Corbyn also said he wanted to join other nations in challenging rules preventing state aid to the steel industry, saying national governments should be "assertive".
Vote Leave said leaving the EU was the way to help the UK's steel industry, adding that Brussels "works for elites but not for working families".


A DJ has pleaded guilty to illegally sharing songs from the Top 40 chart as it was announced for more than a year.

Wayne Evans, from Everton in Liverpool, ran a distribution operation that cost the music industry more than Â£1m and saw 700,000 tracks illegally downloaded, City of London Police said.
The 39-year-old admitted uploading music from the Official Charts Company between June 2014 and July 2015 at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.
He was jailed for 12 months
A police spokesman said Evans had shared the music as the chart was published every week through various torrent sites and also distributed other tracks through his own websites, including a cappella music to be used for DJing and remixing.
He said about 700,000 tracks were downloaded from the sites between June 2014 and July 2015, which had deprived the creators of Â£1,054,000.
Evans was arrested last September following a joint investigation between PRS for Music - which represents the rights of UK songwriters, composers and music publishers in the UK - and the City of London Police.
The police spokesman said his conviction was the first custodial sentence to arise from the two organisations working together.
Speaking after the case, PRS for Music's Head of Litigation, Enforcement and Anti-Piracy Simon Bourn said copyright infringement "has a severe impact on the livelihoods of creators", adding: "We hope that today's sentencing sends a message... that consequences will follow".


Holiday booking company Lowcost Travelgroup has gone into administration, as uncertainty ahead of the EU referendum and the fall in the pound were blamed for its demise.

The group has 27,000 holiday makers in resorts and 110,000 more with bookings.
Administrators said Lowcost Travelgroup ceased trading on 15 July, with the loss of 120 jobs in the UK.
Smith & Williamson and CMB Partners were appointed administrators after the firm's own rescue attempts failed.
Those "exhaustive" attempts had been "hampered by the recent and ongoing turbulent financial environment".
Customers' flight bookings will be valid in almost all cases, but hotels will need to be paid for, a company spokesperson said.
Smith & Williamson said intense competition had caused the collapse but also the increased terror threat and the uncertainty before and after the recent referendum.
"The group experienced significant market headwinds in the run up to the EU referendum as holidaymakers delayed decisions. This was compounded by the Leave vote itself and the subsequent fall in value of the pound," said Finbarr O'Connell of Smith & Williamson.
"Regrettably, in these extraordinary conditions, the directors had no option but to place Lowcost Travelgroup Limited into administration. "
The group operated a travel agency business from headquarters in the UK and offices in Spain, Switzerland and Poland.
The administrators said 60% of customers were British.
The mass holidays business and especially selling hotel beds all over the world is a tough one. The margins are negligible. Often - as appears to be the case with Lowcost Holidays - the cash earned for future holidays was used to pay for people that were already away.
So if there's a relatively sudden dip in confidence leading up to the Brexit referendum and then the pound plunges against the euro after the vote, that can be enough to tip the financial house of cards that some holiday companies have erected.
Tighter EU rules mean that airlines have responsibility for their customers and must get them home. Also many credit card providers include free travel insurance cover.
But the longed for trip away will not now be happening for thousands of Lowcost Holidays customers.
The group mainly sold hotel accommodation through its wholesale (Lowcostbeds) and retail (Lowcostholidays) businesses.
It also sold holidays to consumers in Europe and Scandinavia using technology that enabled customers to choose from a variety of flights and hotels for their chosen destination.
The failure will affect many customers who have purchased flights or holidays, some of whom are on holiday in resorts and some of whom have not travelled yet.
A statement said that all flights involving people currently in resorts have been paid for and hence customers will be able to fly home when their holidays are over.
It added that, "unfortunately, as regards customers who have not travelled as yet a small number will have problems as regards their flights not having been paid for and many will have problems as regards their hotel rooms not having been paid for".
A spokesperson for the UK regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said: "We understand the Spanish travel company Lowcost Holidays has ceased trading. The company was based in Mallorca and was registered with the Balearic Islands authorities.
"The company was therefore not part of the UK's Atol scheme and the Balearic Islands authorities are responsible for the holiday protection arrangements for the company's customers.
"We believe the company may have had a large number of British customers and many of these are likely to be overseas.
"Our understanding is these customers should have valid flight tickets to use to return home to the UK. We advise customers to check the status of their bookings with their airline and accommodation provider."
Lowcost Travelgroup employed 120 staff in Crawley, West Sussex who have been made redundant.
Most of the company's 451 staff were based in Poland.


A driver who killed a 60-year-old pedestrian in Middlesbrough has been spared jail.

Hamza Bashir, of Glenfield Drive, Middlesbrough, admitted causing Linda Warren's death by driving without due care and attention on 23 October 2014.
Teesside Crown Court sentenced him to 32 weeks in jail suspended for a year, 200 hours unpaid work and banned him from driving for two years.
The 20-year-old had initially denied the offence but changed his plea.
The court heard the grandmother of seven died in hospital after being hit by a Hyundai driven by Bashir.
The crash happened in Saltersgill Avenue, Middlesbrough.


The president of the German Football Association (DFB) has resigned over a Fifa payment that has resulted in a tax evasion investigation.

Wolfgang Niersbach said he was taking "political responsibility" for a 6.7m euro (£4.9m) payment to Fifa.
The sum was allegedly used to bribe officials of world football's governing body to vote for Germany's 2006 World Cup bid.
Niersbach said he always worked "cleanly, confidently and correctly".
On 3 November police in Frankfurt raided the headquarters of the German Football Association over allegations of tax evasion linked to the 2006 World Cup.
The DFB denied the claims last month.
"I was involved in the bid for the 2006 World Cup from day one until the final documentation of the summer fairy tale was submitted," Niersbach said.
"I would like to make it clear unmistakably once again that I had absolutely no knowledge of the background of the flow of payments that are being looked into."
The homes of Niersbach, his predecessor Theo Zwanziger, and former Secretary General Horst Schmid, were also searched.
In a statement, the prosecutor's office said it had opened a probe into claims of serious tax evasion linked to the awarding of the World Cup to Germany in 2006.


A chef accused of murdering four men by giving them fatal doses of GHB has told the Old Bailey that the drug gave him a "hyper high" during sex.

Stephen Port is said to have given his victims GHB so he could have sex with them while they were unconscious.
The chef, 41, who denies murder, said the substance "could knock you out" but users would wake up feeling aroused.
He also told the Old Bailey about the death of his first alleged victim, but denied having given him any drugs.
Mr Port said although Anthony Walgate was "high" during their encounter, he did not know what drugs he had taken and denied having given him anything that could have accounted for his death.
Giving evidence, he said he met the 23-year-old student online and offered him Â£800 to spend the night at his flat in Barking, east London, in June 2014.
While having sex, the student went to the bathroom and when he came back "he was high and very rampant", he told the jury.
After the student was sick, Mr Port suggested he stayed the night.
He told the court Mr Walgate was still sleeping when he went to work the next morning and after he returned later that day.
He said he went to bed that evening then woke up in the early hours to find the student "very rigid".
Mr Port said he "just panicked" and he took Mr Walgate outside and called an ambulance.
The court heard he was later convicted of perverting the course of justice.
When asked why he lied to police about what happened at the time, Mr Port said he had been in "shock".
Earlier, Mr Port described how he began using drugs in 2013 when he was introduced to mephedrone by a boyfriend.
The defendant said he later started taking GHB and eventually took the two drugs every weekend with partners.
The chef described how in one relationship it "became normal" to have sex with his partner "when he was out" because he took so much GHB.
He denies a total of 29 charges, including four murders, as well as offences of drugging, rape and sexual assault.
His three other alleged murder victims are Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, and Jack Taylor, 25, from Dagenham, east London.
The jury has heard that their bodies were found in a churchyard near Mr Port's home.
The trial continues on Friday, when the defendant will continue giving evidence.


