A 53-year old mother of seven, Meryem Sune's body rests on a desk, wrapped in white cloth and bed sheets.

What is unusual about the picture taken in Cizre, a predominantly Kurdish town in south-eastern Turkey, are the bottles of ice surrounding her body.
Ms Sune was hit by shrapnel and died of her injuries, as she was not allowed into hospital for treatment, local reports say - due to a curfew declared over a week ago.
She could not be buried for two days and her body was first kept cold by ice bottles, and then in the freezer of a chicken shop.
Turkey's Interior Ministry said over 30 militants have been killed in Cizre in clashes between the security forces and Kurdish militant group PKK's youth wing.
But the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) claim at least 20 of the dead were civilians.
Sibel Yigitalp, an HDP MP currently in Cizre, told the BBC an account of a family coming under fire.
"Zeynep Taskin's husband was working abroad as a truck driver," she said. "She wanted to give him a call. But they did not have a phone at home. So she went to her neighbour's house."
"As she was at the doorstep of her home with her baby in her arms, they came under fire. The baby fell to the floor, wounded in the ear and leg."
According to local reports, Ms Taskin and her mother-in-law Masallah Edin, who came to help her, were killed by sniper fire. There were two other people wounded in the same family.
"We called the hospital's emergency services. They said they couldn't come due to security concerns," Ms Yigitalp said. The bodies are reportedly kept in cold storage depots.
The Turkish government denies allegations of civilian deaths in Cizre.
In a televised interview, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said "not even one civilian died" in the town and stated that the curfew would continue as long as necessary.
Mr Davutoglu insisted the people of Cizre were being looked after and that the bakeries in the town would be kept open.
However, accounts from Cizre contradict his comments.
Bozo Acar, who works for an NGO, says there are power cuts in certain parts of town, there is no water, and food in many homes is running out.
"There is a tragedy here. People are suffering. There are continuous clashes. Bombs go off. No-one can go out. The government says basic needs are attended to but people here are starving," he says.
Many similar accounts of what has been going on in Cizre are shared on social media. The hashtag #CizreUnderAttack has become one of the most trending topics worldwide on Twitter.
The local governor was not available to speak to the BBC to deny or confirm these reports.
In August, Cizre declared a status of "self-rule", in response to the ongoing operations against the PKK and the detaining of local officials.
Militants from the youth wing of the PKK - the HPG - blocked roads and dug ditches to prevent the security forces from getting into town.
The Turkish government says the operations are aimed at clearing mines from these roads, closing the ditches and maintaining people's safety and security.
On Thursday, a delegation of 30 HDP lawmakers, including the party's co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, were stopped as they tried to reach the town on foot.
Ertugrul Kurkcu, one of the delegation, told the BBC they wanted to go to Cizre to prevent what they called "atrocities against the civilians".
"For the last seven days, and for 24 hours a day, there has been a curfew in place. I don't think we've seen anything like this even in Gaza. People in Cizre have been living in hell," he said.
Critics accuse the government of "punishing" Cizre, as 85% of the town voted for the HDP in the June elections.
The HDP's success had cost the governing AKP its parliamentary majority.
Snap elections have been called for 1 November and concerns are being voiced about the security of the poll, especially in the predominantly Kurdish east and south-east of the country.
Ertugrul Kurkcu said that if the violence in Cizre did not end soon it might set an example for other areas.
"If the situation carries on like this, every town where the HDP got huge support in June elections will be treated in the same way. We think that will have terrible consequences," he said.


Sarabjit Singh, who has died from his injuries after being attacked in a Pakistani prison, was convicted of spying and sentenced to death in 1991.

Pakistan says his real name was Manjit Singh and accused him of involvement in the 1990 bomb attacks in Lahore and Faisalabad in which 14 people died.
But his family have always insisted on his innocence. They say he was a farmer who strayed into Pakistan by mistake while drunk and that he is the victim of mistaken identity.
He is thought  to have been born around 1963 or 1964 and he comes from the village of Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district near the border with Pakistan.
Reports in the local media say Singh dropped out of school and began working on farms to support his family.
A friend remembered playing kabaddi with Singh in the village.
"He was also a very good wrestler who had no match in the region," Dilbagh Singh told a reporter.
One report said that friends had preserved a tractor and a fodder cutting machine used by Singh in his memory.
Singh, said the report, had been farming a field close to the Pakistan border on the day he crossed over to Pakistan.
"After work, Sarabjit must have consumed liquor and crossed over to Pakistan in an inebriated state," Manjinder Singh, a friend, said.
But little else is known about his life before being apprehended and much of the focus since then has been on the circumstances of his trial and sentencing.
Campaigners allege his trial was unfair and he confessed under torture. His lawyers at the time also failed to appear for the hearing.
British lawyer Jas Uppal, who launched an international campaign to secure Sarabjit Singh's release, has said she believes he was "being caught up in the political manoeuvrings of Delhi and Islamabad".
She says he "was prosecuted and convicted in English - when he speaks only Punjabi and Urdu - and there are other serious questions over the fairness of his trial, including allegations that he was tortured in custody and forced to confess".
Ms Uppal set up a website in 2009 to highlight his plight.
"While his family have been pleading with Indian and Pakistani politicians to raise awareness of his case, the fact is that officials in both countries are callously indifferent to his plight," she said before his death.
Sarabjit Singh's family in India was given little access to him when he was alive - his sister Dalbir Kaur was allowed by the Lahore High Court to meet him in jail in June 2011 and that was only the second time he was allowed a visit.
After that meeting Ms Kaur told the BBC: "I met him in his tiny cell in jail. The meeting went on for 90 minutes. It was a very good meeting."
She said that Singh inquired about his wife, his two daughters, neighbours and relatives. The two also exchanged presents.
"When I tied a rakhi [a protective thread Hindu women in India tie on their brothers' wrists during the annual Raksha Bandhan festival], he wept. As a return gift, he gave me a bangle which he had made in jail," she said.
"I promised him that we will get him out soon," she said at the time.


Take That star Gary Barlow surprised shoppers in Bristol with an impromptu concert - which started with him wearing a disguise... as himself.

The star wore a Gary Barlow mask as he began playing Could It Be Magic on a piano at Cabot Circus shopping centre.
Shoppers watching the mystery performer were astonished when he revealed his true identity and sang the hit song.
The 45-year-old entertainer is known for surprising fans - in 2015 he "crashed" a number of weddings.
Hundreds of people had soon gathered to watch the former X Factor judge at the city centre mall, with many posting videos and photographs of the performance on social media.
As news of the concert spread, people around the UK tweeted the star to ask him to attend weddings, birthday parties - and other shopping centres.
In 2015, Barlow promised to sing at the weddings of three fans - but went on to sing at more.
Among them was Natalie Purkis, who was stunned when the star turned up at her wedding reception in Oxfordshire at the request of her husband Martin.
Barlow later tweeted: "I'll look back fondly at 2015 as the year of the wedding crasher!"


Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has been released from detention after receiving a suspended jail sentence.

Mr Pu was found guilty by a Beijing court earlier on Tuesday for "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels" in social media posts.
The court sentenced him to three years in prison but also said the sentence would be suspended.
He is the latest to be tried in a crackdown on dissidents in China.
Mr Pu was released from Beijing's Number One Detention Centre on Tuesday afternoon, where he had been held for 19 months.
He is now under "residential surveillance", and has 10 days to decide whether to appeal against his conviction and sentence, his lawyer says.
Experts say the suspended sentence means Mr Pu can avoid serving time in jail - but could be monitored during the suspension period. The guilty verdict means he can no longer practice law.
Mr Pu could have faced a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
State news agency Xinhua said that during his sentencing Mr Pu had "acknowledged the reality of his crimes", apologised, and accepted his sentence. However, his lawyers said he had not pleaded guilty.
Rights group Amnesty International said that the sentence was "a deliberate attempt by the Chinese authorities to shackle a champion of freedom of expression".
However, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Mr Pu's case had been handled "in accordance with the law" and that "foreign governments should respect China's judicial sovereignty".
Mr Pu has been in detention since May 2014, after he posted several messages on microblogging platform Weibo that were critical of the government.
He had questioned the "excessively violent" crackdown on Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang region, alleged the Chinese Communist Party was an untruthful party, and mocked government rhetoric over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Supporters say his arrest was politically motivated, as he is known for representing dissidents in sensitive human rights cases.
Pu Zhiqiang represented artist Ai Weiwei in a tax evasion case that critics complained was politically motivated. He also campaigned for the eventual abolition of the labour camp system, under which suspects could be detained for years without trial.
Prior to the sentencing, a small group of activists and foreign journalists gathered in front of the court. There were brief scuffles with the police, in a repeat of scenes seen last week during Mr Pu's one-day trial.
A BBC team witnessed supporters and journalists being dragged away by dozens of plainclothes policemen. The BBC team was later asked to leave.
Amnesty said at least 12 activists were detained on Tuesday.
Human rights activist Hu Jia told the BBC that China's authorities had "attacked a leading human rights lawyer... as a warning to other rights lawyers [in China]."
International interest in his case could have contributed to his jail sentence being suspended, Mr Hu said, but added that Mr Pu was still at risk of being persecuted by the authorities.
Pu Zhiqiang is something of a celebrity as a lawyer. He's a big, bear-like man with a baritone voice who has defended a range of causes, especially those involving freedom of speech and detention in labour camps.
He mixes popular street speech with allusions to classical literature in a powerful rhetorical fashion. "Feisty" is an adjective often used to describe him.
He has also been a thorn in the side of the authorities since his imprisonment in 1989 as a student pro-democracy protester.
His defenders say his current treatment is not because of the content of the seven posts on social media cited by the authorities. Rather, they say, it is to send a warning to dissidents - and the lawyers of dissidents.


Mario Balotelli was sent off for the third time this season - but Nice still won 1-0 at bottom club Lorient to close in on Ligue 1 leaders Monaco.

