Scientists have discovered what they say could be fossils of some of the earliest living organisms on Earth.

They are represented by tiny filaments, knobs and tubes in Canadian rocks dated to be up to 4.28 billion years old.
That is a time not long after the planet's formation and hundreds of millions of years before what is currently accepted as evidence for the most ancient life yet found on Earth.
The researchers report their investigation in the journal Nature.
As with all such claims about ancient life, the study is contentious. But the team believes it can answer any doubts.
The scientists' putative microbes from Quebec are one-tenth the width of a human hair and contain significant quantities of haematite - a form of iron oxide or "rust".
Matthew Dodd, who analysed the structures at University College London, UK, claimed the discovery would shed new light on the origins of life.
"This discovery answers the biggest questions mankind has asked itself - which are: where do we come from and why we are here?
"It is very humbling to have the oldest known lifeforms in your hands and being able to look at them and analyse them," he told BBC News.
The fossil structures were encased in quartz layers in the so-called Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt (NSB).
The NSB is a chunk of ancient ocean floor. It contains some of the oldest volcanic and sedimentary rocks known to science.
The team looked at sections of rock that were likely laid down in a system of hydrothermal vents - fissures on the seabed from which heated, mineral-rich waters spew up from below.
Today, such vents are known to be important habitats for microbes. And Dr Dominic Papineau, also from UCL, who discovered the fossils in Quebec, thinks this kind of setting was very probably also the cradle for lifeforms between 3.77 and 4.28 billion years ago (the upper and lower age estimates for the NSB rocks).
He described how he felt when he realised the significance of the material on which he was working: "I thought to myself 'we've got it, we've got the oldest fossils on the planet'.
"It relates to our origins. For intelligent life to evolve to a level of consciousness, to a point where it traces back its history to understand its own origin - that's inspirational."
Any claim for the earliest life on Earth attracts scepticism. That is understandable. It is often hard to prove that certain structures could not also have been produced by non-biological processes.
In addition, analysis is complicated because the rocks in question have often undergone alteration.
The NSB, for example, has been squeezed and heated through geological time
At present, perhaps the oldest acknowledged evidence of life on the planet is found in 3.48-billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia.
This material is said to show remnants of stromatolites - mounds of sediment formed of mineral grains glued together by ancient bacteria.
An even older claim for stromatolite traces was made in August last year. The team behind that finding said their fossil evidence was 3.70 billion years old.
Nonetheless, the UCL researchers and their colleagues say they have worked extremely hard to demonstrate the greater antiquity for their structures.
Dr Papineau does concede though that the idea of metabolising micro-organisms using oxygen so soon after the Earth's formation will surprise many geologists.
"They would not consider that there were organisms breathing oxygen at this time. It brings back the production of oxygen on the Earth's surface, albeit by tiny amounts, to the beginning of the sedimentary record," he said.
Prof Nicola McLoughlin from Rhodes University, South Africa, was not connected with the research.
She commended the scholarship but felt the data presented by the UCL-led team fell short.
"The morphology of these argued iron-oxidising filaments from Northern Canada is not convincing," she told BBC News.
"In recent deposits we see spectacular twisted stalks, often arranged in layers, but in the highly metamorphosed rocks of the Nuvvuagittuq belt the filaments are much simpler in shape.
"The associated textural and geochemical evidence of graphite in carbonate rosettes and magnetite-haematite granules is careful work, but provides only suggestive evidence for microbial activity; it does not strengthen the case for the biogenicity of the filaments."
She also said the maximum age of the rocks had proven to be very controversial, and that the true age was more likely to be closer to the  3.77-billion-year age.
Part of the interest in ancient life is in the implication it has for organisms elsewhere in the Solar System.
"These (NTB) organisms come from a time when we believe Mars had liquid water on its surface and a similar atmosphere to Earth at that time," said Mr Dodd.
"So, if we have lifeforms originating and evolving on Earth at this time then we may very well have had life beginning on Mars."
If that is the case then, according to Dr Papineau, recent Nasa rover missions to the Martian surface may have been looking for signs of life in the wrong places.
He said that the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), Spirit and Opportunity, and the more recent Curiosity robot mission had overlooked areas that might have had rocks produced by hydrothermal vents.
"On the surface of Mars there have been missed opportunities. The MER Opportunity in 2003 found promising formations but there was no analysis. And the Spirit rover went straight past another near the Comanche outcrop in Gusev crater."
The suggestion that life had already arisen "just" a few hundred million years after the Earth had formed is intriguing in light of debates about whether life on Earth was a rare accident or whether biology is a common outcome given the right conditions.
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Blair Turgott's late strike was enough for Bromley to secure a draw at Barrow.

After a positive start, Barrow took the lead through Byron Harrison, who fired past Bromley goalkeeper Alan Julian after 12 minutes.
The hosts who nearly grabbed a second after the restart, with Richie Bennett failing to hit the target from inside the area.
But they were eventually rewarded with five minutes to go as Turgott struck with the hosts' stopper Joel Dixon unable to deny him.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Barrow 1, Bromley 1.
Second Half ends, Barrow 1, Bromley 1.
Goal!  Barrow 1, Bromley 1. Blair Turgott (Bromley).
Substitution, Bromley. Blair Turgott replaces Reece Prestedge.
Alex-Ray Harvey (Barrow) is shown the yellow card.
Euan Murray (Barrow) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Substitution, Barrow. Andy Haworth replaces Lindon Meikle.
Substitution, Bromley. Alfie Pavey replaces Adam Cunnington.
Moussa Diarra (Barrow) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Second Half begins Barrow 1, Bromley 0.
First Half ends, Barrow 1, Bromley 0.
Danny Livesey (Barrow) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Substitution, Bromley. Dave Martin replaces Louis Dennis.
Goal!  Barrow 1, Bromley 0. Byron Harrison (Barrow).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.


An artificial pitch is at the centre of a Welsh Rugby Union investigation after seven players said they suffered friction burns in a game.

Merthyr RFC players showed signs of injury after their Welsh Cup semi-final defeat to RGC 1404 at Pontypridd RFC's 3G pitch at Sardis Road on Saturday.
The WRU, the pitch contractors, Rhondda Cynon Taf council and Pontypridd RFC officials have now inspected the pitch.
"Further testing will be conducted" and the WRU will inspect again next week.
"We know that 3G pitches are an established, proven and successful playing surface widely utilised by rugby union," said the WRU statement.
"We are therefore hopeful that a solution can be found to the well-publicised recent issue at the venue."
Merthyr's club doctor has called on the game's governing body to conduct more research on artificial pitches.
A spokesman for Pontypridd RFC said the club had no comment to make.
Before Pontypridd's Â£500,000 3G pitch was first used last September, the club's website described it as a "synthetic carpet" with "sand and rubber crumb" in it.
Merthyr, who host Pontypridd in the Welsh Premiership this Saturday, also play on an artificial pitch at their The Wern ground.
Sardis Road is due to hold an international under-18s tournament next month and the WRU and World Rugby have reiterated the importance of player welfare.


Work on a £29m cycle superhighway linking Bradford and Leeds has officially begun.

The 14-mile (23km) route will run from Bradford city centre to Seacroft, in east Leeds.
The CityConnect project, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, has been funded by an £18m cash award from the Department for Transport and £11m of local funding.
The scheme also includes resurfacing parts of the Leeds Liverpool canal.
Coordinators say they hope the cycle way will encourage more people to make short journeys by bike and improve access to employment, skills and education.
The project is jointly managed by West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Leeds City Council and Bradford Council.


Drugs with an estimated street value of more than £2m have now been seized under a long-running campaign in Aberdeen, police have revealed.

Police Scotland said Operation Maple had also led to more than 700 arrests.
Operation Maple first began in 2010.
Ch Supt Adrian Watson, divisional commander for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, said the operation would continue.


A hospital trust has been told to make significant improvements having been issued a warning notice.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said the Care Quality Commission (CQC) expected improvement by 10 March.
Among possible options open to the CQC is to recommend appointing a trust special administrator to take over running the trust's three hospitals.
The trust, which has been in special measures since 2015, said it apologised for "any failings in the past".
The trust runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre and Alexandra Hospital, Redditch.
A spokesperson said the section 29A warning letter from the CQC was received on Friday.
In a message to staff released to the media, bosses said concerns raised related to all three main hospital sites and concerns focused around patient safety, compliance and governance.
Possible action in the future could include a trust special administrator being brought in and the trust being prosecuted, BBC Midlands Today health correspondent Michele Paduano said.
Read more news for Herefordshire and Worcestershire
Alexandra Hospital's in-patient paediatric ward was shut in 2016, which campaigners claimed was effectively a downgrade of accident and emergency, and neo-natal services were taken away in 2015.
The trust was placed in special measures in December 2015 by the CQC, which raised safety concerns over A&E, paediatrics, maternity and gynaecology departments.
In the message to staff, the trust said it fully accepted the CQC concerns.
It said: "As staff we must all be held accountable for our actions."


A drop in sales in China and investment in new vehicles has hit German luxury car maker BMW's second-quarter profits.