An Australian government inquiry has blamed the country's worst offshore oil leak on the rig's Thai owner.

The report said PTTEP Australasia, a unit of Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production, had failed to observe "sensible" practice.
The Australian Resources Minister told parliament the Thai firm should have its operating licence reviewed.
More than 400 barrels of oil a day spewed into the pristine Timor Sea off Australia's north coast for 10 weeks.
The oil hit the coast of Indonesia and East Timor.
Oil began leaking from the West Atlas rig and Montara wellhead platform north of Australia last August.
It was plugged on a fifth attempt in November 2009, after a slick had spread an estimated 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq miles).
"The widespread and systematic shortcomings of PTTEP Australasia's procedures were a direct cause of the loss of well-control," Mr Ferguson said.
"Well-control practices approved by the regulator would have been sufficient to prevent the loss of well-control, however PTTEP Australasia did not adhere to these practices or its own well-construction standards," he said.
The company paid $390m (Â£245m) for the clean-up but the minister said he thought relevant laws needed to be strengthened to make absolutely clear that companies would be held responsible for any future leaks.
He also criticised the Australian government regulator which had pursued a "minimalist" approach in handling the emergency, saying the entire incident had been avoidable.
There was no immediate response from PTTEP.
The government ordered the inquiry while environmentalists have expressed concerns about the waters off Australia's north-west coast, which are home to whales and dolphins.


An image of a planned first Ikea store for Aberdeen has been released, as the Swedish furniture retailer begins recruiting staff.

Councillors paved the way for the order and collect store - at the Wellington Road industrial estate - last month.
Ikea hopes the store - which will also have a cafe - will be ready to open in Spring next year, subject to final approvals.
Recruitment of about 30 staff is now under way.


A public health bill which included a ban on e-cigarette use in some public places has been rejected by AMs after a row between Labour and Plaid Cymru.

Plaid voted against the bill in a last-minute move, meaning the assembly was tied 26-26 and the bill failed to pass.
It comes after Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews said a previous deal with the party was a "cheap date".
Health Minister Mark Drakeford said he was "deeply disappointed" the bill would not become law.
But Plaid AM Simon Thomas said Labour needed a "lesson".
The bill failed to pass after the presiding officer was required, because of the tie, to also vote against the law, bringing the vote to 27 AMs against, 26 for.
As well as the e-cigarette measure, it aimed to create a compulsory licensing system for tattooists, prohibit intimate piercing of children under 16 and require councils to produce a local toilets strategy.
Plaid originally planned a free vote and some of its AMs were expected to support the bill on Wednesday evening.
But a spokeswoman for the party said Mr Andrews' comments - made about a deal over a bill on local government with Plaid - were disrespectful.
She said Mr Andrews "chose to belittle cooperation and put his own government's legislation in jeopardy.
"This afternoon, Plaid Cymru proposed to the Welsh Government that the bill should be withdrawn before the vote and that the assembly should be reconvened immediately after Easter to vote on a bill with all sections on e-cigarettes removed.
"Plaid Cymru would have supported that legislation."
Mr Drakeford said there would be "widespread anger" at the opposition parties.
"It puts to waste five years of careful preparation and constructive work with a very wide range of stakeholders and supporters," he added.
Plaid joined the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in voting against the law because of the e-cigarette ban.
Elin Jones, one of the Plaid AMs who was expected to vote for the ban, tweeted: "I worked with Labour on a fair compromise on e-cigs, but my party is not their 'cheap date'."
Mr Thomas told BBC Wales: "Certain things were said today that made people feel that they weren't being taken seriously".
Labour "perhaps needed a lesson in how they should be working with all parties in the assembly to get the legislation through," he added.
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: "While that is utterly bizarre and somewhat farcical, I of course welcome their U-turn."
Darran Millar, Tory shadow health minister, said there was no evidence to support the e-cigarette plans.
The vote came despite AMs previously backing revised e-cigarette plans.


Less than seven hours after a midnight landing in India, Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted in a famous Hindu temple in Mumbai on Wednesday.

He was seen there with Anant Ambani, son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, whose Jio 4G service is expected to be a game-changer for mobile internet in India by the end of 2016.
Such high-speed networks would "unleash the power of the iPhone", Mr Cook had said after announcing Apple's results for the first quarter of 2016.
India was the sole bright spot in those results as Apple reported its first-ever revenue decline in 13 years. While global iPhone sales fell for the first time ever, a drop of 16% from the first quarter of 2015, they rose 56% in India in the same quarter.
Mr Cook's visit to India is a first for an Apple CEO. None of the California-based technology giant's seven CEOs ever visited India while in office, though Steve Jobs famously came here as a backpacking hippie looking for "answers" in the mid-1970s.
If a country's importance to a global firm is measured by CEO visits, Mr Cook's score is telling: China 8, India 1.
India accounts for just 1% of global iPhone sales and Apple's share of India's mobile handset sales is 1.5%. India's market is dominated by phones under 5,000 rupees ($75; £50), while Apple's recent models start at 39,000 rupees ($580; £390).
Of India's rapidly-growing smartphones market, Apple has 3.4% share, according to CyberMedia Research (CMR). It ranks seventh among smartphones brands in India, though it is number two worldwide after Samsung.
China, on the other hand, is the second-largest market in the world for Apple after the United States. Apple announced that it would invest $1bn in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing last week to "better understand the Chinese market", Mr Cook told Reuters. He came to Mumbai straight from Beijing.
The Chinese economy is struggling, though, and the decline in phone sales there contributed to Apple's revenue loss. iPhones account for nearly two-thirds of Apple's global revenue.
For Apple, the almost-untapped Indian market could help revive its fortunes.
Mr Cook is expected to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi of Apple's investments in India this week.
But the firm has already made two announcements. Apple's first development centre in India will be in Hyderabad, the capital of the southern state of Telangana, where over 150 Apple developers will work on Apple Maps.
The centre would later move to Apple's own campus in or near the city and expand to 2,500 employees, government sources told The Hindu newspaper.
On 18 May, Apple also announced a "design and development accelerator" in Bangalore, the southern city considered to be India's tech and start-up capital. The centre, to be set up in 2017, will provide support to iOS app developers in India.
With Mr Modi's focus on his "Make in India" programme, the discussion is almost certain to veer to manufacturing.
Will Apple make iPhones in India? Not on its own.
Apple doesn't make its iPhones: they're made by Taiwanese firm Foxconn in China.  Last August, Foxconn announced plans to invest $5bn in a plant for multiple brands in the western state of Maharashtra. Reports this year said Foxconn was likely to set up a $10bn plant in Maharashtra to make Apple devices.
While these plans have not been confirmed yet, the firm has taken up space in and near the state's capital, Mumbai, for making handsets for Chinese vendor Xiaomi and Indian operator Reliance Jio.
Local manufacturing, with incentives and lower duties, is likely to allow Apple to reduce its iPhone prices.
In a price-sensitive market, iPhones are expensive and fall in the "premium smartphone segment".
Most phones in this segment cost more than 30,000 rupees ($450; £300) and they accounted for just 3.4% of India's total mobile-phone sales, or 3.3 million handsets in 2015, according to CMR.
But in this premium segment, Apple has 44% share, nearly level with market-leader Samsung.
Even in 2016, when Indians are expected to buy five million premium smartphones, 96% of the smartphone market will remain below $450. Apple has no recent models, less than a year old, below this price point.
And manufacturing in India will not bridge the gap for Apple's $600 handsets.
Older iPhone models are cheaper, but their sale is low. The 5s is nearly three years old and Indian buyers, though price-conscious, have not shown much interest in buying old models.
Apple, therefore, has a problem. Its newer models are expensive and its cheaper models are too old to be interesting for Indian buyers.
One answer is refurbished phones, which Apple sells in other markets. It calls them "pre-owned and certified", explaining that these are current models, often returned by a customer. These models go back to the factory to be tested and certified. They emerge with a new identity (an IMEI number) and warranty.
Analysts say this could be a winner for Apple because Indian buyers will be more willing to buy such phones at a discount.
Selling refurbished current models will increase Apple's share of the 15,000 to 30,000-rupee segment, which accounted for 5.6% of the smartphone market in the first quarter of 2016, according to CMR analyst Faisal Kawoosa.
"With the brand equity of Apple, it can easily grab over 40% of this segment, almost doubling its sales," he says.
"This could take Apple to selling four million units in 2016 in India."
There is a problem, though.
The government may not allow Apple to sell refurbished phones in India, citing concerns about "dumping of old models" and "e-waste".
Industry insiders say this appears to be a result of intense lobbying by rival handset vendors with the government to disallow Apple from selling refurbished phones. Apple India sources say they have no official communication from the authorities on this. This is likely to be a subject of Mr Cook's discussion with officials in Delhi.
Another point of discussion would be the company's plans to open Apple-owned retail stores, thus far blocked by Indian regulations that require 30% of the goods in the store to be sourced locally.
Delhi has said it could waive the rule for companies with cutting-edge technology and Apple is hoping to deal with this obstacle during Mr Cook's visit.
Mr Cook began his India visit in Mumbai by praying to the Hindu elephant god, Ganesha, revered as the remover of obstacles.
And it seems Apple is going to need a lot of help from Ganesha.