The former Liverpool striker was dismissed for dissent in the 68th minute after tangling with Zargo Toure.
Wylan Cyprien's shot had given the visitors a 15th-minute lead, and earned them a first away win since November.
Nice move up to second, three points behind Monaco, who drew 1-1 at Bastia on Friday.
Lucien Favre's side have climbed above Paris St-Germain, who will regain second place if they avoid defeat at home to Toulouse on Sunday.
Balotelli, who has scored 11 goals for Nice since arriving from Liverpool last summer, was dismissed for two yellow cards in the reverse fixture against Lorient in October.
He also received a straight red card in the goalless draw at Bordeaux in December.
Clinton N'Jie and Florian Thauvin scored as Marseille, in sixth, beat Rennes 2-0 to move level on points with fifth-placed Saint-Etienne.
Cameroon forward N'Jie, on loan from Tottenham, marked his first game since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations by sweeping in the opener from the edge of the penalty area.
Then midfielder Thauvin, in his second season on loan from Newcastle, floated in a second from 25 yards after being set up by a clever backheel by Morgan Sanson.
Match ends, Lorient 0, Nice 1.
Second Half ends, Lorient 0, Nice 1.
Attempt saved. Alhassan Wakaso (Lorient) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Arnold Mvuemba with a cross.
Sylvain Marveaux (Lorient) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Dalbert (Nice).
Attempt missed. Alhassan Wakaso (Lorient) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Vincent Le Goff.
Attempt missed. Majeed Waris (Lorient) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Erwin Koffi with a cross.
Attempt saved. Anastasios Donis (Nice) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jean Michael Seri.
Attempt saved. Benjamin Jeannot (Lorient) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Sylvain Marveaux with a cross.
Zargo Toure (Lorient) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Dante (Nice).
Attempt saved. Majeed Waris (Lorient) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Alhassan Wakaso with a cross.
Attempt blocked. Sylvain Marveaux (Lorient) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Lorient. Alhassan Wakaso replaces Jimmy Cabot because of an injury.
Corner,  Lorient. Conceded by Dalbert.
Attempt missed. Benjamin Jeannot (Lorient) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Erwin Koffi with a cross.
Zargo Toure (Lorient) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Anastasios Donis (Nice).
Offside, Lorient. Sylvain Marveaux tries a through ball, but Romain Philippoteaux is caught offside.
Erwin Koffi (Lorient) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Younès Belhanda (Nice).
Attempt missed. Majeed Waris (Lorient) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Sylvain Marveaux.
Substitution, Nice. Anastasios Donis replaces Valentin Eysseric.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Yoan Cardinale (Nice) because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Majeed Waris (Lorient) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Romain Philippoteaux with a through ball.
Yoan Cardinale (Nice) is shown the yellow card.
Valentin Eysseric (Nice) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Vincent Le Goff (Lorient).
Substitution, Lorient. Romain Philippoteaux replaces Benjamin Moukandjo.
Attempt missed. Majeed Waris (Lorient) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Vincent Le Goff.
Substitution, Nice. Maxime Le Marchand replaces Mounir Obbadi.
Jean Michael Seri (Nice) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jimmy Cabot (Lorient).
Foul by Mounir Obbadi (Nice).
Erwin Koffi (Lorient) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Dalbert (Nice) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jimmy Cabot (Lorient).
Foul by Younès Belhanda (Nice).
Erwin Koffi (Lorient) wins a free kick on the right wing.


Fast food chain KFC has been fined almost £1m after two employees suffered burns while handling hot gravy without gloves.

A 16-year-old boy and a woman were hurt in separate accidents at restaurants in Stockton in 2014 and 2015, Teesside Magistrates' Court heard.
The chain was ordered to pay £950,000 in fines and £18,700 in costs after admitting health and safety breaches.
KFC Limited said it invested £7.5m in health and safety measures every year.
The teenager suffered serious burns at the Teesside Park restaurant on 14 July 2014 and the woman was hurt at the Wellington Square in Stockton on 1 December 2015.
The court heard how environmental health officers visited the Wellington Square branch two days after the woman was hurt and found staff could not find any protective gloves.
They also concluded that health procedures were not being followed.
KFC admitted such accidents were rare, but staff failed to follow procedures.
Chief operating officer Rob Swain said: "The safety of our team members is hugely important to us, so we were shocked by what happened.
"We have robust processes and procedures in place, but on these occasions, they were not followed and we have accepted the prosecution."
The prosecution was brought by Stockton Borough Council.
Councillor Steve Nelson, cabinet for community safety, said: "This is a huge fine that sends out a very clear message that all food business operators have a duty to ensure the health and safety of their employees and provide them with suitable training."


Travellers face disruption this weekend as a 10-mile (16km) Lake District rail route is shut for repairs.

Network Rail said the closure between Oxenholme and Windermere would mean "short-term pain for long-term gain."
Spokesman Simon Evans said work across the network costing Â£33m was taking place nationwide.
While engineers renew the track, bus services will be in place between Glasgow and Carlisle, and Carlisle and Preston until Monday.
Mr Evans said: "Far fewer people travel on bank holidays, so we are taking this opportunity to get on and do important work.
"We are renewing some of the track and replacing overhead equipment - it is short-term pain for long-term gain."


A series of bomb attacks in and around the Iraqi capital Baghdad has left at least 18 people dead.

The deadliest attack took place near a restaurant in the city's Palestine Street, killing eight people.
The militant Islamic State (IS) group, which seized last swathes of the country last year, often says it is behind such attacks.
Even before the rise of IS, Iraq has been wracked for years by deadly sectarian attacks.
Several other attacks were reported in the capital, some of them targeting military personnel.
IS did say it was behind yet another attack on Tuesday against a local government building in Amiriyat al-Fallujah, to the west of Baghdad, in which at least two people were killed.
The town is the province of Anbar, much of which is now under IS control.
Tuesday marked a year since Iraq's second city, Mosul, was seized by the group.


Militants who kidnapped 31 people from a bus in Afghanistan in February have released a video showing one of the hostages being beheaded.

In the video, two masked gunmen speak to a man kneeling in front of them.
After killing him, the gunmen say they will kill others they are holding if the government does not agree to their demands. The demands are unspecified.
They identify themselves as belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who are allied to the Taliban.
There had been speculation that the hostages, mostly from the Hazara ethnic minority, had been seized by Islamic State as they travelled from Iran to Kabul through Zabul province.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was formed in the late 1990s and said it carried out the attack on Karachi airport in June 2014.
The BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says this is the first time they have issued a video showing a beheading.
In the footage, the gunmen ask the hostage what his job is, and he says that he is a soldier. Local news agencies report that the kidnappers want their comrades released from Afghan jails.
Along with other Taliban factions, the IMU was pushed out of its former stronghold in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region in an army offensive launched after the Karachi airport assault.
Unlike in Pakistan, Afghan Hazaras, who are mostly Shia Muslims, have been largely spared attacks by Sunni militants operating in both countries.


Stones have been laid in memory of those killed in the UK's worst rail tragedy a century ago.

Virgin Trains has created a cairn at Carlisle Station to mark the Quintinshill crash.
On 22 May 1915, five trains carrying troops, civilians and freight collided near Gretna Green killing 226 and injuring even more.
The driver and fireman from the troop train both came from Carlisle and the disaster devastated the community.
Tim Gorst, Virgin Trains' customer service assistant at Carlisle, said:  "It's important that such a momentous event on the railway, Britain's worst disaster, is commemorated in proper fashion.
"It has more poignancy with the soldiers that died heading towards a terrible conflict, but also the civilians and railway workers who lost their lives should be remembered."
The stone-laying ceremony was presided over by the Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria Claire Hensman.
Adrian Quine, a journalist who has extensively researched the Quintinshill tragedy, said: "Carlisle is particular significant as it was an important railway city with a very close knit family."
On Friday a private ceremony will be held at Tullie House, while on 26 May flowers will be laid on the graves of driver Francis Scott and fireman James Hannah at Stanwix Cemetery in Carlisle.


American Airlines has removed an employee from duty after an ugly clash over a baby's pram in San Francisco.

A passenger who uploaded video of the aftermath of the incident said a mother had been struck with the pram as it was forcibly removed by the employee.
The video shows the employee saying, "Hit me! Come on, bring it on!", when challenged by another male passenger.
American Airlines said it was "deeply sorry for the pain we have caused" the woman passenger and her family.
The incident follows another high-profile clash on a United Airlines plane two weeks ago, when a passenger was violently removed from an overbooked flight.
The American Airlines incident took place at San Francisco International Airport as flight 591 prepared to take off for Dallas/Fort Worth.
Passenger Surain Adyanthaya, who posted the video to Facebook, said that preceding the footage the employee had "violently" taken the pram from the mother, hitting her and narrowly missing her baby.
The footage shows the mother clearly distraught as other employees and passengers try to intervene.
One male passenger demands the name of the employee involved and when a man dressed in American Airlines uniform enters the plane, the passenger tells him: "Hey, bud, you do that to me and I'll knock you flat."
The employee confronts the passenger, telling him to "stay out of this", then saying: "Hit me! Come on, bring it on."
He adds: "You don't even know what the story is."
The passenger replies: "I don't care what the story is. You almost hurt a baby."
In its statement, American Airlines said: "What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident."
It said it was "making sure all of her family's needs are being met while she is in our care".
The airline upgraded the woman and her family to first class when she took another flight to Dallas.
"The actions of our team member captured here do not appear to reflect patience or empathy, two values necessary for customer care. In short, we are disappointed by these actions," the airline said.
A statement from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants stressed that all passengers deserve to be treated with respect, but warned against rushing to judgement before the full facts were known.


It's almost time for Donald Trump to officially become the next president of the United States.

