Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao may not be at Old Trafford next season, according to his agent.

The Colombian, who earns £265,000 a week, has scored three goals in 13 appearances since signing from Monaco in a £6m season-long loan in September.
United have until May to activate a £40m buy-out clause.
"He will play in one of the very best clubs in the world next season, whether that is Manchester United or not," said the 28-year-old's agent Jorge Mendes.
Falcao's career at Old Trafford has been hampered by a calf injury and he has started only eight matches.
He was dropped from manager Louis van Gaal's 18-man squad for the 1-0 home defeat by Southampton on Sunday after starting the previous five games.
Afterwards Van Gaal said there was no injury problem and the decision was tactical.
"It is very difficult for Manchester United fans," Mendes told Sky Italia.
"They have an absolutely brilliant player, one of the very best in the world, who would without any doubt play 90 minutes of the match, every time, with any other club.
"The truth is, right now, we don't know what will happen."
Falcao has already decided he will not be returning to Monaco, who he joined for a reported £50m in May 2013 after prolific spells at Atletico Madrid and Porto.
United's Netherlands midfielder Daley Blind returned to play 90 minutes on Sunday after injuring a knee in November.
"The places in the team are expensive, and the manager has said that as well," he said. "So you have to train, every day, very hard to show yourself and show that you really want to play."


Former England boss Steve McClaren says he would not be surprised if Wayne Rooney plays for the national team at the World Cup in Russia next summer.

Everton striker Rooney, 31, announced his international retirement this week, despite national boss Gareth Southgate asking him to be in his latest squad.
Southgate has since said the door remains open for the country's all-time leading goalscorer to return.
"Stranger things have happened in football," McClaren told Sportsweek.
"I think we should watch this space regarding his England future.
"If he gets his form back at Everton, scoring regularly, then selection might come again. It would not surprise me if he gets the call before the next World Cup and decides to come back.
"In this game you have ups and downs, but now he has a new start at Everton and as far as I'm concerned he still has a lot to contribute for England."
Rooney has scored 53 goals in 119 appearances for England.
He returned to hometown club Everton this summer following 13 years at Manchester United, who he joined from the Toffees for £27m in August 2004, scoring a club record 253 goals in 559 matches.
He has made a positive start to life back on Merseyside, scoring twice in two Premier League games - the second, at Manchester City, his 200th top-flight goal.
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Rooney made his England debut in February 2003, in a 3-1 defeat by Australia at Upton Park, and his last international appearance was as captain in last November's 3-0 victory over Scotland at Wembley.
He was overlooked by Southgate for matches against Scotland and France in June but offered a recall for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia.
"In 10 years we'll look back on Wayne Rooney for England as we do with Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Charlton - as a legend," added McClaren, who managed England from 2006 to 2007. "We'll see that what he's achieved has been remarkable."


Two people arrested on suspicion of murdering a four-week-old baby in Cornwall have been bailed.

A 22-year-old woman, and a man, 20, both from Cornwall, were detained after the baby suffered serious injuries and later died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital on Sunday.
A house in St Blazey near St Austell has been cordoned off for investigations.
Devon and Cornwall Police said the death was being treated as suspicious.
Police said they were waiting for the results of the post-mortem examination and a number of associated tests. The man and woman have been bailed until October pending further enquiries.
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Two-year-old Sol was named after a solar eclipse that was taking place as he was born.

But within hours of his arrival the celebrations were overshadowed for new parents Ben and Kate Ryan.
It was the news anyone would dread. Something was wrong. Sol needed emergency surgery.
He was whisked away from the north Wales maternity ward to Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
"I remember just thinking 'I must be dreaming - this is a nightmare'," recalled Sol's father.
"The consultant in Alder Hey was telling me that almost certainly Sol was going to have to lose his left hand."
At just 10 days old, surgeons made the devastating decision to amputate Sol's left arm just below the elbow because of a blood clot.
"It was a very, very black period of time. I couldn't quite believe what was happening," said Ben.
"I just went into emergency mode - I think everyone does. You just deal with it because you have to."
Weeks later, back at the family home in Menai Bridge on Anglesey, Ben was left reflecting on the words of the nurse telling them that Sol's blood group was B-Positive.
"I just took that as a sign - to be positive," said Ben.
"Stop thinking about what he can't do - what can we do? From that point on I just said that I'm not going to dwell on the negatives, I'm only going to be positive. I'm only going to think about what we can do."
And what could Ben do for his son?
As a further education psychology lecturer by profession, Sol's father was absolutely convinced that early intervention was vital for his son to adapt to life without his arm and hand.
But he soon learnt health professionals would not offer help with prosthetic false arms until Sol was a year old - and even then, the artificial arms would be purely cosmetic with no grabbing or holding action.
Sol's dad did not want to wait a year.
"I just thought that wasn't good enough," stated Ben.
First, he used rolled-up pieces of foam taped to Sol's elbow to see what would happen.
Within minutes, Sol was banging his toys with his hand - and his foam arm. It was the first time he had tried to use the left arm since the amputation.
"Before that, the left arm didn't do anything."
It was the breakthrough moment for Ben. From there, developing a better prosthetic arm for young Sol became an obsession.
Working on the kitchen table with bits of copper pipe and plumbing fittings, Ben came up with an idea for a new design that would operate a hand using tiny movements of the elbow.
Convinced it would work, he walked into a newly opened innovation laboratory at Bangor University and asked them for help.
"When I started to talk to Ben and found out what he wanted to do and why he wanted to come here, I was quite humbled really," remembered Wyn Griffith, chief technician for Pontio Innovation.
"We'd just moved into this building - what better way to put this new equipment to use than to actually help Ben with his project."
Using state-of-the-art 3D printing technology at the innovation lab, Ben and the university staff were able to turn a mish-mash of DIY store parts and imagination into something much more.
"The best way we can help people, is to help them help themselves - and I think Ben is a good case in point there. We've given Ben the skills and access to the equipment and training so he can actually develop his own ideas," said the university engineer.
Today, Sol has a new prototype of an arm and hand that can grip, with a moveable thumb.
And instead of the three months it takes to cast and build a fibreglass prosthetic through the health service, a new arm can be built and printed from scratch in a matter of days.
It means not only is the young boy getting the early intervention his family are convinced he needs, it has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for his father.
Ben has given up his day job to concentrate full-time on prosthetics, setting up a new company called Ambionics, with Sol firmly the poster boy for the new venture.
Despite being a fledgling start-up, Ben has already won some big name backing. Along with Bangor University's Pontio centre, Ambionics is also being supported by the Life Sciences Hub Wales and its entrepreneurship programme.
He has also won praise from the firm Stratasys, who developed the 3D printers he has been using.
"Ben Ryan's approach to problem solving with 3D printing as a facilitator and the terrific results enjoyed by doing so are indicative of what can be achieved when harnessing this technology," said the firm's head of healthcare solutions, Scott Rader.
So far, the whole project has been funded by family and friends, but will be the focus of a crowd funding campaign on St David's Day on Wednesday, 1 March.
Ben wants to raise at least Â£150,000 to satisfy medical authorities his arm prosthetics are safe to use, finalise patents, and to develop the design.
If he can raise even more, he wants to see medical research trials to back up his own theories on how young children learn to use artificial limbs.
But as the business moves forward, the focus always returns to Sol - the Ambionic Boy as his dad now calls him.
"He can do 90% of the things a kid with two hands can do, I just want to help him adjust to those 10% of tasks he is going to find difficult," said Ben.
"The point I will relax is when I see him reach for something. I want him to turn around and just be able to pick something up just naturally, and then I'll know that I've done a good job."


The parents of a seven-month-old baby who are challenging doctors in court to keep him on life support say they deserve the right to judge his care.

Connie Yates's and Chris Gard's son, Charlie, is receiving 24-hour treatment at London's Great Ormond Street hospital for a rare genetic condition.
With no accepted cure for his condition, the hospital believes Charlie should be allowed to die.
But his parents say pioneering US treatment could save his life.
They told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that they will continue to fight for their child's survival.
"He can move his mouth, he can move his hands. He can't open them fully, but he can still open his eyes and see us, in response to us.
"We don't feel he's in pain at all."
The couple, who live in London, want to take Charlie to the US, where they believe he may have a chance of surviving if he receives pioneering treatment.
"We just want to have our chance. It would never be a cure but it could help him live. If it saves him, amazing," Miss Yates said.
"I want to save others. Even if Charlie doesn't make it through this, I don't ever want another mum and their child to go through this."
Charlie, who was born on 4 August, was admitted to Great Ormond Street in October after developing aspiration pneumonia.
He was later diagnosed with mitochondrial depletion syndrome - a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness.
"He's only one of 16 in the whole world affected by it. Chris and I are both carriers," Miss Yates said.
"It's so unbelievably rare we would have the same fault on the same gene. Very, very rare."
Miss Yates has launched a campaign - #CharliesFight - which has raised more than £220,000 of the £1.2m she believes is needed for Charlie to receive the treatment abroad.
"I want the judge to have the belief I have in this medication. [Great Ormond Street Hospital] have never used this medication," Miss Yates said.
"The judge needs to trust us, we are his parents. We don't want him to suffer. If he is suffering then of course I would let him go."
She added: "Someone else in the world is willing to take him and help him. Why can't we try that?"
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust said: "Charlie has a very rare and complex disease, for which there is no accepted cure.
"Charlie was very unwell when he was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital and has remained under 24-hour care on our intensive care unit.
"But his condition has continued to deteriorate and we now feel we have exhausted all available proven treatment options.
"We cannot imagine how hugely distressing this is for his family.
"We continue to support them in every way we can, while advocating, what we believe, is best for Charlie."
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.