A care worker has been jailed for "grooming" and having sex with a vulnerable woman in his care.

Anthony Pascoe, 56, of Gwithian Towans, Hayle, Cornwall, admitted sexual activity with the woman who has learning difficulties.
The judge at Truro Crown Court jailed Pascoe for four years and three months for the "appalling" offences.
Pascoe sent the woman "sexually explicit" text messages and had sex with her at the care facility.
Pascoe also had sex with the victim at her home, after which she became very upset and told her parents who informed the police.
Judge Simon Carr said Pascoe was fully aware of his victim's learning disabilities.
He said: "What is clear to me is that those difficulties were such that she was particularly vulnerable and susceptible to your approach."
The court heard the victim could not use a mobile phone or go shopping without assistance.
The judge said Pascoe's actions represented "a classic case of the grooming of the vulnerable" and had a "catastrophic" impact on the victim.
"You took away what little independence she had," he said.
Pascoe admitted two offences of possession of extreme pornography and three of sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder by a carer.
Following the hearing, the victim's father told the BBC it was "horrifying" to see his daughter abused in what he believed was a protected environment.
"We were trying to prepare her for an independent life and now she is terrified in case anything happens to us," he said.


The UK would consider making payments to the EU after it leaves the bloc to secure the best possible access to the EU single market, Brexit Secretary David Davis has said.

Mr Davis told MPs the "major criterion" was getting the best access for goods and services to the European market.
"And if that is included... then of course we would consider it."
But Brexit-backing Tory Peter Bone said "people would be absolutely outraged" if the UK continued to pay the EU.
Later, in a speech to CBI Wales in Cardiff, Mr Davis sought to reassure business leaders that immigration controls after Brexit will not be imposed "in a way that it is contrary to the national and economic interest".
On Thursday in the Commons, Labour MP Wayne David asked Mr Davis: "Will the government consider making any contribution in any shape or form for access to the single market?"
Mr Davis replied: "The major criterion here is that we get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market - and if that is included in what you are talking about, then of course we will consider it."
His comments prompted sterling to rise by 1% to $1.26 against the dollar.
But Mr Bone told the BBC: "People will be absolutely outraged if we came out of the EU and then carried on paying them Â£15bn a year, Â£20bn a year, whatever the figure is - no I don't think it's going to happen."
However, Chancellor Philip Hammond said Mr Davis was "absolutely right not to rule out the possibility that we might want to contribute in some way to some form of mechanism".
He said: "You can't go into any negotiation expecting to get every single objective that you set out with and concede nothing along the way - it will have to be a deal that works for both sides."
But prominent Leave campaigner and former Conservative cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said Mr Davis had been simply not ruling anything in or out of the government's Brexit negotiations.
"I don't think there's any way in which you can reach a deal where you can say 'I'll pay some money in and therefore you allow us access' because you might as well have tariff barriers," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
'Strange' negotiations
And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was sceptical about Mr Davis's suggestion. "The idea of paying for access? I'm not really sure what that means," he said.
"If Europe puts tariff barriers against products coming from Britain, the government's going to pay all the tariffs - that sounds a very strange way of entering the negotiations when you're trying to get market access both ways. It doesn't sound a very well thought-out policy."
In the early 1990s the European common market grew into the single market we know today.
At its heart is a free trade area, which is a market where there are no tariffs or taxes on trade between countries. While its members can trade freely with each other, they also impose common tariffs on imports from non-EU countries.
Being a member of the single market means a country gets the benefit of any trade deal struck between the EU and other countries - the flip side is that member states cannot set their own tariffs.
But the EU's single market is much more than a straightforward free trade area, because it also includes the free movement of goods, people and capital.
Crucial to the single market is a common framework of regulations that mean companies in countries such as the UK, France, Italy or Poland have to abide by common standards - whether they trade across the EU or not. That is to stop one business or country having an unfair advantage. Most countries in the single market also have a single currency - the euro - but the UK did not adopt it.
Reality Check: Who has access to the single market?
The prime minister's spokeswoman said the Brexit secretary had only been repeating government policy on leaving the EU.
"What he said in the House this morning is consistent with what we have said... that it will be for the UK government to make decisions on how taxpayers' money will be spent," she said.
"As we approach these negotiations we want to get the best possible access for British business to trade with, and operate within, the single market, while also taking back control of immigration."
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused the government of "sending mixed signals" and of being "in an absolute mess".
He added: "How can the government claim they have a mandate for their Brexit deal when they don't even know what it is themselves?"
Mr Davis confirmed that Article 50, which sparks the formal legal process for leaving the EU, would be triggered by 31 March, 2017 and said the government was seeking "a smooth and orderly exit" from the EU and was "examining all possible options, focusing on the mutual interests of the UK and the European Union".
The Brexit secretary also defended Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who according to Sky News had privately told four EU ambassadors he backed free movement.
Mr Davis said the comments were "at odds" with what he knew of Mr Johnson's views.
"He believes very clearly - and he made this very clear in the Leave campaign because he was a much more major part of it than I was - that some immigration is useful. We all agree on that," he said.
"That's not the same as thinking free movement of people as it now stands is a good idea. It's a problem."
In a speech to business leaders in Wales later he said that "no-one wants to see labour shortages in key sectors" and that Britain "must win the global battle for talent".
"As we take back control of immigration by ending free movement as it has operated before, let me also say this: We won't do so in a way that it is contrary to the national and economic interest," he said.
Speaking from Rome, Mr Johnson insisted he had told the ambassadors during a breakfast meeting "that immigration had been a good thing for the UK in many respects - but it had got out of control and that we needed to take back control. I think you will find the record reflects that".


The exam season has begun for tens of thousands of pupils and students across Scotland.

