Proposals by the Trump administration to roll back US environmental regulations are likely to foment opposition, say analysts.

The President-elect is likely to push forward plans for fracking and drilling for oil and gas on federal lands.
Campaigners say that this is likely to be opposed in the courts, in Congress and lead to protests.
President Obama is trying to limit the impact of the next administration by extending existing protections.
While much attention since Mr Trump's election has focused on the President-elect's threats to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, there is growing concern among green groups about the impact of other aspects of the Trump environmental plan.
One key element is the expansion of oil and gas production on publicly owned lands. At present there is a moratorium on energy recovery in federal areas, and the Trump team has promised to lift this, and encourage fracking and drilling.
President-elect Trump has also been vocal in his support for projects such as the XL oil pipeline, which President Obama rejected.
Attempts to open up public lands for oil and gas, and to push through pipelines will likely attract significant public resistance, say observers.
"I think there'll be a lot of people who were very willing to get in the streets and you know, protest with civil disobedience and we're likely to see some real confrontations there," said Dean Baker, an economist with the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.
Environmental campaigners also take the view that opening up federal lands for resource extraction would be foolish and would help unify the opposition.
"I think they will try to expand fracking and mining and drilling on public lands," said Michael Brune from the Sierra Club.
"But that will be pretty fiercely resisted by people who live near those communities, both progressive and conservatives alike."
Even if the Trump administration succeeds in overturning the current moratorium, there may not be a rush from oil and gas companies to exploit these reserves.
"Most of these shale gas (and tight oil) resources are on private lands, according to the Congressional Research Service, so "opening up" public lands will do little to induce production until prices rise and could even have a depressing effect on prices," writes Alan Krupnick in a blog post for Resources for the Future, an independent economic research organisation.
"If prices were to fall, the advantage natural gas has over coal would further widen unless coal prices fell as well."
As well as opening up public lands for oil and gas, the incoming administration is likely to try and overturn existing environmental regulations.
In an interview in 2015 Donald Trump labelled the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "a disgrace" and promised to cut the department if elected.
He has appointed Myron Ebell, well known for his opposition to the scientific consensus on climate change, to head the EPA transition team.
It's likely that many of the actions taken by the EPA, especially recent regulations on methane emissions from pipelines and installations will now be overturned.
"I think these regulations are going to get a very critical look, as to what they're doing in terms of the economic cost versus the climate benefits," said Nick Loris, from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
"I don't know if you will see an energy revolution but I do think there's going to be a look at this regulatory onslaught that's choked off investment to specific energy technologies and energy sources."
The biggest casualty of the Trump presidency is likely to be the Clean Power Plan, the centre piece of the Obama administration's attempts to cut carbon emissions from electricity generation by a third within 15 years.
This plan has already run into trouble in the the courts and even if it isn't ultimately thrown out by the judges, the new administration is likely to let it wither on the vine.
Environmentalists are hopeful though, that the plan has already had some impacts on energy production.
"We have made so much progress in replacing coal with clean energy that many of the early goals of the Clean Power Plan have already been met," said Michael Brune.
"So undermining it won't have the effect that people thought two years ago."
With 29 states now having regulations in place that mandate a proportion of their energy comes from renewable sources, this will also make it difficult for President-elect Trump to turn back the renewable tide and boost coal without getting into a battle with the state governors.
One area where President Obama is rapidly trying to secure his environmentally friendly legacy is through giving extra protections to federal lands.
Earlier this week, the US department of the interior banned gold mining in an area near Yellowstone national park. There are expectations that he will try and extend protection from mining in Utah, Nevada and around the Grand Canyon.
While time is running out for President Obama, the imminent arrival of the Trump environmental agenda is doing wonders for environmental campaigners - Donations are rocketing, and memberships are rising.
"We have seen a surge of donations and volunteers that we haven't see in two decades in the last two weeks," said Michael Brune for the Sierra Club.
"It is good that people are uniting around Trump's proposals, but it is an unwanted silver lining."
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The productivity of UK workers has dropped back to pre-financial crisis levels, according to official figures.

Hourly output fell 0.5% in the first three months of the year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
At the end of 2016, productivity returned to the level seen before the downturn, overturning years of decline which has weighed on wages.
But it has now slipped back again and is 0.4% below the peak recorded at the end of 2007, according to the ONS.
Economists have warned that the UK's productivity continues to lag behind its major trading partners such as the US, France and Germany.
ONS head of productivity Philip Wales said: "UK labour productivity growth has struggled since the 2008 economic downturn, and the fall in the first quarter of 2017 brings to an end a recent run of quarters of positive growth."
It was the first quarterly fall in productivity since the end of 2015, according to the ONS.
Today's productivity figures are bad to the point of shocking.
A fall of 0.5% in the first three months of the year takes the UK economy's ability to create wealth back below the level of 2007.
If an economy cannot create wealth efficiently, then the debates about government spending, public sector pay and austerity become all the harder.
If an economy cannot create wealth, then tax receipts - the mainstay of government income - weaken.
Read more from Kamal
The UK has seen a steady economic recovery since the financial crisis, but it has been helped by longer hours and more people working.
Productivity has failed to grow consistently, raising concerns for businesses and policymakers.
Mike Cherry, president of the Federation for Small Businesses, said: "Productivity is being stifled by chronic underinvestment, exacerbated by current unprecedented uncertainty and reflected in sluggish wage growth."
The figures should also act as a "very sharp reminder" that Brexit is not the only challenge facing the UK, according to Ian Brinkley, acting chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
He said: "Unless more is done to tackle the nation's low productivity, people's wages and living standards will continue to fall and the UK will be ill-equipped to compete once we do leave the EU."
However, other economists said productivity - which is output divided by hours spent producing it - has partly fallen because there are record numbers of people in work.
"We shouldn't forget that the decline in productivity is the flipside of what we could call the remarkable success of the UK labour market," Dr Thijs van Rens, professor of economics at Warwick University, told the BBC.
The ONS said its figures also indicated "striking" differences between the City of London and other parts of the UK.
In 2015, output per hour worked in London's financial and insurance industries was about seven times higher than in the lowest productivity regional industries, it said.


Argentina will meet Germany in Sunday's World Cup final at the Maracana after winning a penalty shootout to eliminate the Netherlands.

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Story of the match:
After 120 tedious and goalless minutes that were in stark contrast to the spectacular shock of the first semi-final between Brazil and the Germans, Argentina prevailed and a repeat of the 1986 and 1990 finals - when they played West Germany - will be played out in Rio.
Goalkeeper Sergio Romero was the hero with penalty saves from Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder, while opposite number Jasper Cillessen was unable to repeat the feats of his deputy, Tim Krul, in the quarter-final win against Costa Rica.
And for Brazil, a nation still coming to terms with their worst defeat after being crushed 7-1 by Germany in Belo Horizonte, there is arguably the even more harrowing prospect of seeing fierce rivals Argentina lift the World Cup in the iconic surroundings of the Maracana.
Germany will be favourites given the manner in which they destroyed Brazil but there is a streak of steel running through Alejandro Sabella's side that offers resilience beyond the genius of Lionel Messi.
Dutch coach Louis van Gaal - who will now complete the formalities by guiding his side in Saturday's third/fourth place play-off before taking over at Manchester United - employed first the returning Nigel de Jong, then Jordy Clasie, to shadow Messi.
The plan succeeded but Van Gaal's problem was his side's failure to pose any attacking threat, with Robin van Persie peripheral and substituted, and Arjen Robben only able to deliver their first shot on target after 99 minutes.
That Argentina's chances were at a premium was down, in large part, to Aston Villa defender Vlaar, the game's outstanding performer at the heart of the Dutch defence. He did not deserve the cruel fate of being one of those to miss a penalty.
"Dutch keeper Jasper Cillessen will be disappointed with that last penalty. That was the one he could have saved with stronger wrists.
"But it was a poor game. A poor level for a semi-final of a World Cup. Let's hope the final is better.
"Argentina have had extra-time, more travelling, you've got to think it's there for Germany to win."
So to Sunday's showpiece and the repeat of the 1986 final, which Argentina won 3-2 to record their last World Cup triumph, and West Germany's 1-0 victory in Rome four years later, which was their last win.
Argentina will see the prospect of winning in Brazil's heartland as the perfect incentive. Earlier in this tournament, their supporters had flooded across the border in thousands in a show of support and they will do so again.
This was not a spectacle of any sort, but as firecrackers went off among Argentina fans and their players celebrated in front of them in the Sao Paulo rain, they did not have a care.
The pattern was set from the opening moments as De Jong's role - upon his surprise recovery from a groin injury - became clear. He was to stay in close proximity to Messi in an attempt to stifle Argentina's main creative force and, to a large extent, it worked.
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Messi, however, cannot be kept completely quiet and he produced the only serious test for either goalkeeper in a stale first half when his free-kick was held comfortably by Cillessen after Vlaar fouled Enzo Perez.
Robben's lack of influence was reflected in the statistic that he only had four touches in the first 45 minutes, also an indication of how the Netherlands had failed to test Argentina's defence.
As heavy rain poured down on the Arena de Sao Paulo's uncovered stands after the interval, and some fans decided to seek shelter out of sight of the game, the stretching Gonzalo Higuain came closest to breaking the stalemate when he steered Perez's angled cross into the side-netting.
Sabella made a double change with 10 minutes remaining, sending on Aguero and Rodrigo Palacio for Higuain and Perez, but still there was no invention or ambition.
Van Gaal even sacrificed the listless Van Persie in extra time - his third change, a move which deprived the coach of the opportunity to introduce Krul again - and the tedium was lifted when Robben produced the first Dutch shot on target after 99 minutes. It was saved easily by Romero.
In a rare spell of excitement, Cillessen saved from Palacio and Maxi Rodriguez but there was no escaping the almost inevitable conclusion of penalties.
Vlaar had his opening penalty saved by Romero and, when Sneijder missed their third, the Netherlands' fate was effectively sealed.
Robben and Dirk Kuyt scored but Argentina were unerring, with Messi, Ezequiel Garay and Aguero on target before Rodriguez's kick sent Sabella's side to Rio.
Match ends, Netherlands 0(2), Argentina 0(4).
Penalty Shootout ends, Netherlands 0(2), Argentina 0(4).
Goal!  Netherlands 0(2), Argentina 0(4). Maxi Rodríguez (Argentina) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the high centre of the goal.
Goal!  Netherlands 0(2), Argentina 0(3). Dirk Kuyt (Netherlands) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Goal!  Netherlands 0(1), Argentina 0(3). Sergio Agüero (Argentina) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Penalty saved! Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity,  right footed shot saved  in the top left corner.
Goal!  Netherlands 0(1), Argentina 0(2). Ezequiel Garay (Argentina) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the high centre of the goal.
Goal!  Netherlands 0(1), Argentina 0(1). Arjen Robben (Netherlands) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Goal!  Netherlands 0, Argentina 0(1). Lionel Messi (Argentina) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Penalty saved! Ron Vlaar (Netherlands) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity,  right footed shot saved  in the centre of the goal.
Penalty Shootout begins Netherlands 0, Argentina 0.
Second Half Extra Time ends, Netherlands 0, Argentina 0.
Attempt blocked. Dirk Kuyt (Netherlands) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Daryl Janmaat with a cross.
Foul by Arjen Robben (Netherlands).
Javier Mascherano (Argentina) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Maxi Rodríguez (Argentina) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Lionel Messi with a cross.
Attempt saved. Rodrigo Palacio (Argentina) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Maxi Rodríguez with a through ball.
Foul by Arjen Robben (Netherlands).
Marcos Rojo (Argentina) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Stefan de Vrij (Netherlands) right footed shot from more than 35 yards misses to the right.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Pablo Zabaleta (Argentina) because of an injury.
Second Half Extra Time begins Netherlands 0, Argentina 0.
First Half Extra Time ends, Netherlands 0, Argentina 0.
Corner,  Argentina. Conceded by Daryl Janmaat.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Netherlands) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Netherlands).
Javier Mascherano (Argentina) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Argentina. Maxi Rodríguez replaces Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Attempt saved. Arjen Robben (Netherlands) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Wesley Sneijder.
Corner,  Netherlands. Conceded by Javier Mascherano.
Substitution, Netherlands. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar replaces Robin van Persie.
Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Lucas Biglia (Argentina).
Foul by Robin van Persie (Netherlands).
Pablo Zabaleta (Argentina) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
First Half Extra Time begins Netherlands 0, Argentina 0.
Second Half ends, Netherlands 0, Argentina 0.
Offside, Netherlands. Georginio Wijnaldum tries a through ball, but Daryl Janmaat is caught offside.
Corner,  Netherlands. Conceded by Javier Mascherano.