Heathrow Airport's chief executive urged the government to "get on" with expansion as it reported a pre-tax profit of £120m for the six months to end of June.

That compares with £23m a year earlier. The airport also reported a 1.3% rise in passengers to 35.5 million.
Revenue rose 5.9% to £1.3bn.
John Holland-Kaye said the expansion of the airport would deliver £211bn to the UK economy and 180,000 new jobs.
"We're into a new phase now where the focus is on making this happen, in the interests of the country as quickly as possible," Mr Holland-Kaye told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"This is now something that can be delivered and we need to get on with it as quickly as possible," he added.
Mr Holland-Kaye said Heathrow could get "shovels in the ground in 2019", which would allow "us to get the benefits of Heathrow expansion in 2025".
But he said "the key thing" was to get "an early decision from government that allows us to move with confidence and line up the supply chain, do the right thing for communities and get on and deliver the huge benefits".
He also warned the airport was at full capacity, adding that if Britain wanted to be a world exporter then the government needed to expand the airport.


Workers at a whisky bottling plant in Dumbarton are to strike on 7 August.

The union Unite said the action at the Kilmalid site was in response to a pay offer from Chivas Regal.
Unite has accused the company of "ignoring the voice of its workforce" who rejected the offer of a four-year deal on pay.
An overtime ban is already in place at the bottling plant, which is being expanded as the company moves work there from Paisley.
The firm has offered the workforce a four-year pay deal, with a 1.5% increase in the first year. The increase in subsequent years would be an average of the CPIH official measure of inflation for 2017- 2019.
Chivas last year announced plans to invest Â£40m at the Dumbarton plant.
It will be part of a three-year programme which will see all operations moves from Paisley to Kilmalid.
Unite official Elaine Dougall said: "Our members are angry that this offer which was tabled on 18 July and was rejected overwhelmingly in a ballot by 86% fails to recognise the contribution our members make to the success of Chivas.
"We will continue to press hard for a settlement to this dispute until the eleventh hour but our members are clear: they want to see a significantly improved offer and harmonisation of terms and conditions on the table before they will consider withdrawing from industrial action.
"This dispute will only be settled if our members get a genuine commitment from the company which is an improvement on its recent offer."
She added: "Unite would urge Chivas to see sense and improve their offer and work with us to get this dispute settled."


A bid to take whale conservation to the UN General Assembly failed at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) after criticism from hunting nations.

The motion said many species are not covered by IWC rules, and criticised Japan's scientific whaling programmes.
The delegates' final act was to decide to hold meetings every two years.
Meanwhile, the Danish and Greenland governments will "reflect" on whaling options for Greenland's Inuit after the IWC denied a bid to raise quotas.
The options include setting quotas unilaterally without the IWC's explicit approval, or even withdrawing from the body. Either would be intensely controversial.
Nothing caused more controversy here, though, than South Korea's announcement that it was preparing to allow some of its fishermen to hunt whales under regulations permitting a catch for scientific research.
Japan has had such programmes in place since 1986, including an annual hunt in the Southern Ocean, which has been declared a whale sanctuary.
That was one focus of the resolution, tabled by Monaco, that called on the UN General Assembly to debate whale conversation.
Another was that whaling nations want the IWC's remit restricted to species that have been hunted, while others want it to work for the conservation of all cetaceans.
The resolution invited governments to "consider these issues in collaboration with the UN General Assembly, with a view to contributing to the conservation efforts of the IWC".
There was general acceptance that such a resolution should only go forward by consensus, and it was soon clear that consensus was absent.
Norway's Einar Tallaksen said issues regarding cetaceans "are not a matter for the UN General Assembly, but for the competent fisheries organisations, including the IWC".
As far as this meeting is concerned, the proposal is abandoned, though Monaco will work for it within the UN and is launching a "task force" of supportive nations.
"Clearly the whaling countries want to contain any discussion of their whaling inside the IWC," commented Patrick Ramage, director of the global whale programme with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"They don't want their diplomats at the United Nations to have to defend the indefensible."
On the final day of the IWC's annual meeting, held this time in Panama City, delegations were also mulling the implications of Denmark's decision to leave without a whale-hunting quota for the Greenland Inuit.
They came to Panama asking for increased quotas for humpback and fin whales, in addition to maintaining existing levels for minkes and bowheads.
The bid became more controversial after environment groups reported finding whalemeat on sale in many supermarkets and restaurants, and, with the EU against the expansion, the bid failed.
"We are going to go home and reflect, because this is a situation that needs to be handled with care," said Danish delegation head Ole Samsing.
Experienced observers noted that in previous years, Denmark has been willing to compromise its requests in order to get something agreed.
The EU would have supported a continuation of the existing quotas, but the Danes opted instead to leave with nothing.
"There can be no doubt that Denmark knew when it put the proposal to a vote that it would fail," said Sue Fisher, on behalf of the Washington DC-based Animal Welfare Institute.
"It could have walked out of here days ago with a perfectly adequate quota to meet the subsistence needs of indigenous communities in Greenland for the next six years, but it was prepared to lose everything for a handful of extra whales that, our recent surveys show, could well end up on the menu in tourist restaurants".
Japan's deputy commissioner, Akima Umezawa, said the vote against Greenland had been the most disappointing aspect of a discouraging meeting.
"Many pointed out the commercialism and the increased quota," he said.
"But commercialism is accepted by the definition of [aboriginal] subsistence whaling, and the increased quota was accepted and endorsed by the IWC scientific committee."
The issue is made more complex by the evolving relationship between Greenland, a hunting-based society of just over 50,000 people, and its former colonial ruler.
Several years ago, Greenland formally asked the Danish government to put its whaling outside the IWC's aegis, but it is understood that it would now prefer to remain within the organisation.
It is inconceivable that hunting will stop, so the question is how Greenland intends to go forward.
Its own interpretation of rules on aboriginal subsistence whaling (ASW) is that countries are entitled to set their own quotas, provided they are consistent with IWC scientific advice. Other countries disagree.
The US is also opening the door to unilateral action, with draft legislation introduced into Congress that would allow the government to set quotas if the IWC denied them.
Overall, many observers said this had been the most functional IWC meeting for years, with votes taken in an orderly fashion and a relative absence of grandstanding.
Six years ago, the pro- and anti-whaling camps were roughly equal in number.
Now, the anti-whalers clearly have the upper hand, and it was noticeable that many of the Caribbean delegations were down to a single person.
The decision to hold meetings every two years from now on is part of an ongoing process - largely driven by the UK and Australia - aimed at making the commission more functional and efficient.
Delegates concluded by selecting their first ever female chair, St Lucia's Jeannine Compton-Antoine.
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What can Scotland's number one player teach a lapsed golfer about getting back into the sport?

"First, I wouldn't feel embarrassed playing," said 2014 Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher.
"Golf is one of the best games because you've got a handicap. I can be six-under par playing a guy off 18 who's seven under his handicap and I'm beat.
"That's the beauty of golf."
Speaking to BBC Sportsound producer Paul Bradley, Stephen said the main thing was "to get the passion of the game back".
"The fitness stuff just comes once you get a love for it.
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"Go to the range, hit a few balls, maybe get a couple of lessons, then get back out on the turf, play nine holes."
Paul, who has just returned to the sport to improve his fitness, agreed.
He said: "My own fear I had was making a fool of myself - if I'm going out with three pals I don't want to hold them back.
"So I've found the lessons invaluable. At least I'm getting the ball off the tee."
Stephen suggested returning golfers "get back to the fundamentals".
"Get the set-up right, get the grip right, get your posture and your aim right," he said.
Paul admitted he hadn't played for about 10 years after family life had got in the way.
Stephen said: "Take the family out with you. There's not many sports you can go out and play with your kids and your wife and compete."
If you want to get back out on the green, take a look at Get Inspired's page on how to get into golf.


An explosion at a remote Sufi Muslim shrine in the Pakistani region of Balochistan has killed 52 people and injured more than 100, officials say.

Emergency services struggled to reach the Shah Noorani shrine in Kuzdar.
Worshippers were performing dhamal - a trance-like dance - when the bomb hit. So-called Islamic State says one of its suicide bombers carried it out.
Sufism, a tolerant, mystical practice of Islam, has millions of followers in Pakistan but is opposed by extremists.
The shrine attracts Sufi devotees from all over the country, as well as neighbouring Iran.
Officials say the bomb blast took place while hundreds of worshippers were present, taking part in the dhamal, which is staged every sunset.
Because the shrine is in rough, hilly terrain, rescue efforts are difficult.
A renowned charity, the Edhi Foundation, says it has sent 50 ambulances which are now carrying people to hospitals in Karachi, 100km (62 miles) away, but officials say they need helicopters to save more lives.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and called for speedy rescue efforts.
Imran Khan, former cricketer and head of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said the attack had targeted the "core of our society".
The BBC's Charles Haviland says that because Sufism includes music and dance and reverence for saints, religious zealots often target its sites in Pakistan.
In June a famous Sufi singer, Amjad Sabri, was assassinated by two gunmen in Karachi.
Extremist groups in the province of Balochistan have frequently targeted civilians this year.
In October, dozens were killed in an attack on a police college in the city of Quetta and in August an attack on a hospital there killed 70 people.
But doubt has been cast over IS claims of previous attacks in the country.


Urgent operations including surgery for cancer patients are being delayed by an outbreak of flu at a hospital.

Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge said two wards were now shut after flu affected dozens of patients. Earlier three wards and four treatment areas had been closed by the outbreak.
Flu has also hit public areas and people are urged to stay away from A&E.
Routine operations are being delayed and care services are affected by flu, medical director Dr Jag Ahluwalia said.
"The hospital is full and we're struggling to cope. Some patients have had to be diverted to other hospitals," he added.
"We have high numbers of people with flu across the hospital.
"For coughs, colds and flu-like illnesses, people are better off at home, resting and drinking plenty of fluids.
"We need people to stay away from the hospital and ask themselves - do you need to be here?"
Influenza is a virus so cannot be treated with antibiotics and in most cases it will run its course, the hospital said.