Many people will be there to support him on Friday as he "takes the oath" and makes his inaugural speech - two traditions that happen on the day that a new president starts the job.
Members of the public will stand along the National Mall to watch him being made their new leader and there will also be VIP guests.
One group of people supporting the new president will be his close family.
But who are they? Newsround takes a look:
Melania Trump is Donald Trump's wife.
She was born in born in Slovenia and married Donald Trump in January 2005.
They have one child together called Barron (more on him later!).
In November 2016, it was reported that she won't move into the White House with her husband straight away, as she will stay in New York - where the Trumps currently live - with their son, while he finishes school there.
Barron Trump is Donald Trumps 10-year-old son. His mum is Melania.
He enjoys playing golf with his dad and can apparently speak Slovenian, which is his mum's first language.
He will carry on living in New York with his mum rather than move to the White House straight away, so he can finish the school year.
Ivanka is another of Donald Trump's daughters and perhaps the most well-known of his children.
She was a judge on her dad's reality TV show The Apprentice.
She will move to Washington like her father when he officially starts the job as president, as her husband has been named as one of his chief advisors.
Tiffany Trump, who is 23, is another one of Donald Trump's daughters.
Like her father, she likes to use social media a lot and has just finished a degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
Eric Trump is one of Donald Trump's sons.
He is an executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, which is the business empire that Donald Trump built up.
At the age of 23, he launched a big charity organisation that helps children who have life-threatening conditions.
Donald Trump Jr is Donald Trump's eldest son with his first wife called Ivana, who was Czech, so he grew up speaking Czech.
Now 39 years old, he is also executive vice-president of The Trump Organization.
Donald Trump has handed over management of the Trump Organization to Donald Jr and Eric, as he is not allowed to do this job at the same time as being president.


Olympic champion Katie Archibald added another gold and a silver on day two of the UK National Track Championships.

She beat fellow Scot Neah Evans in the scratch race before losing out to Sophie Capewell in the keirin.
Rio reserve Ryan Owens claimed the men's sprint title with Joe Truman taking silver and Lewis Oliva bronze.
Paralympic champions Sophie Thornhill and pilot Corrine Hall also won their second gold as well as silver, in the pursuit and flying 200 respectively.
"I'm a bit shattered but my dad owns a bed shop so I'm obliged to have a good night's sleep," said Archibald, who will return for a third day of racing at the National Cycling Centre on Sunday.
The 22-year-old also beat her GB pursuit team-mate, Wales' Elinor Barker, who finished third behind Evans in the scratch event.
In the C1-5 category, Megan Giglia won individual pursuit while 15 year-old Lauren Booth won her second gold of the championships in the flying 200.
Paralympic triathlon silver medallist Alison Patrick completed a track debut bronze medal hat-trick in the tandem alongside experienced pilot Helen Scott.
Patrick, who will continue to race triathlon, now hopes to compete for Great Britain at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles in March.
Find out how to get into disability sport with our special guide.
However, Britain's most decorated female Paralypian, Sarah Storey, will not compete in LA, deciding against competing internationally in 2017.
In Manchester, her Boot Out Breast Cancer team took bronze in the team pursuit - which was won by British Cycling Academy riders under Team Breeze.
Elsewhere, Dan Bigham added the men's kilometre time trial gold to his individual pursuit title, Joe Nally won the points race and Aileen McGlynn and pilot Louise Haston came out on top in the tandem flying 200.


On 1 April 2017, the amount that businesses have to pay in rates will change to reflect a revaluation of premises that has been carried out by the government.

The claim: More businesses will win than lose as a result of business rates revaluation.
Reality Check verdict: More businesses will see their bills fall than will see their rates rise.
The changes will be relatively large because it has been seven years since the last one. The government has now said that it will have revaluations at least every three years.
There have been loud complaints from business owners who will have to pay more, but on the Today Programme, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said: "Across the country as a whole, far more businesses are benefiting from these changes than are losing out."
Mr Gauke is only talking about England because, while there are also revaluation processes underway in Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland did it in 2015), he has no power over them.
Business rates are a tax on non-residential property such as pubs, restaurants, warehouses, factories, shops and offices, but not farms or places of worship.
The amount they pay is based on how much annual rent could be charged on the premises, which is known as the rateable value.
There have been objections, from some business groups, to changes in the regime for appealing against the rateable value attached to particular premises.
On average, all areas are seeing their rates fall, except London, where bills will rise an average 11% this year.
In the 2016 Budget, the government said it would spend £6.7bn on reducing business rates by 2020-21.
Among the changes, premises with a rateable value of £12,000 or less do not have to pay any rates at all - they previously had to pay 50%.
The government says that covers about 600,000 businesses.
The proportion of business rates that must be paid increases gradually, between a rateable value of £12,000 and £15,000, affecting another 50,000 businesses.
There will also be an increase in the amount businesses can earn before they go from the standard rate to the higher rate.
The government has also changed the measure of inflation that it uses to increase rates every year - it has switched from the consumer prices index (RPI) to the consumer prices index (CPI), which will usually mean smaller increases for businesses.
And it has introduced transitional arrangements to protect businesses from seeing their rates increasing too much straight away.
In order to fund this, it has also prevented businesses' rates from falling more than a certain amount.
The Department for Communities and Local Government says that 520,000 ratepayers will see their bills increase as a result of the revaluation, while 920,000 will see their bills fall and 420,000 will see no change.
The government says that the revaluation will not earn it any extra money.
Read more from Reality Check


Manager Lee Clark sees Kris Boyd as the catalyst for Kilmarnock's quest to secure their Premiership status.

The striker has started the last four matches, scoring three goals, as Killie boosted their chances of avoiding the play-off with two wins and a draw.
"Kris has been fantastic since he came into the starting line-up," Clark told BBC Scotland.
"Kris needs to be the man who starts,  he needs to be the main man that the team is built around."
Two years ago Boyd scored the solitary goal that beat Hibernian on the final day of the season to retain Killie's top flight status and he looks like the go-to man again.
Boyd, 32, captained the side in the 4-0 win at Hamilton last weekend due to the absence of goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald and he is likely to do it again against Partick Thistle.
"He's been tremendous on the training ground, he's been a great example and been a real advocate of what I'm trying to do and he's pushed that forward and thankfully for any goalscorer he's getting his rewards with goals," said Clark.
With Dundee United relegated, Kilmarnock are in the play-off position with three games remaining, four points behind Hamilton and six adrift of Partick.
The Rugby Park boss has in the past battled relegation while in charge of Blackpool and Birmingham and he hopes that experience can help.
"The main thing for me that I can pass to the players because I've got personal experience of it, is never give up," he explained.
"We went to the 96th minute with Birmingham City against Bolton Wanderers to secure our Championship status.
"So that just shows you never ever give up no matter what the situation - keep fighting right to the end - and that's obviously one thing we'll do in the last three games.
"We've got three huge games and with each game that goes by if we keep getting positive results it gives us a better opportunity.
"The next one is obviously Partick Thistle and if we get a win, we can drag them into the equation alongside ourselves and Hamilton.
"Like I've said all along the only time we can effect a team around us is when we play them, so obviously the result against Hamilton and what we do against Partick will be important for us."
Thistle are one of the sides Killie has played against since Clark took over the reigns so that gives him the benefit of having seen them first hand as opposition.
"It give me personal knowledge but my staff have been brilliant for me in terms of helping me and that was crucial in terms of why I wanted to keep them when I came into the job - their knowledge of the game up here.
"But I've seen Thistle and I've also watched their game from the weekend against Inverness. They'll be hurting because they weren't expecting to be in this position."


St Helens back Jonny Lomax has signed a new two-year contract, keeping him at the Super League club until 2019.

The 26-year-old joined Saints in 2009 and has since made 147 appearances, scoring 468 points.
He was called up for England's 2016 Four Nations campaign and has four caps for the national side.
"Jonny is a classy player and I'm delighted he has committed his future to us," Saints head coach Justin Holbrook said.


Borussia Monchengladbach are not like most major European clubs.

While most modern football institutions have doormen, security guards and fences to curtail curious fans, the doors at Gladbach's stadium are always open and fans can often be found in the bar/restaurant adjacent to the club's front desk.
If the fans can't catch their favourite player walking off the training pitches a stone throw's away from the stadium then they'd be just as lucky to find him enjoying some lunch in the bar.
There, fans and players mingle freely. Despite being one of Germany's most popular clubs, Gladbach, like most German teams, go to great lengths to ensure their fans don't feel isolated from the team.
Indeed, another feature of the open-door policy is the club's trophy collection on show for all to see in the lobby. Placed in glass podiums stand a Bundesliga, German Cup and Uefa Cup trophy to represent the nine domestic and continental trophies Gladbach wrestled from the grasp of the famous, all-conquering Bayern Munich sides of the seventies.
Nicknamed "The Foals" due to the young, vibrant nature of their teams throughout the era, this Bundesliga side are steeped in history and have a loyal, worldwide following that love them for it.
"The size of the club was also why I came here," Fabian Johnson, Gladbach's United States international tells the BBC. "My last two clubs - Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim - were kind of new in the world of the Bundesliga and the supporters were great but didn't have the tradition and background."
When asked about the constant reminder of former glory days, Johnson adds: "It's just a great honour for every player that plays here. I think every player is proud to play for a big club like this."
Like Celtic, Gladbach's history and vibrant supporters demand success even if the club's stature in European football isn't what it once was. As such, the opportunity to play in the Champions League against the very best is a timely reminder of what once was.
Not unlike their coming Glasgow rivals, Celtic, Gladbach not only adore the limelight but feel they are absolutely deserving of it.
"We're playing in the Champions League and we wanted to play the best teams in the world and now we have it," says Johnson with a notable smile. "Of course, it's exciting, but it's also a hard challenge."
Following an unfortunate 0-0 draw with Hamburg on Saturday, Gladbach sit eighth in a notably turbulent Bundesliga table. On the same weekend, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich dropped points, while suggested relegation contenders Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt sit just above them in sixth and seventh respectively.
Yet an even tougher prospect has been Group C of the Champions League, in which Gladbach have travelled to Manchester City and welcomed Barcelona to Borussia Park without picking up a point, shipping six goals in the process.
"I think we have the toughest group in the Champions League and then had the two toughest games right away," admits Johnson as he ponders over his team's current standing. "It's very important that we pick up points in Glasgow.
"It's going to be tough to get out of this group in first or second place, so I hope that we're going to finish third. But it's going to be hard to play in Glasgow, win in Glasgow and then win at home in Gladbach against Celtic."
Although Johnson plays for the United States through his parents, he was born and raised in Munich and it's that famous German pragmatism that shines through as he looks ahead to the double header against the Scottish champions.
"We try to win every game, obviously, but we have to try to be realistic and that means winning in Glasgow," he adds. "If we get our first three points, or perhaps one, then we have to see how it looks, but of course we want to at least get to the Europa League."
Standing in the way of such a goal is one notable factor: Gladbach's away form. Although Celtic fans may bemoan their own away record at times, the Foals under Andre Schubert blow very hot or cold depending on where they happen to be playing.
While the team may have lost only one of their 18 home games in the Bundesliga under the relatively new coach, they've also only won four of their 17 matches on the road in that period.
When asked if he could explain such a contrasting run of form, Johnson is refreshingly blunt and honest: "To be honest, no." He adds: "When we play at home, the supporters are always behind us.
"We have an unbelievable crowd. Everybody knows that, if they come to Borussia Park, it's going to be a hard, tough game. It's not like we're trying to play different when we play away. I can't explain it, to be honest."
Indeed, he doesn't seem to be the only one. Schubert still plays the same tactics and often the same players at home and away each week even if his system only seems to work when the players have the full support of more than 50,000 supporters behind them.
Yet that doesn't seem to bother Johnson. Rather than fear a trip to Celtic Park, where so many big clubs have stumbled in the past, he claims his team-mates can't wait.
"We know that the crowd there is crazy," he says with an eager smile. "We talked about it and, of course, everybody knows from different players who've played there before that it's going to be a great atmosphere and a great crowd.
"If you want to play in the Champions League, you have to face the biggest teams and that's what we've got. They're going to be nice games but tough ones."
Johnson, like his club, are intent on making the most of their time in the Champions League: a competition that they truly believe they belong in, like their opponents on Wednesday night, when two clubs not dissimilar in their history and standing in European football meet.