Leigh Centurions prop Dayne Weston has announced he will retire from rugby league at the end of the 2017 season to move back to Australia.

The 30-year-old Australian was contracted with Leigh until 2019 but will move back for "family reasons".
He joined Leigh last season from Melbourne Storm after spells at Penrith Panthers, North Queensland Cowboys and Cronulla Sharks in the NRL.
"It's time to put the family first," he told the club website.
"My wife was always going to go home with the kids at the end of this year as our youngest is starting school and there's no way I can stay over here for another two years without them.
"I am determined to leave on a high with the club having cemented its place in Super League."


A diary of a girl accused of murdering a mother and daughter said she wanted "to be cremated", a jury has heard.

The girl, together with her boyfriend, is accused of murdering Elizabeth Edwards, 49, and Katie Edwards, 13, when they were both 14.
Mrs Edwards and her daughter were stabbed in the neck at their home in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in April.
The girl denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
At Nottingham Crown Court, the boy, who along with the girl is now 15 and cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty to murder.
The court heard a pink diary was found after the pair were arrested in which the girl swore at the "world" and said: "I want to be cremated and I want [our] ashes to be scattered in our special place".
Addressing the jury, trial judge Mr Justice Haddon-Cave set out a three-step process the jury must follow in order to find the girl not guilty of murder.
He said that to prove the defence of abnormality of mental functioning, the defence "must establish that all of the following three things were more likely than not".
Judge's questions jury must consider
He said that if the jury answered 'No' to any of the three questions then "your verdict is guilty of murder".
Mrs Edwards and her daughter were both stabbed in the neck as they slept by the teenage boy on the night of 13 April.
The girl did not physically take part in their killings but the prosecution alleges she "is as guilty of murder" as the boy.
On Wednesday, psychiatrist Dr Indranil Chakrabati told jurors the girl had been suffering from a type of mental disorder, known as an adjustment disorder.
After the two women were stabbed, the jury heard the couple took a bath before having sex and watching four Twilight films.
They were arrested on 15 April after police discovered the bodies of Mrs Edwards and her daughter.
The trial continues.


Manager Jayne Ludlow says Wales Women are in good form as they prepare for a double-header with Portugal.

Wales play Portugal today and again on Saturday as they prepare for the Fifa Women's World Cup Qualifying campaign, which begins in the autumn.
"It has been a gradual progression, since the turn of the year we've been really happy with our form and individual and collective performances," Ludlow told BBC Wales.
"But there is a lot still to do."
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"And hopefully these two games are a stepping-stone to that."
Wales have only lost once in their last eight games.
They have opted to rest midfielder Jess Fishlock for the friendlies against Portugal.
The 100-cap star is replaced by Chloe Chivers.
Fellow midfielder Alice Griffiths is also added, as Amelia Ritchie has been ruled out through injury.
England, Russia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kazakhstan will be Wales' Group One opponents in World Cup qualifying.
Wales Women squad to face Portugal: Claire Skinner, Laura O'Sullivan, Emma Gibbon, Loren Dykes, Hannah Miles, Sophie Ingle, Gemma Evans, Hayley Ladd, Alice Griffiths, Rhiannon Roberts, Shaunna Jenkins, Chloe Chivers, Angharad James, Charlie Estcourt, Georgia Evans, Bronwen Thomas, Nadia Lawrence, Rachel Rowe, Natasha Harding, Kayleigh Green, Melissa Fletcher, Peyton Vincze, Ffion Morgan.


Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has refused to approve a controversial bill to toughen punishments for homosexuals.

He has written to the parliamentary speaker criticising her for passing it in December without a quorum.
Homosexuals were "abnormal" or were so for "mercenary reasons" and could be "rescued", a local paper quotes his letter as saying.
The bill provides for life imprisonment for homosexual acts and also makes it a crime not to report gay people.
The promotion of homosexuality - even talking about it without condemning the lifestyle - would also be punishable by a prison term.
The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in the capital, Kampala, says the president is aware that if he signs the bill there will be an international outcry, which could see some countries suspend aid to the country.
His spokesman told the AFP news agency that Mr Museveni believes that gay people are sick but this does not mean they should be killed or jailed for life.
"What the president has being saying is that we shall not persecute these  homosexuals and lesbians. That is the point," said Tamale Mirudi.
By Catherine ByaruhangaBBC, Uganda
Uganda already has legislation banning gay sex, specifically between men, lesbianism wasn't considered under a provision of the 1950 Penal Code. The new law would add female-to-female sex to banned practices.
The Penal Code also never made it an offence for someone to identify himself or herself as a homosexual. It was the act that was illegal. Gay activists have been able to state their sexuality in public and advocate for their rights without being prosecuted.
This, legislators felt, endangered Uganda's culture and family structure, centred around marriage between a man and woman.
There's been a battle here, well captured in the international media, between gay activists and Evangelical Christians over the rights and wrongs of homosexuality.
So what MPs are trying to do is to create the "idea" of homosexuality in the law. Once you specify that homosexuality is wrong, you then ban its promotion.
If the law is passed, standing up saying "I am gay" would become illegal.
Citizens would also have to report anyone who they believe is gay to the police. And it would be illegal to provide advisory services to homosexuals.
He denied that the president had changed his mind under pressure.
"The president's position has been the same for a long time, nothing has changed,"  he added.
Our reporter says Mr Museveni is trying to reach a compromise with MPs, because if he refuses to sign the bill, parliament can still force it through with a two-thirds vote.
But in contrast to Nigeria, where earlier this month the president signed a bill banning same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection, Mr Museveni is politically strong and so more able to resist pressure from conservative groups, she says.
Mr Museveni said the bill was forced through despite his advice to shelve it until the government had studied it in depth, Uganda's private Monitor newspaper reports.
"Even with legislation, they will simply go underground and continue practicing [sic] homosexuality or lesbianism for mercenary reasons," he is quoted as saying.
The president's eight-page letter to speaker Rebecca Kadaga said they could be "rescued" by improving the economy.
He also disputed the view that homosexuality could be described as an "alternative sexual orientation".
"You cannot call an abnormality an alternative orientation. It could be that the Western societies, on account of random breeding, have generated many abnormal people," he said.
He said another reason women became lesbians was because of "sexual starvation" when they failed to marry, the Monitor reports.
Ugandan gay rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme he had mixed feelings about Mr Museveni's comments.
"Him not assenting to the bill makes us happy but him calling us 'abnormal', 'nothing-doers', 'sexually starved', that is so derogatory," he said.
"It encourages the community to attack people like me."
There is meant to be a caucus meeting of ruling party MPs later this month to discuss the bill.
The government will try to persuade them to reject it, but some have already said they would go against their government's wishes, our correspondent says.
Human rights activists say the bill highlights the intolerance and discrimination the gay community faces in Uganda.
One gay activist was killed in 2011, although the police denied he was targeted because of his sexuality.
The bill has been condemned by world leaders since it was mooted in 2009 - US President Barack Obama called it "odious".
The private member's bill originally proposed the death penalty for some offences, such as if a minor was involved or the perpetrator was HIV-positive, but this clause has been dropped.
Correction 19 January: An earlier version of this story referred to Pepe Julian Onziema as a woman. The BBC is sorry for any offence caused.