The Munich-based company said that net profits fell to 1.75bn euros ($1.92bn; Â£1.23bn) in the April-to-June quarter, down from 1.77bn euros a year earlier.
Sales in China, the world's biggest car market, fell after a decade of growth.
"If conditions on the Chinese market become more challenging, we cannot rule out a possible effect on the BMW Group's outlook," the carmaker said.
BMW said that sales in China had fallen in May and June.
The company also said there had been a shift in sales towards lower-margin compact vehicles.
BMW is refreshing its model range and has already unveiled a new 7 Series which will go on sale this autumn.


A shopper who tried to bypass a stores's one per customer policy gave his money to two "kind strangers" who fled with the cash, police have said.

The man had hoped to purchase some limited-edition trainers - so asked two men to buy them on his behalf.
Greater Manchester Police said he was "briefly distracted" after handing over £260, and the pair left the shop.
"To make things worse", they said, "the victim was apparently a day early", and the Adidas shoes were not yet on sale.
Police said the theft of the 34-year-old's money took place in Market Street, Manchester.
The force tweeted: "Regardless of victim's actions, we're doing CCTV work to track down the thief."


A Christmas tree in a town in Kent can't be taken down because a pregnant dove has nested in it.

The tree in Paddock Wood was due to be taken down at the start of January but the dove can't be disturbed.
In the UK, all wild birds, their nests and their eggs are protected by law.
The council discovered the dove when they started to remove Christmas decorations from the tree.
A spokesperson said: "Paddock Wood Town Council is happy to leave the tree in place for as long as is necessary and would ask that she is left in peace so she can raise her chicks undisturbed."
The tree will stay in place for around another month after all the dove chicks are able to fly.


Justin Rose put himself in contention at the Frys.com Open as he finished the second round three shots behind leader Brendan Steele in California.

Englishman Rose, 35, hit a three-under round of 69 to end the day in the chasing pack tied at eight under along with Scotland's Martin Laird, 32.
American Steele, 32, hit a 70 to remain top of the leaderboard on 11 under.
"I'm very happy to keep the momentum up and post a decent score, really not playing great golf," Rose told PGA.com.
"I played pretty scrappily, some ugly shots out there, some long par-save putts, so for me it was a really good 69."
Rory McIlroy toiled for 71 to stand five under, Northern Ireland's world number three positioned 19th.
Steele, who was the overnight leader after a breathtaking first-round 63, has a two-shot lead over compatriot Will Wilcox (67) and Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas (71).
Canada's Graham DeLaet and America's Harold Varner III are also tied for second on nine under.


Tens of thousands of Greeks are taking part in the first general strike of 2013, as workers renew their protest over austerity measures.

Crowds marched towards parliament in Athens, beating drums and blowing whistles as part of the 24-hour strike.
Minor clashes broke out at one stage when police fired tear gas at hooded youths throwing stones.
The strike has been called by Greece's two biggest trade unions, representing half the four million-strong workforce.
"We are protesting about pensions, emergency taxes, the high cost of life," retired factory worker Kyriakos Anastassiadis told the Associated Press.
The strike shut schools and left hospitals with emergency staffing. Domestic flights and long-distance train services were cancelled.
Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary-general of Adedy public sector union, said the strike was an attempt to "get rid of the bailout deal".
"A social explosion is very near," he said.
Demonstrations were also being held in Crete and in the second-largest city of Thessaloniki, where some 17,000 people protested peacefully.
The strikes come days before international lenders are due in the capital to discuss the next instalment of a bailout.
The debt-ridden country is being kept afloat by billions of euros from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
In return, the government has imposed waves of unpopular spending cuts and tax rises, hitting pay and pensions and sending unemployment soaring to more than 26%.
Strikes and violent protests have become commonplace.
Greece's coalition government secured the latest tranche of bailout money at the end of last year, and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told the BBC the worst was over for his country.
However, the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says the strike is a reminder that government confidence in a slowly improving economic situation is not shared by many on the streets.
Our correspondent says the only difference between Wednesday's strike and earlier protests is that public transport has been largely unaffected.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's eight-month-old government has taken a tough line on strikers, invoking an emergency law twice in recent months to order seamen and metro staff back to work.
But despite such measures, strikes have recently picked up.
A one-day visit by French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday went largely unreported because Greek journalists were on strike.
Our correspondent says more than 20 general strikes since the crisis erupted have failed to change government policies, and this one is unlikely to be any different.


Watford have signed Rennes midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure for an undisclosed fee and immediately sent him to La Liga side Granada on loan.

The Hornets also announced the signing of Venezuelan forward Adalberto Penaranda, 18, from Udinese, who will remain on loan at Granada.
Both Doucoure, 23, and Penaranda have signed four-and-a-half-year deals.
The signings continue the link between Udinese, Granada and Watford, who are owned by the Italian Pozzo family.
France Under-21 international Doucoure has played 80 times for French Ligue 1 side Rennes.
Watford have also signed goalkeeper Costil Pantilimon, midfielder Mario Suarez and forward Nordin Amrabat during the transfer window.
The Hertfordshire side are currently 10th in the Premier League, five points off a Europa League place.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


(Close): The London market continued to rally, but shares in RBS sank 8% after it reported another annual loss.

After jumping 2.5% on Thursday, the FTSE 100 index closed up 83.2 points, or 1.4%, at 6,096.01.
Mining shares bolstered the index as commodity prices rallied. Anglo American rose 7% and Glencore was 7.5% higher.
But shares in Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 7% to 226p after the bank reported yet another annual loss.
RBS reported a loss of £1.98bn for 2015, partly as a result of putting aside £3.6bn for litigation costs.
Stripping out one-off costs, RBS recorded a £4.4bn underlying profit, although this was down from £6bn a year earlier.
Sports Direct shares also fell, down 0.5%, after the retailer said its borrowing costs were set to increase.
The company said it would stop using a loan facility supplied by founder Mike Ashley, which charges lower rates.
Shares in British Airways owner IAG fell 3% despite the airline group reporting a big increase in annual profits.
On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.65% against the dollar to $1.3871, but rose slightly against the euro to €1.2685.


Making money through lending should not be a problem for banks operating in Brazil.

The country's interest rates are currently at an eye-watering 13.75% and expected to rise even higher this year.
So it comes as something of a surprise that HSBC has announced this week it will practically end its operation in Latin America's largest economy - retaining only a few large corporate clients.
Banks in Brazil are one of the few sectors that have been immune to the country's slowdown.
As Brazil heads for recession now, financial institutions are still posting record profits.
Last year, the country's economy grew 0.1% - yet Brazil's top five banks managed to increase their profits by 20%.
The sixth largest - HSBC - lost $247m (£160m).
Brazil might seem like a paradise for bankers now, but that was not the case in 1997, when HSBC first arrived.
The government had just revamped most of the nation's outdated financial structure as part of Plano Real - the economic plan that ended decades of hyperinflation.
Brazil's banks were not used to making money in an economy with stable prices. Under new rules, seven banks nearly went bankrupt.
Under much criticism, the government offered a $10bn (£6.5bn) lifeline to those in trouble, to avoid a general collapse of the system - similar to what was later done by Western governments during the 2008 financial crisis.
Among the rescued banks was Bamerindus, a very popular retail institution with more than 1,000 agencies across Brazil. They were bought by HSBC.
Over the following years, bankers had a great run.
As Brazil became an economic emerging star, millions were lifted from poverty and finally had enough money to be included in the financial system, through bank accounts.
Competition and efficiency flourished, with foreign groups such as Spain's Santander and Netherland's ABN Amro investing heavily in Latin America.
But one single factor remained vital for bankers - Brazil's growth model depended on high interest rates.
For decades, under different governments, inflation was kept in check with a monetary policy that favoured money-lending institutions.
High rates hurt business people who wanted to borrow money to open up shops or factories that could potentially create more jobs.
But it was crucial to keep general prices low with higher borrowing costs.
That remained the case until 2011, when President Dilma Rousseff came to power.
Her government believed Brazil had reached a point where it could abandon its high-interest-rate growth model and start a policy that would favour investments, with cheaper credit in the markets.
June 2015: 13.75%
2014: 11.75%
2013: 10.00%
2012: 7.25%
2011: 11.00%
2010: 10.75%
2009: 8.75%
2008: 13.75%
2007: 11.25%
2006: 13.25%
2005: 18.00%
2004: 17.75%
The Central Bank lowered rates from double digits to its lowest point in a decade, 7.25%.
President Rousseff was also intent on fighting bankers' profits, which were considered obscene by many in her left-leaning coalition.
Under her orders, big public banks - such as Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal - offered low interest rates to customers, making private banks follow suit and lower their "spreads" (bankers' returns).
But President Rousseff's war on private banks and spreads came to an end in 2013, when it became clear that inflation was creeping up again.
Despite all efforts, Brazil's economy still depended on high interest rates.
Brazil has since embarked on a new cycle of increasing rates. Just last month, the Central Bank raised its rate yet again.
High interest rates mean Brazil remains a very attractive country for banks - they make more money on their lending. But competition has also increased massively - and the market is not big enough for every player.
HSBC had a few years of good profits, but it never gained the scale necessary to compete with other better established rivals. It has a network of 853 agencies and 21,000 workers, which is now up for sale.
Bradesco has more than 4,600 agencies and 83,000 employees.
Also, it did not help that HSBC became embroiled in the global Swiss leaks scandal, an investigation into alleged money-laundering.
Brazil: 13.75%
India: 7.25%
China: 5.1%
UK: 0.5%
US: 0.25%
Euro Zone: 0.05%
Japan: 0%
Source: Trading Economics
Brazilian authorities launched a special congress inquiry into the bank, as more than 8,000 people with connections to the Brazilian economy have Swiss HSBC accounts.
Three banks have already announced this week their interest in buying HSBC's assets in Brazil.
One of them - Itau Unibanco - has posted a profit of $1.8bn (£1.2bn) for the first quarter of 2015, when Brazil's economy contracted 0.2%. It is the highest in Brazilian history for a first quarter.
Brazil's interest rates show no sign of abating, as inflation is expected to balloon to 8% - well above the government's target.
Making money through lending, it seems, will remain a very resilient businesses in Brazil for quite some time.