England are on the brink of a resounding win over India in the third Test after ripping through the home side's top order on the fourth day.

Chasing 207 to make England bat again, India raced to 86-0 at lunch.
But Graeme Swann bowled Virender Sehwag to spark a collapse in which India lost six wickets for 36 runs.
The tourists looked certain to wrap up an innings win, only for Ravichandran Ashwin (83) to steer India to 239-9 at the close, a slender lead of 32 runs.
"This is not the Indian team I know. Usually their batsman are difficult to get out, they make big totals, but we're knocking them over! And in the end, their batsman have to be up for a fight. They're giving their wickets away. They're so down, you'd have to put a bit of money on England winning in Nagpur."
Ashwin's superb cameo, which featured partnerships of 38 with Ishant Sharma and and an unbroken 42 with Pragyan Ojha, spared India the ignominy of an innings defeat and took the match into a fifth day to the delight of a raucous home crowd.
But England will be confident of finishing the job on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the series with one match to play.
A day of fluctuating fortunes hinged on a single delivery as Graeme Swann got the first ball after lunch to rip between Sehwag's bat and pad and cannon into his off stump.
The dismissal stopped India in their tracks and gave England the opportunity to reassert the supremacy they had enjoyed for the first three days of the Test.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a double hundred and a century in the first two Tests, was the next to fall as Ian Bell capitalised on a mix-up with Gautam Gambhir to throw down the stumps from midwicket.
Gambhir survived an appeal for a slip catch from the next delivery when the third umpire established the ball had not struck his bat but was out for 40 in the following over as a waft at Steven Finn was snaffled by Matt Prior.
Sachin Tendulkar's disappointing series continued as he edged a ball from Swann that did not turn before Yuvraj Singh was clean bowled by one from James Anderson that kept low.
Captain Mahendra Dhoni was caught behind for a duck off the same bowler to round off a thrilling passage of play.
After a brief pre-tea lull, Finn produced an away-swinger to have Virat Kohli caught behind for 20 and trapped Zaheer on the back foot right in front of his stumps.
With India still 48 runs in arrears with only two wickets in hand, England appeared primed for their first innings victory in India since 1976, but Ashwin had other ideas.
Expertly farming the strike and surviving a fumbled stumping chance by Prior, he belied his position at number eight with an increasingly authoritative innings.
Panesar bowled Sharma to leave India nine down and 10 runs behind, but Ashwin attacked the new ball to ensure England's work is not quite done.
The tourists had earlier failed to build on their overnight position of 509-6 as India enjoyed a near-perfect opening session.
Swann nicked his first ball of the day to slip and Prior was caught behind trying to run Zaheer down to third man.
Anderson edged Ashwin to Sehwag at slip for nine and when Panesar was harshly adjudged lbw from the next delivery England had lost their last four wickets for 14 in 25 minutes.
"The combination of a clever piece of bowling by Graeme Swann and a lazy shot from Virender Sehwag turned the day on its head and from then on the performance of the rest of India's frontline batsmen lacked any heart.
They really didn't look as if they were up for a fight and that is something the India selectors are going to have to look at going into the next Test, which the hosts will almost certainly have to win."
Read the rest of Jonathan's column
India carried the momentum into their batting performance as Sehwag sprinted to 49 off 56 balls and Gambhir smashed Panesar for a six and four in the last over before lunch to leave the hosts only 121 runs behind with all 10 wickets intact.
But Swann's removal of Sehwag swung the balance and set England on course for a win that would leave them needing only a draw in the fourth Test in Nagpur for a first series victory in India since 1985.
Listen to Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott's analysis of the day's play on the Test Match Special podcast.
We are using archive pictures for this Test because several photo agencies, including Getty Images, have been barred from the ground following a dispute with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, while other agencies have withdrawn their photographers in protest.


A man has died a week after the car he was travelling in crashed and overturned on the M27 in Hampshire.

The 20-year-old, from Bitterne, Southampton, was a rear-seat passenger when the Vauxhall Corsa crashed on the eastbound carriageway, between Fareham and Portsmouth, on 26 June.
The driver, 20, suffered serious injuries but has since been discharged from hospital.
A front-seat passenger, 19, who sustained a head injury, is "stable".
Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident.


Baltimore's mayor has sacked the US city's police chief, saying his leadership had become a distraction from fighting a "crime surge".

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she was replacing Police Commissioner Anthony Batts with his deputy, Kevin Davis, for an interim period.
The city was rocked by riots in April when a black man died after suffering injuries in police custody.
Six officers were charged over the death of the 25-year-old, Freddie Gray.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Mayor Rawlings-Blake said Mr Batts had "served this city with distinction" since becoming police chief in October 2012.
But referring to the city's high homicide rate, she said "too many continue to die".
"The focus has been too much on the leadership of the department and not enough on the crime fighting," she told reporters, adding: "We need to get the crime surge under control."
The city has seen a sharp increase in violence since Freddie Gray's death on 19 April, with 155 homicides this year, a 48% increase over the same period last year.
On Tuesday, the police department announced that an outside organisation will review its response to the civil unrest that followed Mr Gray's death.
The US justice department is also conducting a civil rights review of the Baltimore force and Mr Batts has been criticised by the city's police union.
Earlier on Wednesday, the union released its report into the police handling of the rioting.
It said officers had complained "that they lacked basic riot equipment, training, and, as events unfolded, direction from leadership".
The report also said "officers repeatedly expressed concern that the passive response to the civil unrest had allowed the disorder to grow into full scale rioting".
Recent events had "placed attention on police leadership", Ms Rawlings-Blake said, but denied her decision was influenced by the union report.
Mr Davis, who is taking over immediately as interim police chief, praised his "friend" Mr Batts and said he was a "true reform commissioner".
Mayor Rawlings-Blake said Mr Davis would "bring accountability to police, hold officers who act out of line accountable for their actions".


Highland Reel produced a front-running masterclass to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

The 13-8 favourite held off a spirited challenge from Dante Stakes winner Wings of Desire to win by a length.
Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien, who celebrated his fourth King George victory, said: "He's a wonderful horse who is getting better."
The Queen's colt Dartmouth failed to record a fourth successive win this season finishing third.
There had been high hopes that the early favourite in the betting would have been a first royal winner in the Group One race since Aureole in 1954.
Dartmouth (9-2) was added to the £1.15m race as a late entry on Monday at a cost of £75,000.
Highland Reel, ridden by Ryan Moore, opened up a clear lead in the mile-and-a-half contest, racing down the back straight before taking a breather, which allowed the chasing pack to bridge the gap.
The four-year-old remained in front turning for home, however, and answered Moore's every call to score by a length-and-a-quarter from Frankie Dettori's Wings Of Desire (4-1).
Moore said: "He's a very good horse and won in America and Hong Kong.
"It's a marvellous achievement from Aidan to get him back in this shape to win this sort of race.
"He's a very strong horse. He's very professional - he knows how to race."
Cornelius Lysaght, BBC horse racing correspondent
"Ryan Moore was in command from the start. From the front, the three-time champion jockey slowed down the pace when he wanted to and later increased the tempo again, just as he wanted.
"That said, Highland Reel was a highly willing partner. Relishing the much drier conditions, he turned the tables on Dartmouth, who had been his head conqueror at Royal Ascot a month previously on good to soft ground.
"Dartmouth kept on well after looking likely to struggle and is likely to go globe-trotting now with American, Australian and Japanese targets all being mentioned."


Police are investigating after a man was bitten by a dog and assaulted in an early-morning argument in Denny.

A 40-year-old man was walking his dogs in the woods near Wallace Crescent at 07:10 on Sunday when he became involved in a dispute with another dog walker.
The victim was assaulted by the man and bitten by his dog, which was a tan-coloured Boxer type dog.
The suspect was 5ft 8in (1.72m) tall, in his late 30s or early 40s, and was wearing a red shirt and dark trousers.
He spoke with an Aberdeenshire or Inverness accent and had short grey hair. Officers have appealed for information.


Farmers and wildlife campaigners have joined together to try to stop the spread of TB in cattle in Cheshire.