The Australian military is to be given broad new powers to respond to domestic terrorist attacks.

The government-proposed changes to national security laws are part of a review into counter-terrorism.
The new measures would mean the Australian Defence Force (ADF) could be called in sooner to help police deal with threats.
They were prompted by criticism of the speed with which police responded to the 2014 siege in a cafe in Sydney.
Current legislation prevents police from calling on the ADF until they have reached the limit of their capability or capacity.
Under the new measures, the military would also provide specialised training to police forces.
At a press conference, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was "taking a lot of the red tape and the gum out of the works to enable the cooperation between the police and the ADF".
Two hostages and the lone gunman died in the Sydney siege and earlier this year a coroner said that the authorities had been too slow to respond
How the Sydney siege unfolded
Australia has seen several Islamist-inspired attacks over the past years, prompting a review of how police and authorities can respond better.
In the most recent case, a terrorist holding a hostage in Melbourne was killed by police last month.


The centenary of the sinking of the Lusitania will be commemorated later.

About 1,200 people died and 771 survived when the British liner was torpedoed by a German submarine on 7 May 1915 during World War One.
One of the largest ships in the world, it was sailing from New York to its home port of Liverpool when it was sunk off the coast of Ireland.
A minute's silence will be held at 14:10 BST - the time of the attack - at a service in Liverpool.
The disaster provoked outrage especially in Britain, with rioters targeting German businesses in Merseyside, Manchester and London.
Public opinion in the US, which had been officially neutral, was said to have changed after the death of about 130 Americans, although it was another two years before the country declared its official entry into the war, in 1917.
Ian Murphy, from Merseyside Maritime Museum, said: "In 1915, Lusitania was the world's most famous ship and the jewel in Liverpool's crown.
"Her sinking sent shockwaves around the globe and was said to have influenced America's entry to the war."
About 600 people onboard the Lusitania had links with Merseyside.
The Reverend Dr Crispin Pailing, rector of Liverpool, said: "A significant number of the crew and passengers had Liverpool connections - there is hardly a street in the Vauxhall area that wasn't affected."
The ship's owner Cunard has commissioned a memorial plaque, which will be dedicated later during a service at Liverpool Parish Church. Actors Joe McGann and Roy Carruthers will read first-hand accounts from survivors.
A painting by the artist Anthony Brown, whose great-grandfather was on the Lusitania's final voyage, will be put on display for the first time.
The service will be followed by a walk of remembrance to the Lusitania's salvaged propeller, now located at the city's Pier Head.
The disaster will also be commemorated at Cobh in the Republic of Ireland, where many victims were buried after the sinking. Last weekend, a service was held in the Isle of Man from where a fishing boat rescued about 150 people.


There is growing concern about the impact of automation on employment - or in crude terms - the threat that robots will eat our jobs.

But if you want to see how important robotics and artificial intelligence can be to a business Ocado is a good place to start.
"Without it we simply couldn't do what we do at this scale," the online retailer's chief technology officer Paul Clarke told me. With margins in the supermarket business wafer thin, continually bearing down on costs and waste has been vital.
At its Hatfield distribution centre I got a glimpse of how far the process of automating the sorting of thousands of grocery orders has come. For now, you will struggle to spot a robot - unless you count a machine that inserts plastic shopping bags into crates - but software is doing a very complex job of sending the right goods in the right crates to the right human pickers.
"This warehouse is crammed with machine learning and algorithms that are controlling all manner of operations that are invisible to the human eye," Mr Clarke explains.
But in one corner of the warehouse is the robotics lab where the next stage of automating Ocado is under way. A group of some of the smartest robotic engineers from across Europe are at work on their latest project which could replace human pickers one day. It's a robotic hand sensitive enough to pick up a piece of fruit without damaging it.
"The overall challenge is to develop robotic systems that can pick and pack the full range of items," explains head of robotics Alex Harvey.
The robot hand won't be ready to start work for a while but at Ocado's newest warehouse in Andover, Hampshire, a robotics project that the company believes is unequalled in its sophistication has already been deployed. Swarms of robots move across a grid, collaborating with each other to collect groceries stored beneath them and then bring them to a human picker.
Showing me some video of the warehouse, Paul Clarke explains the technical challenge: "Controlling thousands of robots in real time has required not only building a very sophisticated AI-based air traffic control system but also we've had to evolve a new communications systems to talk to all those robots 10 times a second."
But seeing all those swarming robots with not a human in sight sparks an obvious thought - what about the impact on jobs?
Ocado says despite the onward march of automation its workforce has continued to grow. "We have no choice both as a company and as UK PLC but to invest in this technology," says Mr Clarke."We are a net employer of 12,000 people, none of whom would have a job at all if it weren't for our use of automation because this has been our differentiator as a business."
Economists disagree on the scale of the threat to employment. An Oxford study which predicted that more than 40% of occupations could be threatened by automation over the next two decades is now seen by many as far too pessimistic.
That is certainly the view of Laura Gardiner, of the Resolution Foundation, who points out that jobs are becoming more multi-faceted, so that even if one task is taken by a robot, there will still be others left for the humans.
But she does accept that for certain categories of worker life may get harder: "It is right to be concerned about specific occupations - secretarial work, processing jobs in factories - moderately skilled jobs which used to pay quite well."
What is clear is that in an evolving job market, some skills will become redundant, while others will be in higher demand. And the best advice? Train as a robotics engineer.


A man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder after a man died in a shooting in Liverpool.

Mark Hillman, 26, was shot twice in the back and found on a pavement in Lloyd Close, Everton, on 27 April.
Mr Hillman, from Kirkdale, was taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
A 20-year-old man from Everton was questioned by detectives in police custody and later bailed, Merseyside Police confirmed.
Six people previously arrested over Mr Hillman's death have been released on bail. Two men, aged 19 and 35 from Anfield, and a woman, 39, from Everton, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
Three women, 24, 21 and 43, were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.


The number of victims of identity theft rose by 57% last year, figures from fraud prevention service Cifas suggest.

The data, taken from 261 companies in the UK, suggests fraudsters are increasingly getting people's personal information from social media sites.
Cifas said Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn had become a "hunting ground" for identity thieves.
It said there were more than 148,000 victims in the UK in 2015 compared with 94,500 in 2014.
A small percentage of cases involved fictitious identities but most fraudsters assumed the identity of a real person after accessing their name, date of birth, address and bank details. More than 85% of the frauds were carried out online.
Some personal details were found by hacking computers but increasingly fraudsters used social media to put together the pieces of someone's identity, Cifas said.
It urged people to check their privacy settings and think carefully about what information they share online.
How do you avoid being scammed?
Unmasking the fraudsters
The curious case of Leah Palmer
The Get Safe Online campaign warns people not to give away details such as phone numbers, addresses or date of birth, or pictures of their home, workplace or school, in either profile information or posts.
Often victims did not even realise they had been targeted until a bill arrived for something they did not buy or they experienced problems with their credit rating, the fraud prevention service added.
Source: Cifas and Get Safe Online
A report out earlier this year estimated the annual cost of fraud in the UK was £193bn - equal to nearly £3,000 per head of population.
Business fraud accounted for £144bn, the study said, while fraud against individuals was estimated at £9.7bn.
Simon Dukes, Cifas chief executive, said: "Fraudsters are opportunists. As banks and lenders have become more adept at detecting false identities, fraudsters have focused on stealing and using genuine people's details instead.
"Society, government and industry all have a role in preventing fraud. However, our concern is that the lack of awareness about identity fraud is making it even easier for fraudsters to obtain the information they need.
"The likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other online platforms are much more than just social media sites - they are now a hunting ground for identity thieves.
"We are urging people to check their privacy settings today and think twice about what they share. To a fraudster, the information we put online is a goldmine."


The search for a boy-band to star in a stage musical is nearly over as the final of Let It Shine will take place this weekend.

20 February 2017 Last updated at 08:31 GMT
Four bands became three over the weekend and they will battle it out in Saturday's final.
Jonnie from Drive, Yazdan from Five to Five and Bradley from Nightfall spoke to Ayshah about what it's like watching themselves on TV and performing in front of a live crowd.


German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said talks with Russian, Ukrainian and French leaders about a stalled Ukraine peace deal "didn't achieve miracles".

All sides have agreed to draw up a roadmap by the end of November on how to implement the Minsk peace deal.
Mrs Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande also discussed Syria.
The German leader said she and Mr Hollande had a "difficult conversation" with Mr Putin.
Both condemned Syrian and Russian air strikes on Aleppo.
The Ukraine discussions took place against a backdrop of tensions elevated by Russia's military backing for the Syrian regime - and a bombing campaign in Aleppo which the European Union has warned could amount to war crimes.
Russia and the West: Where did it all go wrong?
Syria war: How Moscowâ€™s bombing campaign has paid off for Putin
A blizzard of telephone diplomacy over the past week - when Mr Putin postponed a visit to France over a row about Syria - is said to have resulted in Wednesday night's meeting, which attracted several protest groups outside.
The 2015 Minsk agreement eased fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels in the east of the country, but violence frequently flares along a demarcation line.
Speaking after the Berlin talks, President Poroshenko said all sides had agreed that a road map would be drawn by the end of November on how to implement the 2015 agreement and also protocols reached in 2014.
He also said Russia had agreed with a proposal to allow the deployment of an armed police mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
President Putin has made no official comments on the issue.
Ukraine, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia has supplied the rebels with heavy weapons and regular troops. Russia denies that, but it is hostile to the Kiev government and openly supports the rebel cause.
In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula - a move condemned by Kiev and the West.
The last four-way meeting in the so-called Normandy Format took place in Paris in October 2015.
Mrs Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters to limit their expectations to a "brutally honest assessment of the situation" in Ukraine, while Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov agreed that "obstacles" to implementing the Minsk accord should be identified.
Meanwhile, President Petro Poroshenko said he was not optimistic about the negotiations over the conflict, which has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since it erupted in 2014.
He will leave the table when what Mr Seibert termed the "catastrophic situation" in Syria is raised.