A top London university has apologised to students after a welcome email addressed them as Kung Fu Panda.

The message left some students confused and others worried about "racial stereotyping".
The London School of Economics, where some 25% of undergraduates are of east Asian origin, says the email was a due to "technical problem".
"The email was sent to all students and did not target students from any particular background."
The email confirms that Kung Fu Panda "has accepted an unconditional offer of admission" to the LSE.
The university says it was sent out to about 200 students before the mistake, due to a mail-merge error, was spotted.
"I thought it was some kind of racist joke at first, but it turned out to be some sort of test," Christy Pang, a history student, told the Tab student newspaper.
Another asked the LSE's freshers' website: "Am I the only one who the LSE confused for a certain 'Panda Tiger Aa-Kung Fu' studying social policy?"
One student said that at first he thought his application had been messed up: "However, I couldn't imagine anyone being named Mr Panda Tiger Test Test Aa-Kung Fu, so I ignored it."
However one student was on holiday in China when he received the email and said that while he could "certainly see the funny side", he was worried "by the flagrant racial stereotyping which the LSE have seemingly refused to apologise for in their vague follow-up email".
Others were disappointed that the university spotted the mistake and sent out a follow-up apology email within 20 minutes.
"Everyone needs a good laugh once in a while," said one, while another added: "Shame the apology came through so soon, they take themselves way too seriously."
An LSE spokeswoman said: "A welcoming email that LSE sent out to some successful applicants contained an error as a result of a technical problem with coding in the database used.
"This meant that the email did not pick up some of the fields correctly.
"For example, instead of inserting the applicant's name, the email included the name from a test record which is 'Kung Fu Panda'.
"The use of this 'name' merely reflects that a member of staff who set up the test record is a fan of the film.
"The email was sent to all students and did not target students from any particular background."
The university says that other test names used include Piglet, Paddington, Homer, Bob and Tinkerbell.


Glamorgan chief executive Hugh Morris says the club is still considering whether to add an extra coach to the staff after Robert Croft's promotion to head coach.

Former captain Croft, 45, was elevated to the top role after the December departure of Toby Radford.
"We're just weighing up our options at the moment," Morris said.
"But we're very lucky that we've got a number of really good coaches with ECB qualifications."
Last season former England spinner Croft acted as Radford's assistant, while former Glamorgan seamer David Harrison also worked with the first team.
Ex-Glamorgan and England fast bowler Steve Watkin spent most of his time in charge of the second eleven.
"Dave Harrison's a level-four coach, Steve Watkin's a level-four coach, and (wicketkeeper-batsman) Mark Wallace is on his level-four programme already," Morris added.
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"We've got a lot of options, and we've got two very experienced batters in Jacques Rudolph and Colin Ingram who will have an important role to play.
"Although he (Rudolph) has a lot more playing time ahead of him, he's a top class player and he's very much captain of the club."
Glamorgan are also looking to recruit a second overseas player for the T20 Blast, though Morris admits it is a difficult task given clashes with international matches and other T20 tournaments.
Last season South African fast bowler Wayne Parnell played in eight of Glamorgan's 14 matches, and could be under consideration if he is available for enough games.
"It would obviously bolster our squad to have a second player, but not only is the IPL at the beginning of our T20 tournament, the Caribbean Premier League is in June and July," Morris said.
"South Africa, West Indies and Australia are playing a Tri-Nations tournament as well, so the pool that we can choose from is not a massive one."
Glamorgan have signed Netherlands fast bowler Timm van der Gugten and young Australian batsman Nick Selman, as well as converting all-rounder Craig Meschede's loan spell into a three-year contract.
Any further additions to the Championship squad are unlikely.


Sir Elton John is to write songs for a stage musical based on The Devil Wears Prada, the best-selling 2003 novel that became a hit Meryl Streep film.

"I'm a huge fan of both the book and the feature film, and a huge aficionado of the fashion world," the singer said.
"I can't wait to sink my musical teeth into this hunk of popular culture."
Lauren Weisberger's novel was inspired by her experiences working as an aide to Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
That character was reimagined as fearsome editor Miranda Priestly, a role that won Streep an Oscar nomination in 2007.
The producers of the show said Sir Elton had been approached, along with writer Paul Rudnick, because it needed "artists as inimitable as the characters in the story".
"We needed artists whose work has run the gamut from music and publishing to drama and fashion," Bob Cohen and Kevin McCollum continued.
Sir Elton's stage work includes the stage version of Billy Elliot and a musical based on Verdi's opera Aida.
Less successful was Lestat, a musical based on Anne Rice's vampire novels that closed on Broadway in 2006 after just 39 performances.
Casting details, location and production dates have yet to be announced.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


The outlook for Australia's Great Barrier Reef is poor despite conservation efforts, with further deterioration expected in coming years, a report says.

The bleak forecast came in a five-yearly report released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Climate change remained the biggest threat to the site, the report said.
But poor water quality from land-based run-off, coastal development and fishing also posed challenges, it said.
"Even with the recent management initiatives to reduce threats and improve resilience, the overall outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is poor, has worsened since 2009 and is expected to further deteriorate," the report released on Tuesday said.
Greater reduction of all threats at local and regional levels was needed to stop the decline and improve the reef's ability to recover, it said.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral structure, rich in marine life.
It stretches for more than 2,600km (1,680 miles) along Australia's eastern coast, containing 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc.
It is a Unesco-listed World Heritage Site, but in recent years the UN body has warned that it could be put on its World Heritage in Danger list because of its worsening condition.
Conservationists also fear that proposed development on the Queensland coast, including a planned coal port expansion at Abbott Point, could further harm its health.
In its report, the GBRMPA said that investment in some areas of reef management had yielded positive results, for example in reducing pollutant loads entering the reef.
It also highlighted examples of species that were making a comeback after years of decline, such as humpback whales and estuarine crocodiles.
But it said that climate change was already affecting the reef - causing coral bleaching and ocean acidification - and was "likely to have far-reaching consequences in the decades to come".
It said that measures had been put in place to tackle the impact of run-off, but it would be some time before the effect would be felt.
Illegal fishing also remained a problem, despite management reforms. On port development, the report said understanding of the effects of dumping dredged sediment at sea remained incomplete.
The expansion at Abbott Point involves dredging to improve access to the port, with the sediment to be dumped within the marine park - a move criticised by conservationists.
The GBRMPA report coincided with the release of a strategic assessment by the government on measures needed to protect the reef.
"Together, these reports reinforce there are no quick fixes and it will take time to turn around the overall health of the reef with a concerted effort from government, industries and communities," said Environment Minister Greg Hunt in a statement.
About A$180m (Â£99m, $167m) was being invested annually in the reef's health, he said, and an "overarching framework" for managing the reef from 2015 to 2050 was being developed.
"We are absolutely committed to protecting and improving the health of this iconic natural wonder so it can be enjoyed by future generations," he said.


Two children's football teams may fold after local FA officials banned them from playing in "inappropriately" sponsored kit, says their manager.

Birmingham-based Kings Heath Concorde's children's teams wear kits sponsored by a nightclub and tattoo parlour.
Birmingham County FA said the sponsors provided age-restricted services so advertising on children's kit was against the rules.
The club says it cannot afford to pay Â£400 to replace each team's kit.
See more stories from Birmingham and the Black Country here
Manager Russell Jukes said he had sent 50 letters to local firms for sponsorship, with the Arena nightclub in Stourbridge and Warstones Body Art agreeing to sponsor the teams.
But following a complaint, he said the club was told by the FA that the teams were banned from playing in the kit and it must be changed.
A letter from Birmingham County FA to Mr Jukes said: "We consider that the advertising of a tattoo parlour and a nightclub on U10 and U8 team shirts would be in breach of Regulation A8.
"They are age-restricted products/services and therefore inappropriate given the age of the players in question, who are significantly younger than 18."
Mr Jukes said the club operated on a "shoestring" budget.
"I'm hoping that some firms will come forward and offer sponsorship. If we don't get sponsorship coming forward, we will have to fold the two teams," he said.
He said about 30 children who attend training and play for the teams would be left disappointed.


India's prime-time TV presenter Arnab Goswami has sparked a social media frenzy with the news he is leaving the country's top English-language channel.

Goswami is a household name, famous for his loud, fast-paced news show and habit of interrupting guests with the phrase, "the nation wants to know".
Many social media users are speculating on why he might leave his job, with his name the top Twitter trend in India.
Goswami has not given a reason and his employer has yet to confirm the news.
His signature style quickly propelled him to the status of national icon at Times Now, where he was editor-in-chief and also the host of the channel's popular Newshour programme.
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His show's style meant guests and host frequently talked over one another - prompting many tongue-in-cheek social media messages about his departure.
He was not, however, universally popular.
Reacting to the news on Tuesday, the Indian Express wrote that Goswami was "often criticised for being judgmental on his news show".
"Arnab has a dedicated viewer base of people who love his direct interrogative style of debates, and also those who hate him," the newspaper explained.
Speaking to the BBC, a source in Times Now confirmed local media reports that he had announced his resignation at a staff meeting earlier on Tuesday.
However, there has been no official confirmation from the company, who were running teasers on Tuesday about his return to the channel after several days' absence.
At 21:00 local time, when Newshour aired, Goswami appeared to his captive audience - but left little clue about his future at the end of the show.
Indian media, though, are widely reporting that the famous anchor is set to embark on his own news venture - possibly in conjunction with the Rupert Murdoch news empire, News UK.
Another report carried by outlet The Quint quoted Goswami, via a second-hand source, as saying his new project would be "formidable competition to the BBC and CNN".