Mainland Chinese shares recovered early losses amid volatile swings, following Monday's suspension of trading, which led to a global equities sell-off.

The Shanghai Composite was down 0.4% at 3,321.87 after opening more than 3% lower, while the Hang Seng also changed direction to head up 0.1% to 21,342.09.
Trading in Shanghai was suspended early on Monday after it triggered a new circuit breaker mechanism.
But regulators said on Tuesday it may restrict stock sales to stem falls.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said that it would consider restricting the proportion of shares that major shareholders could sell during a given period of time.
Analysts said investors were waiting to see if Beijing could stem the latest selling in Chinese stocks and whether more measures would be introduced.
But Bernard Aw, market strategist at trading firm IG said Beijing was arguably more concerned about economic growth than the stock market.
"Furthermore, it could look really bad if they have to throw in more measures when they are in the process of withdrawing the rescue measures," he said in a note.
The circuit breaker rule that suspended trading nationwide for the first time on Monday was created after sharp falls last summer and was meant to curb market volatility in China.
Monday's 7% fall spooked global markets.
Overnight, US benchmark indexes lost up to 2% as concerns grew that the dive in the Chinese stocks was the start of another volatile period after last summer's dramatic market rout.
The addition of escalating tensions in the Middle East on oil prices also dented investors' confidence.
Oil prices were flat after rising as much as 4% on the brewing dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
South Korean shares also headed higher after a senior finance ministry official said that the government would take action to stabilise the market if needed, following Monday's steep plunge.
The Kospi was up 0.7% to 1,932.69 points.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index also recovered losses to head up 0.2% to 18,494.76, but Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1% to 5,220.60.


The world's oldest and deepest waters are not immune from contamination, warn scientists.

It had been assumed that "fossil" reserves found hundreds of metres underground would be largely untouched by modern water sources.
But sampling from some 10,000 wells shows this not to be the case.
The new study reveals that about half of the deep groundwater has had contact with rains and snows that fell in the past 60 years.
And that means these ancient aquifers are also at some risk from pollution if waste and land management practices are defective.
It is an issue of significance because fossil waters are an important resource, providing drinking supplies and irrigation for billions of people across the globe.
The scientists presented their findings here in Vienna at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly. They have also published a report in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The team tested the deep waters for the presence of two radioactive elements.
The first was carbon-14 which occurs naturally in the environment and is pulled out of the air by rain and snow. This precipitation will eventually percolate into deep soil pore-spaces and rock fractures.
Because carbon-14 decays relatively slowly, a very low count in water will indicate great antiquity. Scientists will use the term fossil in this context to mean water that last touched the atmosphere more than about 10,000 years ago.
The second radioisotope to be checked was tritium, a heavy form of hydrogen which, in contrast, decays very rapidly. It was put in the atmosphere by A-bomb tests in the 1950s/1960s, so its presence is a sign of water's youth.
"What we've learnt from these two radioisotopes is two things," explained team-member Jim Kirchner from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
"One is that more than half of groundwater under our feet is fossil groundwater. The second important finding is that of this fossil groundwater, the water that comes out of those wells also contains a component of modern groundwater in at least half of cases.
"That means the water we are pumping from these deep wells, from what we think are ancient aquifers, also can potentially contain modern contaminants, either because of mixing within the well itself as the water is brought up, or because of mixing within the aquifer," he told BBC News.
The study's lead author, Scott Jasechko of the University of Calgary, Canada, added: "We're using the analogy of grandkids visiting their grandparents.
"Imagine fossil groundwaters are the grandparents and that younger groundwaters are the grandkids.
"We're finding that groundwater grandkids often visit groundwater grandparents deep underground, and, unfortunately, sometimes these grandkids have the flu.
"These young groundwaters may carry contaminants down with them, impacting deep groundwater once considered immune to modern contamination."
The scientists say the issue of pollution also now needs to be considered alongside the oft-discussed concern over the sustainable use of groundwater.
The deeply buried ancient water is what it is because of the time taken to build up, and hydrologists have long warned that it should really be viewed as a kind of "credit card", to be drawn on principally only in periods of major water stress, such as during a severe drought.
This case will continue to be made, but the new study now adds in the extra matter of contamination risk.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Suspected Boko Haram militants have launched an attack on a village near the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing about 45 people.

The attackers told villagers they had come to preach before firing on a crowd that gathered, survivors told the BBC.
Separately, officials say up to 200 may have been killed in a wave of attacks in villages in the region this week.
Militants have frequently targeted remote areas since emergency rule was imposed a year ago in the north-east.
Nigeria's government has been facing growing pressure both at home and abroad to do more to tackle Boko Haram since militants kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
The group has waged an increasingly bloody insurgency since 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state in Nigeria - and thousands of people have died in their attacks and the subsequent security crackdown.
The attack on the village of Bardari, near the University of Maiduguri on the outskirts of the city, took place late on Wednesday.
The militants entered the village telling people to gather to hear them preach, but then turned their guns on the crowd.
Police sources told Reuters news agency that the attackers then fled across a river, setting fire to houses in a nearby village.
It follows an attack on Attagara village in the remote Gwoza area of Borno state on Tuesday, when gunmen dressed in military uniforms convinced residents that they had come to provide protection after an earlier attack on Sunday.
One witness, quoted by the Associated Press agency, said the militants had gathered people together in the centre of the village before they began "to fire continuously for a very long time until all that had gathered were dead".
Attagara is one of six villages in the area where a total of at least 200 people are believed to have been killed in recent days.
The local MP, Peter Biye, told the BBC that it was impossible to know exactly how many people had died, because everyone who could do so had fled into the nearby hills and there was no-one to count the bodies.
Despite repeated requests, Nigerian soldiers had not deployed to the area, Mr Biye said.
The villages affected are near the Mandara Mountains, close to the border with Cameroon where Boko Haram is known to operate.
There are reports that the group's jihadist flags are flying in several villages in Gwoza.
Who are Boko Haram?
Profile: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
Why Nigeria has not defeated Boko Haram
In the early hours of Thursday morning, another attack reportedly took place in Adamawa state, one of the three states under emergency rule.
Residents of the village of Madagali told the BBC Hausa Service that over three hours, suspected Boko Haram militants exchanged fire with security forces, burnt down the administrative buildings and a church, and killed two people.
After they had left, the air force bombed the surrounding area and three people died, residents added.
A new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council says 3,300 people have been killed by Boko Haram this year alone.
Meanwhile, the UK government has announced that it will host a ministerial meeting about northern Nigeria's security in London on 12 June - to follow on from last month's summit in Paris about tackling Boko Haram.
"Since the appalling abductions of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok by Boko Haram, the international community has worked together closely to support Nigeria in the fight against terrorism," UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.


A huge snow storm is blanketing the densely populated US North-east, after wreaking havoc with ice in the South.