For the first time candidates will sit new Advanced Higher examinations, developed to support the Curriculum for Excellence.
Higher and National 5 exams will also be carried out over the next four and a half weeks.
The schedule began with a Lifeskills Mathematics exam at 09:00 and will end with Politics on 3 June.
Results will be published on Tuesday 9 August.
Students' final grades will reflect a combination of coursework, projects and results from internal assessments conducted through the academic year.
Last year the pass mark for the Higher Maths exam was significantly lowered amid concerns it was too difficult.
This year's Higher English exam paper has been replaced as a "precautionary measure" amid concerns some questions were leaked.
Among the 142,512 people who will receive their results this summer include those who have been continually assessed throughout the year.
They have been working towards National 1, National 2, National 3, National 4 and Skills for Work courses and awards.
Scotland's chief examining officer Dr Janet Brown said: "After months of work and hours of study, tens of thousands of candidates are now preparing to complete their qualifications and take the next step in their education or into work.
"I'd like to wish everyone sitting examinations and taking qualifications at schools and colleges the best of luck between now and the end of the term."
Dr Brown, the chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), added: "The new national qualifications, including the new Advanced Higher, provide candidates with the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and understanding they've acquired and prepare them for further study, employment or training.
"Our qualifications are robust, relevant, and designed to equip young people with a wide range of skills."
Source: SQA


One US service member has been killed and two wounded reportedly during a special forces mission in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

The forces were taking part in a counter-terrorism operation when they came under fire, US officials said.
A medical helicopter sent to rescue casualties was forced to land and has yet to be recovered.
Some 12,000 international soldiers are still deployed in Afghanistan to help local forces tackle the Taliban.
Some of the foreign troops were sent to counter the recent militant insurgency in Helmand.
Details of what happened in the incident, which took place near the town of Marjah on Tuesday, remain sketchy.
US military spokesman Brig Gen Wilson Shoffner said one service member had died as a result of wounds, adding: "We are deeply saddened by this loss... our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of those involved."
The identity of the casualties has not yet been revealed and no official details given on their service branch.
A number of Afghan forces were also reported to have been wounded.
The casualties occurred before the "medevac" helicopter was called in.
Some reports said the helicopter, believed to be a UH-60 Black Hawk, had also come under fire.
A US defence official said it had "sustained damage while on the ground" but had not been shot down.
He said it remained on the ground and the military was working to recover it, but gave no further details.
In 2011, 30 Americans were among 38 people killed in a Chinook helicopter crash in Wardak province.
Helmand has long been a stronghold of the Taliban.
Afghan forces, aided by the US military, have been engaged in a fierce conflict recently with Taliban fighters who seized large swathes of Sangin district.
The fighting also sparked the deployment of a number of UK forces to Helmand for the first time in more than a year.
In September, the Taliban briefly overran the northern city of Kunduz in one of their biggest victories in 14 years of war.


It has been a successful night for Labour in Cheshire.

The party gained its target seats Weaver Vale, Warrington South and Crewe and Nantwich from the Conservatives.
Labour also increased its majority from 93 to 9,176 in marginal constituency Chester.
Labour's Mike Amesbury received 26,066 votes in Weaver Vale, a swing of 4.7% from the Conservatives while in Warrington South, Faisal Rashid won 29,994 votes - a swing of 4.4%.
Meanwhile, Esther McVey held the Tatton seat for the Conservatives.
Labour's Laura Smith said she "can't wait" to become "Crewe and Nantwich's voice in Westminster" after she won the seat with a majority of 48 votes from Conservative MP Edward Timpson.
"It's really emotional," she said. "I'm an ordinary mum from Crewe, I'm a teacher and I'm fighting for the schools, for the health service".
The turnout in Weaver Vale was 73.3%.
Conservative candidate Graham Evans came second there with 22,138 votes. Paul Roberts came third with 1,623 votes.
Mr Amesbury won with a majority of 3,928 and said he was "humbled" by the result.
He said Labour's manifesto offered "hope... inspiration and opportunity" in contrast to "austerity and fear" from the Conservatives.
In Warrington South, Mr Rashid has a majority of 2,549. Conservative candidate David Mowat came second, polling 27,445.
Liberal Democrat candidate Bob Barr came in third, receiving 3,339 votes.
There was a turnout of 72.4%.
Mr Rashid, who was the mayor for Warrington, said he was "over the moon".
"We used to have this seat for 18 years and we have won it back," he said.
He said his priorities as MP will be education, housing and hospitals.
Labour also held Warrington North as Helen Jones increased her majority by almost 9%, gaining 56.4% of the vote.
Labour's Chris Matheson increased his majority in Chester by more than 9,000, gaining 32,023 votes. He was defending a majority of 93.
Considered a marginal seat, Chester was the number one target for the Conservatives in the UK.
He said he was "delighted with the size of the majority" and that his party leader has proved many people - including him - wrong.
"There's no doubt Jeremy has energised people and brought people into the political system that felt disaffected and disconnected", he said.
Tory candidate Will Gallagher came second, polling 22,847. There was a turnout of 77.4%.
Former employment minister Esther McVey, who lost her Wirral West constituency in the 2015 General Election, secured 59% of the vote.
The seat was previously held by former Chancellor George Osborne, who resigned to become editor of the Evening Standard in London.
Elsewhere, Labour held Ellesmere Port and Neston and Halton and the Conservatives retained Macclesfield.
In total, five seats changed hands across the North West of England.
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said the party's manifesto has been "unanimously agreed" and will be published "in the next few days".

A draft version was leaked which included policies on nationalising railways and renewing Trident weapons.
Mr Corbyn said that had been "amended" and he believed its policies would be "very popular" with voters.
About 80 Labour figures including the shadow cabinet and national executive committee met to finalise the policies.
Mr Corbyn did not take questions on the party's final manifesto, saying they would have to wait until its official launch.
But he said: "We have just unanimously agreed the contents of [the manifesto], we have amended a draft document that was put forward in the most informed, interesting, sensible discussion and debate in our party.
"Our manifesto will be an offer, and I believe the policies in it are very popular, an offer that will transform the lives of many people in our society."
He also announced an inquiry into the leak of a draft version, which included plans to nationalise parts of the energy industry and scrap tuition fees, which emerged earlier. The inquiry would report back after the general election on 8 June.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said she had been told the changes agreed at the meeting were "tinkering only".
According to the draft version, Labour would:
On energy, Labour would have at least one publicly-owned supplier in every region of the country, with the government controlling the transmission and distribution grids.
First it would introduce an "immediate emergency price cap" of Â£1,000 a year.
The draft manifesto also promises to ban fracking and cut the voting age to 16.
The document restates the existing policy to renew Trident but commits a Labour government to a defence review which would allow opponents to question the position on the nuclear weapons system.
It also says Labour would "negotiate transitional arrangements to avoid a cliff-edge for the UK economy" if no Brexit deal was reached during talks with the EU.
The draft document is seen by some senior Labour figures as the most left-wing manifesto since the party was led by Michael Foot in 1983.
It certainly appears to be the most detailed in a generation with a 20-point plan for workers' rights alone.
Many individual policies are likely to be popular - not every privatisation is seen as having been a success and polling suggests the commitments to renationalise the railways and cap energy prices are not as controversial as critics would claim.
But opponents and sceptical voters will await further detail behind the assertion that everything has been costed.
Privately, many Labour MPs believe Jeremy Corbyn will get the manifesto he wants but in return he must take full responsibility if voters find it less appealing than he does.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he did not know who was behind the leak, which he called "disappointing" saying "every policy will have a costing and a funding source identified".
Speaking to Channel 4 News, Prime Minister Theresa May said the "shambolic" way the document emerged "shows the sort of chaos that we would see from a Labour government".
She added: "If you take their manifesto overall, actually, what they are suggesting is taking us back to the past.
"What I'm interested in is dealing with the challenges that we face today but making a better future for this country."
In other general election news, the Conservatives are pledging to continue meeting the Nato target of spending 2% of GDP on defence and to extend by two years a pledge to increase the defence budget by at least 0.5% above inflation annually.
Labour is also promising to meet the 2% Nato pledge.
The SNP's Tommy Sheppard said: "The very fact that this draft manifesto has been leaked shows how divided and chaotic the Labour Party are - most of their MPs do not even support these policies."
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale was unable to attend Thursday's meeting on Labour's manifesto as it clashed with First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.
Meanwhile, a Welsh Labour spokesman said: "Reports of leaked manifestos relate to an old, draft version of a UK document.
"It is not Welsh Labour's manifesto and contains many England-only proposals. Welsh Labour will be publishing its own distinct manifesto."
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said:  "It doesn't matter whether it was leaked or not leaked, the Labour manifesto ceased to be relevant in any way, shape or form the moment Jeremy Corbyn and his party held hands with UKIP and Theresa May and voted for the triggering of Article 50."
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In the 1980s a popular brand of chocolates was advertised on TV with the slogan: "All the fun, all the fun, all the fun of the fair."