A five-year-old boy who is believed to have choked to death during a dinner break at a school in Hull has been named by police.

Theodore Silvester, who was a foundation pupil, was taken ill at Anlaby Primary School on Friday lunchtime.
Paramedics were called to the school, but he was later pronounced dead.
A post-mortem examination is yet to take place, but the death is not being treated as suspicious.
On Saturday, head teacher Gareth May said the whole school community was "deeply saddened by this tragic event".
Flowers have been left outside the school's gates, with staff and pupils offered support over the coming days.
Anlaby Primary School has about 325 pupils aged between 4 and 11.


France is set to ban the sale of any car that uses petrol or diesel fuel by 2040, in what the ecology minister called a "revolution".

Nicolas Hulot announced the planned ban on fossil fuel vehicles as part of a renewed commitment to the Paris climate deal.
He said France planned to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Hybrid cars make up about 3.5% of the French market, with pure electric vehicles accounting for just 1.2%.
It is not yet clear what will happen to existing fossil fuel vehicles still in use in 2040.
Mr Hulot, a veteran environmental campaigner, was appointed by new French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Macron has openly criticised US environmental policy, urging Donald Trump to "make our planet great again".
President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement in June was explicitly named as a factor in France's new vehicle plan.
"France has decided to become carbon neutral by 2050 following the US decision," Mr Hulot said, adding that the government would have to make investments to meet that target.
Poorer households would receive financial assistance to replace older, more polluting vehicles with cleaner ones, he said.
Earlier this week, car manufacturer Volvo said all of its new car models would be at least partly electric from 2019, an announcement referenced by Mr Hulot.
He said he believes French car manufacturers - including brands such as Peugeot-Citroen and Renault - would meet the challenge, although he acknowledged it would be difficult. Renault's "Zoe" electric vehicle range is one of the most popular in Europe.
However, traditional fossil fuel vehicles account for about 95% of the European market.
Other targets set in the French environmental plan include ending coal power plants by 2022, reducing nuclear power to 50% of total output by 2025, and ending the issuance of new oil and gas exploration licences.
Several French cities struggle with high levels of air pollution, including Paris, which endured several days of peak pollution in March.
The capital has implemented a  range of measures to cut down on cars, but air pollution is also a problem in picturesque mountain regions.
Last month, a woman took the French state to court over what she said was a failure to protect her health from the effects of air pollution in Paris.
Norway, which is the leader in the use of electric cars in Europe, wants to move to electric-only vehicles by 2025, as does the Netherlands. Both Germany and India have proposed similar measures with a target of 2030.


The latest Terminator movie posed no threat to the Minions, who remain top dog at the UK and Ireland box office.

The Minions film made £6.23m in its second weekend in cinemas, comfortably besting the £3.79m Terminator: Genisys made in its first four days on release.
There was better news for Amy, Asif Kapadia's film about Amy Winehouse.
The £519,000 it took between Friday and Sunday, according to its distributor, saw it record the biggest ever opening weekend for a British documentary.
Minions, a spin-off starring the diminutive yellow henchmen from the Despicable Me films, has now made almost £21m at UK and Ireland cinemas.
That benchmark is unlikely to be reached by Terminator: Genisys, despite the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to his signature film franchise.
The time travel-based action film was quickly followed into cinemas by another sequel, Magic Mike XXL, that also failed to challenge an existing box office champ.
Channing Tatum's follow-up to his 2012 male stripper comedy could only manage fourth place in this week's chart, one place behind Jurassic World.
Amy, in contrast, left its UK distributor jubilant after enjoying the best opening for a non-concert film documentary since Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.
"We are delighted that audiences have chosen to celebrate the life of the truly talented musical icon," said Hamish Moseley of Altitude Film Distribution.
The continued appeal of so-called 'event cinema' is evidenced further down this week's chart by the presence of the Royal Opera House's Guillaume Tell.
Sunday's live relay of the production, whose opening night had audience members booing over at a controversial rape scene, occupies eighth place, having generated takings of £114,673.


A man who killed his victim by striking him with an axe up to 25 times has been jailed for life.

The body of 27-year-old Christopher Butler was discovered at a flat in Waverley Road, Southsea, Hampshire, on New Year's Day.
Brendon Michael Willis, who previously pleaded guilty to murder, was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison.
Hampshire Constabulary described it as an "unprovoked and brutal" attack.
The court heard Willis, 33, of Waverley Road, told friends before the killing he wanted to know what it would be like to murder someone.
He later claimed he had taken the legal high Spice, which he said made him violent.
Gavin Sumpter, of the Wessex Crown Prosecution Service, said it was a "tragic case" in which Mr Butler was the victim of "a premeditated, extremely violent and gratuitous attack".
He said that when Willis was in prison in 2015 he confided in a psychiatrist that he was concerned he might hurt someone.
Mr Sumpter added: "Shortly before Christopher's murder he told others that he had been wondering what it would be like to murder someone, saying: 'I want to see what it's like to kill someone. I've got an axe. I want to do it before New Year, I want to be famous. Blame it on Spice. You smoke it and it makes you go mad. It makes you violent'."
Willis was arrested and charged on 6 January following a police appeal to find him.
"This was a particularly challenging investigation because the number of people we needed to speak to and their reluctance to speak to the police," Det Supt Becky Riggs said.


A man has been shot dead in Slough and two people arrested on suspicion of murder.

Armed officer were called to an address near the Colnbrook bypass at around 03:30 BST on Monday. A man in his 40s was found dead.
A man in his 70s and a woman in her 50s were arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and are in police custody.
Thames Valley Police said it was believed to be an "isolated incident".
Det Ch Supt Chris Ward said: "I would like to reassure local residents that police officers will be in the area for some time as we carry out our investigation into what we are treating, at this stage, as an isolated incident.
"I must stress that this incident is not being treated as related to terrorism and there is no threat to the wider public."


Councils in Wales face a "ticking time tomb" of pensions deficits measured in billions, according to the lobbying organisation the Taxpayers' Alliance.

It found Cardiff had the largest deficit in Wales in 2010 at Â£494m, or Â£1,450 per head of population.
Merthyr Tydfil had the highest deficit per head of population in the entire UK at Â£2,268 per head.
Councils called the report "spurious" and said they had taken steps to ensure staff pensions were affordable.
The Taxpayers Alliance looked at the pension schemes of all 101 local government pension schemes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It said it obtained the information from local authorities' annual statements of accounts in 2010-11 and used actuarial estimates for assets held by councils and their liabilities to calculate their overall funding situation.
The organisation said local government final salary schemes - where entitlements are calculated on the basis of people's salaries at retirement - were "inflexible, too expensive" and needed urgent reform.
It said councils should not take "false comfort" in the improvement in the stock market.
Robert Oxley, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: "It's like ignoring your mortgage. Something does have to be done to bring down this deficit.
"We can't pretend there aren't issues of reform."
But Dominic Macaskill, head of local government for the union Unison in Wales, said: "The assumptions are predicated on the public sector closing down and nobody ever paying in to the scheme again and all the liabilities coming at once."
The Welsh Local Government Association added: "The picture painted in the report is based on a spurious way of gauging the viability of a pension scheme, and does not reflect the changes that have already been made to the scheme to help secure its long term viability."
UK government ministers and unions are currently negotiating over long-term changes to the scheme's structure, with the government proposing to increase the amount workers contribute, raise the retirement age and make changes to the accrual rate - the rate at which annual benefits are earned.


A teenager riding a "hoverboard" has died in a crash with a bus, police have said.

The 15-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene in Glacier Way, Alperton, west London, on Thursday night.
He had been riding a "self-balancing scooter" at the time of the crash, Scotland Yard said.
The boy has yet to be formally identified, and a post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course, police said.
More news on this and other stories from London
Writing on Twitter, Councillor James Denselow wrote: "Sad to hear about the death of a 15-year-old boy in Alperton last night who collided with a bus whilst riding a hoverboard."


A gardener died after apparently handling a deadly plant on an estate in Hampshire, a coroner has heard.

Nathan Greenway's legal team believe he had touched the poisonous wild plant Aconitum napellus, also known as Monkshood, at Mill Court House, Alton.
The 33-year-old, from Aldershot, died in hospital five days later on 7 September from multiple organ failure.
The pre-inquest hearing in Basingstoke was adjourned until a date yet to be fixed.
North East Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley said the circumstances surrounding the death would be investigated at the full inquest.
Mr Greenway worked on the estate in Upper Froyle.
Mill Court House is owned by Christopher William Ogilvie Thompson and his wife Kathy.
Their legal team declined to comment.
What is aconite?
The Aconitum napellus plant has dark purple flowers and often grows in gardens in Europe.
Poisoning from aconite is rare and usually happens when the plant, also known as Devil's Helmet, is eaten accidentally.
Symptoms of aconite poisoning appear quickly after a poisonous dose is consumed. These include nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea and numbness of the face.
In severe cases, the numbness can spread to the limbs and muscles can weaken. It also causes hypotension, chest pain and palpitations.
It can cause abnormal rapid heart rhythms and can stop the heart from beating.
Source: Clinical Toxicology journal


When a politician is under pressure, facing questions about their family and their finances, their natural instinct is to protect their privacy and say as little as possible.