Across the typically mild South, about 750,000 homes and businesses lack power, and about 6,500 flights have been cancelled.
The weather system has affected people in about 22 states from Texas to Maine and caused at least 18 deaths.
The storm dumped up to 15in (30cm) of snow in the Washington DC region and 8in around New York City overnight.
Snow-covered streets were deserted during the morning commute in the nation's capital, where the federal government shut down its offices.
As much as 10-20 inches of snow in total could fall from north-eastern Pennsylvania to New England on Thursday, said the National Weather Service.
Almost 6,500 flights were cancelled on Thursday, according to airline-tracking website FlightAware.com.
While temperatures at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, rose to 17C (63F), the US was shivering in bitter cold once again.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio was criticised for keeping schools open despite the snow piling on the ground.
"Why [aren't] schools all around NYC closed? It's going to take some kid or kids getting hurt before this goofball policy gets changed," Al Roker, a prominent meteorologist and television figure on NBC, wrote on Twitter. He is currently in Sochi, Russia, for the Olympics, but has a child in a city school.
Mr de Blasio responded that many parents depended on schools to watch over their children while they work.
Ironically, a celebration of winter tourism in the village of Lake Placid, New York state, was cancelled because of the storm.
Described by the National Weather Service as an event of "historical proportions", the storm leaves in its southern wake a wreckage of snapped tree branches and power lines coated in as much as an inch of ice, motorways turned to car parks, road accidents and residents shivering in darkened homes.
Forecasters said it was one of the worst storms to strike Atlanta, the largest city in the South, since 1973.
President Barack Obama declared a disaster in the state of South Carolina and all northern counties in Georgia, opening the way for federal aid.
On Wednesday evening, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was moving supplies, including generators, meals, water, blankets and cots to an emergency centre in Atlanta.
At least 18 deaths have been blamed on the storm, many of them in traffic accidents.
Three people were killed on Wednesday when an ambulance slid off a west Texas road, flipped over and caught fire.
Meanwhile, a firefighter died when an out-of-control vehicle knocked him off an icy motorway bridge in Dallas, Texas. And a pregnant woman in New York City was killed after being struck by a snow plough. Her baby was delivered in critical condition via caesarean section.
A man in Georgia was killed after slipping and falling on a patch of ice.
On Wednesday, thousands of vehicles were stranded on snow-shrouded motorways around Raleigh, North Carolina, with some people abandoning their vehicles.
Soo Keith, of Raleigh, left her office shortly after midday, but after two hours had only driven a few miles.
She told the Associated Press news agency she eventually abandoned her vehicle and continued on foot, arriving home four hours later.
"My face is all frozen, my glasses are all frozen, my hair is all frozen," said Ms Keith.
Residents of Georgia appeared to have heeded official warnings, with motorways in the state clear but with many people stuck at home without electric power.
"Thanks to the people of Georgia," Governor Nathan Deal said. "You have shown your character."
Mr Deal asked those waiting for power to be restored to be patient, saying he was hearing of "good response times" from the state's utilities.


Instagram has ordered the owner of a British anti-litter app to change its name from Littergram, but how have other "David v Goliath" corporate name battles panned out and does the big guy always win?

An app which helps people share pictures of litter and report it to their local council may not seem a threat.
But to one of the world's largest corporations it was, with the US internet giant's lawyers saying the name was "unacceptable".
Trademark infringement cases are not new, so how have they been won or lost in the past?
Back when the iPhone and Macbook were a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye, there was a bigger Apple.
Set up by The Beatles in 1968 to release their songs and manage their creative affairs, Apple Corps was the first.
The dispute dates back to 1980, when the George Harrison noticed an advert for a fledgling computer company in a magazine.
The sides reached a deal in 1981 allowing Apple to use the name as long as it stuck to computers, while The Beatles' company would continue in the entertainment field.
With the advent of iTunes and the iPod this changed and battle recommenced.
A deal was finally struck in 2007 with Jobs' Apple taking full control of the brand, licensing certain trademarks back to Apple Corps.
A popular sandwich bar in Birmingham faced the wrath of Hollywood with its choice of Hungry Hobbit as the name for its business.
The cafe chose the name in honour of the author who grew up in the Moseley area.
But in 2012 lawyers for the Saul Zaentz Company objected saying it was trademark infringement.
A campaign ensued with actor Stephen Fry voicing support for the eatery.
As of 2016 its name remains the same.
Before Little Mix became chart sensations they were plain old Rhythmix- a group of X Factor contestants pushed together in the hope of forming a successful girl band.
Unfortunately for them, and X Factor, the name Rhythmix was already being used by a Brighton charity.
Simon Cowell's show eventually caved in and a new name was sought.
The four girls were said to have come up with the name Little Mix themselves.
A comedy club chain may be responsible for forcing one of the biggest TV hits of the past 10 years to change its name.
The owner of The Glee Club, Mark Tughan, took 20th Century Fox to court in 2014 arguing its TV show Glee breached its trademark rights.
He won his case. What's more, he recently won an appeal.
However, 20th Century Fox said it is planning a fresh round of appeals.


A pilot may have been suffering from "mental overload" when he crash-landed, killing three members of Osama Bin Laden's family, an inquiry has found.

The jet overshot the runway at Blackbushe Airport in July 2015 and crashed into a car auction site.
The Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) said emergency warnings prior to landing may have "saturated the pilot's mental capacity".
The pilot and three passengers survived the crash but died in a severe fire.
Bin Laden's half-sister, Sana Mohammed Bin Laden, her mother, Raja Bashir Hashim, and his brother-in-law, Zuhair Hashim, were killed, along with pilot Mazen Al-Aqeel Da'jah Salem.
The AAIB report said the private Saudi-registered Phenom 300 jet, travelling from Milan, Italy, landed at high speed and touched down on 31 July 2015 with only 438m (1,437 ft) of runway remaining.
It collided with an earth bank before crashing into a British Car Auctions site, losing one of its wings and bursting into flames among parked cars.
Airport firefighters, who arrived on the scene within five minutes, were unable to control an "intense" blaze involving leaking fuel.
Eyewitnesses at the scene said there had been a "ball of flames" and "several explosions".
The AAIB said the three passengers appeared to have made an unsuccessful attempt to open the cabin door.
The report said the 57-year-old Jordanian pilot may have become "fixated on landing" because of "a very high workload situation" in the final minutes of the flight.
He made an emergency climb to avoid colliding with a microlight, and then came close to a second light aircraft.
The jet then began "a very high-speed descent", dropping at up to 3,000ft per minute.
The pilot ignored six "pull up" warnings from the aircraft's Terrain Avoidance and Warning System (TAWS), touching down at a speed of about 135 knots (155mph).
The AAIB said the 66 messages and alarms in the final three-and-a-half minutes of the flight may have created "audio overload" and "mental stressors".
"It is possible that in these circumstances the pilot... fixated on his initial strategy (landing) and lacked the mental capacity to recognise that the approach had become unstable," the report said.
Following the crash, the jet's operators have installed co-pilots on all Phenom 300 flights.


The man in charge of Kenya's computerised voting system has been found dead just days before the 8 August elections.

Chris Msando, an electoral commission IT manager, had gone missing on Friday.
"There was no doubt he was tortured and murdered," said IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati.
Tension is high as the presidential election is expected to be a close race between incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta and long-time opponent Raila Odinga.
Police said on Monday that the bodies of Mr Msando and an unidentified woman had been found in the Kikuyu area on the outskirts of Nairobi and taken to the city mortuary.
"The only question in our mind is who [killed him] and why he was killed a few days to elections," the AFP news agency quotes Mr Chebukati as saying.
Kenyan newspaper The Star reports that Mr Msando's body was found with one arm missing.
Dickens Olewe, BBC News, Nairobi
Today was supposed to big a day for Chris Msando - he was to oversee the public testing of the voting system which has been vaunted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as key to eliminate vote rigging and to deliver a credible election.
The Kenya Integrated Electoral Management System (KIEMS) will be used to identify voters and transmit results.
A similar electronic system that was used in the 2013 election failed spectacularly, leading to manual counting of votes which some have argued allowed for voter manipulation.
Mr Msando had only been on the job for two months, having taken over after his predecessor was suspended for refusing to cooperate with an audit firm which was cleaning the voters' register.
His death will do little to assuage growing concerns about the IEBC's election preparedness and questions about its credibility.
On Twitter, his name and #RIPMsando are trending, with many expressing shock and disgust at what to them looks like a targeted elimination.
This news also comes at a time when the government has denied allegations by opposition parties that it is planning to deploy the military to swing the election to its favour.
With only a week to the election, this is no doubt another testing time for Kenya and it can only emerge from this tense moment by holding credible elections and arresting and prosecuting Mr Msando's killers.
Some fear there could be violent clashes between rival supporters after the result is announced, with the losers refusing to accept defeat.
However, few expect the type of violence which killed more than 1,200 people in ethnic, post-election violence 10 years ago.
Following the clashes, the International Criminal Court charged President Kenyatta and his deputy with instigating violence, but the charges have since been dropped due to a lack of evidence.
The government has denied ICC accusations that its witnesses had been intimidated to prevent them from testifying.


House prices in most areas of the UK outside London and the North are still rising, according to a poll of property surveyors.

In what they call a "worrying" trend, many of them expect house prices to continue rising over the next year.
Members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said demand for flats and houses was currently outweighing supply.
A net balance of 21% of surveyors reported prices up in March.
In other words, those recording prices increases outnumbered those recording falls by nearly a quarter.
The surveyors were even more confident that prices will rise over the next year.
Simon Rubinsohn, Rics' chief economist, said activity in the housing market was falling back.
"Even more worrying are the tentative signs that price momentum could be set to pick up once again, as the supply of stock to the market continues to fall," he said.
"It is significant that price expectations nationally are accelerating both at the three and twelve-month time horizons, and at the latter, they are at their highest level since the spring of last year."
In its most recent report, the Halifax said that prices in the UK rose by 0.4% in March, after falling by 0.3% in February.


MSPs have called on the Department for Work and Pensions to "halt" the closure of a series of Scottish jobcentres.