As the words were sung, a giant tub of the sweets was hoisted in the air.
Hundreds of glittery, wrapped strawberry creams, toffees and the like fell to the floor, to be devoured by ecstatic children.
Yes, it was like a fair [ie a fairground], but it also, undeniably, brought fairness. Everyone had a share.
Times are not so much fun now but that F-word - fairness - is everywhere again.
Politicians from Barack Obama to Nick Clegg have promised to work towards it - even as wage freezes, relatively high inflation, rising unemployment and falling GDP have an impact on people's standard of living in the UK.
Austerity - and the need to bring down the budget deficit - need not breed greater inequality, they argue.
In a speech seemingly aimed at distancing his party from the Conservatives, Mr Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said he would lobby the chancellor to make the system "fairer" and make the rich pay their "fair share" to the state.
He implored the coalition to act "faster" to raise the threshold at which income tax is paid to £10,000 a year.
The government is already promising to do this by the next election, scheduled for 2015, so it could happen sooner.
But Mr Clegg wants to go "further". Does this mean the threshold will rise higher? Will there be any clues in March's Budget?
Whatever the vagaries, Mr Clegg's speech was an attempt to set out his party's distinctive role in the coalition, perhaps with one eye on a future time when it will have to fight the Tories at a general election once more.
Those on the right in politics have "less of an emphasis on using the tax system to create greater equality", he argued.
Although his political circumstances are very different, Mr Clegg is fighting a similar ideological battle to Barack Obama, seeking re-election against whichever candidate the Republican Party chooses.
In his State of the Union Address last Monday, the US president equated fairness to national identity.
Mr Obama said: "We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by.
"Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.
"What's at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them."
For those of a certain age, it is reminiscent of the phrase "British fair play".
At the start of the year David Cameron said he wanted a "fairer, better society, where if you work hard and do the right thing you get rewarded".
Last week he defended plans for a benefits cap as "a basic issue of fairness", with the Department for Work and Pensions saying it would help "bring fairness back into the welfare system".
But opponents in the Lords of the plan to include child benefit payments within the cap cried "unfairness".
Politicians are all claiming to be on the side of the little guy.
Labour's Ed Miliband praises the "squeezed middle". Mr Clegg wants to reach out to "alarm clock-Britain". Mr Cameron defends "hard-working families".
But Ryan Bourne, head of economic research at the centre-right think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, is sceptical.
He said: "Who's ever going to campaign against fairness?"
Mr Bourne told the BBC: "The idea that the government can influence fairness is based on a false premise. That is that the government is able to select areas of the economy or different social groups who are more deserving or worthy...
"Fairness is more about the idea that what you get out is proportional to what you put in."
But does fairness offer at least some hope in difficult times?
Mr Bourne said: "The economic conditions mean that politicians don't really talk about GDP or wealth, as it's not going up. They are forced to talk about other things.
"The appeal of 'fairness' is that everyone has their own view of what it means in their head. It has an intuitive appeal."
Another feature of Mr Clegg's speech is that it targets tax avoiders, claiming they could bring in billions of pounds to compensate for the raising of the basic tax threshold.
It reiterates the Lib Dem policy of introducing a "mansion tax" for owners of homes worth more than £2m. That would buy a mansion in some parts of the country, but not others.
Labour says Mr Clegg has a bit of a "cheek" using the language of fairness, when VAT has risen and child benefit has been frozen.
But Mr Clegg dismisses the Left's attitude: "Socialists will support a penal rate of tax on the highest earners, simply because it makes them poorer."
Professionals and business people who have worked long hours to service a mortgage - while paying the most income tax - would argued they are being penalised.
Max Wind-Cowie, of the left-leaning think-tank Demos, said: "There is such a thing as fairness. But what politicians always try and do is pretend that it's a clear idea pointing in whatever way their prejudices lie.
"That's equality on the left or meritocracy or 'just deserts' on the right. But for most people it's an amalgam of different things.
"The thing that has always seemed to be missing is reciprocity, that what you put in has results in what you get back."
Mr Wind-Cowie thinks many middle-income voters will like the plans to put a £26,000 cap on non-working families' benefits, but are "resentful" about the ending of child benefit from next year for any household in which one parent earns more than about £44,000.
He said: "People in that category, some of them, are very well off. But it also contains many working families who are struggling to get by.
"You're talking about a category of people who clearly feel very hard done by from the deal they get from the welfare state. They often contribute more in taxes from those at the bottom and those at the top.
"People are recognising the economic realities of the way the welfare state is structured. In a time of hardship, the issue of fairness has come more to the fore.
"What I would urge politicians to do is, when they talk about fairness, to back that up. The end point of bringing up the income tax threshold would be to raise it to the level of the minimum wage, and that's about £13,000 a year."
Whatever Mr Clegg's income tax pledges come to in reality, not everyone will be pleased.
Times are tough and the "sweeties" will have to be rationed.
But, unlike a parent talking to a moaning child, politicians are not allowed to say those three little defeatist words: "Life's Not Fair."


Real Madrid were made to battle for a victory over La Liga's bottom club Levante.

Cristiano Ronaldo gave the visitors the lead with a penalty and it was 2-0 when Borja Mayoral's shot hit the post and went in off keeper Diego Marino.
Levante pulled one back seconds later through Deyverson but Isco sealed the game in injury time for Real.
Zinedine Zidane's third-placed side are nine points behind leaders Barcelona, who have a game in hand.
Earlier on Wednesday, Gary Neville's Valencia beat Malaga 2-1 for a fifth win in six games.
Los Che lost 3-0 to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday and were fearing another defeat when Duje Cop converted a loose ball from 12 yards out.
Valencia levelled through a bizarre own goal as Malaga keeper Carlos Kameni palmed a cross into his own net and Denis Cheryshev - on loan from Real - scored their winner early in the second half.


A schoolgirl who died from suspected meningitis was discharged from hospital just 48 hours before her death.