The Cheshire TB Eradication Group has been set up after a rise in cases of the disease in the county from 30 in 2005 to 116 in 2012.
Chester farmer Richard Fair said the county was the "final frontier" to stop the disease travelling north.
Wildlife groups have been campaigning to stop culls of badgers, which spread the disease.
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said if trial culls in the South West successfully controlled the spread of TB they could be used in other areas where the disease was endemic, but vaccinations and other methods would also be used.
Mr Fair, who has lost five of his diary herd recently to TB, said: "Tackling the disease in Cheshire is seen as critical if the spread north is first to be stopped and then pushed back.
"It is hoped that by bringing together everyone who has an interest in stopping the spread of this disease, we may really get a handle on where the disease is and work together to stop it in its tracks."
The group's first move is to work with the University of Liverpool on a survey of TB in Cheshire's wildlife to focus badger vaccination effectively.
An NFU spokesman said: "Culls will only ever be carried out in areas where TB is endemic and will never be carried out nationwide.
"Although the problem in the county is clearly getting worse, thankfully there is no evidence of wildlife infection."
Earlier this week environment secretary Owen Patterson called the issue "the most pressing animal health problem in the UK" and set out the government's long-term plans to eradicate it.
Plans include a controversial cull of badgers, due to start this year in two areas of South West England.
The draft strategy published on Thursday said "further research into alternative population control methods (eg sett-based culling methods and non-lethal methods) is also under consideration".


Deaths linked to a commonly prescribed class of drug, used to treat anxiety and insomnia, reached record levels in England and Wales last year.

There were 372 fatalities involving benzodiazepines, up 8% on the previous year, and the highest level since records began in 1993, according to the Office for National Statistics.
There were more than 10 million prescriptions for benzodiazepines dispensed in England in 2014, but there are growing concerns about the illegal supply of the drugs.
And research for the BBC's 5 live Investigates programme found websites openly offering a range of branded pills without a prescription or oversight from a qualified doctor.
The Home Office said the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has been commissioned to look into the issues surrounding the illicit supply of the medicines.
And in a statement, the Home Office added that there had been a "long-term downward trend in drug use over the last decade".
Keith Houghton's son Jason, 24, died in 2014 after he started taking benzodiazepines to help him sleep while working irregular shift patterns as a paramedic.
"He told us that he'd started working nights, which involved four night shifts in a row and then four days," says Keith.
"He was having difficulty getting back to sleep, he was that wired up."
Jason was able to source the drug himself online and quickly became addicted.
"It was clear from the get-go that he was buying them from online retailers which were based abroad," says Keith.
"There were some in Romania. There was one in Germany, another in Pakistan and he was basically ordering them from his home bedroom and getting them delivered by Royal Mail.
"We were so shocked, as any parent would be, that this was so available to anyone.
"If you've got a credit card and access to the internet you can order these kind of drugs straight to your home."
Manchester West coroner Alan Walsh recorded a verdict of death by misadventure because of the combined effects of diazepam and other medicines in Jason's system.
Manchester West coroner Alan Walsh recorded a verdict of death by misadventure because of the combined effects of diazepam and other medicines in Jason's system.
He called on Home Secretary Theresa May to take "urgent action" into the supply of benzodiazepines and other drugs online to prevent further deaths.
The coroner also highlighted concerns over one particular online retailer which had supplied several drugs to Jason in padded envelopes through the post.
In response, after an appeal by the Home Office, the medicines regulator the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was able to close down the site.
However, 5 live Investigates has established that a retailer operating under a similar name is currently offering to supply benzodiazepines and other medication. The website is offering 10mg branded benzodiazepine pills in packets of 1,000. It says it will deliver to any UK address within three to five days.
The MHRA said that websites reported to be suspected of operating illegally are investigated thoroughly and appropriate action is taken.
The retailer did not respond to requests for comment about Jason Houghton's death or its online activities.
Research published in The British Journal of Psychiatry in 2014 questioned 1,500 members of the general public about their use of benzodiazepines and so called "Z drugs" used to treat insomnia.
A total of 30% had misused one or more of these medications and 27% of these reported obtaining the drugs via the internet, while a further 11% bought them from abroad.
According to figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, in 2014/15 nearly 18,000 people received hospital treatment for drug poisoning linked to benzodiazepines in England, while 584 children under the age of 18 were also treated.
Lady Rhona Bradley, chief executive of the substance addiction charity Addiction Dependency Solutions, said: "Addiction to prescription drugs is a hugely underestimated issue in the UK - estimates believe there could be more than one million people addicted to such prescribed medication as benzodiazepines.
"We need targeted treatment services, separate from mainstream alcohol and drug services.
"The biggest worry for us is that those who have become involuntarily addicted, become so reliant and desperate due to the lack of support, services and advice, that they turn to the internet to supplement their addiction."
Benzodiazepines are subject to legal restrictions in the UK both under medicines regulation and by the Home Office under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
However, considerable activity takes place online, outside UK jurisdiction.
A Home Office statement said: "Our approach to drugs is working and there has been a long-term downward trend in drug use over the last decade. We continue, however, to be concerned about the harms caused by drug misuse, including in relation to prescription-only medicines.
"That's why we continue to control a number of prescription-only medicines under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. These include benzodiazepines, tramadol, morphine, codeine and diazepam, and we have commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to look into the issues around the diversion and illicit supply of these medicines."
5 live Investigates is on BBC 5 live on Sunday 20 December at 11:00 GMT. You can listen online afterwards or download the programme podcast.


Two water rescue charities in Northern Ireland have received £70,000 in funding between them.

Foyle and Lagan Search and Recue are among 67 charities to benefit from the Department of Transport scheme.
The grants were awarded from a funding pot of £5m being delivered across the UK over a five year period.
Phillip Batt, a founding member of Lagan Search and Rescue, said the money was vital to the group's survival.
The Belfast based organisation is to receive a total of £31,590.
"It's a tremendous boost to organisation, this is our sixth year in operation and we now have three lifeboats and 40 plus volunteers," said Mr Batt.
"We'll be using this vital money mainly for volunteer equipment, such as new life jackets and helmets.
"This highlights the commitment of volunteers, we launch our lifeboat between four and seven minutes and that really is on a par with the RNLI."
The organisation not only deal with local emergencies, they can also be called in to help national search efforts here and further afield.
Some volunteers recently returned from the Aegean Sea where they were involved in rescuing migrants and refugees in trouble at sea.
Their counterparts in Londonderry, Foyle Search and Rescue, have been handed £42,000 - the highest of any of the charities across the UK.
The group have been operating in the Foyle area since 1993 and the bulk of their work involves call-outs for missing or vulnerable persons.
UK Maritime Minister John Hayes said: "Every day countless volunteers in water rescue charities across our island nation carry out vital work during emergencies, not only around our coasts but also keeping our rivers, lakes and inshore waters safe.
"It is imperative that we value and support their tireless efforts. I am delighted to be able to announce the latest round of funding, ensuring they have the equipment and resources they need to provide their round-the-clock lifesaving services," he added.


The deputy leader of Sheffield City Council has announced he is to stand down after 13 years as a councillor.

Labour's Leigh Bramall said he was leaving the council to take up a job at a communication company in Sheffield.
He said he remained "100% committed" to the work of the Labour run-authority but added "I have to put my family first".
Council leader Julie Dore paid tribute to Mr Bramall's work saying he had "given his all to the job".
More stories from across Yorkshire
Mr Bramall, 42, has represented Southey since 2004 and was appointed deputy leader of the council in 2015.
He said: "I have put everything into my job and love what I do.
"But I have to put my family first and now is the right time for me to move on.
"I am moving to a fantastic Sheffield company and feel this is a great opportunity for me to start a new chapter in my professional career which also allows me to stay in Sheffield, the city that I love."
Ms Dore said: "He has been dedicated to serving the people of Sheffield as Deputy Leader of the Council and given his all to the job.
"This inevitably takes its toll on your personal life and I completely understand and respect the decision he has made. I wish him all the best for his future career."


Mae'r Comisiwn Elusennau wedi cadarnhau eu bod yn edrych ar bryderon am academi bêl-droed Craig Bellamy yn Sierra Leone.

Dywedodd y cyn-chwaraewr rhyngwladol ei fod yn "ddigalon iawn" am yr hyn sydd wedi digwydd i'r academi, sydd wedi cau ers mis Medi'r llynedd o achos trafferthion arianol.
Mae Craig Bellamy wedi penodi tîm cyfreithiol i edrych ar yr hyn ddigwyddodd, ac mae'n cydweithredu'n llawn gyda'r awdurdodau.
Cafodd Sefydliad Craig Bellamy ei sefydlu yn 2008 ar ôl iddo ymweld â'r wlad yng ngorllewin Affrica.
Roedd yn cynnig ysgoloriaethau i blant rhwng 11 a 13 oed, a sefydlodd gynghrair ieuenctid ar gyfer tua 2,400 o blant a phobl ifanc.
Llwyddodd yr academi aros yn agored er i'r wlad gael ei heffeithio gan firws Ebola yn 2014, ond bu'n rhaid iddi gau yn 2016.
Yn ôl papur newydd The Times, y rheswm am hynny oedd am fod yr academi wedi cael trafferthion ariannol, er bod Bellamy ei hun wedi buddsoddi cannoedd o filoedd o bunnau yn y cynllun.
Mae'r cyn-ymosodwr nawr wedi apwyntio tîm cyfreithiol i gymryd golwg ar unrhyw afreoleidd-dra allai fod yn y rheolaeth o'i faterion ariannol.
Dywedodd ei gynrychiolwyr cyfreithiol mewn datganiad y byddan nhw'n "helpu cyrff y llywodraeth yn eu hymchwiliadau ac, os oes angen, yn gweithredu yn erbyn y rheiny sy'n gyfrifol am unrhyw ddrygioni".
Mae'r Comisiwn Elusennau yn dweud eu bod yn asesu'r sefyllfa, ond nad ydyn nhw wedi dechrau ymchwiliad llawn.
Mae gwefan yr elusen yn dangos nad oes unrhyw gyfrifon wedi cael eu cyflwyno ers 31 Mawrth 2015, a bod y cyfrifon ar gyfer y flwyddyn ariannol hyd at 31 Mai 2015 bron i flwyddyn yn hwyr.