A Â£70bn brewing giant making 30% of the world's beer looks likely after SABMiller agreed to a takeover offer from its rival Anheuser-Busch InBev, but what does the merger mean for ordinary drinkers?

Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Corona are just a few of the household names made by AB InBev, while SABMiller produces Peroni and Grolsch.
Between them the companies produce more than 400 brands.
Even before a merger AB InBev is the largest brewer in the world.
One suggestion is that without the competition of SABMiller AB InBev would be more inclined to increase the prices of its drinks.
But Neil Saunders, a retail analyst at consultancy Conlumino, said that while the company might like to increase its prices it would be a risky business decision.
That risk is in part due to the growing popularity of craft and independent brewers which have contributed to an increasingly competitive drinks market.
"I think they will hope to put prices up but the thing that makes it very difficult for them is there's very genuine competition from the niche brewers, western Europe and America.
"If they put prices up it could lead consumers away," Mr Saunders said.
While prices may not go up, Mr Saunders thinks it is likely that some drinks will be discontinued.
"The biggest brands won't disappear because they are profitable but certainly some of the smaller brands could be phased out if they're not economically viable or if they're duplications of brands that are performing better," he said.
AB InBev would not comment on whether it planned to discontinue certain brands but described the portfolio of products as "complementary".
The majority of the drinks produced by SABMiller and AB InBev are sold internationally and are not the kind championed by  the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) group, which promotes real ale, real cider and the British pub.
For that reason it says the deal will have a limited effect on the kind of beer-drinking it promotes.
But the group's spokesman, Tom Stainer, said there was concern independent beers may find it harder to get space in pubs and supermarkets because of the increased market presence of AB InBev.
In recent years thousands of small breweries have sprung up across Europe and North America, collectively eating into the sales of companies like AB InBev.
The growth of the sector led in May to SABMiller buying the London-based craft brewery Mean Time Brewing Company.
Mr Stainer said AB InBev will be able to offer deals that will leave less room for smaller brewers in both pubs and supermarkets.
He said: "Some drinkers may find it difficult to avoid these [chain] brands and they may find beers being provided by small independent brewers being pushed off the shelves in pubs and supermarkets by these companies."
This is a possibility, Mr Saunders said, but he also thinks supermarkets will be reluctant to reduce choice.
"There's the opportunity for the company to exert more pressure, but the drinks market isn't just about low prices and offers - a lot of it is about taste and preference.
"Supermarkets will be careful about allowing one company to dominate."
21%
global market share
$47bn annual revenues in 2014
$11.3bn in 2014 profits
155,000 global workers
But while some drinks may disappear from pubs or supermarket shelves, Mr Saunders believes it is likely new drinks will be brought forwards as well.
"What they mustn't forget is a big part of this market is innovation. They need to look at how they will bring new products to the market."
A spokesman for AB InBev said consumers will "have more opportunities to taste a wide range of beers, ranging from specialty and craft beers to local champions and global flagship brands".


The public are being urged to help track the spread of tiny plastic pellets known as "nurdles" on Scotland's beaches.

There are concerns about the impact the pellets have on seabirds and the marine environment.
The puffin is believed to be one of the species most at risk.
The coloured pellets are the building blocks of the plastics industry and are used to manufacture a wide range of everyday products.
The size of a lentil, they are easily spilled and washed away.
Environmental campaigners are calling on the industry to do more to prevent nurdles ending up in the sea.
Scottish companies say they are already responding to the challenge.
The Brand-Rex factory in Glenrothes, which manufactures data cables, uses billions of the pellets every week.
The factory's drains have filters installed and spillages are carefully swept up.
Operations manager Paul Richardson said: "I like to spend a lot of time outdoors, whether that be in the hills or at the beach, so for me it's a good cause to take on board.
"But as a business, it's also very important to us."
The pellets are transported around the country by the lorry load.
They may be manufactured in Scotland or shipped in from abroad.
Grangemouth is at the heart of Scotland's trade in plastic pellets.
Industrial giant INEOS says it is working to ensure "zero pellet loss" because it's good for the environment and its business.
Local haulier, Iain Mitchell, is also aware of the damage lost shipments of nurdles can cause.
He told BBC Scotland: "It makes me feel pretty sad as a Scotsman that some of these beautiful beaches that we have around our coastline are spoiled with the pellets.
"It's horrendous. It really is."
Once you know what you're looking for, you may find yourself stumbling across nurdles when you least expect it.
I have spotted them on the beaches of the Clyde and the Forth, but reports regularly come in from more isolated stretches of coastline.
They may be tiny but they're contributing to a big problem.
The news that around 15% of puffins have plastics in their bodies will come as a surprise to many.
And there are other worries too.
The pellets attract and concentrate background pollutants and should be handled with care.
That is why gloves are recommended for anyone collecting nurdles from the beach.
Work to assess the impact of the pellets, and other plastics, on the human food chain is continuing.
We can't do much about the pellets which have already been lost, but simple changes could make a big difference.
That's why the plastic industry is promoting Operation Cleansweep.
A brush and a shovel may prove to be the most effective way of preventing spilled nurdles ending up in our seas and on our beaches.
Heightened awareness of the problem is leading to changes in working practices.
But the industry acknowledges there is a problem and is funding research into the impact of plastics on our marine environment.
Kim Christiansen of Plastics Europe said: "What exactly happens out in the environment is not fully known yet.
"This is why we work with scientists under the UN environment programme, financing their work to look into the fate and the sources of plastics in the oceans".
In the Firth of Forth, important seabird colonies on the Bass Rock and the Isle of May are close to shipping lanes and only a few miles from major industrial sites.
Mark Newell of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology studies the impact of plastics on seabirds.
He said: "We've looked at the stomach content of puffins and found that maybe about 15% of puffins will have some plastic within them.
"Certainly, these very small plastic pellets are a bigger problem for something like a puffin than the larger plastic items that will affect some of the other species."
Reports from volunteers across Scotland, and beyond, are being used by the environmental charity, Fidra, to build up a detailed picture of the problem.
Dr Madeleine Berg, of Fidra, said: "It helps us build up an evidence base and collect data to really show industry that there is a problem on our beaches.
"So if you're on your beach, just keep telling us about any nurdles you find and we'll be really interested to hear and it'll help to contribute to solving the problem."


As MS Dhoni's powerful India team were bowling out Ireland on their way to a fifth straight win at the Cricket World Cup in New Zealand on Tuesday, snooker's Indian Open tournament got under way in Mumbai.