But when that pressure gets too great, there comes a moment when they have to go public and for David Cameron that moment came last night.
In the long run, the prime minister will hope to achieve his aim of drawing a line under this story.
Journalists and opposition MPs will naturally keep asking questions.
But there are unlikely to be more significant revelations than the fact that Mr Cameron did indeed benefit from an offshore trust, something that is legal but over which people have differing views.
The problem for the prime minister is that the political imagery is not good.
He is engaged in the political fight of his life, trying to convince the British people to vote to stay in the European Union.
And anything like this, that distances Mr Cameron from the electorate, that reminds people of his wealthy and privileged background, well let's just say the timing is not great.


A bomb disposal team has detonated an American bomb left over from World War II found in the German city of Munich.

The detonation happened shortly before 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT) in the Schwabing district and was heard across the city, local media report.
There are reports that sparks from the explosion caused the roofs of some neighbouring buildings to catch fire.
The bomb was discovered on Monday night by building workers at the site of an old bar that was being demolished.
Overnight, 2,500 residents were evacuated from the area closest to the bomb, with others living further away being told to stay in their homes.
Experts decided it was not possible to make the device safe because of its unusual fuse, which operated by means of a chemical reaction rather than the mechanical device that many Allied World War II bombs used.
The bomb was described as a highly explosive, a 550lb (250kg) device dropped by the Americans.
It is not unusual for big, unexploded bombs to be discovered in Germany, the BBC's Stephen Evans reports.
About 600 tonnes of unexploded ordnance are discovered in Germany every year.
They are usually defused safely, though in 2010 three bomb-disposal officers were killed during an attempt to make a bomb safe, our correspondent adds.
In December 2011, the biggest bomb disposal operation in Germany since 1945 was mounted in Koblenz to defuse two bombs from World War II found in the riverbed of the Rhine.


Brighton & Hove Albion defender Connor Goldson has signed a new four-year contract with the Championship club.

The 23-year-old centre-back, who has made 30 appearances since joining from Shrewsbury in 2015, will remain at the Amex Stadium until the summer of 2020.
"Connor has made great progress in his first year and earned his new deal," Albion boss Chris Hughton said.
"He thoroughly deserves it and I've no doubt he has a very bright future ahead with us."


The Edinburgh City Bypass was closed west bound after a Transit van rolled in a crash.

The accident happened at 15:30 on the A720 between Hermiston Junction and Gogar Roundabout.
One lane was opened just after 16:00 but was closed again later for emergency services to recover the van.
Two people in the van managed to get out without major injuries.


The cost of dealing with the shortage of doctors at Daisy Hill Hospital's emergency department has increased more than fivefold in three years.

In 2014 the amount paid out was just more than £500,000. Last year that figure jumped to almost £3m.
The Southern Health Trust has NI's highest number of doctor vacancies.
A medical recruitment agency is currently advertising 64 vacancies in the Southern Trust area, which includes Daisy Hill and Craigavon Area Hospital.
Across Northern Ireland's five health trusts, there are 165 vacant positions.
In an unusual move and in order to cope with the staffing issue, it has emerged that the Southern Health Trust is due to advertise for a permanent joint consultant appointment between Daisy Hill and the Belfast Trust.
In May, the Southern Health Trust revealed just how problematic it has been keeping Daisy Hill's emergency department open.
Last year the bill for hiring locum - or temporary - doctors in Daisy Hill was almost £3m. Craigavon, the trust's main hospital, spent £1.9m.
The Southern Health Trust said it was relying too heavily on locum doctors to fill shifts in the emergency department and threatened to suspend its overnight service.
After protests against the potential closure of the emergency department, the Department Of Health announced a temporary reprieve in May.
At a regional summit with representatives from the Ambulance Service, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Public Health Agency, it was agreed that Daisy Hill's emergency department would remain open, using doctors from the Belfast Health Trust when necessary.
But a Southern Health Trust spokesperson told BBC News NI it hasn't had to use doctors from Belfast and is still relying mostly on locums.
The Southern Health Trust isn't the only trust relying on locums: In Fermanagh, more than £2m was spent staffing the South West Acute Hospital; the emergency department at Altnagelvin, Co Londonderry, spent more than £1m.
The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, which has the biggest emergency department in Northern Ireland, spent about £2.3m bringing the overall cost across the five health trusts over three years to almost £20m.
But the problem isn't going away. According to medical recruitment agency Medical Banks' website, 165 locum doctors are urgently required.
The figure highlights that workforce planning remains a serious issue for the Health Service.
A majority of the vacant positions - 64 in total - are in the Down area. Thirty one are in Derry, 26 in Fermanagh and five in Belfast.
The shortage of expert medical staff means doctors can command high rates. At short notice some trusts are offering as much as £600 per shift - with reports that some weekend shifts are carrying a tag of more than £1,000.
Figures obtained by the BBC in a Freedom of Information request also show the highest individual payments made to doctors doing shifts in emergency departments.
The Northern Trust's Causeway Hospital comes in the highest, on one occasion paying a locum consultant £172 per hour. The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast has paid out more than £150 per hour.
Previously, the Southern Health Trust has said that despite numerous attempts to recruit at Daisy Hill, doctors appear to want to work in bigger hospitals such as Craigavon and the Royal Victoria Hospital.
An ongoing national shortage of doctors is also contributing to the problem.


US banking giant Goldman Sachs has reported a sharp fall in profits as trading activity slowed owing to concerns about global economic growth.

Net profits for the three months to 30 September were $1.43bn (Â£927m), down more than a third on a year earlier. Revenue fell almost 20% to $6.9bn.
The results contrasted sharply with those of rival Citigroup, which posted a 50% jump in profits, to $4.29bn.
The bank said it was able to offset a fall in revenue by cutting costs.
Goldman's investment banking division saw revenues increase, but other divisions, particularly market making and bond trading, saw revenues drop.
"We experienced lower levels of activity and declining asset prices during the quarter, reflecting renewed concerns about global economic growth," said the bank's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein.
Earlier this week, other big US banks also reported a drop-off in trading during the quarter.
US stock markets fell sharply in August, sparked by fears of a slowdown in the Chinese economy.
Revenues at Citi fell by 5% to $18.69bn, but the bank was able to cut costs dramatically.
"Despite revenue headwinds, we once again proved our ability to manage our risk, our expenses and our capital," said chief executive Michael Corbat.


The death toll from Sunday's suicide bombing in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, has risen to 250, the Iraqi government says, making it the deadliest such attack since the 2003 US-led invasion.

A lorry packed with explosives was detonated in the Karrada district while families were shopping for the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it carried out the suicide attack.
An earlier estimate for the attack had put the toll at 165.
Iraq remains under an official state of mourning following the bombing.
The destruction of the area was all but complete. Bewildered local residents have held candlelight vigils and prayed for peace.
Scores of people were also injured but most have been released from hospital, according to the Iraqi health ministry.
The ministry said those critically injured had been sent abroad, without giving further details.
The bombing in a mostly Shia Muslim area just after midnight came a week after Iraqi forces had recaptured the city of Falluja from IS.
Reports said a lorry had been packed with explosives and left near the Hadi Center, popular with shoppers.
The powerful blast engulfed the area in flames. Such was the chaos it took days for the scale of the attack to become clear.
Saddam Hussein's regime was harsh, and it could be murderous. He led the country into a series of disastrous wars and brought crippling international sanctions down on their heads.
But with the benefit of 13 years of hindsight, the world that existed before 9 April 2003 seems to be a calmer, more secure place. They have not had a proper day of peace since the old regime fell.
As for democracy, many I have spoken to believe the hopelessly sectarian political system is broken. At least, they say, law and order existed under Saddam.
Some hoped things might get better after the army's victory over IS in Falluja. The devastating bomb attack in Baghdad in the early hours of Sunday has blasted that hope away.
Read more from our correspondent
The Iraqi government has been heavily criticised over the attack, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met by angry crowds when he visited the blast site.
On Tuesday, Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban submitted his resignation but it has not yet been accepted.
He described checkpoints dotted through Baghdad as "absolutely useless", according to AFP news agency.
The government has stepped up security in Baghdad and also said a group of prisoners convicted of terror crimes would be put to death in the immediate future.
IS follows an extreme version of Sunni Islam and has frequently targeted Shia, whom it regards as apostates.
The group has suffered a series of territorial losses in Iraq and analysts say it is increasingly resorting to insurgent tactics.


Eilish McColgan says there needs to be standardised testing in all countries to catch out drugs cheats in athletics.

The Scottish 5,000m runner says the testing is too "slack" in some countries, and that not enough is being done outside of competitions.
It comes after a Wada report on the anti-doping methods employed at Rio 2016 highlighted "serious failings".
"If I'm on the start line, am I sure that 99% of athletes are clean? Of course I'm not," she said.
"The testing procedures from country to country does vary and it's quite slack in certain places.
"It's not something to dwell on. I can't tuck other athletes in at night and tell them to be good."
The World Anti-Doping Agency said many athletes who had been targeted for testing in Rio "simply could not be found".
It added that, on some days, "up to 50% of tests were aborted".
"It's disappointing," McColgan told BBC 5 live's Friday Sports Panel. "I'd love to know the exact reasons the tests weren't carried out. It's a bit of a strange one.
"The logistics in general around the Olympic Games weren't the best. It was nothing compared to what London was. London was very slick.
"The general organisation in Rio was a bit trickier, I suppose. So it's not a huge surprise to me but it's a shame that the clean athletes are the ones missing out."
McColgan, who finished 13th in the women's 5,000m final after switching from the 3,000m steeplechase earlier this year, was not tested in Rio.
She believes testing at major events is insufficient and more needs to be done throughout the year.
"Testing at the championships is not the be-all and end-all; I don't think you're going to catch all the drug cheats there," said the 25-year-old.
"The majority of people have been working hard and training hard all year, and the people that have been cheating have been cheating hard all year.
"By the time they get to the Games their work has been done and it really needs to filter back to out of competition testing. I think that's really where you're going to start catching people."


A former soldier is planning to row solo across the Atlantic to raise money for an armed forces charity.

Alan Bustin-Mulkern, of Kingsthorpe in Northamptonshire, hopes to depart from the Canary Islands in December.
Although he has completed various ultra-running and mountaineering challenges, Mr Bustin-Mulkern does not have a nautical background.
His preparations are being supported by a team at the University of Northampton.
The 47-year-old plans to row his 10m (33ft) craft 3,000 miles (4,800km) across the ocean to English Harbour in Antigua, in a feat expected to taken between 45 and 60 days.
He will be raising money for the ABF The Soldiers' Charity which supports soldiers, veterans and families.
Mr Bustin-Mulkern, who is a commissioned officer with the Leicester, Northants and Rutland Army Cadet Force, said: "When we're in the centre of the ocean we'll be further from civilization than Tim Peake was in the International Space Station.
"I think that's incredible."
He is working with the university's sports science and psychology units for both physical and mental preparation.


A man has appeared in court charged with public order offences.

Jake Jones, 23, was arrested close to the Grimsby Islamic Centre on Wednesday evening after police received reports of a man "behaving aggressively"
Mr Jones, of no fixed address, appeared at Grimsby Magistrates' Court earlier.
He was originally charged with possessing an offensive weapon in a public place but this was changed to offences under the Public Order Act.
He was remanded until the 28 March.


South Korea's Chung Mong-joon says he wants to replace Sepp Blatter as Fifa's next president.

Chung is a former vice-president of world football's governing body and the major shareholder of the industrial giant Hyundai.
He told the BBC's World Football programme rival Michel Platini was not the right man for Fifa.
"If I get elected, my job is not to enjoy the luxury of the office," he added. "My job is to change it."
The 63-year-old, who is worth $1.2bn (£769m) according to Forbes, said he did not think Platini would make a good Fifa president.
"It will be very difficult for Mr Platini to have any meaningful reforms," said Chung.
"Mr Platini enjoys institutional support from the current structure of Fifa. Mr Platini is very much a product of the current system."
Platini declared his intention to run for the 26 February election on Wednesday, though candidates have until 26 October to be nominated.
Blatter, who has run Fifa since 1998, is standing down following a series of damaging corruption allegations against the organisation.
United States and Swiss authorities have launched separate criminal investigations into corruption at Fifa, with seven top officials indicted on bribery and racketeering charges in the US.
The English Football Association has confirmed it will back Uefa president Platini's bid for election.
However, Chung, who believes he has a "good chance" of winning the election, said: "It is time that Fifa had a non-European leadership.
"Fifa became a closed organisation for President Blatter, his associates and his cronies and I want to change that."
Chung lost his Fifa vice-presidency in 2010, to Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who unsuccessfully stood against Blatter in May's presidential election.
Meanwhile, Argentina football great Diego Maradona has said he wants to fight the "mafia" behind the corruption in Fifa, but stopped short of saying he would run for president.
The 54-year-old former World Cup winner told local television channel America: "I have to fight the mafia that still remains inside Fifa. I have to fight those who have for a long time stolen from inside Fifa."
When asked if he would run for the presidency, he said: "I really want to be in Fifa."


European countries are scrambling to stop record numbers of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, but who are the men sending them on perilous journeys?

Human traffickers are the key link that European officials wish to target. But they are taking on complex criminal networks that do not recognise borders and which experts liken to "multinational corporations".
Libya's coastguard officials believe that traffickers are increasingly working with Italian organised crime.
Giampaolo Muscemi spent two years travelling with traffickers across the world as he co-wrote the ebook Confessions of a People Smuggler.
He met one Egyptian smuggler who has developed a huge network in Libya over 15 years running boats to Italy. The smuggler insisted that was in his interest to provide safe passage.
His message, Mr Muscemi told the BBC, was: "I don't want my clients to die, because my work is based upon my reputation. At the beginning of my career I was searching for clients, now that I am a big smuggler people come to me because of my reputation for safety."
Business is clearly booming. A record 35,000 migrants have already travelled to Europe this year. Mr Muscemi estimates that Mediterranean trafficking is worth between 300-600m Euros a year, and this is encouraging amateurs to take over.
"In Libya, the clients are too many, they don't have any choice but to put their lives in the hands of the smugglers," he said. "So the smugglers can decrease the quality of the service. They don't have to preserve their reputation. It's just a matter of markets, if there is demand you can do whatever you want."
Since the 1980s Libya has attracted economic migrants from across Africa, but their role has now changed.
Europe's border agency Frontex says that many of the original migrants have now become "recruiters, liaising between the Libyan-controlled criminal gangs and would-be migrants".
Once in the country, migrants are often forced to hand over their money and passports, leaving them at the mercy of the traffickers. Ali from The Gambia was forced to board an unsafe boat.
"The Libyan man lied to us," he told the BBC. "He said it was a big boat. We all paid 1,000 dinar (Â£488, $728). When we got to the boat, he forced us to enter with a gun, if you don't enter he will shoot you, so you must enter."
Libyan authorities rarely stop traffickers, with Tripoli's coastguard admitting to the BBC they cannot handle the volume of boats and they will only interfere if a boat runs into trouble.
Much of Libya is beyond government control and it is believed that local militias are often active partners with the smugglers.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica has published what it says is an Italian police recording of a Tripoli-based smuggler's phone calls.
Eritrean Mered Medhanie claimed to have sent 8,000 migrants on Italy-bound vessels, in a conversation with another smuggler intercepted by police.
"I always let too many on board, but it is them [the migrants] who want to leave as soon as possible," he reportedly said.
Mr Mescumi says one common misconception is to think of the smugglers as boat pilots or fishermen.
"They are businessmen," he says. "They are clever. Think of a smuggler as someone who never sleeps and spends 24 hours a day thinking about how to break into Europe. They read newspapers, study European laws, study what Frontex are doing - they will probably even read this piece."
He believes that the desperation of migrants allied with the profits that smugglers stand to make means it has become an intractable problem.
"One smuggler we met in an Italian prison told us: 'You will never stop us. You can't stop migrants.'
"When governments shut routes the business just becomes richer, because the journey is longer and more dangerous. You can't stop it, you just have to manage it."


The US has vowed to work with Germany to resolve the row over a German reportedly arrested for being a US spy.

A White House spokesman said he could not comment directly but efforts were being made to solve the problem.
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced her concerns about the alleged US spy in German intelligence, while on a visit to China.
"It would be a clear contradiction of what I consider to be trusting co-operation" with the US, she said.
She said that if the allegations about a double agent were true, it would constitute a serious breach of trust.
"If the reports are correct, it would be a serious case," Ms Merkel said on Monday while at a news conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
It is the second day of her three-day visit, which is dominated by trade issues.
The latest twist in the ongoing spying row between the two countries happened last week when a German employee of the country's foreign intelligence service (BND) was arrested.
The man is suspected of having handed over more than 200 documents over a two-year period in exchange for 25,000 euros (Â£20,000; $34,000).
Questioned by reporters on Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest praised the "valuable" relationship the US had with Germany and said: "We are going to work with the Germans to resolve this situation appropriately,"
Spying is particularly sensitive in Germany, whether it's listening in to Chancellor Merkel's phone or reading secret documents meant for a parliamentary committee. Mrs Merkel grew up in East Germany where the intrusions of the secret police - the Stasi - were pervasive and poisonous. And democracy has something of a sacred quality in Germany today because of the Nazi and then the Communist years.
"Outrage" runs across the political spectrum - it's not just a "chattering class" issue. Wolfgang Bosbach, for example, who is the Christian Democrat [centre-right] head of the Bundestag committee which oversees interior affairs, questioned whether the US and Germany could be considered as "partners" any more.
The first allegation of spying came just after President Obama's visit to Berlin where he was greeted as a long-lost friend. And this latest one concerns material for the very parliamentary committee set up to investigate the previous allegation. Spies spy, and no doubt spies spy on friends, but there are political consequences when they are caught at it, even if it's just in terms of a loss of goodwill.
German-US relations have been strained since it emerged that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been monitoring Ms Merkel's mobile phone calls.
The scale of NSA surveillance was revealed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor who remains a fugitive in Russia.
Ms Merkel is on her seventh visit to China since taking office in 2005.
At the Beijing news conference Premier Li denied allegations of Chinese-sponsored cyber espionage. "China and Germany, it can be said, are both victims of hacking attacks," he said.
Ms Merkel is due to attend a meeting of the China-Germany Economic and Trade Commission. She will then meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later on Monday.
On Sunday she visited Chengdu, the capital of China's south-western Sichuan province where more than 150 German companies are active.
China is Germany's second-largest export market outside Europe after the US.
It sold goods worth 67bn euros (Â£53bn; $91bn) to China last year, while imports from China topped 73bn euros.
Ms Merkel's visit to China as chancellor may signal the growing importance of Chinese-German relations but there are problems, reports the BBC's Martin Patience from Beijing.
German companies have complained that Chinese businesses are ripping off their technology while other companies have said that they are not being paid on time.


A man was killed at a girl's birthday party in Mexico attended by thousands after her parent's video invitation to "everyone" went viral on social media.

The man died after stepping into the path of a galloping horse during a race in honour of the girl's 15th birthday.
Local media said the 66-year-old owned one of the horses taking part in the amateur race.
About 1.3 million people earlier vowed to attend the party, which also featured local bands and food.
In a video message recorded earlier this month, Crescencio Ibarra announced that he would be organising a 15th birthday party for his daughter Rubi on 26 December in La Joya community, central Mexico.
"Hello, how are you? We invite you this 26 December to the 15th birthday party of our daughter, Rubi Ibarra Garcia," Mr Ibarra said while standing next to Rubi and his wife Anaelda Garcia.
He then went on to announce that the winner of the horse race to be held as part of the event would win 10,000 pesos ($490; Â£390).
One of those drawn by the invite, and the horse race in particular, was Felix Pena of the local Coyotes Negros (Black Coyotes) stables.
Mr Pena told local broadcaster Hora Zero that he was entering his horse, Oso Dormido (Sleeping Bear), in the race and that he expected it to win.
"I'm not doing it for the [prize] money, I'm doing it for the fame and the glory."
In a video taken of the race he can be seen rolling in the dust kicked up by the horses and then lying unconscious on the ground.
Emergency workers said he died on the way to hospital.
It is not clear why Mr Pena, who regularly raced horses, stepped into the path of the galloping animals.
Some bystanders said he may have misjudged the distance as he tried to cheer on Oso Dormido.
Another man who also stepped into the path of the horses broke a leg.
Police said apart from the accident during the horse race, the party went off peacefully.
Throwing a large party for a girl's coming-of-age is not unusual in Mexico, but Rubi Ibarra Garcia's party was unique in the attention it drew.
Mr Ibarra's message was posted publicly on Facebook and was widely shared on social media, prompting countless memes and imitations.
Mr Ibarra later said that the idea had been to invite neighbours and friends only, but promised that he would not turn anyone away.
On the day, thousands of people showed up and relatives had to move away an army of waiting reporters so Rubi could attend an open-air Mass.
Dozens of tents and tables filled with food were prepared for those who made the journey.
They were met by Rubi, who looked serene despite the crowds, wearing a fuchsia dress and a tiara.
Her father was at one point exasperated by the media and threatened to end the party if reporters did not give his daughter some space.


Firefighters have tackled a blaze at an industrial unit in Dundee.

The emergency services were called to reports of an explosion in Brunel Road at about 18:35.
Police cordoned off an area while crews worked to bring the fire under control.
A police spokesman said: "No members of the public were put at risk while the emergency services dealt with the fire which was brought under control by 21:00 and the roads around the area were all reopened."
No-one was injured in the incident.
The spokesman added: "There will be a police presence in the area throughout the night while inquiries continue."


Saturday's third Test in New Zealand could be as brutal as any the British and Irish Lions have faced, says prop Tadhg Furlong.

The tourists' 24-21 victory in the second Test, their first over the All Blacks since 1993, set up the decider at Auckland's Eden Park.
Furlong, part of the Ireland side who beat New Zealand in November, expects a backlash from Steve Hansen's side.
"When your pride is dented, you come out and are up for it," he said.
Furlong was one of eight men in the initial Lions squad who helped end Ireland's 111-year wait for a win over the All Blacks with a 40-29 victory in Chicago last November.
Rory Best, Jack McGrath, CJ Stander, Robbie Henshaw, Conor Murray, Jared Payne and Johnny Sexton were also part of the victorious Irish team.
But New Zealand avenged that defeat with a bruising 21-9 win over Joe Schmidt's men in Dublin two weeks later.
"That match in Dublin, I remember coming off the pitch and being absolutely shattered," Furlong added. "I was sore for days afterwards.
"It was one of the most brutal Test matches I've played in my short career. So we all expect to have the same thing again. And we've got to tee ourselves up for it."
It was a physical contest when New Zealand won in Dublin last November, with centre Henshaw forced off early on after a controversial high challenge by Sam Cane.
In the same match, Malakai Fekitoa was sin-binned for the All Blacks for a dangerous hit on Simon Zebo.
"I think you always fear the All Blacks in the way that if you don't get your stuff sorted, if you don't man up and meet them head on head it's a tough day at the office," added Furlong.
"They can score a try from anywhere. They're that dangerous. They've threats all over the park.
"If none of that works, they're just so damn consistent, and good at holding on to the ball. They're a tough team to beat.
"You have to keep attacking them, but it's easier said than done."
Furlong will be going for three wins over the All Blacks in eight months as Hansen's side look to extend their unbeaten run at Eden Park to 40 games on Saturday.
The Lions, meanwhile, are bidding to secure only their second series win in New Zealand.


Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was formed in January 2009 by a merger between two regional offshoots of the international jihadist network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Since then, it has become what US officials have described as "the most active operational franchise" of al-Qaeda beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The group has vowed to target oil facilities, foreigners and security forces as it seeks to topple the Saudi and Yemeni governments, and establish an Islamic caliphate.
It has claimed responsibility for a large number of attacks in the two countries, in which hundreds of people have been killed, as well as a series of sophisticated airline bomb plots targeting the US that were narrowly foiled.
AQAP has also capitalised on the instability in Yemen in recent years to establish strongholds in the country's south and east, sometimes taking control of entire towns and villages.
But the group has also suffered setbacks, mostly as a result of a US drone campaign that has seen more than 100 air strikes targeting its operatives in the past six years.
In June 2015, AQAP announced that its leader Nasser al-Wuhayshi - who was believed to also have been al-Qaeda's overall second-in-command - had been killed in an air raid.
While the group was quick to replace Wuhayshi with the experienced military and operations chief, Qasim al-Raymi, analysts said his death was a significant blow.
Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, the late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden sought to launch a campaign in his homeland of Saudi Arabia with the intention of driving Americans out of the country and toppling the "apostate" monarchy.
In May 2003, a local offshoot claimed responsibility for simultaneous suicide bombing attacks on three Western housing compounds in Riyadh, which left 29 people dead.
Despite a subsequent crackdown on Islamist militants and radicals by the Saudi security forces, al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia was able to mount an attack on the Muhayyah residential compound in the capital that November, killing 17 people.
In 2004, it suffered a major blow when its leader, Khaled Ali Hajj - a Yemeni and former bodyguard of Bin Laden - was ambushed and killed by Saudi troops.
However, the group soon recovered under the guidance of a veteran Saudi militant, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, and launched a series of spectacular attacks.
On 1 May 2004, militants shot dead five Western workers at a petrochemical complex in the north-western Red Sea city of Yanbu. On 29 May, more than 20 foreign and Saudi nationals were killed in attacks on three sites in the city of al-Khobar, increasing fears of political instability and pushing up global oil prices.
The following month, members of AQAP abducted and beheaded a 49-year old American aerospace worker named Paul Johnson.
The triumph was short-lived, however, as when security forces stormed a hideout in Riyadh looking for Johnson's murderers Muqrin was shot dead.
Although militants killed at least nine people in a raid on the US consulate in Jeddah in December 2004, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula enjoyed notably less success under Muqrin's successor, Salih al-Awfi.
The Saudi security services gradually gained the upper hand, and succeed in preventing any major attacks the following year, when Awfi was himself killed during a police raid in the holy city of Medina.
In spite of the large numbers of Saudis who then travelled to militant training camps and gained experience fighting in places such as Iraq, the group found it increasingly difficult to organise operational cells inside the kingdom. Its last attempt a significant attack was at the Abqaiq oil facility in February 2006.
Meanwhile in Yemen - the ancestral home of Bin Laden - militants took advantage of the weak central government, whose authority does not extend far outside the capital Sanaa, and established strongholds in its largely autonomous tribal regions.
Although al-Qaeda cells were held responsible for several attacks inside Yemen since the suicide boat attack on the USS Cole near the port of Aden in 2000 that killed 17 US sailors, it was not until the second half of the decade that a fully-functioning affiliated group was formed.
According to analyst Gregory Johnsen, between 2002 and 2003 the Yemeni government co-operated closely with the US to fight al-Qaeda. By the end of that period - which included one leader being killed in a controversial strike by a CIA drone aircraft - al-Qaeda appeared to be substantially weakened and so both countries shifted focus.
The policy appeared to have worked until February 2006, Mr Johnsen says, when 23 suspected al-Qaeda members managed to escape from a prison in Sanaa, including Jamal al-Badawi, the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing.
Most were eventually either recaptured or killed, but two of the lesser-known escapees eluded the authorities, including Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi, a former personal assistant to Bin Laden in Afghanistan, and Qasim al-Raymi.
Born in 1976 in the Mukayras region of what is now the southern province of al-Bayda, Wuhayshi spent time in religious institutions in Yemen before travelling to Afghanistan in 1998 and joining al-Qaeda. He fought at the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, before escaping over the border into Iran, where he was eventually arrested. He was extradited to Yemen in 2003.
Raymi, born in Sanaa in 1978, was as a trainer at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in the 1990s before returning to Yemen. In 2004, he was imprisoned for five years in connection with a plot to attack five foreign embassies in the capital.
After escaping from prison, Wuhayshi and Raymi are said to have overseen the formation of al-Qaeda in Yemen, which took in both new recruits and experienced Arab fighters returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Protected by tribes who were wary of government interference, the group established bases from which to launch fresh attacks.
The group claimed responsibility for two suicide bomb attacks that killed six Western tourists before being linked to the assault on the US embassy in Sanaa in September 2008, in which militants detonated bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades. Ten Yemeni guards and four civilians were killed, along with six assailants.
Four months later, Wuhayshi announced in a video the merger of the al-Qaeda offshoots in Yemen and Saudi Arabia to form "al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula".
Analysts said the move was designed to bring Saudi al-Qaeda members who had fled their country and Yemeni militants together under one umbrella as a first step towards launching attacks throughout the region.
Next to Wuhayshi and Raymi, the group's military commander, in the same video sat the new deputy leader, Said Ali al-Shihri, a Saudi national who was released from the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in November 2007.
Another former detainee, Mohammed Atiq al-Harbi, also known as Mohammed al-Awfi, appeared alongside them and was described as a field commander.
Embarrassingly for both Riyadh and Washington, both men had been released from Guantanamo into the custody of the Saudi government's "deradicalisation" programme for militants, which included art therapy. They both left the facility within weeks.
The group's first operation outside Yemen was carried out in Saudi Arabia in August 2009 against the kingdom's security chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, though he survived. The bomber, Ahmed al-Asiri, concealed a device containing the high-explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) inside his body.
His brother, Ibrahim, is believed to have made the bomb, as well as the device used in the failed attempt to destroy a Northwest Airlines Airbus A330 as it flew into Detroit on Christmas Day 2011.
A Nigerian man sentenced to life in prison in connection with the incident, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly told investigators that AQAP operatives trained him in Yemen, equipped him with a powerful explosive device and told him what to do.
After news of the latter incident emerged, AQAP released a statement saying it had sought to avenge raids by Yemeni forces aided by US intelligence, in which dozens of militants are reported to have died.
Following the bombing attempt, Yemeni government forces launched a major offensive against AQAP, targeting the organisation's senior leaders and training camps in the governorates of Shabwa, Abyan and Marib.
They were supported heavily by the US, which sent advisers, provided intelligence, deployed unmanned drones and fired cruise missiles.
Though officials claimed six leaders were killed, the offensive was considered largely unsuccessful. Instead of decapitating AQAP and disrupting its operations, the group shifted its strategy and stepped up its attacks inside Yemen.
In February 2010, Raymi issued a statement threatening the US.
"Today, you have attacked us in the middle of our household, so wait for what will befall you in the middle of yours," he said. "We will blow up the earth from beneath your feet".
Eight months later, the group was accused of sending bombs hidden in two packages addressed to synagogues in the US city of Chicago, which were found on planes in Dubai and the UK.
Both were shipped from Yemen and used PETN, the explosive that was also used in the two earlier attacks on Prince Mohammed and the Northwest Airlines jet. One of the detonators was also almost exactly the same as the one used by Mr Abdulmutallab. US officials said Ibrahim al-Asiri had made them.
At home, AQAP capitalised on political turmoil in Yemen resulting from the uprising against longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 to capture a string of southern towns and villages, only to be driven out of many areas in an army offensive in 2012 ordered by Mr Saleh's successor, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
At the same time, US President Barack Obama authorised a three-fold increase in the number of drone strikes targeting AQAP operatives in Yemen in 2012, resulting in the deaths of a number of senior figures, including Shihri, the deputy leader.
The territorial losses did not, however, stop AQAP from launching major attacks Yemeni security forces and government personnel.
They included a suicide bombing at a military parade in Sanaa in May 2012 that killed more than 120 people, and a raid on a hospital in the defence ministry compound in the capital in December 2013 that left 56 people dead.
At the same time, Wuhayshi was reportedly named al-Qaeda's "general manager" by Bin Laden's successor as overall leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Intercepted communications between the two men led to an alert that saw several US embassies closed in the Middle East and Africa in August 2013.
In March 2014, Wuhayshi was filmed telling a outdoor gathering of dozens of militants that al-Qaeda would fight Western "Crusaders" and their allies everywhere, pledging to "remove the cross, the bearer of the cross, America".
That December, the group threatened to kill an American journalist it was holding hostage, Luke Somers, if its unspecified demands were not met within three days. As the deadline approached, Somers was killed along with another hostage, South African teacher Pierre Korkie, during a failed rescue attempt by US special forces.
In January 2015, AQAP claimed to be behind a deadly attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, which had published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Officials confirmed that one of the gunmen had received training at an AQAP camp.
AQAP also refused to pledge allegiance to the leader of the rival jihadist group, Islamic State, after it proclaimed the creation of caliphate in the territory under its control in Syria and Iraq, bucking the trend among other al-Qaeda affiliates.
In Yemen, AQAP capitalised on the chaos caused by a rebellion by the Houthi movement and a Saudi-led air campaign to weaken the Zaidi Shia group, expanding the territory it controlled in the south and east of the country.
However, the US drone strikes targeting AQAP did not stop and one was reported to have killed Wuhayshi as he met two fellow militants in Mukalla on 9 June.
On 16 June, AQAP official Khaled Batarfi confirmed Wuhayshi's death in a video statement and vowed that "the blood of these pioneers makes us more determined to sacrifice". Batarfi also said Raymi had been elected by the group's leadership council to succeed Wuhayshi.