An initiative to encourage more women to apply for key roles in Welsh public life has been launched at the Senedd.

It will offer mentoring, shadowing and training as part of Presiding Officer Dame Rosemary Butler's women in public life development scheme.
Only around 5% of council leaders and chief executives of companies in Wales are female.
Dame Rosemary said many women did not apply for public roles because they saw the bodies remained "a man's world".
An Equality and Human Rights Commission report, Who Runs Wales 2012, gave a snapshot of women's representation in key organisations. It said:
The new project will be run with Chwarae Teg, an organisation that promotes the economic development of women, and Cardiff Business School.
Dame Rosemary said: "There are hundreds of women across Wales who would make fantastic school governors, magistrates or valued members of other public bodies.
"And many of them look at these public bodies and are put off when they see it remains a man's world.
"A mentor will often provide inspiration for women to take the next step. The mentors themselves don't have to be women.
"I want men and women, who are already involved in public life, to become mentors and help deliver this innovative programme."
A website was launched as part of the development scheme last October, the Women in Public Life web portal.
It gives information about public office, vacancies, training and advice from successful women.


A painting by Italian artist Modigliani was sold at auction on Monday for $170.4m (£113m), the second-highest price ever for a work sold at auction.

Nu couche (Reclining Nude) was sold at Christie's in New York to a Chinese collector.
It had never been sold at auction before, having been in the same private collection for about 60 years.
The top price achieved for an art work at auction was Picasso's Les femmes d'Alger which sold for $179m (£118.5m).
That was also sold at Christie's in May this year.
Nu couche, painted during 1917 and 1918, was estimated to fetch more than $100m before the auction took place. The price achieved was also a record for the artist.
Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian confirmed to the New York Times that he had purchased the painting.
•One of China's biggest art collectors
•Born in Shanghai in a working class family in 1963
•Previously worked as a handbag seller and taxi driver
•Made his fortune trading stocks in the 1980s and 1990s
•He and his wife have opened two art galleries in Shanghai
•Known for his high-profile bids and stunts - including when he drank from an ancient $36m ceremonial cup he had just bought at an auction in 2014
The eccentric billionaire
Last night Amedeo Modigliani joined Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, Andy Warhol and Alberto Giacometti in the highly exclusive 100 Million Dollar Club. Membership requires an artist to have had a work sold at auction for more than $100m.
You'll recognise a pattern. They are all: male, modern, western, white, figurative artists whose record-breaking works could loosely be described as expressionistic. Are they the four best artists in the modern canon? I don't think so. Picasso, certainly, but the others are debatable. Modigliani wouldn't make it into my Top 20.
Why, then, has his painting Nu Couche fetched such a lot of money? Condition, rarity, provenance, and fierce competition all played a role. The colour palette, with a generous helping of bright red paint was in its favour, as was its sexy, rather unsubtle subject matter. The picture is easy on the eye, instantly recognisable, and has terrific wall-power. And that's enough to make it a trophy acquisition over which several bidders were willing to scrap.
It is good. But it's no Matisse.
About half a dozen bidders competed for the Modigliani at the sale, which also included 33 other works, such as Paul Gauguin's sculpture Therese, which sold for $30,965,000 (£20,502,440).
Roy Lichtenstein's Nurse, fetched $95,365,000 (£63,123,067), a new world auction record for the artist and was the second-biggest seller of the night.
The sale took an auction total of $494.4m (£327.3m) but it was not all good news - nearly 30% of the works up for grabs went unsold, including Lucian Freud's Naked Portrait on a Red Sofa, which was estimated at as much as $30m (£19.85m) but failed to sell.
Jussi Pylkkanen, Christie's global president said the sale of Nu couche was "well-deserved recognition for the artist to have realised a price $100m higher than any other (Modigliani) work previously offered at auction".
Referencing the sale's unsold lots, Pylkkanen said that was the risk of "pushing the envelope" and pointed out that some works were either not fresh to the market, or were perhaps aggressively priced.
While Picasso and Modigliani are the top two sales at auction, the most expensive work of art ever sold was a Paul Gauguin work which fetched $300m earlier this year. Nafea Faa Ipoipo, or When Will You Marry? was painted in 1892 and was sold privately.
The top 10 most expensive works of art sold at auction:


The 150th anniversary of the migration of Welsh settlers to Patagonia is being marked with events in Argentina and Wales.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has travelled to South America to attend celebrations in Patagonia.
The first wave of settlers sailed on the converted tea clipper Mimosa from Liverpool to Puerto Madryn in 1865, arriving on 28 July after a two-month journey that cost £12 per head.
Led by Rev Michael D Jones they had set out to create a new colony where they could preserve their culture, language, and Protestant nonconformist religion, free from English influence.
Jones - a radical nonconformist minister - chose a remote location because he believed that Welsh people who emigrated to English-speaking parts of the world, like the US, were too easily assimilated and lost their customs, language and religion.
The first migrants expected a fertile promised land, but arrived to find a desolate, windswept semi-desert with little shelter or food. After many difficult years battling drought, flash floods, hunger, crop failures and bureaucracy they eventually irrigated the land and established several towns near the Atlantic coast - 800 miles (1,300km) south of Buenos Aires - and 400 miles west at the foot of the Andes.
Announcing his visit earlier this year, Carwyn Jones said: "As a nation, we are very proud of the strong links that we share with the settlements in Patagonia."
Celebrations in Argentina are centred around the annual Gŵyl y Glaniad (Festival of Landing) in Puerto Madryn on 28 July, which includes a re-enactment of the 153 settlers disembarking the Mimosa via a small boat.
The event also includes a ceremonial exchange of gifts between the Welsh and the indigenous Tehuelche communities. The Welsh colonists befriended the local Tehuelche people, who are credited with helping the settlers survive the early years by passing on skills like hunting, and bartering meat for Welsh bread.
The Welsh hymn Calon Lân will be sung in Welsh and Spanish, followed by both national anthems, and flowers will be laid on the grave of another settlement leader Lewis Jones, after whom the town of Trelew is named.
In the afternoon, a traditional tea is being served in local Welsh chapels.
In the Andes region, a ceremony is being held at a monument to the Mimosa in Trevelin, followed by the unveiling of a sign declaring the town to be twinned with Cardigan in Ceredigion.
Events such as concerts, shows and banquets will be held in the town, and the neighbouring Welsh-founded community of Esquel, throughout the week.
A competition will be held in Trelew for the best 'black cake', or cacen ddu - a fusion of the traditional Welsh bara brith and Christmas cake. Black cake has become a symbol of Welsh Patagonia after the early settlers created it to help sustain them during floods or food shortages.
In Wales, exhibitions dedicated to the pioneers are being held at Bangor University and the National Library of Wales, in Aberystwyth.
The National Youth Choir of Wales launched its Patagonia 150 celebrations last week with concerts in Cardiff Bay and Llandaff Cathedral.
The choir - which has been working on a Latin American repertoire with Buenos Aires composer Camilo Santostefano, as well as studying Welsh music with John S Davies - will be touring Argentina in October.
Clwyd Theatr Cymru began performing a specially created production called Mimosa, telling the story of the settlers quest, in May and June. This month a company of young Welsh and Argentina performers joined the team to tour in both Wales and Patagonia.
There will be a special annual dinner of the Wales-Argentina Society in Caernarfon, and  celebrations in Aberystwyth, which is twinned with Esquel.
In November, comedian Rhod Gilbert and Manic Street Preachers members James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore are taking part in a six-day charity hike to mark the anniversary by following on the footsteps of the Welsh pioneers. They will be part of a group trek that includes a climb up Craig Goch, from where the settlers saw Cwm Hyfryd (the valley) for the first time.
The event, plus a second trek being led by former Welsh rugby international player Shane Williams, will raise funds for Cardiff's Velindre Cancer Centre.
In the same month there will also be a special annual eisteddfod in Trelew, Argentina.
The anniversary of Mimosa's departure from Liverpool was marked in May with the unveiling of a red dragon monument at the city's Princess Dock.


Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a £2bn loss for the first six months of the year, which the chief executive blamed on "legacy issues".

It compares to a £179m loss last year and includes £1.3bn of litigation and conduct costs.
RBS also confirmed that it would no longer separate and list its Williams & Glyn business.
It will now sell the 300-branch High Street bank with Santander UK understood to be a potential buyer.
Chief executive Ross McEwan told the BBC that he had tried to sort out as many legacy issues as possible over the past two years, although he admitted that there would be "some hangover" in 2017.
The legacy issues include mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI) to customers and litigation related to a £12bn rights issue in 2008 during the financial crisis.
Over the six months, RBS set aside a further £450m to compensate customers who were mis-sold PPI, taking its total costs related to the scandal towards £5bn.
Mr McEwan said: "This is the issue when you do have difficulties of this nature some of them do date back 10 years. Some of the PPI issues are dating back to 1993 that we're having to resolve, as is the industry.
"The core thing for me is that we've got a very strong bank here that can take these shocks."
Banks have so far paid out £24bn in PPI compensation, while the five biggest banks in the UK have set aside about £33bn to deal with the total compensation bill.
Shares in RBS fell 3.75% to 184.8p in early trading.
Neil Wilson, markets analyst at ETX Capital, said: "RBS just moves from one disaster to the next. This time it's 'legacy issues', but after eight and a half years since being bailed out, it's time to move on.
"The £2bn loss in the first half comes after eight straight years of annual losses. It's now very much odds-on to make that nine in a row - a startlingly bad run of results for any company, let alone a bank."
RBS, which is still 73%-owned by the taxpayer, said restructuring costs totalled £630m in the first half of the year and are expected to reach more than £1bn for 2016 as a whole.
RBS spent £345m restructuring Williams & Glyn, which it had intended to carve out and float on the stock exchange. The bank had been told by Europe to divest the business in return for receiving billions of pounds in state aid in 2008.
It is understood that Santander UK is in talks about buying Williams & Glyn, which marks a return for the Spanish-owned bank after it pulled out of deal more than four years ago following issues with the IT system.
Mr McEwan said: "At the end of last year I said with interest rates being lower for a lot longer, we needed to look at not just whether we could separate this bank and put it onto the market through an IPO [initial public offering].
"We have had a bit of interest in people who want to buy this bank and it is quite clear that this bank standing alone would not be as viable as it would be with somebody else. So we've had interest and we're pursuing that interest at the moment."
Mr McEwan said that RBS was reviewing its rates after the Bank of England cut the interest rate to a historic low of 0.25% on Thursday.
Barclays and Santander have said both said that they will pass on the cut to its mortgage customers. Barclays said its savings rates were under review while Santander said the rate on existing accounts would not be reduced by more than 0.25%.
Mr McEwan said: "We are in review now about all of our rates given the announcement... yesterday."
However, he added that RBS had "very, very few people" who had mortgages on a standard variable rate and argued that the bank charged a lower rate compared to its rivals.