Mumbai doesn't really do 'at a standstill' even when cricketing heroes are on television. But the city's eyeballs were largely trained elsewhere as the curtain went up on the second ranking event staged in the country where snooker was invented 140 years ago in a British Army officers' mess.
The number of rickshaws arriving at the Grand Hyatt hotel, the tournament venue, was slow for the early-morning session. But as India breezily knocked off the runs for an eight-wicket victory in Hamilton, the enthusiastic and the curious started to drift in for the snooker.
This is one of the sport's new frontiers, a country already boasting millions of players and one which  governing body World Snooker hopes will play an integral part in snooker's ambition to "become a truly global sport".
With a strong history of cue-sports, an established ranking tournament and the emergence of Aditya Mehta as a ranking-event finalist, could India - with a population of 1.25 billion - live up to its billing as 'the new China' and become a real hot-bed for snooker?
India will always have its place in snooker history. The game, with its six coloured balls in addition to the 15 reds and white cue ball, is widely acknowledged to have been invented in 1875 in the city of Jabalpur, around 450 miles to the south-east of the capital Delhi.
According to author and essayist Compton MacKenzie, young British Army lieutenant Neville Chamberlain - not the former British Prime Minister - was casually experimenting with the game of 'Black Pool' using 15 reds and a black.
Having thrown on some extra coloured balls and recalling that rookie cadets at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich were called 'snookers', Chamberlain observed that all those present were snookers at this version. The name stuck. Chamberlain's Devonshire regiment, now known as the Rifles, remain fiercely proud of their role in snooker's conception.
In the 1880s, Chamberlain was based in the hill station of Ootacamund - or 'Snooty Ooty' as the exclusive mountain retreat was known - in the state of Tamil Nadu in south-east India. The young officer even named his horse 'Snooker' and the game was further nurtured in the colonial-style Ooty Club, a big part of the sport's folklore.
Perhaps as a hangover from its colonial origins, snooker was for a long time seen as an elitist and inaccessible game in India.
But the arrival of the exotically named 'snooker parlours' in big cities, combined with tables in social clubs, have helped transform the landscape. A recent survey by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) suggested there are currently 2.5m players - with that figure set to rise dramatically.
Plans for a new national league and hundreds of tournaments were unveiled here at the Indian Open, with a series of televised, hour-long combined cue-sports events featuring snooker, pool and billiards.
Pankaj Advani, a multiple billiards world champion, has flirted with snooker in recent years, describing his agonised relationship between the two as "like having a wife and a mistress".
The 29-year-old became the first Indian to reach the quarter-finals of a world ranking snooker event at the Welsh Open in 2013, only to return to his 'wife' - billiards - last year. His popularity still secured him one of six wildcard spots reserved for local amateurs at this Indian Open, despite no longer being on tour. But his participation ended on Tuesday with a 4-3 loss to Scotsman Rhys Clark.
"Putting on the Indian Open is a great thing - but it needs to be followed up, and it will be," Advani says. "Right now we are at a crucial stage where it could really be opened out.
"Snooker has been, and still is to a lesser degree, perceived as an elitist sport in India; that's something that is different to the UK. The game is played mainly in the really big cities and it needs to get out to the smaller cities."
Srinivasan Balasubramaniam is secretary general of the BSFI, and one of the prime movers in spreading the gospel. "The big difference between India and China with snooker is the position and importance of billiards," he said.
"The trend is towards snooker though; it has grown tremendously and a lot of youngsters are taking to it. They seem to find snooker a more exciting game, have seen it on TV and follow it closely."
As India's only current tour professional and most successful snooker player after his ground-breaking run to the 2013 Indian Open final, Mehta has a considerable burden of pressure and expectation to shoulder. At times that appears to weigh heavily on him.
As India's only current tour professional and most successful snooker player after his ground-breaking run to the 2013 Indian Open final, Mehta has a considerable burden of pressure and expectation to shoulder. At times that load looks to weigh heavily on the 29-year-old.
A quieter character than showman Advani, Mehta felt huge relief at winning his qualifier to be certain of appearing in his home city of Mumbai.  "I knew the importance of qualifying for this one, the extra pressure to have India's only snooker professional at the event," he said. "If anything it is more acute since Pankaj switched back to billiards."
Up to number 49 in the world rankings, Mehta is a fine ambassador for his sport and country but has struggled, as did Advani and other players such as China's Ding Junhui and Australian Neil Robertson before him, with uprooting himself from family to be based in the UK.
Now based in north London, he wants that path eased for those following behind him. "I want people to see it is possible and help our youngsters. I had to move homes about seven times in eight years in the UK and there is a big financial cost.
"India needs to do more than just hold one ranking event; it needs to support both the grassroots and its future professionals. We have to look after the professionals on tour also and do a lot more for them."
Snooker in India would appear to be in safe hands. For the last eight years the stewardship of the game has been entrusted to captain PVK Mohan, an understated presence at the helm but a man on a mission with a clear vision.
A former sea skipper of cargo and container ships for 14 years, the 57-year-old has more than a hint of 'Captain Phillips' about him.
Mohan was previously recruited by the Indian government to help ensure safe passage for their ships past the notorious Somalian pirates operating in the Indian Ocean.
"On my watch, not one Indian-flagged ship was hijacked by the Somalian pirates," he smiled, proudly. "But for the next challenge I took over the Indian federation eight years ago, which was a dormant organisation.
"I had this dream of having a ranking event here as a tool in bringing the game on. It was ambitious but we started in Delhi, we are in Mumbai this year and almost certainly Chennai next season."
Major Bollywood stars including actor Shah Rukh Khan have accepted invitations to come and watch the Indian Open this week - and those running the sport here are confident snooker will be a long-running franchise rather than a short feature.
Not everything has gone to plan at this year's second staging of the event. The tournament was originally postponed from last October because of political unrest over regional elections.
There are big-name absentees in Mumbai - notably Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy, who chose not to enter in their build-up to next month's World Championships - while Ali Carter and Marco Fu suffered visa problems and did not take their place in the draw.
But in the big picture India has some huge ready-made advantages on which to base its snooker revolution that even China did not enjoy; notably a distinguished cue-sports tradition, and a large starting base of players - with the similarly vast potential market for recruits.
For now Mehta is India's snooker standard-bearer and Advani a national billiards treasure, dabbling when it suits. But a cricket-crazy nation is starting to get serious about snooker. And the next wave should not be long in arriving.


Over the past four months USS Harry S Truman has been sailing somewhere in the North Arabian Gulf launching wave after wave of attacks on so-called Islamic State (IS).

There are more than 60 jets on board - three times as many as the RAF are flying from Cyprus. Already they have set a record for the number of bombs dropped - more than 1,200.
The carrier's motto is made up of the words of the 33rd US president himself: "Give 'em Hell".
But the bombs that crowd the deck ready for the next wave of attacks are not the only weapon they are using.
"We do the stuff in the background that people don't talk about," says Lt Drew Schnabel, the pilot.
We watch as he and his colleague, Lt Chris Long, an Electronic Warfare Officer, put on their helmets as they prepare for another mission.
While most of the aircraft on board do carry bombs, their jet does not. They fly an EA-18G Growler designed to jam electronic signals.
Up on deck they are assigned their jet. It is fitted with large, heavy pods which emit high radiated power to block transmitters on the ground.
The Growler was originally designed to disable Air Defence Systems - the kind that might be used, for example, by Russia.
But in the fight against IS it is being used for a very different purpose.
We watch as their jet prepares to be catapulted from rest to 165mph in the space of a few seconds. Lt Schnabel calls the violent launch "the best cup of coffee".
Even from the safety of the deck it is an adrenalin-fuelled, bone-shaking experience. After a salute to the deck crew and then full throttle on the engines, their jet soon disappears into the distance.
Lts Schnabel and Long can't give much detail about the missions they have been flying day in and day out over Iraq and Syria. Much of what they do is still classified.
But Lt Schnabel tries to explain: "Think of it this way. You're sitting in your house and bombs start going off. It's chaotic. Then all of a sudden you start losing your ability to communicate and things start happening in the electronic aspect that you don't understand."
The combined effect, he says, "adds a whole 'nother level of fear". The end effect, he hopes, is they start to "lose their will to fight".
This is all part of a wider strategy being deployed by the US that includes the use of electronic and cyber-warfare.
The US and British military have already been using spy planes to locate so called "High Value Targets".
They are believed to be able to trace and track individual mobile phones.
The New York Times recently reported that America's Cyber Command has been directed to disrupt the ability of IS to spread its message, attract new recruits, circulate orders and carry out day to day functions like paying its fighters.
The US deputy defense secretary has called it "dropping cyber bombs".
Back on board the carrier Lt Long admits what they do is "ethereal in nature".
Their success may be harder to measure than the bombing missions their comrades conduct.
But he says they do get feedback. They have been turning on their jammers to support Iraqi and Peshmerga forces on the ground who, he says, tell them "we knew you were there because we stopped getting attacked and shot at".
It suggests the Growlers are able to block IS radio communications on the ground as well as jamming phones and computers.
Lt Long says: "Whoever controls the electronic spectrum will win the next war."
Rear Adm Bret Batchelder, who commands the carrier strike groups, says it's a "long-term process and it's not going to happen overnight".
Even with all this military might and advanced technology the fight against IS is far from over.


The son of former Ireland rugby captain Willie Anderson has won an unprecedented double prize at the British Fashion Awards.

Magherafelt-born Jonathan Anderson won both best menswear and best womenswear designer in London.
"We're just delighted and it's lovely for Northern Ireland as well," said his father Willie Anderson.
"We rang him last night and he was just overwhelmed," he said.
"He thought he would have a chance at the women's wear but he didn't think he would get both.
"He's worked so hard, he kind of takes it in his stride."
Willie said he was aware of Jonathan's creative talent from a young age.
"He had always had a tendency when he was 11 or 12 he would have done little matchstick drawings and designed them," Willie said.
"We knew what he could do. Fashion design was his forte and he came to that decision, it wasn't us.
"We would have backed him in whatever he wanted and we backed him as all parents would do."
Willie said he knew that Jonathan would not be putting on rugby boots like his father.
"I knew pretty early on that he wouldn't," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, as long as he's healthy and happy, it didn't matter what he did.
"But he's certainly a global super star at the moment."


John Tripp has been appointed Braehead Clan's new head coach, with the 40-year-old arriving from German second division club Eispiraten Crimmitshau.

The Canada-born former Germany right wing takes over from Ryan Finnerty, who left after Clan failed to reach the Elite League play-off semi-finals.
Clan director Gareth Chalmers said: "We wanted someone young, ambitious, well-connected, with the leadership to take us to the next level.
"In John, we believe we have that."
Tripp, who has signed a two-year contract, made more than 50 appearances for Germany, playing for his adopted country at the 2010 Olympic Games.
The ex-wing enjoyed a long playing career in Canada, the United States and Germany before taking over as head coach at Eispiraten Crimmitshau, where he finished his career, in December.
Tripp's team finished bottom of DEL2 but retained their place for next season via a play-off.
Chalmers stressed that the Glasgow club had taken advice from, among others, Eisbaren Berlin head coach Uwe Krupp and Lowen Frankfurt counterpart Paul Gardner before making the appointment.
"He has been recommended to us by Uwe Krupp, Paul Gardner and a number of other well-respected people throughout hockey," he added.
"I believe John will challenge the rest of the club to be better with the aim of challenging for silverware."


Some commentators have argued over the years that, whatever its material growth, China will always be held back by its lack of democracy.

I would argue, with Winston Churchill, that, for all its defects and annoyances, democracy does offer a good working system for modern states, leaving citizens free to develop while providing a safety valve and the chance of peaceful changes of government.
It cannot stand alone - independent rule of law and a certain degree of tolerance are also essential.
In the case of China, the reality is that some essential building blocks are absent were the country to wish to head in the direction of competitive democracy.
The idea of the independent rule of law is lacking - rather, China has long embraced the creed of legalism, which means using the law to implement the decision of the rulers rather than enabling it to be a means of challenging top-down authority.
Then the historical backdrop is missing - the only quasi-free national elections ever held in China were in 1912 and ended with the leader of the ruling party being assassinated, after which a military strongman exerted his grip on the country.
When the Communist Party talks of democracy, what it means is internal procedures to make its rule more effective.
Village elections are held, but the list of candidates is closely vetted.
At the other end of the scale, the choice of members of the ruling Politburo and its supreme Standing Committee is decided behind closed doors at a party congress every five years.
Some commentators see this in a positive light. China, they hold, does not need the messy business of open democracy and is better served by the rule of an elite selected by the monopoly party which, they add, is far more efficient than Western governments.
That argument hardly holds water on closer examination away from the usual cliches about China's Confucian system.
China has, indeed, amazed the world by its economic growth since the 1980s.
Combining abundant cheap labour, cheap capital and welcoming export markets, it has pulled more people out of poverty in a shorter time than any country in history.
In the process, Deng Xiaoping's target of ensuring continuing one-party rule by making the Communist machine the vehicle by which growth was delivered gave the regime a new legitimacy after the shambles of the Mao Zedong era.
But now the leadership under Xi Jinping, who is both Party General Secretary and State President as well as holding five other top jobs, faces a different kind of challenge to the one confronting Deng when he won out in the power struggle that followed Mao's death in 1976.
The 1980s equation of cheap labour, cheap capital and export market no longer works - wages have gone up; so has the cost of credit; and demand from developed markets is not what it used to be.
China's financial system cannot cope with the size of the economy.
There is huge excess capacity. Deflation is a major constraint.
Political reform is off the agenda - dissidents have been jailed and official media thunder against allegedly Western-inspired threats to the system.
But it is neither around the economy nor the political sphere that the powerful current leadership may face its biggest test.
Chinese society has evolved hugely with material growth.
So have everyday problems, exacerbated by the lack of effective controls as crude growth has been the leitmotif of official policy and promotions of officials.
As a result, China has developed the worst environmental crisis of any major economy.
Life expectancy in northern cities affected by bad air is estimated to be 5.5 years fewer than in cleaner southern centres.
Nobody would think of drinking from the tap - water is so toxic in some areas that it cannot be used for industry. Major lakes are clogged by algae.
Behind the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze, a huge stagnant reservoir is clogged with waste from up-river.
Deposits from factories and river-borne pesticides have led to an estimated 10% of farmland being unsafe for crop cultivation.
Food safety is a constant cause for concern, affected by everything from sausages containing putrid meat and poisoned baby milk formula to water melons exploding because of chemicals pumped into them.
Safety standards are low and often not enforced.
Citizens lack means of recourse through accountable bodies or the law.
The current major anti-corruption campaign has shown just how enormous graft had become - the associates of one major former official are said to have amassed assets of $30bn (Â£20bn), while it took investigators more than a week to count the wealth of a former senior general.
People increasingly ask the "Why?" questions: "Why do I have to wear a face mask when I go out, why can't I drink water without boiling it, why is imported food less dangerous than domestic products?"
Such concerns are felt in particular by the younger generation of the urban middle class.
Social media - China has some 600 million web users - and foreign travel - the Chinese make 100 million visits abroad each year - spur such questioning.
That leads logically to the question of whether crude economic expansion is enough or if, having achieved so much, China needs to deal with the problems spawned by growth.
That is likely to be a major challenge for Xi Jinping as he tightens his grip on political power.
Given his insistence on Communist Party supremacy, his answer will not be a lurch towards competitive democracy in which citizens will be given their say over who rules them.
It will be a hybrid response, but the clock is ticking. Finding policies that satisfy the population will be key to social stability.
This is not democracy, but shows that, even in a top-down one-party state, popular concerns matter - and cannot be waved away by simplistic assertions that China has found a superior way of running the state and that its past ensures its future.
The proof will be in the party's ability to deliver on the social and quality-of-life front  - and that is one of the biggest tasks for any ruling administration on Earth.
Jonathan Fenby is author of Will China Rule the World?, Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today and the Penguin History of Modern China.


Tata Steel's Deeside plant is a profitable and viable business, a union official has said.

Shotton steelworks operates a steel galvanising line which colours steel and makes steel panels for buildings.
Community union official Keith Jordan said the works, which employs 800, was making money, unlike the Port Talbot plant which is said to lose Â£1m a day.
He said staff were stunned that Indian owner Tata Steel planned to sell its entire loss-making UK business.
"Shotton is one of if not the only site in Tata Steel UK that is profitable," said Mr Jordan.
"The prime minister needs to take some positive steps to help Tata keep us viable.
"We have two businesses based at Shotton and both of them are profitable," he said.
The company has said it would "explore all options", including "divestment" of its operations.
The Shotton site has had mixed fortunes over its long history with 6,500 made redundant in March 1980.
In 1967, 12,000 were employed at the works when the industry was nationalised.


Newport County have not received an approach from League Two rivals Notts County for manager John Sheridan, says Exiles director Gavin Foxall.

Sheridan, 51, has lifted Newport from the bottom of the table up to 20th with five wins and seven draws from 17 games since taking charge on 2 October.
Reports tipped him to replace Ricardo Moniz who was sacked on 29 December.
"As far as we're concerned, John is still our manager. He's with us until the end of the season," said Foxall.
He told BBC Radio Wales: "We've not been approached by Notts County, and nor has John as far as we're aware.
"He's focused with us. He's done a great job since he's come in. We're watching some good football out there.
"There's a job to be done. We're not away from relegation trouble. He's come here to do a job and we're expecting him to do that."
Sheridan recently said he was only concentrating on Newport.
The Welsh club host Championship outfit Blackburn in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.


Actor Timothy Spall has made a "gamely" return to the London stage for the first time in two decades to star in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker.

The Mr Turner star opened in the 60s classic at the Old Vic on Wednesday in the part of the tramp Davies.
Spall last took to the capital's stage in 1992 playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the National Theatre.
In Pinter's play, Spall's ragged Davies is helped by a young man, only to have the brother threaten his new peace.
Critics were largely pleased to see the actor back on stage, whose career has for the last few years been on the big screen, notably playing Peter Pettigrew in Harry Potter.
They also had kind words for Spall's co-stars, Daniel Mays playing the kindly brother Aston and George MacKay as his scheming brother Mick.
And, though some felt the production was lacking in all but its three-hour length, most, like Dominic Cavendish of The Telegraph, had some words of encouragement for the star for his performance in the notoriously gruelling play.
Spall has "gamely come, at the age of 59, to give the Old Vic an instant touch of box-office magic", says Cavendish.
Below you can read more of his review and highlights from some other critics' assessments.
How does Spall fare? Well enough, I'd say, but while he looks the part with wild grey hair, heavy black overcoat and old pinstripe trousers, he's hobbled rather than helped by aspects of his interpretation...
Matthew Warchus's revival protracts the overall experience to three hours... at least a small part of this excess is attributable to the meal Spall makes of his lines. Almost every utterance is accompanied by a starter of eye-rolling and muttering...
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It's a part that Spall, who is also known for Fungus the Bogeyman on Sky TV, slips into like a pair of cheesy old slippers.  It allows him to give full vent to the grumpy, inscrutable and tender talents that make him one of our finest actors...
The play may have launched Pinter on a 50-year journey to the Nobel prize and some say it changed the course of British drama.  But there's no question that it's dated.
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Watching Spall, I was reminded that I was recently twice conned by a man at the door seeking money first for a sponsored walk and then for a substitute latch-key. Spall, like my visitor, shows how the truly desperate often combine rat-like cunning with the ability to refashion themselves in the moment...
But, while Spall is always fun to watch, I feel there is an edge of danger and aggression to Davies that here gets lost.
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Although Davies is blunt and unkempt, he also resembles a music hall performer, a down-on-his-luck comedian who's perpetually searching for a new audience. Spall vividly expresses his clowning playfulness and the vulnerability it's meant to mask.
Yet it's rising star George MacKay who impresses most as Aston's malign brother Mick. He uses language as a weapon, and sometimes his whole body seems like a sharp, slim blade. His elaborately specific fantasies about interior design are winningly strange, and his stare is memorably pitiless.
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This is comic strip Pinter. It's a lovingly drawn comic strip, performed with punch, skill and conviction, but it's still a comic strip...
Mighty performances anchor a broad and slightly bloated production of Pinter's classic tragicomedy.
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The Caretaker is at the Old Vic until 14 May.


A list of the country's top 20 cycling collision hotspots has been drawn up by the charity Sustrans Scotland.

It looked at the number of accidents recorded at each junction, then weighted the results according to the severity of injuries sustained and how many cyclists were active in the area.
The Arkleston Road/A761 junction in Paisley headed the list.
The charity, which promotes walking and cycling, said the results highlight the importance of better infrastructure.
The findings will be presented at the Scottish Transport Applications and Research conference this week.
Locations with dangerous junctions included Wallyford, Dundee, Tranent, Inverness and Stirling.
Roundabouts were featured in eight of the dangerous junctions, with seven others being T-junctions or staggered junctions.
Sustrans Scotland director John Lauder said: "Safety is often cited as the main reason why people don't cycle for more of the journeys they make every day.
"This research highlights the importance of having high-quality cycling infrastructure in place at junctions, so that collisions can be prevented.
"We know that better cycle infrastructure increases the feeling of safety and ultimately the number of people on bikes."
He added: "Put quite simply: the more people in a place who cycle, the safer it becomes for everyone."
Sustrans Scotland has been working with local authorities to address some of the specific concerns.
It contributed to a consultation on improving one of Edinburgh's busiest junctions, at Sheriffhall roundabout.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: "The Scottish government remains committed to undertaking improvements at Sheriffhall roundabout having announced the preferred route option earlier this year.
"As part of the scheme, grade separation at Sheriffhall will improve access for pedestrians and cyclists compared to the existing arrangement.
"By allowing Edinburgh City Bypass traffic to pass over it will significantly reduce congestion and improve accessibility for all modes of transport including pedestrians and cyclists."


A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder after a man was killed in a stabbing in Birmingham.

A fight reportedly broke out in Twickenham Road, Kingstanding, at about 13:00 BST on Saturday. A 23-year-old man suffered fatal stab injuries.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Birmingham Youth Court on Monday.
He has been remanded and is due to appear before Birmingham Crown Court on 12 July.
Police said two men, aged 20 and 24, who were arrested in connection with the investigation, had been bailed.
See more stories from across Birmingham and the Black Country


British politics risks being "infected by the contagion" of fake news stories, a senior Labour MP has said.

Michael Dugher said the problem was not confined to the US and news outlets everywhere had a duty to scrutinise politicians on the basis of "truth and reality" not "click-bait nonsense".
Labour, he said, must be "vigilant" to the threat of false information coming from the left as well as the right.
It comes amid a row over the release of unverified claims about Donald Trump.
The US President-elect has dismissed a dossier containing claims about his private life and relationship with Russia as a "disgrace" and described Buzzfeed - which published the document in full - as a "failing pile of garbage".
Buzzfeed has acknowledged the allegations were unverified and potentially unverifiable but justified its reporting, saying the claims had "circulated at the highest levels of government" and the public should make up their minds about their veracity.
Mr Trump also attacked CNN, which reported that intelligence chiefs had presented a synopsis of the dossier - said to have been compiled by a former British Secret Service agent - to President Barack Obama.
The phenomenon of fake news - which came to the fore during the US presidential election - has triggered a debate about journalistic ethics in the US.
Mr Dugher, a former shadow culture secretary, said it was an issue that British journalists - whether they work for social media, campaigning websites or more traditional news outlets - could not ignore.
"The global scale of the problem with fake news is clear," he told the Guardian.
"Even someone with views as grimly unpalatable as Trump deserves to be scrutinised on the basis of truth and reality - not on fake news."
Mr Dugher has been asked by deputy leader Tom Watson to examine the changing way that news is consumed and shared online and at the "practical, political and ethical issues" raised by fake news - with a report due in the spring.
He suggested the dominance of tech giants like Facebook and Google over the dissemination of information online was as big a challenge to media plurality as the power of established broadcasters and newspaper publishers on other platforms.
But he said there was also a duty on "mainstream" news providers not to fan the flames of the problem and resist the temptation to publish sensational but unverified material in a "voracious quest for web traffic".
He added: "We in the Labour Party, who have so often been on the wrong side of misrepresentations and unfair attacks from the right wing media, also have a responsibility to be vigilant and reject fake news material on social media and elsewhere - even if it purports to come from the left."
Speaking on Thursday, the BBC's director of news and current affairs James Harding said the organisation had to a duty to call out "deliberately misleading stories masquerading as news" .
He said the BBC would be expanding its Reality Check service dedicated to scrutinising the statistics and arguments used by parties and interest groups.
"The BBC can't edit the internet, but we won't stand aside either," he said. "We will fact check the most popular outliers on Facebook, Instagram and other social media. We are working with Facebook, in particular, to see how we can be most effective."


A drug dealer has been jailed for three-and-a-half years at Norwich Crown Court after being tried alongside a murderer.

Veron Antonio, 24, from Green Lane, Morden in south London, was convicted of supplying Class A drugs in May.
He was cleared of assisting Hassiem Baquir, who was found guilty of killing 37-year-old Steve Stannard.
Mr Stannard died of multiple stab wounds at his flat on Bowers Avenue in Norwich in November.
Baquir was jailed for life and told he must serve at least 20 years before being considered for release.


Teams searching for the missing Malaysian plane say they will wait for further contact with signals picked up over the weekend before using a submersible to search for debris.

An Australian ship has heard signals that officials said could be consistent with "black box" flight recorders.
It has not been able to reacquire them since Sunday, however.
Australian officials said it was key to re-find the signals before using a submersible in a search for wreckage.
Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March with 239 people on board. The Beijing-bound plane lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian officials say that - based on satellite data - they believe the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, west of the Australian city of Perth, thousands of kilometres from its intended flight path.
In Beijing, relatives of missing passengers held a vigil to mark one month since the plane disappeared.
Speaking at Pearce Airbase in Perth, Australian Defence Minister David Johnston said that several days of "intense action" were ahead as search teams tackled "this difficult, complex task" while black box pingers were still believed to be active.
Australian vessel Ocean Shield has been using a towed pinger locator to listen for transmissions from the plane's flight recorders. Over the weekend, it heard signals on two separate occasions, the first time for more than two hours.
On the second occasion two distinct pinger returns were audible, something said to be consistent with transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston, who heads the agency overseeing the search for the plane, said that Ocean Shield had had no further contact with any transmissions since then.
He said that work involving the towed pinger locator would continue for several days, adding that the Bluefin 21 underwater drone would not be deployed unless more transmissions were received.
"If we can get more transmissions we can get a better fix on the ocean floor, which will enable a much more narrowly focussed visual search for wreckage," he said.
"If we go down there now and do the visual search, it will take many, many days," he said, adding that it was "very slow and painstaking work".
He has also urged caution, saying that there was no confirmation that these signals were from the missing plane.
So far, no wreckage has been found from MH370, but officials have concluded that it ended its flight in the sea to the far west of Perth.
Officials do not know why it lost contact with air traffic controllers and ended up so far from its intended path.
The backgrounds of both passengers and crew have been investigated but to date officials are not thought to have discovered any concrete evidence about what might have caused the plane to disappear.
Relatives of those on board have endured a month of uncertainty and grief.
"We need to persist in resolving this situation, to persist in finding the clues and what really happened and finding our relatives," said Steve Wong, speaking for the Chinese relatives at the vigil in Beijing.


A policeman has opened fire at a police training centre in Jordan, killing two Americans, a South African and two Jordanians, officials say.

The Jordanian embassy in Washington said the Jordanian assailant also wounded two Americans and two Jordanians, before being shot dead.
President Barack Obama said the US was taking the attack "very seriously".
The US-funded Jordan International Police Training Centre (JIPTC) hosts mainly Palestinian and Iraqi officers.
Civilian contractors from the US and elsewhere assist Jordanian police trainers at the facility in Muwaqqar, on the eastern outskirts of Amman.
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani told the Associated Press that an investigation had been launched into whether the motive for Monday's shooting attack at the JIPTC was personal or political.
The assailant was a senior trainer with the rank of captain, a Jordanian security source was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The US embassy in Amman confirmed that two US government employees were killed and two wounded in the incident.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of all of the victims. The investigation is ongoing and it is premature to speculate on motive at this point," a statement said. "We are working closely with the government of Jordan and local security services on a full and comprehensive investigation."
"We strongly condemn this incident and we deeply appreciate the co-operation and support received from our Jordanian partners."
BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly says the kingdom of Jordan steers a strongly pro-Western course in the turbulent waters of the Middle East.
It hosts joint military exercises with countries like the US and UK, and strongly supports the US-led coalition against Islamic State militants in Syria.
In the absence of any other obvious motive for the shooting it will be assumed that the killings were intended as an act of solidarity with militant groups in the Middle East, our correspondent adds.
The incident comes on the 10th anniversary of bombing attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq on three hotels in Amman which killed more than 50 people.


Developers who knocked down a 1920s west London pub shortly before it was to be given listed status must rebuild it, an inquiry has ruled.

Westminster City Council told developer CTLX, which owns Carlton Tavern, it must rebuild the pub "brick by brick", after it was unexpectedly demolished.
CTLX had refused to do this and appealed the council's decision.
But a five-day inquiry by the Planning Inspectorate found in favour of the council.
Westminster councillor Robert Davis said he was looking forward to the Carlton Tavern being turned back into a "thriving community pub".
"This sends a clear message to developers across the country that they cannot ride roughshod over the views of local communities," he said.
The Carlton Tavern was demolished in April 2015, in breach of planning laws and in spite of the fact it was being considered for Grade II listing.
The council was given no prior warning of the demolition, which was not approved, and was done without proper health and safety procedures in place.
The Planning Inspector agreed that it was "highly likely that it would have been listed had it not been demolished", calling it a "rare public house", with "considerable importance for the community".
Historic England said they "intended to recommend the site for listing" because it was "remarkably well-preserved" from its interwar days.
Westminster council had rejected an application for redevelopment on the site in January of the same year, which was also upheld by the inspector.


England's filthiest restaurants should be forced by law to display hygiene ratings, inspectors say.

Outlets in Wales have had to display food hygiene ratings since 2013, but no such law exists in England.
Inspectors say this results in premises that score lower than three out of five - meaning they must improve hygiene standards - failing to display ratings.
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) said it believed the display of hygiene notices should be voluntary.
The BBC's Inside Out team filmed a hygiene inspection in Leicester, where evidence of mouse and rat droppings, dirty dishes and floors and mouldy kitchen surfaces was uncovered.
Andrew Wood, from the inspection team, said: "I find it frustrating [that ratings are not displayed].
"Members of the public are not always able to check the ratings online so in a way they are going into these places blind.
"It must also be frustrating for businesses that have achieved good ratings."
1,527
have the lowest rating of 0
229,479
scored  the highest rating of 5
78,040 scored 4
41,343 scored 3
10,728 scored 2
13,183 scored 1
Ratings for food outlets can be checked online.
Leicester City Council's food safety team manager, David Barclay Rhodes, said: "At the moment, I can walk along any street in England and see stickers with five, four and three ratings which mean they are satisfactory or better, but I never see the bad ones."
Assistant city mayor of Leicester, Susan Waddington, said: "We feel it would be better if it were compulsory for the rating to be displayed on the window quite clearly and inside the restaurant.
"That way, customers can make a choice and the people that run the businesses have a motivation to improve where hygiene standards are not high enough."
She added: "I think owners would be motivated to push up standards"
The BHA said it believed display of the ratings would soon become mandatory in England.
However, it criticised the ratings for a lack of consistency and said it would only support their mandatory display "if an effective and independent appeals process is put into place".
The Food Standards Agency said it had started to build the case for the mandatory display of ratings in England.
It said it hoped to present its work to the government over the next few months.
The Department for Health said it would look at the evidence and would make a decision "in due course".
For more on this subject watch Inside Out on BBC One East Midlands at 19:30 GMT on Monday 18 January and nationwide for 30 days thereafter on the iPlayer.


Hosea Gear's two tries sealed victory for Barbarians over an inexperienced England XV at Twickenham.

Dave Ewers and Charlie Sharples's tries helped England lead 18-14 at the break, while Benson Stanley and Juan Martin Hernandez crossed for the visitors.
But the invitational side then took control with Mamuka Gorgodze scoring at the start of the second half.
The hosts responded with Henry Slade's try, but Gear scored twice to settle an exciting contest.
England head coach Stuart Lancaster has picked a separate 30-man squad to tour New Zealand, with players from Saracens and Northampton now to be added after Saturday's Premiership final.
The Barbarians certainly rose to a challenge from coach Dean Ryan to restore the reputation of the team, drawn from elite players from all over the world, after heavy defeats by England and the British and Irish Lions over the past two years.
But after an impressive start they trailed when Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson made a good break and Exeter forward Ewers burst over from a couple of yards out.
Ryan's side showed their attacking quality as a sweeping passing move ended with Stanley and fellow New Zealander Rene Ranger exchanging passes before Stanley crossed.
England blood replacement Ollie Devoto created his team's second try with a clever kick-through for Gloucester winger Sharples to touch down.
But the Barbarians responded with another neat move when Clermont's Australian fly-half Brock James' diagonal kick was caught by former New Zealand winger Gear, whose looped pass allowed Hernandez to score.
Five minutes after the break, Georgia and Montpellier number eight Gorgodze burst off the back of a dominant scrum and barged through two tackles for a try that was eventually awarded by the television official.
Famed for their positive style of play, the Barbarians were booed for kicking at goal but James' penalty extended the advantage to 24-18.
England hit back when Bath back Devoto's break led to Exeter fly-half Slade getting over in the corner.
But Toulouse winger Gear extended the lead when he ran around Elliot Daly to finish a counter-attack and then added a fifth try for the Barbarians with a fine solo run.
England XV: E Daly (Wasps), S Rokoduguni, J Joseph (both Bath), S Hill (Exeter), C Sharples (Gloucester), H Slade (Exeter), J Simpson (Wasps), R Harrison (Sale), R Buchanan, K Sinkler (both Harlequins), M Paterson (Sale), G Kitchener (capt), J Gibson (both Leicester), L Wallace (Harlequins), D Ewers (Exeter).
Replacements: T Taylor (Sale), F Balmain (Leicester), W Collier, C Matthews (both Harlequins), J Gaskell (Sale), D Robson (Gloucester), O Devoto (Bath), R Miller (Sale).
Barbarians: J M Hernandez (Racing Metro & Argentina), J Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand), R Ranger (Montpellier & New Zealand), B Stanley (Clermont & New Zealand), H Gear (Toulouse & New Zealand), B James (Clermont & Australia), J Cowan (Gloucester & New Zealand), S Taumalolo (Perpignan & Tonga), T Paulo (Clermont & Samoa), D Kubriashvili (Stade Francais & Georgia), D O'Callaghan (Munster & Ireland), J Kruger (Racing Metro & South Africa), J M Leguizamon (Lyon & Argentina, capt), A Lapandry (Clermont & France), M Gorgodze (Montpellier & Georgia).
Replacements: A Hore (Maniototo & New Zealand), J Brugnaut (Racing Metro & France), N Lobo (Montpellier & Argentina), J Tekori (Toulouse & Samoa), R Wilson (Ulster & Ireland), T Cubelli (Belgrano & Argentina), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier & France), A Tuitavake (Montpellier & New Zealand).


Emigration from Northern Ireland fell to its lowest level in nine years in the year ending mid-2015, according to official estimates.

The number of people leaving was estimated at 21,500 - down by 5.6% compared to 2014.
The number of people coming to live in Northern Ireland in 2015 was estimated at 23,600.
During Northern Ireland's economic boom years, annual net immigration peaked at almost 11,000.
The overall Northern Ireland population was estimated to be just over 1.85 million in June 2015, an increase of 11,100 on the previous year.
The figures, from the the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra), also show a continuing trend towards an aging population.
The number of people aged 65 and over in Northern Ireland increased by 2.1% in 2015 to reach 291,800 people, almost 16% of the population.
Within that group, the population aged 85 and over increased by 2.9% to reach 35,500 people or 1.9% of the population.
By contrast, the number of children aged 0 to 15 increased by just 0.4% to reach 385,200 or 20.8% of the population.


Driving along a sunlit road along Gibraltar's western slopes, a tourist stops by one of the city's top attractions - St Michael's Cave - and consults his travel guide.

Soon he won't need a book to learn more about this tiny British overseas territory in the Mediterranean, just south of Spain.
Following the lead of the UK town of Monmouth, Gibraltar is aiming to spill the content of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia into the real world.
To do this, it is equipping Gibraltar's tourist attractions with QR codes - "quick response" barcodes that can be scanned with a mobile phone.
These black-and-white pixelated images have been around for more than two decades but have started to gain mainstream acceptance only in the past few years, appearing on everything from walls and billboards to newspapers and detergent packs.
As well as other technologies such as near-field communication tags (NFC) and augmented reality (AR) apps, they give mobile phone users information about a particular object.
QR codes store text, phone numbers, email addresses and calendar events, and once scanned, create links to websites or generate some interactive content on your smartphone's screen.
Tourism is a big part of Gibraltar's economy, with more than 11 million visitors spending Â£280m last year, and the authorities are keen to seize any opportunity to increase revenue.
The QR codes take users directly to a Wikipedia page of the relevant tourist attraction, says Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.
"Gibraltar is a multi-layered cake of historical events, starting with the Neanderthals of 50,000 years ago through to modern humans," he says.
What are QR codes' chances?
QR codes have been around for years, but only 11% of UK smartphone users scanned one in July 2012, according to data agency Comscore.
Some analysts have been saying that other technologies such as NFC, which lets you get information wirelessly just by waving your phone in front of the chip, may eventually replace QR.
But QR supporters argue that NFC is not quite there yet - it is expensive to create tags, and for now, not many phones can scan them.
QR codes are free to create, cheap to install and nearly all modern smartphones have apps that can read them.
Augmented reality apps are also a potential threat - they allow information to appear on your handset's screen simply by pointing the phone towards an object of interest. Google Glass headset could even take this one step further, and make information appear right in front of the user's eyes.
But QR is far from being dead - and recent moves by the electronic giants Apple and Microsoft could give it a push.
The technology will be integrated into Apple's Passbook ticket/coupon wallet service, available on the forthcoming iOS6 operating system. It will allow users to get into a cinema, check in for a flight, or redeem a coupon via their phone.
Microsoft has recently signed a licensing agreement with NeoMedia, one of the pioneers in the mobile barcodes field, to acquire all of the firm's QR code patents.
"Our own caving unit has now catalogued over 200 caves in Rock, with many being rich in archaeology but inaccessible to most people.
"Here we have another way of getting all this information across to the world."
"Gibraltarpedia" organisers want their QR codes to communicate with the user's phone to determine its set-up language, so a Brazilian tourist can be taken to a page in Portuguese, a Turk to one in Turkish and so on, says Roger Bamkin, a consultant to the Gibraltar government and a volunteer from Wikimedia UK, the charity that supports the online encyclopaedia.
"By scanning QR codes around them, tourists will be to able to find out about the place they are visiting in their own language, with the description written by a volunteer speaking that language," he says.
Volunteers have been producing up to 20 articles a day in various languages, and Mr Bamkin has been in Gibraltar this week seeking more people to contribute photos, maps and information on the territory's history.
But once all the landmarks are equipped with codes and all the articles are written, other factors need to be dealt with for the project to take off.
Roaming charges may deter visitors from connecting to the web - and the government of Gibraltar says it is considering the possibility of free wi-fi.
Also, tourists should be familiar with QR codes and be willing to use them. Although people may be used to seeing them, not many in the Western world actually scan them.
On the other hand, in Japan and South Korea many use them on a daily basis.
Tesco Korea lets consumers shop in a virtual supermarket while standing on a subway platform. They scan images of groceries with a QR code reader and buy them with a click.
But Gibraltarpedia organisers say that they realise QR codes may be replaced by other technology - just as DVDs replaced CDs, says Mr Bamkin.
However, he believes that the project will be a success - and be it QR, NFC or any other future tech, Wikipedia is aiming to bridge online and offline worlds.
"Projects like Gibraltarpedia are a test of our mission," says Mr Bamkin, adding that the next target is expansion into northern Africa.
"Africans have a great need of free information - there are many more Wikipedia articles in the UK or France than there are in Morocco, Algeria, or Mali."


Shares in embattled South Korean shipper Hanjin have tumbled on Monday after the company said it would close its European business.

The firm said it planned to pull out of more than 10 countries, including its regional headquarters in Germany.
Shares plunged to close 12% lower.
In the industry's biggest bankruptcy to date, Hanjin Shipping filed for receivership in August after creditors refused a restructuring plan for the firm's $5.4bn (Â£4.4bn) debt.
The company has since been granted legal protection preventing its ships from seizure in various ports including South Korea, the US and Japan.
Hanjin Shipping expects to start the closure process in Europe later this week after obtaining approval from the Seoul Central District Court.
'We don't have a future' - Hanjin crews return to uncertain fate
The strange story of a seized ship and its lonely crew
Hanjin ships, cargo and sailors stranded at sea
Earlier this month, the company got approval to auction its major assets, including its Asia-US route network, in order to pay back creditors.
Hanjin's bankruptcy is the largest to hit the shipping industry and affected global supply chains.
Before the bankruptcy, Hanjin was the world's seventh-largest container company and had been unprofitable for four of the past five years.
The global economic downturn in recent years has affected profits across the cargo shipping industry.