A campaign to restore a house designed and owned by the artist JMW Turner has turned to the public in a bid to source the remainder of money needed.

Sandycombe Lodge in Twickenham, south west London, was built by Turner in 1813, but it has fallen into a poor state of repair in recent years.
Turner's House Trust is looking for £125,000 to reach its £2.4m target to allow restoration works to begin.
The house - currently closed to the public - could be open in 2017.
The trust hopes turning to crowdfunding - asking people to invest in the project - will secure the total outstanding.
Turner designed the building as a retreat from his central London studio and as a permanent home for his elderly father, a retired wigmaker and barber, who looked after the house and garden.
The Grade II* listed house has been renovated in the 200 years since it was built including two extensions, changing it from its original design, which the trust - the house's owner - wants to restore.
Damp, damage from tree roots and other problems will also be fixed. Part of the basement ceiling collapsed after heavy rain in 2012.
Earlier estimates pegged the total cost of renovation, due to start in April, at £2m - but the trust said inflation and building costs meant had it to revise the amount.
It hopes to raise the money in the next four weeks.
The funding will add to money raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Architectural Heritage Fund and other supporters.
Catherine Parry-Wingfield, chairman at Turner's House Trust, said: "Until all the money is raised our work is not done.
"We do not want to take up a loan we have no funds to repay. Meeting the funding gap is now urgent."


Singer and DJ Dane Bowers hit his ex-fiancee in the face and squeezed her throat in a row over glitter, a court has been told.

Mr Bowers lashed out at the former Miss Wales Sophia Cahill after she asked him why he had glitter on his face, Croydon Magistrates' Court heard.
He allegedly swore, grabbed at her and pulled her hair. She said she was left with a bloody nose and bruises.
Mr Bowers, 35, denies assault by beating.
The court heard the couple of three years had split up in November last year but were living with Mr Bowers' parents in Croydon, south London.
When Ms Cahill went to wake him on 29 January 2015 she said she spotted the glitter on his face and questioned him about it.
"I pointed to the glitter on his face. I had caught him in bed with somebody [before] - that obviously gave us trust issues," she told the court.
"We said that if we are still living under the same roof we would not do anything to disrespect each other and do anything with other people.
"He had been out all night and obviously I jumped to conclusions because of other things he has done in the past."
Mr Bowers is a former Brit School student and became famous as a member of R&B band Another Level.
He also recorded a duet with Victoria Beckham after the group split, went on to appear in Celebrity Big Brother in 2010 and also appeared on the ITV2 show The Big Reunion last year.
Mr Bowers had been changing one of Ms Cahill's two children at the time of the alleged attack when he is accused of grabbing her by the shoulder and pushing her out of the bedroom, the court was told.
Ms Cahill alleges that he hit her after she slapped him in the face. She also claims that she fell to the floor and he started dragging her, at first by her clothes and later by her hair.
"I could not breathe. He was really really aggressive. He was angry. He was just crazy," she told the court.
"He was on my back. He was squeezing my throat and my head was still pulled back by my hair. My head was pulled back as far as it could go. He was leaning on my face. He was just swearing at me."
Ms Cahill said Mr Bowers then hit her on her nose, which was healing following surgery six months before, and she began to bleed.
Mr Bowers' defence lawyer John Blandford argued that it was Ms Cahill who was the aggressor.
In a prepared statement given to police in February, he said: "I never pushed her to the floor or pulled her hair. At all times I was acting in self-defence."
Mr Bowers told police he managed to get her out of the room where he was changing the baby but she was pounding him on his chest.
In the statement he said "she began hitting me again and I was deflecting her blows".
The hearing has been adjourned until 14 September.


Delays at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have become so bad that the court is now being sued by some of those who have been kept waiting.

The number of cases being lodged has risen dramatically and many of those include trademark disputes.
A case at the general court, which upholds European Union (EU) rules, can now take nearly four years to be heard.
One of those caught up in the backlog is David Kremer, president of Rubik's Brand Limited.
He has been involved in a battle dating back to 2006 to register the famous Rubik cube shape as a trademark.
"Clearly we thought it would be a relatively straightforward matter to decide whether or not a trademark was valid," he said.
"Obviously it's frustrating. If we'd had a clear, concise judgement that it was valid in, say, one or two years, we would have had a much more straightforward job in protecting the market and we would have sold more cubes.
"Pirate cubes are now being sold which can be dangerous, with sharp edges and so on."
Trademark cases have increased by 50% from around 200 to 300 a year.
The Rubik mark was first registered in 1999 but was challenged in 2006 by a German toy manufacturer.
The general court ruled in favour of David Kremer at the end of last year, but the German company appealed to the European Court of Justice.
"It seems however long you think it will take, it will take twice as long as that," Mr Kremer told Radio 4's You and Yours.
"You have to laugh about it. You can't put your business on hold; you just have to soldier on doing the best you can."
Five other companies have now registered claims for damages against the ECJ because of the delays in settling cases.
They include businesses in the Netherlands and France found guilty and fined for running cartels. If successful, compensation payouts could total Â£20m.
Christopher Fretwell from the ECJ said: "Regardless of the company or the person's behaviour, they have the right to have their case dealt with within a reasonable time.
"If not, they could be entitled to compensation. Clearly it is not good for a court to be sued for the length of time it is taking to deal with cases and this money comes out of the EU's budget, which is paid for by the taxpayer."
The court now wants to double the number of judges over the next four years to 56, at an extra cost of Â£10m a year.
In 2011, 12 more judges were supposed to have been appointed, but this never happened because the EU could not agree which countries they should come from.
The European Parliament now has to approve the new proposal.