At least 482 people have been killed in clashes between Syrian rebels and the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll comprised 85 civilians, 240 rebels and 157 ISIS fighters.
ISIS had killed 42 prisoners in Aleppo, while 47 members of the jihadist group had been executed by rebels, it added.
The fighting has spread across four provinces in rebel-held parts of northern Syria over the past week.
Attacks on fellow rebels and the abuse of civilian opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's government by ISIS's predominantly foreign fighters have led to increasingly frequent confrontations in recent months.
The latest clashes erupted last Friday when rebels led by the Islamic Front, a relatively new coalition of Islamist groups, launched what appeared to a series of co-ordinated strikes against ISIS. The offensive was backed by the opposition National Coalition.
Islamist brigades captured ISIS's headquarters in the northern city of Aleppo on Wednesday. At the former children's hospital they found the bodies of several men who had been executed.
On Friday, rebels were reportedly making advances against ISIS in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, where ISIS's presence was relatively weak, but struggling in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, large parts of which have been under the jihadists' control for months.
Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory, told the AFP news agency: "It is likely dozens more people have lost their lives, but it is impossible to accurately document all the killings."
On Tuesday, an ISIS spokesman warned its rivals that it would "crush them completely and kill the conspiracy in its cradle".
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says this has been by far the worst bout of violence between rebel groups since the uprising began in March 2011 and it is yet to run its course.
Despite the severity of the conflict, there has been little sign yet that the overall rebel effort against the regime has been affected, our correspondent adds.
Fighting in that war continues, especially in the country's third biggest city, Homs, where government forces killed about 40 rebels as they sought to break a siege, and in Damascus.
A UN official warned on Friday that the humanitarian situation in the besieged, rebel-held Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the capital was deteriorating.
"The profound civilian suffering in Yarmouk deepens,'' Christopher Gunness told the Associated Press.
"Residents, including infants and children, have been subsisting for long periods on diets of such things as stale vegetables, animal feed and cooking spices dissolved in water," he added.
"Infants are suffering from diseases linked to severe malnutrition, including anaemia, rickets, and kwashiorkor [a protein deficiency]."
The Syrian Observatory said separately that it had documented the deaths of 41 Palestinian refugees as a result of food and medical shortages in the past three months.
The violence comes less than two weeks before the planned start of an international conference in Switzerland to find a political solution to the conflict, which the UN says has left more than 100,000 people dead.
Russian media reported on Friday that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the UN and Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would hold talks in Paris on Monday to discuss issues surrounding the so-called Geneva II talks.
On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he was not sure they would take place, while the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood said conditions were not right.
Questions remain over who will represent the Syrian opposition and whether Iran will play a role.
About 180 representatives of opposition factions who met in the Spanish city of Cordoba on Friday reportedly could not agree who should attend Geneva II, or whether they would attend at all. However, they agreed the talks should focus on establishing a time-frame for an end to the fighting.


Tito Vilanova, the former Barcelona coach, has died aged 45 after a long battle with cancer.

Vilanova had a tumour removed from his throat in November 2011 before suffering a relapse in December 2012.
He stepped down as Barca boss last July to continue his treatment, with Gerardo Martino taking charge.
"FC Barcelona is in immense mourning. Tito Vilanova has died at the age of 45. May he rest in peace," said a statement from the Spanish club.
"The club wishes to express its most heartfelt sympathy to his family, who are being joined in these moments of mourning by FC Barcelona members and fans all around the world, as well as the rest of the footballing and sporting world.
"The Vilanova family has asked for respect for their desire for the strictest intimacy in the moments after his death."
The club added that a "space for condolence" would be opened in the main grandstand at their Nou Camp stadium on Friday.
The ex-Barca youth-team player was Pep Guardiola's assistant before stepping up to replace the now-Bayern Munich boss when he decided to take a sabbatical from football in June 2012.
Vilanova had surgery in December 2012 and spent 10 weeks in New York having chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but he returned in March 2013 to see his side take the Spanish title in his sole season in charge.
Barcelona won La Liga with a league record of 100 points from a possible 114, equalling the total achieved by Real Madrid in 2011-12.
In addition, his side set a new scoring record of 115 goals in 38 matches. His overall La Liga record stands at 32 wins, four draws and two defeats, as Barca finished 15 points clear of runners-up Real Madrid.
His team were knocked out of last season's Champions League after a 7-0 aggregate semi-final defeat by Bayern Munich.
Tributes have been paid from many football coaches, players and clubs, with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho saying Vilanova's death was "a sad day for football".
Ex-Real Madrid coach Mourinho had several run-ins with Vilanova during his time in Spain, most notably at the end of the 2011 Spanish Super Cup.
"Tito Vilanova was a greatly admired and respected figure, not just at Barcelona but throughout Spanish football, and his death will cast a sad shadow over the remainder of the season.
"He will be forever remembered as the manager who led Barca to a La Liga record points tally (100) during his solitary season in charge, and also as the man who helped Pep Guardiola revolutionise football during four previous years as assistant, advisor and soundboard to his long-standing friend.
"And more than that, he should also be recalled as a deeply honourable human being who met adversity and triumph alike with humility and dignity."
"Tito Vilanova's passing is a sad day for football, for Barcelona and most importantly for his family and friends," said Mourinho on Chelsea's Twitter account.
"On behalf of everybody at Chelsea Football Club I send my deepest condolences at this most difficult time."
Lionel Messi, the star of Vilanova's Barcelona team, said on his Facebook page: "A person difficult to forget. I will always remember you. All my love to the family of Tito."
Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas said "there are very few" people like Vilanova, who the 26-year-old first met when he joined Barca's La Masia youth academy as a teenager.
"Tito, thanks for all you have given to football and Barca. All fans love you and are eternally grateful," said the Spain international on his Facebook page.
"I met you 14 years ago and I can say that there are very few people like you. Thank you for always trusting me to help me improve and overcome personal and professional obstacles."
Meanwhile, Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes, 31, described Vilanova as one of the best coaches he had worked with in his career.
Atletico Madrid's former Barcelona striker David Villa, who played under Vilanova at the Nou Camp, added: "My condolences to the family and friends of Tito Vilanova. He has always been an example during his struggle. We will never forget."
"Lots of support to all of Tito's family and friends. An example of fighting and strength for all of us. RIP," tweeted Real Madrid and Spain defender Sergio Ramos.
The Spanish Football Federation added Vilanova would "always be linked to a unique generation of players".


A union which represents teachers in Northern Ireland has warned some school principals they could face legal action over advice given to parents about an upcoming teachers' strike.

NASUWT members in Belfast and Newtownabbey are planning to strike on Wednesday.
Some schools have written to parents explaining which classes would go ahead as normal on the day.
The NASUWT claims some letters could reveal the union's membership.
It says this amounts to a breach of the Data Protection Act and could be viewed as intimidation.
Some principals have been warned they could face legal action.
In one letter to a principal, the NASUWT said: "In these circumstances, there is a case for complaint to the Information Commissioner and to seek compensation for distress through the courts."
But the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has criticised the warnings, calling them "shocking".
The president of the NAHT in Northern Ireland, Paul McClenaghan, said that school leaders were being "threatened".
"School leaders have always put children first and supported their colleagues sometimes at a high cost to their own welfare," he said.
"It is therefore shocking to discover that school leaders, who have carried out a risk assessment and made a legitimate decision to advise parents in the run up to the strike on 30 November as to the ability of the school to provide safe levels of care for the pupils, should come under threat of legal action for doing so."
However, Justin McCamphill from the NASUWT said the union had a duty to ensure that the law was being upheld.
"When you're dealing with these matters it is important people know what the legal situation is," he said.
"If they are potentially in breach of the law it would wrong for us not to inform principals of that."
Last month, all teaching unions in Northern Ireland rejected an offer that would have seen their pay frozen last year and a rise of 1% for 2016-17.
The NASUWT is one of the largest teaching unions in Northern Ireland, and is going on strike for the first time since 2011.
While schools in Belfast and Newtownabbey will be the first to be affected, the union said that its members in other areas will then take similar action in January and February 2017.
The other teaching unions are currently engaged in industrial action short of a strike.


Iranian authorities have arrested the elderly father of an American who has been in jail in Iran for the past four months, the man's family said.

Baquer Namazi, 80, was arrested on Monday in Tehran, his wife Effie Namazi said on Facebook.
Mr Namazi's son, Siamak Namazi, a dual US-Iranian citizen, was detained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard in October while visiting family.
Officials have yet to announce charges against Siamak.
Baquer Namazi, who is also a dual US-Iranian citizen, was taken to Evin Prison, where his son is also being held, Mrs Namazi said in her post.
He has a serious heart and other conditions which requires special medication, she said.
"Now both my innocent son Siamak and my Baquer are in prison for no reason. This is a nightmare I can't describe," she wrote.
"I have been trying to find out more information but have been unable to do so. The lawyer also couldn't get any information or get to see him."
Asked at a Senate hearing about the elder Mr Namazi's arrest, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "I am very familiar with this and I am engaged on it specifically, but I am not permitted due to privacy reasons to go into details here."
US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said the agency was aware of reports that a US citizen had been detained in Iran.
A former Iranian provincial governor and Unicef official, Baquer Namazi was more recently running Hamyaran, an umbrella agency for Iranian non-governmental organisations.
His son Siamak was most recently working for Crescent Petroleum in the United Arab Emirates, and previously headed a consulting business in Iran.
Baquer Namazi's arrest comes more than a month after a high-profile prisoner swap between Iran and the United States, which saw five Americans released from Iranian prison in return for clemency for seven Iranians.
Three of the four freed US-Iranian prisoners, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, left Iran late last month. A fourth did not fly with them, US officials said.


Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola says his move to Manchester City will not distract him this season.

Guardiola, 45, has agreed a three-year deal to replace Manuel Pellegrini at the Premier League side in the summer.
In six full seasons, ex-Barcelona coach Guardiola has won 19 trophies including six league and two European Cup titles.
"Why would it be difficult? I am like a woman, I can multi-task and control both situations. I have a big talent for this," said Guardiola.
Guardiola reportedly rejected a new contract with the Bundesliga champions last year and announced in December he would be leaving the club.
His side are still chasing a league, cup and Champions League treble and could meet City in the latter stages of the European competition.
"I cannot say something every week about it," said Guardiola. "It is another four months and for me it is not a problem. Newspapers can continue attacking and I will continue doing my job.
"Coaches get little respect these days. It is everywhere like that. In Madrid, Barcelona, Germany, England.
"There are respectable papers here that have not asked me a single question on football in these three years.
"But that comes with the job. I do not understand it but I can live with it."


Portsmouth moved one point away from confirming a League Two play-off place with victory over Wycombe.

Marc McNulty twice shot over early on before getting down the right flank and drilling an inviting ball into the middle for Gary Roberts to slide in.
Pompey's Kal Naismith struck the post but Conor Chaplin made it 2-0 by slipping the ball past Ryan Allsop.
Gozie Ugwu's header was saved before Sido Jombati's free-kick made it 2-1, but the hosts held on.
Portsmouth, in sixth, are six points ahead of seventh-placed Cambridge United and have three games left.


Two complainants have failed in their attempt to get Germany's constitutional court to consider their claim against the laws banning sex with animals.

The two unnamed individuals say they are sexually attracted to animals.
They sought to get the court in Karlsruhe to consider whether the existing rules are unconstitutional.
But the court threw out their claim, ruling that the effect of the ban on the complainants' right to sexual self-determination was justified.
The court said that protecting animal welfare by seeking to prevent them being the victim of sexual assaults was a legitimate aim of the law -  which remains unchanged after the court's decision.
Germany's animal protection laws set out fines of up to â‚¬25,000 ($27,700; Â£19,000) for forcing animals to participate in what is termed as unnatural behaviour.


S Club 7's Rachel Stevens, comedian Vic Reeves and Paul Daniels' widow Debbie McGee are among the personalities who will feel the heat of the Celebrity Masterchef kitchen in the next series.

In total, 20 familiar figures will attempt to impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.
Others include TV stars Ulrika Jonsson, Angellica Bell, Julia Somerville and champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington.
They will don the Celebrity MasterChef apron for series 12 in August.
They will compete in groups of five in heats, facing tests like the Mystery Box Challenge and the Mass Catering Challenge, before semi-finals and the final.
Previous winners include Alexis Conran, Kimberly Wyatt, Sophie Thompson and Ade Edmondson.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


The alcohol content of Carling - one of the most popular lagers in the UK - is weaker than advertised, it has emerged.

Carling advertises the lager as 4% alcohol by volume (ABV) but it has been brewed at 3.7% since 2012, its US owners Molson Coors have said.
ABV was reduced in order to cut tax on Carling products, the firm said during a hearing brought by HMRC.
Molson Coors said beer was allowed to have a natural variation of 0.5%, and said customers had not been misled.
There is no suggestion Molson Coors has broken any laws.
Beer brewed in the UK is subject to excise duty decided by its alcoholic strength - meaning stronger products pay higher rates of tax.
According to documents from the tax tribunal - held in February and March this year - HMRC argued Carling had underpaid tax by more than Â£50m between 1 September 2012 and 31 January 2015.
It claimed the owners of Carling should have paid tax according to the 4% alcohol strength stated on cans, bottles and other products.
However, the firm successfully argued the actual strength of the lager meant it was right to pay less tax.
Giving evidence to the tribunal, Philip Rutherford, vice president of tax for Molson Coors Europe, argued Carling it should pay tax on "the actual ABV of the beer" rather than the one stated on the label.
According to the papers, Mr Rutherford told the tribunal the "key driver" behind the decision not to change the labelling on Carling products was to stop retailers - including supermarkets and pub chains - demanding "a slice" of the savings.
The tribunal found in favour of Molson Coors.
According to EU laws relating to the labelling of alcohol, products are allowed an ABV tolerance of +0.5% or -0.5% on products between 1.2% and 5.5% ABV.
Molson Coors said Carling customers have not been misled.
"As a major brand, the trust of our consumers is paramount. We abide by all legal requirements in the brewing and labelling of Carling," it said in a statement.
"The natural process of brewing means all batches of Carling vary fractionally in alcohol content - the variation range for Carling is less than a quarter of 1% (0.23%).
"It is completely normal for consumable products to have a slight variation. For example, the allowed variation for wine is 1%."


A near six-year wait for a milestone goal was ended and a nine-minute hat-trick of penalties were scored on another busy Saturday of English Football League action.

Elsewhere, the Championship leaders' promotion march was stalled, a former England keeper made a landmark appearance and Stevenage again showed they are on the right road by beating Luton, neighbouring clubs whose homes are close to the A1 and M1.
Here are five of the things you may have missed.
When Craig Mackail-Smith scored his 99th Peterborough goal in the League One play-off final against Huddersfield at Old Trafford on 29 May 2011 to help secure promotion, he might not have expected the century to arrive nearly six years later.
He finally hit that mark on Saturday, but unfortunately for Posh fans, the 33-year-old's 100th goal could not provide three points at home to Oxford, with his 91st-minute effort a mere consolation in a 2-1 defeat.
It has been quite the journey for the Scotland international in the 2,113 days between those two goals, taking in spells with Brighton, Luton, and a brief and a previous goalless loan stay with Posh in 2014.
With defeat leaving Peterborough eight points outside the play-off places with just nine games left to play, manager Grant McCann perhaps understandably did not enjoy the moment as much as he might have in more positive circumstances.
"He should have had a hat-trick today - Craig will probably tell you that himself," he told BBC Radio Cambridge.
"I'm pleased he got the goal. Now he can forget about that and just concentrate on scoring goals again.
"Up until that point, he slashed at a couple of chances - and the one [he scored] he probably didn't mean, [although] he'll probably say he did, it was like a cross across the box, but they're the ones you need to get you up and running."
Promotion-chasing Scunthorpe were cruising to victory at Gillingham in League One, until former Iron midfielder Josh Wright spoiled their day with a remarkable display of nerve and composure.
Scunthorpe were 2-0 up with less than 15 minutes to go, before Wright stepped up to place the first of three penalties into the bottom right-hand corner.
Two more spot-kicks followed, with Wright slotting the second into the bottom left-hand corner, and, after drawing a foul inside the box, he picked out the same spot again to complete a nine-minute hat-trick, and avenge a 5-0 thrashing at Scunthorpe back in August.
The 27-year-old was presented with a match ball for his efforts, but he was also shown his 10th yellow card of the season for his celebrations following his third goal, meaning he will now serve a two-game ban.
"I promise you now, I didn't have any worries, because he's in good form and he's scoring goals for fun," manager Ady Pennock told BBC Radio Kent.
"I just knew that he was going to score all three because he's taken them before, and he practices in training as well.
"I just thought the ruling of him getting a yellow card after you score a hat-trick in the atmosphere that we had was very, very harsh."
Leeds United goalkeeper Rob Green turned 37 in January, but showed he is still going strong in his 600th league appearance.
The former England international celebrated reaching the milestone with his 164th clean sheet in the league, this one against former club QPR at Elland Road.
And there is no chance Green will be hanging up his boots any time soon.
"I feel good, I feel fit and I want to carry on playing," he told BBC Radio Leeds.
"I want to play games, I don't want to sit around and chill out for the rest of my career and pick up easy money doing not a lot.
"I want to be part of something that's interesting and exciting and this season's proving to be that."
Unfortunately for Green, his efforts did not result in three points for Leeds, with a goalless draw leaving them 11 points outside the Championship's automatic promotion places.
It has been an eventful 12 months for Rafael Benitez, who was unable to keep Newcastle in the Premier League last season, but has led them to the top of the Championship table.
Sadly for the Spaniard, he was unable to celebrate his first anniversary as Magpies manager with a win, as they fell to a 3-1 defeat by Fulham at St James' Park, with 16-year-old Ryan Sessegnon on the scoresheet twice for the Cottagers.
Newcastle remain top of the Championship, but level on points with second-placed Brighton - and only six points clear of Huddersfield, who have a game in hand.
"Obviously, I'm really disappointed because we knew that we needed to win to stay there with some points advantage and we didn't do it," Benitez told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"We knew that was a good team and we couldn't make mistakes, and we made mistakes and we paid for that."
There was plenty more than local bragging rights at stake as Stevenage made the 15-mile journey to face Luton Town.
Boro earned their first-ever home win over the Hatters in August, but were two points behind their play-off rivals before kick-off.
Although prolific striker Matt Godden could not add to his tally, Darren Sarll's side were still able to come out on top and complete the double, with Luke Wilkinson and Ben Kennedy getting the goals in a 2-0 win.
There might yet be a chance for Luton to have the last laugh, as with both sides sitting comfortably in the play-off places, the pair could be battling it out once again for a place in League One in a couple of months' time.