Isabel Gentry, 16, was in the middle of her AS revision last Wednesday when she started feeling unwell and was taken to Bristol Royal Infirmary by ambulance.
Hours later, the St Brendan's Sixth Form College student was allowed home.
The NHS Foundation Trust, said it believes the assessment and treatment were "appropriate" as initial symptoms were "not typical of meningitis".
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bristol Royal Infirmary, said the teenager, known as Izzy, was discharged after initial treatment and a five-hour observation in the accident and emergency department.
The trust said Izzy "appeared to improve" and was advised she should seek further medical attention if her symptoms returned.
She was readmitted later that day and her symptoms were recognised by doctors as being "typical" of meningitis. She died two days later.
Deborah Lee, chief operating officer for the trust, said an initial investigation into Izzy's death had not revealed any shortcomings in the "assessment, care or treatment given at the time of her presentation".
She continued: "Izzy's symptoms were not typical of meningitis at the time of first presentation and we believe that both the assessment and treatment were appropriate.
"Sadly, we cannot bring Izzy back but will do our very best to see if there is any learning for ourselves or others that could prevent such a tragedy happening again."
Friends have posted tributes on social media to the teenager.
Ben Flinton wrote: "Absolutely devastated to hear of the sudden passing of Izzy Gentry. One of the nicest, funniest girls I'll ever meet."
Chloe Hughes said her friend was "taken way too soon", adding: "God really does take the best ones, rest in peace you gorgeous girl."
Eryn O'Connell wrote: "You were without a doubt one of the most bubbly souls going with an amazing energy. You brought so much life to us all and it will never be the same without you."
Avon Coroner's Court confirmed that an inquest into the teenager's death is likely to be opened and adjourned next week.


The state of NHS community nursing in England is "lamentable", nursing leaders say.

Official figures show the number of district nurses has fallen by 40% in the past decade.
However, NHS England says this has been countered by rises in other community staff.
The Royal College of Nursing and Queen's Nursing Institute say the situation is adding to the pressure on hospitals.
In recent weeks there have been repeated warnings that pressure on hospital emergency departments is unsustainable. Attendances have risen by 50% in the past decade.
For more than 150 years, district nurses have been supporting people in their own homes, keeping them out of hospital.
They are community team leaders, detecting problems before they become more serious, supporting patients after they are discharged from hospital, and caring for them in their own homes at the end of their lives.
Official figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre indicate that a decade ago there were nearly 13,000 NHS district nurses in England. Last year there were fewer than 7,500. Many of those who remain are approaching retirement age.
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Peter Carter says the overall state of community nursing in the health service is "lamentable".
"With this huge reduction in the numbers of district nurses,  while at the same time the massive growth in the population and more and more people with complex conditions, I have to say unfortunately we really are failing people who deserve so much more."
Many district nurses feel overstretched. But for some the job remains hugely rewarding.
Janice Jones is a district nurse with Central Surrey Health, a not-for-profit firm providing community healthcare for the NHS. Here, staff satisfaction - at 96% - is much better than the NHS average.
"When you're doing your job you get to know your patient and their families and what their problems are. And you build up a relationship which is based on trust and respect, and you feel you're making a difference to their lives."
CSH has responded to the spending squeeze by cutting inefficiencies, for example using IT - including mobiles and laptops - to reduce unnecessary journeys and to access and share information. As a result CSH says the nurses have an extra hour each day to spend with patients.
He says that is leading to many avoidable hospital admissions, placing additional pressure on ambulance services and A&E units.
In a statement, community nursing charity the Queen's Nursing Institute expressed similar worries about the fall in numbers and "the loss of skills and capacity in community nursing teams".
"Qualified district nurses are specialist practitioners in community nursing and are absolutely central to patient-centred care in the NHS. High-quality community nursing services are imperative if we are to support people with long-term conditions to stay in their own homes, rather than be admitted to hospital."
District nurses told the BBC about their frustrations, including long working hours, having to see more patients in less time, and the burden of form-filling.
"Staffing is the number one issue," said one. "If you go to a shop and there aren't enough staff it's not the end of the world - people can wait. But when someone is in pain it really matters."
Another said she felt pushed for time from the minute she walked through the door.
"You try your best to meet their needs but there might be other things they want you to deal with, or just to talk about what's worrying them. There may be palliative care patients. You'd like to spend more time in a supportive role but there are only so many hours in a day."
In a statement, NHS England said although district nurse numbers had fallen, the overall number of community nurses - including other types of staff - had increased by more than 8%.
"What is important is getting the right staff to deliver the services patients require. To achieve this commissioners need to have clear and robust plans for community nursing services, both now and in the future."


Mac users are being warned about new variants of malware that have been created specifically to target Apple computers.

One is ransomware that encrypts data and demands payment before files are released.
The other is spyware that watches what users do and scoops up valuable information.
Experts said they represented a threat because their creators were letting anyone use them for free.
The two programs were uncovered by the security firms Fortinet and AlienVault, which found a portal on the Tor "dark web" network that acted as a shopfront for both.
In a blog, Fortinet said the site claimed that the creators behind it were professional software engineers with "extensive experience" of creating working code.
Those wishing to use either of the programs had been urged to get in touch and provide details of how they wanted the malware to be set up. The malware's creators had said that payments made by ransomware victims would be split between themselves and their customers.
Researchers at Fortinet contacted the ransomware writers pretending they were interested in using the product and, soon afterwards, were sent a sample of the malware.
Analysis revealed that it used much less sophisticated encryption than the many variants seen targeting Windows machines, said the firm.
However, they added, any files scrambled with the ransomware would be completely lost because it did a very poor job of handling the decryption keys needed to restore data.
"Even if it is far inferior to most current ransomware targeting Windows, it doesn't fail to encrypt victim's files or prevent access to important files, thereby causing real damage," wrote the researchers.
The free Macspy spyware, offered via the same site, can log which keys are pressed, take screenshots and tap into a machine's microphone.
In its analysis, AlienVault researcher Peter Ewane said the malicious code in the spyware tried hard to evade many of the standard ways security programs spot and stop such programs.
Mr Ewane said Mac users needed to start being more vigilant as malware creators targeted them.
"As OS X continues to grow in market share we can expect malware authors to invest greater amounts of time in producing malware for this platform."
Statistics gathered by McAfee suggest that there are now about 450,000 malicious programs aimed at Macs - far fewer than the 23 million targeting Windows users.
Aamir Lakhani from Fortinet said Mac users should make sure their machines were kept up to date with the latest software patches and be wary of messages they receive via email.
"Mac ransomware is definitely becoming bigger," he told EWeek. "Although market share is still small, hackers know that there is valuable data on the Mac."
Apple declined to comment on the developments.


A test to predict which patients are most at risk from the Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection has been developed.

The "accurate and simple" test could benefit patients, hospitals and health services around the world, scientists and doctors in Devon have said.
C. diff is a bacterial infection of the digestive system.
In 2011, there were about 2,000 C. diff-related deaths, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The research was carried out by the University of Exeter and the Royal Devon and Exeter (RD&E) NHS Foundation Trust, with the National Institute for Health Research in the South West.
In a paper published by BMC Infectious Diseases it said growing concern about the number of C. diff strains resistant to drug therapies meant the findings were exciting.
Dr Steve Michell, senior lecturer in molecular microbiology at the University of Exeter, said: "They identify a simple, accurate and robust method to identify those patients who are at risk of dying from a C. diff infection."
The benefits to patients and potential savings to the NHS and other health services "would be immense", he added.
The test's "comparative simplicity" means it could be used by non-specialists within 48 hours of diagnosis, allowing earlier treatment.
Dr Ray Sheridan, consultant physician at the RD&E, said: "This really simple and quick tool, which any junior doctor could use in the middle of the night, quickly and easily flags up those who need a speedy and intensive treatment regime or more senior help.
"The quicker we get on with the right treatment for the right patient the better their chances of recovery are."


This year the BBC is examining the concept of "identity".