Holyrood voted by 91 to 30 to voice "concern" about the impact of the closure of Jobcentre Plus sites across the country.
The DWP has confirmed it has plans to shut 14 of its 97 jobcentres in Scotland as part of an estates review.
The Scottish government wanted this halted so it could bring forward proposals to "save these jobcentres".
The DWP argued that the majority of claims were now made online, leaving office space underused. It said its UK-wide estates review would save taxpayers Â£180m a year for the next decade.
Some smaller jobcentres will be merged with larger ones, while others will be co-located within council premises.
The announcement is the latest in a round of proposed closures, affecting up to 23 sites in Scotland, including half of all jobcentres in Glasgow.
Scottish employability minister Jamie Hepburn urged MSPs to come to a cross-party consensus to help halt the closures, enabling the Scottish government to pursue further co-location schemes to "save" the centres.
He said: "The now Scotland-wide planned closures are proposals that impact on communities and people the length and breadth of the country.
"They are disproportionate in impact, they have been announced with little detail, with limited consultation and with even less engagement with those who rely on and those who work in Jobcentre Plus services."
Mr Hepburn accused the DWP of "making decisions based on lines or circles on a map" and said extra cost for travel would have the biggest impact on vulnerable claimants, saying those he had met told him of concerns over paying for travel or for food.
He added: "I think it's clear these changes proposed by the DWP will have a negative impact on service users."
Labour's Mark Griffin said his party would back the motion, saying: "At a time when the Tories are cutting social security and hitting low paid workers with sanctions, when 139,000 people in Scotland are out of work, these proposals are reckless at best and at worse utterly perverse.
"It's completely counter-productive for the UK government to close so many jobcentres."
Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins defended the plans.
He said: "The DWP's proposals are coming at a time when the jobs market in the UK, including here in Scotland, has changed very considerably. There are now more jobs in the British economy than ever before.
"In Glasgow the claimant count has fallen by 44% since 2010 and in this context it is surely rational to keep under review the nature and scale of the jobcentre provision that we need.
"We're talking about redesigning jobcentres to be more effective rather than cutting services."
His amendment, which deleted Mr Hepburn's motion while calling on the DWP to provide more information and saying there should have been "more meaningful dialogue" over the issue, was defeated in the final votes.
Mr Hepburn's motion was then passed by a margin of 91 votes to 30.
While MSPs were debating the closures, MPs on the Scottish affairs committee were quizzing DWP minister Damian Hinds about them.
He told "the fundamental rationale" behind the plans was that the department has a lot of space that is is not using.
He also told members that Glasgow had traditionally had an "unusually large number of job centres for its population", explaining the higher number of proposed closures there.
A DWP spokesman said: "With eight out of 10 jobseeker's allowance claims now made online and 20% of our office space underused we are streamlining our estate, which will save taxpayers Â£1.8bn.
"This year we are hiring 2,500 more work coaches to help those who need it most."


The Chinese city of Wuhan is on red alert for more heavy rainfall, after torrential downpours overnight left parts of the city submerged.

Transport links and water and power supplies in the city of 10 million are severely affected, and some residents are trapped in their homes.
Flooding has killed more than 180 people and caused chaos across China.
Police in neighbouring Anhui province even warned that alligators from a farm there had escaped due to the flooding.
Source: The Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, figures accurate as of 3 July
Wuhan's meteorological office released the red alert on Wednesday. It said to expect wind and rain, and flooding in both urban and rural areas.
Chinese media is reporting that more than 560mm (1.8ft) of rain has fallen over the past week, the heaviest ever in the history of the city, which is on the Yangtze River.
Roads and metro stations were inundated with water, and trains cancelled.
The last leg of the journey home for some people leaving Wuhan train station tonight is on foot, wading through the water.
A handful of couples passed me as I stood, almost up to my knees in it, at the traffic lights under the highway overpass by the railway station. A few coaches made it through the temporary pond, as did a few lorries. But there was no rush hour traffic in the worst hit suburbs tonight.
There is some respite; the rain has stopped for now. But as I write this there are still cars driving the wrong way down a highway slip road because the rain has blocked their route.
Water supplies have been cut off in some areas, and one residential district experienced a complete power black-out, according to local media.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, to oversee relief and rescue operations.
Meanwhile, China's President Xi Jinping, has ordered the army to step up its relief efforts across the country.
Amid the crisis, official figures for the number of dead have fluctuated. On Wednesday state television put the overall toll at about 170.
Social media is awash with pictures of torrents of water thundering through metro stations, submerged cars and buildings, and firemen rescuing stranded people from across fast-flowing rivers that had previously been residential streets.
Police in Anhui shared a notice from Wuhu County's tourism bureau, which said that alligators had escaped from a farm due to the flooding. The notice said people were still trying to verify how many alligators had escaped.
It is not the only animal story to have grabbed the public's attention. On Tuesday a rescue team saved 6,000 pigs which had been stranded at their farm.
Photos of farmers emotionally bidding the animals farewell had been widely shared on social media.


The RMT union has suspended one strike day in a dispute with Southern rail after the British Legion requested it.

The strike on 3 November is the first of its next three-day walkout in a dispute over the role of conductors.
The union said the rest of its scheduled action would go aheadâ€Ž and talks remain deadlocked, although the firm welcomed this latest move.
London Poppy Day, on 3 November, will see uniformed personnel collecting money at Tube and railway stations.
The RMT said members were "standing firm" during its current three-day stoppage which ends at midnight.
General secretary Mick Cash said the union recognised the importance of 3 November to the British Legion, which marks Armistice Day on 11 November.
Meanwhile, Southern has announced it will restore 63 more services to its timetable from Monday, and a further 46 services on 31 October.
Live updates on the strike and other stories
The full West London Line timetable and 34 West Coastway services to destinations such as Hove, Bognor, Barnham and Worthing will return from 24 October, while services between Brighton and Southampton and Hastings and Ashford will return the following week.
However, 33 Gatwick Express services will not return until 12 December as part of "autumn leaf-fall arrangements", the network said.
Services were removed as part of a revised timetable introduced earlier this year.
A Southern spokesman said: "We are pleased that the RMT has called off its strike on London Poppy Day but disappointed that they are still planning to push ahead with the strike action planned for November 4 and 5 which will inconvenience thousands of commuters and families trying to enjoy Bonfire Night."
The industrial action has added to months of delays and cancellations for passengers, with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling urging both sides to end the disruption.
The union wants the retention of a conductor, in addition to the driver, to be on trains at all times.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which owns Southern, has been pressing ahead with its intention to extend driver-only operation to all its services.
Southern train drivers are also being balloted by their union Aslef over driver-only trains, raising the possibility of joint strikes.
On Monday, the RMT union rejected an offer from the company of a Â£2,000 bonus to staff if they ended the dispute.
The RMT has demanded "passenger safety be put before private profit", but GTR maintains modernising the service would be "safe".
Chief executive Charles Horton said there would still be a second person onboard trains.
"By modernising the train service so that drivers have sole control, passengers will get better on-board customer service and fewer delayed trains," he said.
The RMT's latest three-day walkout, has led to the cancellation of hundreds of trains, with commuters taking to social media to complain of the disruption.
Stephanie Fuller tweeted: "Even by your shocking standards @SouthernRailUK my train from carshalton B is dangerously overcrowded. I don't feel safe  #southernstrike".
Rob Shirley said: "@SouthernRailUK so there's a strike but still our train turns up with 4 coaches? Surely put the biggest trains you have on the track."
And Mike Webb asked: "@SouthernRailUK How long are you going to continue ruining people's evenings? #delays #frustrating #southernfail."


The chief constable of Wiltshire Police has warned jobs will go and hinted more stations may shut as the force bids to make £3m savings in the next 18 months.

Mike Veale also said they would have to be "more ruthless" about the types of crimes police officers attended.
People should expect to see PCSOs attend "less serious" crimes, he said.
Overall police spending in England is to be protected over the next five years but Wiltshire's Home Office grant shrank by about £200,000 for 2016-17.
The grant is the main source of police funding in England although more can be raised locally through the council tax precept.
Wiltshire is getting £37.5m next year - compared with £37.7m this year - and, once inflation is taken into account, the force says it faces a shortfall of up to £3.5m for 2016-17, depending on council tax rises.
"£3m does equate to police officers and police staff reductions. We can't get away from that," he said.
"We need to look at the police estate, how many police stations we have got - and we need to look at the mix of staff, how many police officers and PCSOs [we have].
"We need to be more ruthless and more clinical over the type of offences ... that we deal with."
Further spending cuts could be made through "better deployment" of officers, he said.
"Of course, if you are in danger, if your personal safety is at risk, we will send the right resources, who are highly trained and prepared to deal with those situations," he said.
For the government, Policing Minister Mike Penning said no police and crime commissioner would face a funding cut next year "if precept income is maximised" but said the settlement did not "let forces off the hook or allow them to slow the pace of change" of reform.


The devastating changes that turn healthy tissue into cancer are to be investigated in the biggest centre of its kind in the NHS.

The laboratories at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) will use information in tumour DNA to help find the best "personalised" treatments.
Its director said this was not science fiction and would be day-to-day practice in the NHS within a decade.
The centre will also investigate how cancers become resistant to drugs.
The field of cancer research is moving rapidly away from defining a cancer by where it is in the body - one type of breast cancer can have more in common with an ovarian cancer than another cancer in the breast.
Instead scientists and doctors are looking deeper at what is going wrong inside cancerous cells - a tumour can have 100,000 genetic mutations and these alter over time.
Rapid advances in being able to sequence the genetic code of patients are allowing breakthroughs in understanding which mutations transform a healthy cell into a cancerous one.
Identifying the mutations can then be used to choose the best treatment. The most famous example of this is the drug Herceptin, which is used in breast cancers with a certain genetic abnormality.
The new centre will test samples from patients at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
The ICR's director, Prof Alan Ashworth, said: "None of this is science fiction. This is now happening. We think we're pioneering the clinical application of this by setting up the Tumour Profiling Unit, but one would think this would be absolutely routine practice for every cancer patient - and that's what we're aiming to bring about."
One great challenge with cancer treatment is resistance. Promising drugs suddenly fail after a few months.
Prof Ashworth described it as a "bit like the game whack-a-mole" with a new method of resistance popping up every time a drug kicks a cancer down.
The Tumour Profiling Unit will repeatedly test cancer samples to see how the tumour changes in an attempt to understand resistance.
Other challenges for the field include storing the data. The genetic codes of one million cancer patients would take up the same amount of space as YouTube.
Implementing this form of genetic testing into the NHS is another issue. The test results would need to be made available rapidly and in a way that is easy for doctors to interpret and decide on treatments.
The government has recently announced that up to 100,000 patients with cancer and rare diseases in England are to have their entire genetic code sequenced to aid research.


Nearly 100 people have been rescued from floodwaters in Sydney and New South Wales as powerful storms continue to lash Australia's east coast.

Three elderly people were found dead on Tuesday in Dungog, north of Sydney, where homes have been washed away by flooding.
Some 200,000 homes across the state are still without power on Wednesday.
Australia's weather agency has warned of more heavy rain and high winds before conditions begin to ease.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has said that gusts of 100km/h (62mph) are still possible along the coast and that thunderstorms could lead to flash flooding for parts of the Sydney area and Illawarra district.
In other developments:
"We're seeing a continuation of the wind, rain, flash flooding, and whilst it is still dangerous, the positive is that there is some easing. But we still have a lot to get through in the next 48 hours," said NSW State Premier Mike Baird on Wednesday, as quoted by ABC News.
He added that some of the worst hit locations would be declared natural disaster areas.
"To give you a sense of the size and scope -  in Dungog there's more rain that has come down in the last 24 hours than they have seen in a 24-hour period for the past century."
Earlier, he urged workers to avoid travelling at peak times to try to ease the strain on transport networks struggling to cope with the storm.
A severe weather warning has been cancelled for the Hunter district but is still in place for the Sydney area and Illawarra because of damaging winds, heavy rain and very heavy surf.
Local media report that SES helicopters have been able to take off for the first time in 36 hours and will be used to take supplies to the worst affected areas such as Dungog.
One resident in Greta, near Maitland, said the water had risen so fast it had reached waist height by the time he called the emergency services.
"About lunch time it was lapping at the back steps and I thought I had better get out of here. I put a pair of jeans on, a jumper and tried to get out the front door," Henry Krayevski told ABC News.
By the time his rescuers reached him, Mr Krayevski said he was clinging to a tree outside with the floodwater at chest height.
Maitland itself has also had more than 300mm of rainfall since Tuesday morning.
An evacuation warning has been issued for the area around the Manly lagoon and the surrounding district, north of Sydney.
The area's mayor Michael Regan told the BBC that the intense rain and wind had taken their toll on the beaches.
"Residents are telling me they've seen nothing like this before," he said. "What happens now depends on how much more rain we get and how high the tides are."
SES Deputy Commissioner Steven Pearce said: "We've never seen these cyclonic winds last for 24 hours straight. That's what's caused the majority of the damage."
A Carnival cruise ship that was trapped at sea has entered Sydney harbour, local media report.
Air, train and road travel is still being disrupted in Sydney although some ferry services have resumed.
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Survivors of sex abuse at Kincora children's home in east Belfast have called for the building to be demolished.

Gary Hoy, who lived in Kincora, said the memories would always be there but he would like to see the building gone.
Survivor Clint Massey said demolishing the building would bring a kind of closure for victims like him.
Margaret McGuckian, of pressure group SAVIA, said they hoped to speak to the home's owners about the next step.
Three senior care staff at Kincora were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.
At least 29 boys were abused at the home between the late 1950s and the early 1980s.
One of the men who was later convicted, William McGrath, is believed to have been an MI5 agent.
Allegations remain that some members of the British intelligence services knew of the abuse and helped to cover it up.
Mr Massey said the building was "serving no purpose".
"While this is here, this building stands for one thing only - not happy memories at all. Once it's gone, it's a closure of sorts," he said.
Ms McGuickan said the victims "grieve every night" about the abuse they suffered in the home.
"What we're hoping [is] that we enter into consultations, and perhaps this building will be bought over, razed to the ground and maybe something could be set up in its place far away from here for the victims," she said.
There have been calls for the home to be included in a Westminster led inquiry into abuse at state run institutions.
The government declined to do so, saying child protection was a devolved matter and Kincora was covered by the work of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry led by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart.
Critics say that inquiry doesn't have the power to compel witnesses and won't get at the truth of alleged security service involvement. The government said it would ensure the sharing of information.


The UK economy emerged from recession in the three months from July to September, helped by the Olympic Games.

The economy grew by 1.0%, according to official gross domestic product figures (GDP), which measure the value of everything produced in the country.
The Office for National Statistics said that Olympic ticket sales had added 0.2 percentage points to the figures.
The figures are welcome news for business and ministers, said the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders.
"The positive 'surprise' in these figures is largely to be found in the service sector, which is estimated to have grown by 1.3% in the third quarter, after shrinking by 0.1% in the three months before," she said.
The data also exceeded expectations from economists, who had predicted an increase of 0.6% in the quarter.
By Stephanie FlandersEconomics editor
Does it matter we're out of recession?
The economy had been in recession for the previous nine months and has still not recovered the levels of output seen before the financial crisis in 2008.
The ONS said that beyond the effect of ticket sales, it was hard to put an exact figure on the Olympic effect, although it cited increased hotel and restaurant activity in London as well as strength from employment agencies.
The GDP figures were also enhanced by comparison with the previous three months, because the second quarter had an extra public holiday as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June, as well as unusually bad weather, which reduced growth.
"There is still a long way to go, but these figures show we are on the right track," said Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
"Yesterday's weak data from the eurozone were a reminder that we still face many economic challenges at home and abroad."
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls praised the news but said that the figures "show that underlying growth remains weak".
"A one-off boost from the Olympics is welcome," he said. "But it is no substitute for a plan to secure and sustain the strong recovery that Britain desperately needs if we are to create jobs, get the deficit down and make people better off."
The data is a preliminary estimate from the ONS, meaning that the third-quarter figures could be revised higher or lower.
"While the news is positive, the estimate must be put in context," said David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce.
"The 1% GDP figure for the third quarter is affected by distortions in the second quarter due to the Jubilee and Olympic ticket sales. Compared to a year earlier, the figures show that the economy is stagnant."
The ONS said that the economy had contracted by 6.4% between the start of 2008 and the middle of 2009, and had since recovered about half of that lost output.
The level of output in the third quarter of 2012 was almost exactly the same as it had been in the third quarter of 2011.


A new purpose-built dementia centre has opened its doors in the capital.

The Seagrove Centre, which is being run by North Edinburgh Dementia Care, is sited in the grounds of the former Eastern General Hospital.
It will provide core services to those with dementia and offer a possible alternative to hospital admission.
The facility will be able to offer day care services to more than a hundred patients with the condition across the area.
Edinburgh City Council has said it was committed to funding the centre for at least the next five years.
Councillor Norman Work, vice convener of the health, social care and housing committee, said: "It is fantastic to see this new centre spring to life and I would like to say congratulations to everyone who has had a part to play in the development of this new building.
"Not only will it provide great facilities and services for service users, it will also be a lifeline for their families too.
"We are looking forward to working with our partners in providing a high quality service."
New equipment for the centre has also been provided by Dunedin Canmore Housing Association.


Practical exams due to be held this week have been postponed due to the Edinburgh schools closures.

The city council decided on Friday to shut 17 schools amid safety fears.
About 7,600 missed the first two days of the new term following the Easter break and most will not be back in class until next week.
The council has now announced that practical exams due to take place at the five high schools affected by the closure have been postponed.
Five secondaries, 10 primaries and two additional support needs schools were shut due to concerns over structural issues.
All of the schools, which are about 10 years old, were constructed under the same public private partnership contract.
Priority in returning pupils to school was given to high school students in fourth, fifth and sixth year who are preparing for key exams.
The council said in a statement on its website: "We are working closely with the SQA.
"All practical exams that were due to take place this week have been postponed and will be rearranged.
"We will update students when we have more information."
Why are the Edinburgh schools closed?
The majority of the 2,000 pupils preparing for exams at the five high schools affected resumed lessons on Wednesday.
Senior pupils from three secondaries - Drummond High, Firhill High and The Royal High School - were able to return to their usual building as they only had partial refurbishments as part of the PPP project.
Older Gracemount students were asked to report to Liberton High School, while Craigmount High pupils went to Tynecastle High School.
The council's latest update said:
There was still no word on younger pupils at Craigmount, Firhill, Gracemount and The Royal High.
Lessons resumed for pupils from two primary schools on Wednesday and arrangements are in place for pupils at three more primaries, two from Friday and one from Tuesday.
Children attending one of the additional needs support schools affected will be sent to one of five new locations from Friday, while at the other additional needs support school plans are in place for Thursday and Friday.
It is hoped plans for the remaining primaries will be in place by next Tuesday, the local authority said.
Andrew Kerr, City of Edinburgh Council chief executive, said the arrangements had been "a huge logistical exercise".
The local authority said some families who relied on free school meals had approached city food banks as a result of schools being closed.
It said money from the Scottish Welfare Fund would be made available to families in need, distributed to affected families directly, via school head teachers.
The care inspectorate is also allowing some child care providers to extend the number of youngsters they can look after during the crisis.


The World's End murderer Angus Sinclair has had an appeal over the length of his jail sentence rejected.

In 2014 the 70-year-old was convicted of raping and murdering teenagers Helen Scott and Christine Eadie in 1977.
He was ordered to serve life in prison with a minimum term of 37 years - the longest sentence ever imposed by a Scottish Court in a murder case.
Sinclair argued the sentence was excessive but appeal court judges upheld the decision on Thursday.
Appeal judges described Sinclair as somebody with an "immeasurable capacity for evil, depravity and sadism".
The 17-year-olds were killed after a night-out at Edinburgh's World's End pub in October 1977, with their bodies discovered the following day in East Lothian.
Sinclair was found guilty of the crimes after a five-week trial and, on sentencing, judge Lord Matthews said Sinclair was a "dangerous predator, who is capable of sinking to the depths of depravity".
The conviction brought to a conclusion one of Scotland's most infamous unsolved cases and marked the first prosecution since changes to the country's double jeopardy law.
The legal change meant Sinclair, who has been in prison since the 1980s, could be retried after the court case against him collapsed seven years previously.
The judge ordered him to spend a minimum of 37 years in jail - the same number of years that the families of the girls had waited for justice.
Last year, Sinclair dropped an appeal against the conviction but continued in a bid to have the term reduced, arguing it was "excessive".
A hearing was held in November but judges have now refused the appeal, meaning the punishment part of Sinclair's sentence will stand.
Among the submissions from Sinclair's legal team was the question of whether 37 years was "necessary, appropriate and fell within the judge's discretion".
They also argued about whether or not some of his earlier convictions should have been taken into account in determining the punishment part of the sentence as they were events which came after the 1977 murders.
Lady Paton, Lady Clark and Lord Malcolm delivered their opinion in a written judgment published on Thursday.
They said: "We do not accept that the sentencing judge selected 37 years because that represented the length of time which had passed since the commission of the murders.
"As the sentencing judge explains, he had concluded at the outset that a punishment part 'in the high 30s' should be imposed. That was his assessment of the gravity of the case.
"As he puts it, it was only 'coincidentally' that the period selected mirrored the passage of time since the murders. In the result we are not persuaded that there is any merit in this argument."
They also rejected the arguments relating to his criminal record and refused the appeal.
A Crown Office spokesman said: "We note the decision of the appeal court.
"This brings to an end the long wait for justice for the families of Helen and Christine.
"This was made possible by the hard work and dedication of all senior investigation officers, police officers, procurators fiscal, forensic scientists, police surgeons, forensic pathologists, forensic soil scientists, toxicologists and other witnesses who willingly gave their time and expertise to bring Angus Sinclair to justice."


About 5,800 homes are currently without electricity across Northern Ireland as Storm Frank brings heavy rain and gales in from the west.

Severe weather warnings are in place for Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
An amber warning for heavy rain has been issued, valid from 21:00 GMT on Tuesday until 07:00 GMT on Wednesday.
The warning is the second highest that can be issued and means people should be prepared for disruption.
A yellow warning for gale and severe gale force winds is in place from 15:00 GMT until 08:00 GMT on Wednesday.
South easterly wind gusts of 55 to 65 mph - perhaps 70 mph along coastal areas - may cause damage to trees and possibly the electricity network.
Larges waves will bring dangerous conditions to coastal roads.
A yellow warning for rain is also in place from 19:00 GMT to 1500 GMT on Wednesday.
Between 20 to 40 millimetres of rain is expected widely, with up to 70 millimetres over the hills and mountains.  This comes on top of Monday night's rain and is likely to cause some further flooding.
NIE has warning of possible damage to the electricity network, especially in exposed locations.
Of the 5,800 homes without power, 4,000 are in the Enniskillen area.
NIE said emergency crews were working to restore power to all customers.
The Rivers Agency said its engineers have been checking river levels and clearing drains to try to mitigate any possible flooding.
Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill said many staff in the agency had come off their Christmas holidays to help and were ready to respond to requests for assistance.
"Government departments, local councils and drainage authorities are all working closely with many staff put on standby for the next 24 hours," she said.
"We will continue to monitor river levels overnight as well as ensuring culvert inlet grilles are clear of all debris.
"There is a risk that with strong winds forecast for overnight, wind-blown debris can block rivers and grilles."
Andy Sinclair, from the fire and rescue service, said: "Last night was probably unexpected and tonight we've got the weather warnings.
"We are prepared as an organisation to ensure that we've got our people that are properly trained with the resources and the equipment to get out there and deal with it.
"Our advice to people is to stay away and avoid driving through flood water."
Police also issued a warning to motorists: "Due to anticipated severe weather conditions, high winds, heavy rain and predicted high tides over the next 36 hours, motorists should be mindful of the dangers posed along all coastal roads.
"The areas of Newcastle promenade, Ards Peninsula and the coastal route between Warrenpoint and Rostrevor should be treated with caution. Please observe all road closed signs."
All P&O ferry crossings between Larne and Cairnryan have been cancelled from 13:30 GMT.
Stenaline is also warning of possible delays on its route between Belfast and Cairnryan.
Services have been suspended and it is anticipated they will resume at 07:30 GMT on Wednesday.
A number of roads are closed on Tuesday after heavy rainfall caused flooding on Monday night.
In Londonderry, a woman was trapped in her car in the Rosemount area, but managed to free herself.
Sandbags were given out in Omagh and part of the Portaferry Road in County Down was washed away.
The 24-hour flooding incident line is 0300 2000 100.


A breast surgeon accused of carrying out unnecessary operations provided a false cancer diagnosis to one patient's insurers, a court has heard.

Ian Paterson, 59, allegedly told Frances Perks to undergo a double mastectomy or risk "full-blown cancer", despite tests showing no sign of malignancy.
Ms Perks also underwent 27 unnecessary biopsies, prosecutors said.
Mr Paterson, of Altrincham, denies 20 counts of wounding with intent.
Ms Perks is one of ten people said to have undergone "extensive, life-changing operations for no medically justifiable reason" at the hands of the surgeon.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Ms Perks, whose mother and sister had died from cancer, was referred to Mr Paterson in 1994 after finding a lump in her breast at the age of 35.
Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC said she was kept under close surveillance due to her family history, and Mr Paterson had removed several lumps - which were found to be benign - from both breasts over the course of the following 10 years.
A decade after her first visit, jurors heard, Ms Perks found another lump, which was examined and found not to be cancerous.
Despite this, jurors were told, Mr Paterson told Ms Perks "it was time to be thinking of having a mastectomy and that, if she did not, she would end up with full-blown cancer".
"He said that if it were him, he would have a double mastectomy," he said.
"He wrote to her insurers, stating that she had recently been diagnosed with multi focal LCIS in her left breast and that she had a very high statistical probability of having disease in the other breast. (This is) quite wrong."
Mr Christopher previously told jurors Mr Paterson's motives for the operations were "obscure", and possibly financially motivated.
The procedures occurred at the Heart of England NHS Trust and privately run Spire Healthcare hospitals in the West Midlands between 1997 and 2011.
Mr Paterson, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, was interviewed by arrangement in January 2013, when he read a prepared statement saying all surgical procedures he had undertaken were "appropriate and necessary".
"He denied any allegations of inappropriate or unnecessary surgery or bad faith for the purposes of financial gain or for any other purpose, and he said that he found any suggestion that he would propose unnecessary procedures for financial gain as abhorrent," Mr Christopher said.
He was interviewed again in September 2014 but refused to answer questions. Mr Christopher told jurors other victims included:


The Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) has apologised for comparing school merger plan with the Holy Cross sectarian dispute of 2001.

Last week, NICEM boss Patrick Yu warned of racist attacks on ethnic minority pupils from Fane Street Primary if it merged with other schools in the area.
Almost two thirds of Fane Street PS pupils are from immigrant families.
NICEM has now admitted it was a "poor choice" to draw comparisons to loyalist attacks on Catholic pupils in 2001.
Fourteen years ago, the Holy Cross dispute in north Belfast made headlines around the world as loyalist residents staged protests against Catholic families walking their children to a school in the area.
Some of the protests outside Holy Cross Primary School became violent, and police in riot gear were deployed to protect the schoolgirls as they made their way to and from the school.
Mr Yu's previous comments, linking the 2001 dispute to the Fane Street Primary merger, provoked an angry response from local residents in south Belfast.
NICEM has formally objected to the Education Authority's plan to merge it with Blythefield Primary in Sandy Row and Donegall Road Primary in south Belfast.
Last week, Mr Yu said ethnic minority and Muslim families would be put at "high risk of racist attack and racial harassment" as they made their way to and from the proposed new school.
"We do not want to see another 'Holy Cross' number two to happen in that area," Mr Yu said at the time.
But after meeting community representatives from the Sandy Row, Donegall Road and Village areas on Tuesday, NICEM has issued a "sincere apology to the community for the statement that the merger had the potential of turning into a situation like Holy Cross".
"It was not, and has never been our aim to demonise or label any communities within Northern Ireland," the NICEM statement said.
"We acknowledge that using this comparison was a very poor choice."
South Belfast community worker and Alliance councillor for the area, Paula Bradshaw, welcomed Mr Yu's apology.
She said people in south Belfast recognised "there are issues" as the merger of three schools was "never going to be easy".
However, she said Monday's meeting with NICEM addressed how they could "move forward positively".
NICEM's statement said its complaints about how the education authorities had handled the merger process have not yet been resolved.


Wrexham striker Shaun Harrad has left the Welsh club following the end of his short-term contract.

18-year-old Gerry McDonagh has also departed to return to parent club Nottingham Forest after his loan ended.
Harrad, 32, made 18 appearances this term and scored two goals while McDonagh scored five in 21 appearances.
"We wish both players well in their future careers and thank them for their respective contributions over the past five months," a club statement said.


North Korea has strongly denied reports from South Korea that it is planning policy changes that will lead to the reform and opening of the country.

A government body dismissed reports that the present leadership was breaking with the past as "ridiculous".
Some commentators have speculated that the recent removal of North Korea's top general pointed to a possible power struggle over economic reform.
Kim Jong-un succeeded his late father, Kim Jong-il, in December.
Mr Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, has since adopted a warm public persona, being photographed at fun fairs and pop concerts with his young wife.
That - together with the recent removal of army chief General Ri Yong-ho - has fuelled hopes in the South that he could be planning to open up North Korea's closed state-run economy.
However, a spokesman for North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which deals with cross-border affairs, dismissed the speculation in an interview with state-run KCNA news agency on Sunday.
He said that Kim Jong-un would pursue the "military first" policy brought in by his father and would build a "civilised and comfortable life for the people under socialism".
"The puppet group (South Korea)... tried to give (the) impression that the present leadership of the DPRK (North Korea) broke with the past. This is the height of ignorance," the spokesman said.
"To expect policy change and reform and opening from the DPRK is nothing but a foolish and silly dream, just like wanting the sun to rise in the west."
He accused Seoul of trying to impose capitalism on Pyongyang by "trumpeting reform and opening", adding: "There cannot be any slightest change in all policies."
BBC Asia analyst Charles Scanlon says the statement probably shouldn't be taken at face value.
Any reference to reform has always been anathema for North Korean officials, he says, and it is a word they associate with victory for their capitalist enemies in the South.
There is also substantial external pressure for change, not least from China, which appears close to Kim Jong-un and his inner circle and which has pressed for reform in North Korea for more than a decade, our correspondent adds.
Mr Kim and those around him are being keenly watched for the direction in which they will take the communist state.


A study of dinosaur bones suggests that the Patagotitan mayorum was the largest creature to ever live on Earth.

It's thought to have been the length of three London buses, half the width of a football pitch and as heavy as a space shuttle!
Fossilised bones of six of the young adult dinosaurs were found in a Patagonian quarry, in Argentina, in 2013.
Could there be even bigger, adult bones left to discover?
Scientists think that after the young adult dinosaurs died, their bones were preserved in mud.
Known as the Patagotitan mayorum, they're part of the Titanosaur species of dinosaur that lived 100 million years ago.
They were huge plant-eaters that stood on four legs.
One of the authors of the study, Diego Pol, said: "I don't think they were scary at all. They were probably massive slow-moving animals."


The DUP will never agree to an Irish language act, its leader has said.

Arlene Foster said that perhaps there should be a Polish language act instead because more people in Northern Ireland spoke Polish than Irish.
Alluding to Sinn Féin demands, she told a party event: "If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more."
Mrs Foster said she was not prepared to "reward bad behaviour, and to capitulate to manufactured demands".
The introduction of an Irish language act is a key demand of Sinn Féin going into the assembly election.
Based on the 2011 Census, which asked people about the languages they knew and used (for Northern Ireland population over the age of three):
Any act would guarantee Irish was given the same official status as English.
That would lead to measures like:
Asked for a response to Mrs Foster's "feed the crocodile" remark, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams replied: "See you later, alligator".
'Rewriting the past'
The former first minister said the 2 March election was "about republicans trying to re-write the past.
"Even this past week we have seen the attempts to put our soldiers and our police officers in the dock while those who maimed and murdered over the past fifty years walk free.
"Let me be clear, so long as I am the leader of the largest political party in Northern Ireland, that is not going to be allowed to happen".
She said Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Féin's new northern leader, had been "hand-picked by Gerry Adams to do his bidding in Northern Ireland".
On the subject of the botched Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, which may cost NI taxpayers as much as £490m, the DUP leader said it was "not the cause, but it did become the excuse for this election".
"I know that the investigation into the RHI scheme will clear my name," she said.
Mrs Foster was enterprise minister when the scheme was set up in 2012; it was intended to increase the creation of heat from renewable sources.
However, businesses have been receiving more in subsidies than they are paying for renewable fuel and the scheme became highly oversubscribed.
In a statement, the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said: "The DUP are engaged in a massive game of distraction.
"This is the same rhetoric which they sold to the electorate last May and look where we are now.
"It is the last refuge of a party leaving behind a legacy of incompetence and sleaze.
"The DUP and Sinn Féin have been in government for ten years and people are still being called back to the trenches. We want partnership government."
SDLP assembly candidate Patsy McGlone also commented: "The Irish language belongs to no party, it belongs to no community, it is a communal element of our rich cultural inheritance and that cannot be diminished by anyone.
"Today's comments, rooted in the politics of division and hate stand in stark contrast to the opportunity to embrace cooperation and compromise for the common good that this election offers.
"Whatever happens, at the far side of the election, the need for statutory protection for Irish language speakers is all the more important."
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long told BBC News NI she did not think that Mrs Foster's language was appropriate for someone "who is going to the electorate to ask to be the leader of an entire community, and that is what the first minister's job is".


Swansea City boss Paul Clement says he wants coach Claude Makelele to become a more permanent fixture at the Premier League club.

Makelele, 44, became assistant coach at the Swans in January, after signing a contract until the end of the season.
Clement wants to keep the former Chelsea defensive midfielder with the Swans for longer than that.
"If we keep moving in the direction we're going there would be no reason to change anything," said Clement.
Former French international Makelele made 217 appearances for Chelsea between 2003 and 2008 and also had spells with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
His arrival at the Liberty Stadium has coincided with an upturn in fortunes with three wins out of the last four games lifting the Swans away from the relegation zone.
Clement believes Makelele has slotted seamlessly into his coaching setup and now wants that to continue forward into next season.
"I have three assistants," said Clement.
"Karl Halabi I worked with at Fulham, Chelsea and Derby. He is strong on physical preparation of players. I work very closely with him on how we integrate physical training into football training.
"Nigel [Gibbs] was a player for 20 years at Watford and has been a coach for many years so has a lot of experience. He is very good hands on, helping me organise training and run the drills.
The Swans head to Stamford Bridge to face Makelele's former side Chelsea who are eight points clear at the top of the table under manager Antonio Conte.
"Claude is different. He does not have so much coaching experience, but he has a good feel for players, one-to-one, he has great knowledge of the game having played at such a high level," Clement continued.
"He really captures someone when he talks to them. We have a nice blend."
Amongst Chelsea's array of talented players there has been high praise for N'Golo Kante, who signed for the club from defending champions Leicester in the summer of 2016.
Kante's midfield enforcer role has seen comparisons made with Makelele during his playing days, but Clement, whilst impressed by Kante, believes his current assistant boss has the edge.
Clement commented: "Kante is a wonderful player. He did so well at Leicester. They did an amazing job to recruit a player like that.
"He's obviously made that transition from Leicester to Chelsea seamlessly. You can understand why those comparisons are being made, but there's only one Makelele."
Clement expressed his admiration for Leon Britton, who has made more than 500 appearances for the Swans and remains an important player for the club moving forward.
"At the fans' forum, someone stood up and said 'I've got a question for Leon Legend,' added Clement.
"I actually didn't realise how long he'd been here, I think it's 15 years. What a great, young man and he's super professional. He's working hard.
"He's at an age where some of the harder training sessions are difficult for him and it takes a couple of days to recover. But in terms of his personality around the team, it's top draw.
"He's very influential in the dressing room as a senior player. But does it in a very respectable way. I appreciate it very much."