We would like you to take part, using your videos, photos, drawings and animations to show how your identity is changing.
We will showcase some of your submissions across the BBC, and you can get involved in the global conversation by using #BBCIdentity.
Do you define yourself by where you come from? Or does technology make you feel connected to people outside of your immediate environment? In this changing world how is your identity changing?
You can submit your vision of identity from 14 March to 18 April 2016.
We would also like to know your name, age, nationality and contact details, including phone number and Skype account if you have one.
Please read our terms and conditions.
As people become increasingly connected and more mobile, the BBC is exploring how identities are changing.
Learn more about the BBC's Identity season or join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #BBCIdentity.


Syria's government and the opposition have blamed each other for the suspension of peace talks in Geneva.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura called a temporary pause, saying the talks would resume on 25 February.
But the opposition HNC said they would not return until conditions improved on the ground, accusing government forces of bombing and starving civilians.
The government said the opposition caused the suspension, acting on the orders of Turkey and Gulf states.
On Thursday a donor's meeting takes place in London aiming to secure extra funding for those affected by the war.
Over 70 countries are taking part, with the UN hoping to raise billions of dollars. Funding last year fell 60% short of the UN's target.
More than 250,000 people have died in almost five years of war in Syria.
Eleven million others have fled their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other, as well as the Islamic State group.
The civil war has also been a major driving force behind Europe's migration crisis.
Announcing the suspension of the talks, Mr de Mistura admitted "there's more work to be done".
But he said "it is not the end and it is not the failure of the talks".
The opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), however, soon cast doubts over whether they would return.
"The whole world sees who is making the negotiations fail. Who is bombing civilians and starving people to death," the HNC's chief coordinator Riad Hijab said.
The Syrian government said the talks' suspension was down to the opposition.
The head of the Syrian delegation, Bashar Jaafari, accused them of acting under the orders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey "to bring about the talks' failure", Syrian state television reported.
It was always known these talks would be difficult, but no-one expected them to end after just two days, with the UN special envoy standing in the driving sleet outside the opposition's Geneva hotel to deliver the news.
Staffan de Mistura insists this is a temporary pause, not failure. But these negotiations never really got started. Hardly any of the planned meetings with UN negotiators actually happened, the two sides were never even in the UN at the same time, let alone in the same room.
Their conditions for engaging in negotiations were poles apart: the opposition wanted sieges lifted and prisoners released, the Syrian government played for time, asking for a written agenda and a full list of participants.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the war rages on, with the Syrian army, backed by Russian bombing, retaking rebel-held territory. The UN says the peace talks will start again on 25 February, but if the military push continues, things in Syria could look very different by then.
Meanwhile France accused the Syrian government and Russia, who has been carrying out air strikes in support of President Assad, of "torpedoing" the peace talks.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Moscow and Damascus "visibly don't want to contribute to them in good faith".
The US also said Russia was partly to blame for the suspension, saying its air strikes were deliberately targeting opposition groups.
In a strongly worded statement, Secretary of State John Kerry said that "the continued assault by Syrian regime forces - enabled by Russian air  strikes - against opposition-held areas... have clearly signalled the intention to seek a military solution rather than enable a political one".
Both the US and France have condemned Russian bombing around Syria's second city of Aleppo, and Mr Kerry repeated his demand for the bombardment to stop.
"It is past time for them to meet existing obligations and restore the international community's confidence in their intentions of supporting a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis," Mr Kerry said.
"During this pause [in the talks], the world needs to push in one  direction - toward stopping the oppression and suffering of the Syrian people  and ending, not prolonging, this conflict."
But earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that it would not stop the air strikes "until we really defeat terrorist organisations like al-Nusra Front".
Syria's opposition has been angered that major government offensives continued as the talks got under way.
On Wednesday, the government claimed a major victory against the rebels by breaking a siege of two towns north-west of the city of Aleppo, severing a key rebel supply route into the city.
Why is there a war in Syria?
Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that, four years on, has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.
Who is fighting whom?
Government forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, as well as less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in the north and east. These groups are also battling each other.
How has the world reacted?
Iran, Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes.


Demolition of a derelict shopping mall on Teesside which has been targeted by vandals is due to begin.

The Jacksons Landing site has been disused since 2004 and was purchased by Hartlepool Borough Council in 2013.
The authority agreed to fund the Â£40,000 demolition costs in the hope of attracting a developer for the site, which has been the target of vandals.
Critics claim that demolishing the mall is a waste of money while there are no firm plans for the site.
The council has argued paying for the site to be levelled will reduce maintenance costs and make it easier for a developer to move in.
A spokesman said: "The site is seen as strategically important to the redevelopment of Hartlepool's waterfront and the town's future economic growth.
"Jacksons Landing is a building associated with failure. Removing it offers the opportunity to relaunch the waterfront as a visitor destination and change people's perception of the area.
"Constant maintenance has been required to keep the existing building safe and secure against vandalism and repeated attempts to gain access. Trespassers have been getting onto the roof and damaging roof lights, putting themselves at serious risk.
"The building has had to be repaired and secured 44 times over the last three years which has cost the council in excess of Â£15,000."
But Councillor Paul Thompson, who is opposed to the demolition, said: "Nobody is saying this area shouldn't be redeveloped. What people are objecting about at the minute, is pulling it down without any plan."


An Archers fan has "accidentally" raised more than £22,000 after setting up a donation page under the name of one of the radio soap's characters.

Paul Trueman, 41, from Devon, was inspired by a storyline relating to abuse suffered by character Helen Titchener at the hands of her husband, Rob in the Radio 4 drama series.
He set up the page with the initial aim of raising £1,000 for Refuge.
The Helen Titchener (nee Archer) Rescue Fund has raised more than £22,000.
Read more on this and other stories on our Local Live page
The page says: "All the money from the Rescue Fund will go to the brilliant Refuge, helping all those women who don't have a mate like Kirsty and their own organic cheese shop waiting for them at the end of it."
Father of two Paul said: "There's a joke among Archers fans that we think it's real, but if it was real you would go and get her.
"I thought 'what if you could create a Just Giving page for a fictional person but give the money to real women who we know are in that situation?'
"It happened accidentally really - I know there's a huge Archers following on Twitter and once I'd shared it, it just took off."
Refuge, a domestic violence charity, said nothing it had done on social media had ever motivated so many people.
Chief executive Sandra Horley said of the storyline:  "Rob's controlling behaviour will be all too familiar to the 3,300 abused women Refuge helps every day.
"Rob is jealous and possessive; he dictates where Helen goes and what she wears; he has isolated her from family and friends; and he undermines her intelligence and parenting skills.
"Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the 'Helen Titchener Rescue Fund' - this money will translate into specialist support for real Helen Titcheners up and down the country."


West Indies avoided an upset as they beat Pakistan by four runs in their Women's World Twenty20 opener.

Skipper Stafanie Taylor (40) anchored the Windies' innings of 103-8 in Chennai, but lacked support as left-arm spinner Anam Amin took 4-16.
Captain Sana Mir nearly saw Pakistan home but fell in the final over.
There was also concern for Pakistan opener Javeria Khan, who was hit on the head by a Shamilia Connell bouncer and was taken off on a stretcher.
Wisden India journalist Himanish Bhattacharjee later tweeted that Javeria had been taken to hospital for a precautionary CT scan, but was "OK".
England face Bangladesh in their first game on Thursday, also in Group B.


Five people are dead at least a dozen injured after tornadoes and severe storms ripped through the US Southeast.

A suspected twister tore through northern Alabama, killing three people, while two people were later confirmed dead in neighbouring Tennessee.
Three children were also critically injured at a 24-hour day care centre.
The National Weather Service reported 27 tornado sightings as the storm swept through eastern Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and southern Tennessee.
Three people were killed and one person was critically injured after a tornado hit a mobile home in Rosalie, Alabama, on Tuesday night, according to Jackson County Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen.
The same twister appeared to level a closed day care centre in the Ider community in Dekalb County, injuring seven people, including three children.
The injured victims left their mobile home to seek shelter there, said Anthony Clifton, DeKalb County Emergency Management Director.
An estimated 2,400 residents were without electricity as of Wednesday morning, according to Alabama Power.
The company said that outages could increase as the storm continued to move east throughout the morning.
Officials also said dozens of buildings have been damaged or destroyed from the storms.
A couple in southern Tennessee also died after an apparent tornado swept through Polk County.
Several dozen others were injured in Tennessee, including at least 20 people in McMinn County, ABC affiliate WATE reported.
Tennessee is still reeling after four people were killed and hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed in devastating wildfires.
More than 14,000 people were evacuated from the resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
Tornadoes and hail were also reported on Tuesday in Louisiana as well as Mississippi, where the National Weather Service in Jackson said late Tuesday that it had counted six confirmed tornadoes in the region.


A major redecoration project is under way at Oxford Town Hall to restore its vaulted ceiling.

The Grade II*-listed Victorian main hall is being repainted at a cost of Â£140,000.
Oxford Town Hall on St Aldate's is used as a venue for wedding receptions and council events.
It is hoped the work will be completed in time for events planned for September.
The town hall is one of central Oxford's most recognisable buildings.  Designed by Henry Hare, it was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1897.
The ceiling is being repainted for the first time in three decades.
The work involves hand brushing and vacuuming the ceiling to remove 30 years of accumulated dust and dirt before it is completely repainted.
Richard Clements, of Oxford City Council, said: "It was getting a little bit tired and the work is part of the overall maintenance plan we have for the town hall.
"Events generate over Â£500,000 - that's another reason for getting it maintain the hall back in great condition."
Neale Cole, from contractors Mitie, described it as a "complex job" with paint having to be carefully mixed to match existing colours.
A free standing scaffold has been erected so as not to damage any of the delicate plasterwork on the walls.
With painting each bay taking around a week, the work is "on track" to be completed by September.
The ceiling above the stage and the hall's original Henry Willis organ will be painted last.


At least six people have been killed and dozens injured in Afghanistan after protests spread over the burning of copies of the Koran at a US airbase.

One person was killed in Kabul, one in the eastern city of Jalalabad and at least four in Parwan province.
US officials apologised on Tuesday after Korans were "inadvertently" put in an incinerator at Bagram airbase.
Officials at Bagram reportedly believed Taliban prisoners were using the books to pass messages to each other.
The charred remains of the volumes were found by local labourers.
Protesters in Kabul shouted, "Death to America!" and threw stones at Camp Phoenix, the main US base in the city.
By Babrak MiakhelBBC Afghan, Jalalabad
There were several demonstrations across Nangarhar province and at least two in the main city of Jalalabad. The first happened at the university. Students were angry, chanting slogans against Americans and against US troops. They were determined but not violent.
A second demonstration elsewhere in the city turned ugly. I arrived as injured protesters were being taken to hospital in ambulances and private cars. People said the US apology was not enough. Oil tankers had been set ablaze.
The protesters' message was that Afghans respect the other religions of troops inside Afghanistan, so why have they failed to respect Islam and the Koran?
Riot police used water cannon to disperse protesters, some of whom were blocking the road leading to Jalalabad, one of the main trade routes into the capital.
Witnesses said security guards were firing into the air. There were also reports of people chanting pro-Taliban slogans.
One protester in Kabul was killed and 10 wounded.
Four further deaths were confirmed in the Shinwari district of Parwan province, north of Kabul. There were also peaceful protests in the eastern province of Kunar.
In Jalalabad, protesters burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama, and BBC Afghan reporter Babrak Miakhel said oil tankers had been set on fire.
A doctor told the BBC one person had been killed and 10 injured.
One protester in Kabul, 18-year-old Ajmal, told Reuters: "When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents."
The US embassy in Kabul is on lockdown and all travel is suspended.
The Taliban called on Afghan police and soldiers to redeem themselves by turning their guns away from protesters and towards Nato-led troops.
The Afghan parliament held an emergency debate.
In a statement, MPs condemned what had happened, called for punishment of those responsible and asked the Afghan government to send its own delegation to Bagram to establish exactly what happened and why.
"Everyone is emotional," Kabul resident Mohammad Naseer Malikzai told the BBC. "I am hurting and disappointed.
"I created a Facebook group where I was disputing with a lot of people. The American apology is useless."
Another Kabul resident, Farhad Raza, said abusing Islam would prolong the war in Afghanistan.
"These kind of actions [abusing Islam] create a gap between Afghans and Nato forces, and make people hate Nato forces, which will make this war longer than it is now," he told the BBC.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said he and the top commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, Gen John Allen, had apologised to the Afghan people "and disapprove of such conduct in the strongest possible terms".
After previous incidents, many Afghans find it hard to understand how US forces could have allowed the Koran to have been burned, says the BBC's Andrew North, in Kabul.
Afghanistan is a very religious country, he adds, but also one where many people are illiterate and susceptible to attempts to whip up anger.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
The Nato-led Isaf force is now investigating the incident, a spokesman told the BBC.
"It was the local workers who discovered the nature of the material and therefore stopped worse things from happening," said Brig Gen Carsten Jacobson.
"But it was a mistake and that's what we're investigating at the moment: how did this come to be, what orders were given?
"But at the end of the day we have to stand to the fact a mistake was made and the commander apologised."
Last year, at least 24 people died in protests across Afghanistan after a hardline US pastor burned a Koran in Florida.
On Tuesday, one person was wounded and five detained after troops at Bagram, 60km (40 miles) north of Kabul, fired rubber bullets at protesters.
Bagram includes a prison for Afghans detained by Nato forces.


Sweden's Jenny Rissveds won mountain bike gold in the women's cross country, beating Poland's Maja Wloszczowska.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Games debutant Rissveds, 22, and Wloszczowska, 32, were at the head of the field for much of the race before the Swede pulled clear in the last lap.
Rissveds finished in 1:30:15, with Wloszczowska 37 seconds behind and Canada's Catharine Prendel third.
Sweden won its second Rio 2016 gold after swimmer Sarah Sjostrom won the 100m butterfly.
Rissveds, the under-23 champion for 2016, battled illness and an elbow injury this year and only returned to competition in March 2016.
Wloszczowska's silver matched her finish at Beijing 2008, while reigning world champion Annika Langvad of Denmark finished in 11th place more than three minutes behind Rissveds.
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The price of oil has hit its highest level for a month in response to the US military's missile attack on a Syrian government airbase.

Brent crude surged above $56 a barrel, but later fell back to just over $55.
Syria has limited oil production, but its location in the Middle East and alliances with big oil producers raised worries about a spreading conflict that could disrupt crude shipments.
European markets opened lower, but London's FTSE 100 gained ground later.
It ended the day 0.6% higher at 7,349 points. The Cac in Paris also closed higher, up 0.3%, but Frankfurt's Dax was 5 points lower.
Other asset classes seen as havens in times of trouble made gains. Gold prices were up 1.1% at $1,266.45 an ounce on Friday afternoon.
The dollar's performance was mixed, falling slightly against the yen.
However, it rose modestly against sterling, the euro and the Swiss franc.
Earlier in Asian markets, energy shares rose as a result of the airstrike, giving a boost to Japan's Nikkei index, which closed up 0.36% at 18,664.
Analysts said the market impact of the attacks was likely to be short-lived, since the US had described it as a "one-off".
"It was a knee-jerk reaction because markets are starting to come back a little, as it doesn't seem like there will be further retaliation coming," said Christoffer Moltke-Leth at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore.