Manager Derek McInnes is happy to have avoided an arduous journey for Aberdeen's Europa League opener.

The Dons will face CS Fola Esch of Luxembourg in the first qualifying round later this month.
Awaiting the winners of that tie are Lithuanian side FK Ventspils or Vikingur from the Faroe Islands.
"Once we watch them, we'll be able to say whether it's a good draw or not but we're pleased from a travelling aspect," McInnes told BBC Scotland.
"As it stands, it could have been a lot more difficult."
Aberdeen were in Macedonia, Croatia and Kazakhstan in last season's qualifiers, losing at the third round stage to Kairat.
McInnes's side are at home for the first leg on 30 June against a side that are yet to win in 10 previous European ties.
"I don't really see home or away first as an issue," said McInnes. "Hopefully, we can go and prove we are a better side at home and away."
The Aberdeen boss is also confident he will be well informed on CS Fola Esch by the time the teams meet.
"They have a pre-season game tomorrow and another on Saturday, so we'll get out to watch them twice," he revealed.
"It's important to get an idea of their team shape and individual players.
"They got a good result with 1-1 away to Dinamo Zagreb with 10 men [in last season's Champions League qualifiers], so that shows they are capable.
"We had a closed doors game today and will have a couple more friendlies before the first leg."
Aberdeen are likely to be without Niall McGinn, who is on Euro 2016 duty with Northern Ireland and McInnes confirmed that striker Miles Storey will not complete his move from Swindon until 1 July.
"We still have the potential to maybe sign one more before the game," said the manager. "If not, I'm confident we can get the job done with the squad we have."
The Dons made a strong start to last year's league campaign, winning their first eight matches, but McInnes wants more from Europe than a few warm-up matches.
"We look at it as an opportunity to do well," he said.
"We've enjoyed the last couple of years. We've had some big results and brilliant nights.
"Financially, the club has benefitted and the players have gained good experience, while the supporters have had some good trips and good memories.
"We want to make every European campaign worthwhile."


A smartphone app that allows people to upload, store and share their old photographs has been launched by two British entrepreneurs.

The founders hope that the Clixta app can act both as a place where families or other groups can share old photos privately and as a public archive for British social history.
They are working with foundation the Copyright Hub to ensure that each photograph has a digital identifier.
The app will be free initially.
The idea was formed when Dean Newsome and Shaun Cutler - who describe themselves as middle-aged dads rather than typical entrepreneurs - started talking by the side of a football pitch in Morpeth, Northumberland.
"I was in the process of digitising old photos for my in-laws and we realised that there was no place to share these on a large scale," said Mr Cutler.
"We treasure our old photographs and the memories that go with them but we are in real danger of the photos that are gathering dust in the attic or under the bed getting lost forever," he added.
Users can upload photos either by scanning them or by taking a photo with their smartphone. They can choose whether to share them publicly or limit the images to a specified group.
The duo behind the app hope that people will share at least some of their photos publicly.
"I envisage a day when historians and educational institutions can use it, for example, to chart a high street going back over decades," said Mr Newsome.
Andrew Mitchell, a social media officer at Northumberland National Park, is using the app to chart changes in the history of the park
"We are celebrating our 60th anniversary and I read about the app and thought it would be a good fit. We had lots of people telling us that they had pictures but had no way of getting them to us. For us it is a way to see how the park has changed."
"We can do this on Instagram or other social media but there is a lot of digital detritus on there and this allows people to focus on something specific."
A trial version of the Clixta app has been used by around 300 users and is now available to the wider public via Android's Google Play store and Apple's iTunes.
Once it has established its user base, the founders said they may introduce subscriptions.


A herd of goats has been appointed to work the graveyard shift at a Blaenau Gwent church where weeds have taken over the cemetery.

The Reverend Rufus Noy called in the animals to clear plots at St Peter's Church, Blaenavon, after volunteers fell behind with their chores.
Mr Noy said maintaining the site was not the council's responsibility and volunteers had struggled.
Farmer Nick Prewett-King said his South American goats were happy to help.
Mr Noy, 53, said: "We have struggled for too many years in fighting the worsening state of the graveyard and although a lot of people won't know this, bringing animals to eat the grass has happened before, as I believe we had horses doing a similar job in the early 1980s."
Mr Prewett-King, 58, said the overgrown plants, grass and brambles were perfect for the goats because the area is pesticide-free and they "go mad for it".
"Because of the climate they are used to, the weather has to be just right for them to be happy to be outside and eat so we had to wait a day but it's excellent for them and really supplements their diet around the oats, wheat and berries we give them," he said.
Mr Noy said he hoped the goats would continue to help out, adding: "It's a great idea as we both benefit from it, anything that can help with the overgrowth is good as it's hard work."
St Peter's is the earliest industrial church in the area and was built in 1804 by Samuel Hopkins and Thomas Hill, who owned the town's ironworks.


The search for a kayaker believed to have gone missing after being urged not to go out to sea in squally conditions has been stepped down.

An off-duty police officer, who is also a member of RNLI Mallaig, warned the man before he set off on Wednesday from Traigh near Arisaig.
Mallaig lifeboat was launched after the man, in his 30s, failed to return to his parked car. The search was formally stood down on Thursday evening.
The man's family have been informed.
No further details regarding his identity have been released.
Angus MacIver, duty controller for the UK Coastguard, said: "Following a comprehensive search effort in the area with nothing found, a decision has been taken to terminate the search pending any further information."
A coastguard helicopter, coastguard officers from Mallaig and Salen and police search dogs were also involved in the search.
Stornoway Coastguard had earlier said the kayaker had been encouraged by the police officer not to head out to sea.
A coastguard spokeswoman said: "Being a member of the lifeboat crew he knew the conditions. Though the sea was generally calm, the squalls were a problem.
"When the officer returned he saw that the kayaker had gone. His car is still there this morning. We are obviously concerned."
The search for the man, who has a red kayak, involved coastguard rescue teams from Mallaig, Salen and Fort William, Stornoway Coastguard helicopter, Mallaig lifeboat and police search dogs.


The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has called on the UK to avoid a "divisive Brexit" and to heal the divisions left by the referendum.

Ruth Davidson said the UK remained one of the world's great liberal democracies.
But she said that reputation was being tested - with the world watching to see how the country conducts itself in the future.
Ms Davidson campaigned for a Remain vote ahead of June's EU referendum.
But in a speech to business figures at the Institute of Directors in London, she called on both Leave and Remain supporters to treat each other with respect.
And she warned against giving way to a "nasty vision of a backward-looking, introspective Britain", and said the country should instead "choose the path of openness and engagement".
Ms Davidson said: "Our decision to leave the European Union hasn't determined which path we'll take. That's a decision we'll make as a nation and one indicator is how we carry ourselves as we proceed in the months ahead.
"To ensure we choose the path of openness and engagement, above all, I believe we must do all we can to avoid an unnecessarily divisive Brexit.
"That starts with coming back together and healing the divisions here at home that the referendum campaign has caused."
Ms Davidson said the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 should act as a warning that "keeping these divisions open doesn't end well".
She added: "So I'd like to make a plea. Remainers need to accept that Leavers are not racist for having concerns about the EU and our system of immigration.
"And - for Leavers -it's time to follow the lead of people like Dan Hannan who point out that the views of the 48% of people across the UK who backed Remain must be heard.
"Voicing concerns about Brexit isn't "remoaning"; there are genuine issues that need to be discussed. This process of listening is utterly vital."
Ms Davidson also attacked UKIP for "rubbing Europe's noses" in the result, warning that an "arrogant" attitude to the UK's European partners would only end up damaging the country's chances of negotiating a good deal.
And she said the EU nations should accept that people in Britain "do not go to sleep under a European Union duvet" - and should seek to accommodate the UK's chosen course.
Ms Davidson was delivering the annual Rhondda lecture, given last year by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
A Scottish government spokesman described Ms Davidson's call for a more respectful EU debate as "welcome but highly hypocritical".
He added: "It is the Tories who are turning their backs on our European partners, who are refusing to guarantee that EU citizens can remain in the UK, who stood back as judges were attacked and who are completely disrespecting the vote of the people of Scotland.
"If Ms Davidson was serious about maintaining good relations with the EU, she would be demanding that the UK government seek to remain in the single market - as she was doing just a few months ago - instead of enthusiastically signing up to the hard-right Tory Brexit which her colleagues in Westminster are now pursuing."


A 15-year-old mother and her 12-week-old baby girl have gone missing from their home in Northamptonshire.

Katie Kelly and daughter Kiah-Mae, from Long Buckby, were last seen in Daventry on Tuesday.  Her boyfriend, Karl Boyle, 18, the baby's father is believed to be with them.
Police said they were concerned for their safety and believe they may be in the Northampton area.
Det Ch Insp Elliott Foskett said the mother had no baby formula with her.
"We don't believe that Katie meant to leave that day - she has not taken nappies and not taken baby formula with her.
"It may be that she is safe and well with friends and our concern is to find her safe and well."
Twelve detectives were on the case and there was no evidence to suggest she was in any immediate danger he said.
In a direct appeal Mr Foskett said: "Katie, I know you are probably scared, but I want to reassure you that we just want to make sure both you and Kiah-Mae are safe."
He added: "Before she went missing, Katie did not take any money or belongings with her."
Anyone who may have spotted them is asked to contact police.
Katie is 5ft 7in tall, of slim build with long, dark brown hair and green eyes.
She was wearing black leggings, a white T-shirt and trainers when she went missing and has a diamond-effect bracelet and gold locket, officers said.
She was supposed to get a taxi in Corby on Tuesday but did not get into it, police said.
She was spotted later in the Standens Barn area of Northampton by a friend at 19:30 BST.


Talks aimed at restoring the power-sharing executive have been put on hold until the general election is over.

Secretary of State James Brokenshire made the announcement after meeting the main parties and Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan.
Mr Brokenshire, who extended the talks deadline until 29 June last week, said some progress had been made.
However, he added there were still a number of outstanding issues.
"All the parties involved recognise it is vital devolved government, and all of the institutions established under the Belfast Agreement and its successors, resumes in Northern Ireland as soon as possible," he said.
"Although formal roundtable talks are paused until after the general election, a range of bilateral discussions will continue, with a view to building on progress."
Sinn Féin leader Michelle O'Neill said it had been "a realistic decision" to pause the talks.
She said she welcomed DUP leader Arlene Foster's meetings with representatives of the Irish language-speaking community, which "could bode well for the future".
UUP leader Robin Swann said he was "both disappointed and frustrated" by the decision.
However, he said: "We'd rather see the progress that has been made 'banked' so we can come back to it after the general election".
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the parties had "sensibly" paused the talks process.
He said negotiators were "absolutely up against it", and that there had been "lots of talking around the houses and plenty of shadow-boxing".
Alliance leader Naomi Long said the parties had been able to park the process "but we cannot stop the juggernaut of chaos and cuts".
She said they must remember that "after the election we have a very small window to come back and agree to restore devolution".
Meanwhile, former Ulster Unionist Party leader and First Minister Lord Trimble has said devolved government in Northern Ireland could function without an executive and should consider continuing as just an assembly.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Wednesday, he said Stormont could operate in the same way the Welsh assembly did when it was first formed.
Lord Trimble said this system operated for six or seven years before the assembly decided to move to an executive.
"That assembly could continue to function and it would be able to move to having an executive the moment that the parties that presently won't nominate for an executive shows a willingness to do so," he added.
The political deadlock in Northern Ireland came after a snap election on 2 March brought an end to Stormont's unionist majority and the Democrat Unionist Party's lead over Sinn Féin was cut from 10 seats to one.
Under Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement, the executive must be jointly run by unionists and nationalists, with the largest party putting forward a candidate for first minister.
The late Martin McGuinness quit as deputy first minister in January in protest against the DUP's handling of a botched green energy scheme.
Sinn Féin has said it will not share power with DUP leader Arlene Foster as first minister until the conclusion of a public inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
Northern Ireland's two biggest parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin, have blamed each other for the failure of talks to date.


A top Uber official has apologised to the Philippines' transport regulator and vowed to respect its authority following a temporary ban on its services in the country.

The ride-hailing firm was ordered to stop services for a month in a dispute over accreditations for new drivers.
Uber briefly ignored the suspension and moved to appeal the decision.
The ride-hailing firm has faced other regulatory battles as it seeks to expand in Asia.
The suspension by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) concerns a violation of a directive to stop accrediting new drivers.
Uber said on Tuesday that it would appeal the order, and briefly resumed services in defiance of the ban.
But the company reversed course later in the day and complied with the order.
After initially rejecting its authority, Uber has adopted a more conciliatory tone with the transport regulator.
In a video posted on Philippines television network ABS-CBN's website on Wednesday, Uber's regional general manager for Asia Pacific, Michael Brown, said the company respected local authorities.
"We're going to do everything we possibly can to show that we respect the authority of the LTFRB," he said.
Reporters captured the comments as Mr Brown spoke to LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra.
The pair spoke ahead of a meeting held by the country's senate public services committee about Uber's situation, according to local media.
"Anything you need from us, we're going to do it," Mr Brown said.
"If there's been a misunderstanding in the past, that's on us and I apologise for that misunderstanding. We have every intention to respect the LTFRB," he said.
Mr Delgra said the regulator would work with Uber.
"This is not a fight, we're trying to work together to address public transport issues," Mr Delgra said.
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Uber's troubles in the Philippines are the latest in a series of hurdles to its attempts to expand globally.
The company has faced regulatory scrutiny in other Asian countries, including South Korea, Japan and India. Earlier this year Uber suspended operations in Macau after a dispute with local regulators.
Uber is also warding off legal challenges as it fights to repair a corporate image badly bruised by sexism and misconduct allegations.
Chief executive Travis Kalanick resigned in June, bowing to pressure from shareholders. His departure came after a review of practices at the firm and scandals including complaints of sexual harassment.


A Canadian actress accused of stalking actor Alec Baldwin has been sentenced to 30 days in prison for heckling him multiple times during proceedings.

Genevieve Sabourin, 41, was found in contempt of court a day after she repeatedly interrupted as Baldwin tearfully gave evidence against her.
Baldwin denies having a relationship with Ms Sabourin, whom he met in 2000.
She is accused of leaving up to 30 voicemails a night and turning up at his homes and a public appearance.
Ms Sabourin, who was arrested in April 2012, is charged with 24 counts of harassment and stalking and could face up to a year in prison if convicted.
Wednesday's contempt of court sentencing means she could spend the remainder of the trial in jail.
Ms Sabourin, who also sent Baldwin, 55, a string of emails, has insisted that she and the actor had a romance that fell apart.
The 30 Rock star, who says he only met her at the request of a mutual friend to offer career advice, told the court during just under two hours of testimony on Tuesday how both he and his wife felt "extremely threatened".
The judge had warned the actress, from Montreal, that he might remove her from court after she interrupted proceedings with repeated outbursts.
"He's lying," she shouted at one point. Later, when Baldwin denied having been romantically involved with her, she exclaimed: "You have a scar!"
Eventually, Judge Robert Mandelbaum scolded: "Don't testify from your seat at the defence table while the witness is on the stand."
"Your honour, he's lying," Ms Sabourin replied.
As she was found in contempt, Ms Sabourin said the strain of the trial had made her "a person who is totally exhausted, humiliated, beat up, destroyed, alone".
"My life is shattered in pieces," she said.
Baldwin said he met Ms Sabourin at lunch with a mutual friend in 2000 when he was filming in Montreal, where she was working as a publicist on his film.
He told the court that, 10 years later, he was asked by a friend to give Ms Sabourin advice, as she had begun acting in some Canadian films and TV series.
The pair met at a restaurant in the city in 2010 for what Baldwin has called an hour-long chat about her acting prospects.
However, she has claimed it was a romantic dinner that ended with a sexual tryst, something Baldwin has denied.
Baldwin said he only communicated with her after that to give suggestions about acting classes, but that she had quickly shifted to professing her love and pleading for his.
The actor's eyes reddened in the courtroom on Tuesday as he recalled the time Ms Sabourin appeared outside his home in East Hampton, New York, shortly after he and then girlfriend Hilaria got engaged in March 2012.
He said she had also threatened to enter his home and place of work, and added: "That's when I knew she was dangerous."
Baldwin said two days later Ms Sabourin confronted him at a movie screening at New York's Lincoln Center.
He described the "nightmarish" moment, when he looked out from the wings to see her sitting in the front-row, as "like something out of Hitchcock".
He said security guards had escorted her out, and she was arrested days later after appearing outside of the couple's Manhattan apartment building.
Baldwin said he had repeatedly asked Ms Sabourin to leave him alone, as seen in some emails read in court, in response to her claims that she was going to start a "massive destructive war" against him, and that she wanted to start her new life as his wife.
However, he also sent some more sympathetic messages, including "happiness is around the corner", and acknowledged in court that some communications "were more personal than professional".
He said he was "just trying to pacify her" and hoped that she would eventually give up contacting him.
Ms Sabourin's lawyer, Todd Spodek, has said his client was not threatening Baldwin, but seeking to resolve her feelings toward him.
He presented evidence showing they corresponded for a year, and gave examples of conversations in numerous emails.
But Baldwin said he was "never, never, never" the instigator of "these conversations".
The actor, who won an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for his role in the sitcom 30 Rock, has a baby daughter with wife Hilaria Baldwin.
She told the court that Ms Sabourin relentlessly harassed her on Twitter, even during her pregnancy.
She cited a tweet that claimed she would have a miscarriage.
"It feels like there's nothing we can do to make this stop. I am terrified of her," she said.


A new justice centre with space for holding criminal courts and other hearings has been proposed for a site on Inverness' Burnett Road.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) plans to move out of the 19th Century Inverness Castle to the new building by the summer of 2018.
Work on the site next to Burnett Road Police Station could start this year.
The castle in Inverness city centre is to be transformed into a visitor attraction.
It could accommodate a museum and an art gallery.
SCTS said the Inverness Justice Centre would accommodate courts and tribunals and also provide support services for witnesses, victims, accused and those convicted in courts.
The Scottish government is backing the project and the plans to turn Inverness Castle into a tourist site.
Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle described the proposed new justice centre as an important development for SCTS.
He said: "We have an exciting opportunity to create a pioneering, state-of-the-art justice centre, which will house justice partners and third sector organisations in the same building.
"It will deliver a range of services for offenders, providing the environment for problem solving approaches to help reduce re-offending, and offer specialist facilities, support and advice for victims and witnesses of domestic abuse, sexual violence and child abuse."
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: "I am delighted that the development of the new Inverness Justice Centre, made possible with funding from the Scottish government, has taken a step forward today.
"We are now closer to delivering a facility which is accessible and modern, supporting the delivery of justice in the north of Scotland."
The sandstone Inverness Castle was built in 1836 to plans drawn by architect William Burn.
It was constructed on a mound overlooking the city and the River Ness. In 1848, a building known as the North Block was added and served as a prison.
But a castle had occupied the site from possibly as far back as the 11th Century.
Over the centuries, the fortification fell under the control of the forces of Edward I, Robert the Bruce and James I, II and IV.
In 1562, it was attacked and damaged by soldiers loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, before it was almost destroyed by Royalist troops in the 1600s.
Bonnie Prince Charlie's forces blew the castle up in 1746 to prevent it from falling into the hands of government troops.
It was said that a French sergeant, who had brought his poodle with him to Scotland, set off the explosives.
The soldier was caught in the blast, and his body was blown across to the opposite side of the River Ness.
His dog was also hurled over the river by the explosion. It survived, though it lost its tail.
Tourism Minister and co-chairman of the Inverness Castle Working Group, Fergus Ewing said relocation of court services from Inverness Castle offered an opportunity to develop a "world-class tourism attraction".
"Tourism is not just a key part of the local economy but a key driver of growth across Scotland and I am very keen that the castle finds a new life that benefits the Highlands and Scotland as a whole," he said.
Eric McQueen, SCTS chief executive, said "hard work" would go into the final design of the new centre.
Inverness Provost Helen Carmichael said both projects should be welcomed.
She added: "This heralds the start of a really bright future for the city."


Jim Best's four-year ban is set to be quashed after the British Horseracing Authority admitted a "fairness" issue in its disciplinary process.

Trainer Best was last month found guilty of ordering conditional jockey Paul John to stop two horses from running on their merits.
But the BHA used solicitor Matthew Lohn on the disciplinary panel.
Lohn was being paid to advise on other matters, and the BHA will not oppose an appeal on "perceptions of fairness".
The case will go back to the organisation's appeal board on 24 May, when Best's conviction is likely to be overturned.
However, the BHA insists it opposes other grounds for appeal and will effectively push for a retrial.
"Having received further details concerning the appeal, and having taken advice, we have decided not to contest the appeal on the grounds of apparent bias. We are still contesting the appeal on other grounds," said spokesman Robin Mounsey.
"Perceptions of fairness in relation to the structure and composition of our disciplinary panels is a legacy issue and we have already agreed to tackle this in our integrity review and have already started to review the structure and composition of disciplinary panels, appeal boards and our licensing committee.
"Our view is the most appropriate next step in this case is for there to be a rehearing before a new disciplinary panel."
The news regarding Best was first reported by the Guardian on Friday.
Privately, the BHA is disappointed details leaked out and insists it can still achieve a conviction, but the new development will have wider implications.
Other cases involving Lohn - who sat on the panel which issued an eight-year ban to Mahmood Al Zarooni in the Godolphin doping scandal - could now be open to challenge.
However, it is thought an Al Zarooni appeal is unlikely as he admitted all the charges against him at the original hearing three years ago.
The BHA has indicated Lohn does not wish to comment. Meanwhile, Best maintains he is innocent of any wrongdoing.


The Treasury has told the Stormont administration that it is engaged in preparatory work to take control of the Northern Ireland Executive's finances.

First Minister Peter Robinson said the Treasury had indicated its willingness to intervene if Stormont does not stay within its budget.
He said "formal concern" was expressed in a letter to Stormont's finance minister from the Treasury.
Mr Robinson made the comments during an interview for the BBC.
The DUP leader said the chief secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands had written to Northern Ireland's Finance Minister Arlene Foster voicing concern about Stormont departments potentially breaching their spending controls.
Mr Robinson told the BBC that the letter gave "a very clear indication that they intended to take steps that preparatory work had already begun and that they would not allow us to breach those totals but would intervene".
He added:  "That indicates that the lifetime of the assembly is limited, unless those who are stalling in the process, the SDLP and Sinn FÃ©in, take their responsibilities seriously and deal with these issues.
"I can imagine as soon as there will be an intervention from the Treasury to tell us what we can spend and how much we can spend, we will have ministers who aren't prepared to play ball with that and the assembly collapses."
Mr Robinson held a private meeting with the prime minister on Thursday. He said the prime minister continued to be concerned that agreements reached last December had not been implemented.
The Northern Ireland parties had agreed a deal on Westminster's welfare reform measures in the Stormont House Agreement last December.
However, Sinn FÃ©in withdrew its support in March.
Since the striking of the agreement, Sinn FÃ©in, the SDLP and the Green Party have opposed plans to implement the changes.
They have argued that the measures will hit the most vulnerable members of society.
But supporters of the plan have warned that failure to change the benefits system will mean the executive cannot manage its budget, putting the future of the devolved government at risk.
Last month, Stormont's new budget bill passed its second stage, but the final stage is dependent on a deal on welfare reform.


Like an ill-conceived edition of Sesame Street, this week in Australia has been brought to you by the letter D - from Depp's dogs to double dissolution.

On Monday, it seemed half of the country's journalists were up on the Gold Coast covering a Hollywood A-Lister and his wife Amber Heard as they tried to extricate themselves and their pet dogs Pistol and Boo from the so called War on Terrier.
The other half were down in Canberra as the prime minister (A-lister or D-lister depending on your political persuasion) confirmed he intended to dissolve both houses of parliament and call an early general election on 2 July.
One of those stories is big news, right? The other tittle-tattle?
Well, the BBC's online stats man tells me our stories on Depp's dogs garnered a total of around 3m page views.
Our most popular story on the double dissolution managed just 136,000 views.
Of course, not too much can be read into figures like this. After all, one of the BBC's most popular online stories was for many years Man Forced to Marry Goat.
Sex and animals is a potent combination in terms of online traffic. I guess you could say the Depp story featured two dogs and the world's sexiest man.
Malcolm Turnbull's double dissolution had none of the above.
But I do think news that the country is likely going to the polls in July has generated little political fervour in Australia and has generally been greeted with a collective shrug.
Down under, general elections come thick and fast as it is.
They have to take place every three years, whereas in most democracies it's every four or five.
It was only in September 2013 - barely two-and-a-half years ago - that the country last went to the polls.
Add into the mix the fact that Australia's political parties have a persistent habit of ousting their leaders mid-term - there have been four different prime ministers in the last three years - and you get the sense that the country is in a constant state of churn.
For outside observers it's easy to lose track.
I once did a live interview with a BBC presenter in London and rather awkwardly had to explain to him that the person he thought was the Australian prime minister had actually been ousted six months earlier.
Of course, it gives journalists lots to talk about but I sense the mood among the public is less enthusiastic.
Anyone who is familiar with the US system, where Congressional elections for the House of Representatives are held every two years, knows what a sense of constant political grind it creates.
The result is relentless campaigning, lobbying and fund raising, with only a brief window to actually get anything done before you have to start worrying about the next election.
Another problem with having elections so frequently is that it's all too easy for a prime minister to blame current problems on a previous government.
In Australia this year, nobody really seems that clear what the election's defining issues will be.
In 2013 it was asylum seekers and Tony Abbott and Kevin's Rudd's pledges to "Stop the Boats".
But in 2016 the boats have been stopped and the government and the opposition Labor Party are largely on the same page in terms of asylum seeker policy.
It could be the economy.
But while there are perennial concerns that the good times may be over after a quarter-century of consecutive economic growth, Australia is not in the midst of an economic crisis.
It may well come down to personality - and there's not much of that around either.
After the political soap opera of the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard era and the gaffe-prone Tony Abbott, this year's principal protagonists look rather bland.
On the D theme, you might even say dull or dreary.
Both Malcolm Turnbull and his challenger, the Labor party's Bill Shorten, seem rather sensible and not terribly far apart politically.
But if it does come down to personality, Mr Shorten definitely has some catching up to do.
While polls show Labor neck-and-neck, if not marginally ahead, as a party, Malcolm Turnbull is still streets ahead in terms of personal approval ratings.
What is clear is that with the announcement of his intention to call the election early, this will be one of the longest campaigns in Australian history.
There are still 71 days to go until D-Day.
Hands up anyone who's feeling election fatigue already.


Wales could have 200 fewer police officers than it should by 2021 due to a shortfall of up to £10m in training cash, police chiefs have claimed.

A letter to Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford warns they may be forced to cut frontline police budgets or lower training standards below England's.
They are particularly concerned that the £2m they pay in the apprenticeship levy is not spent on police training.
The Welsh Government said the levy does not cover Treasury funding cuts.
North Wales commissioner Arfon Jones, who chairs the All-Wales Policing Group, said in the letter that Welsh forces were "now at a serious financial disadvantage and in future will be disadvantaged in terms of training compared to our English counterparts".
He warned that Wales faced a bill of £8.9m for the Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) by 2020-21.
While English forces only had to meet 8% of training costs with the rest covered by the apprenticeship levy, Mr Jones said forces in Wales faced paying 95% to 100% from their own budgets.
A shortfall of £10m would be equivalent to 200 fewer officers in Wales, he added.
Welsh forces had already lost 2,500 police officers and staff since 2010, Mr Jones said, "equivalent to the entire resources of North Wales Police".
"Under such pressures, Welsh forces might have to lower the standard of training and it would be regrettable to break away from the uniform standards that are currently in place," Mr Jones said.
"Being forced to fund the training from existing resources would inevitably have an impact on frontline policing."
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said ministers had written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd about the issue of police training.
"While we are supportive of the PEGF in principle, we have been clear that responsibility for operational policing matters, including training, rests solely with the Home Office and it should fund training until policing is devolved," she said.
As for the apprenticeship levy - 0.5% payable on annual wage bills of more than £3m - the spokeswoman said it was a UK government employment tax "which directly conflicts with areas of devolved responsibility".
As skills policy is devolved, the money is not necessarily spent on apprenticeships in Wales.
Instead, the Welsh Government is entitled to a population-based share of the proceeds under the UK Treasury's Barnett formula, to be spent as ministers in Cardiff see fit.
The spokeswoman said such money had been "largely offset by cuts made elsewhere, meaning there is no significant new money to invest in services as a result of the apprenticeship levy".
A Home Office spokesman said: "All police forces pay the apprenticeship levy, and in Wales those funds are passed back to the Welsh Government through an arrangement agreed with HM Treasury."


An academy school in Bath will close at the end of the 2018 summer term, a council has announced.

The proposal to close Bath Community Academy (BCA) was made by the Cabot Learning Federation in July last year.
The school opened in 2012 but has had consistently low pupil numbers. It has capacity for 720 students but currently has only 241.
Bath and North East Somerset Council said it is aiming to ensure a "smooth transition" of pupils to other schools.
Councillor Michael Evans, cabinet member for children's services, said the authority will be "seeking to engage with all stakeholders and the community on the most appropriate future for the... site".
"The council has already made it clear that we would like for the site to continue to be used for educational purposes, as well as the continuation of the sport and leisure facilities on the site," he added.
The Cabot Learning Federation confirmed it will be making a contribution towards new school uniform costs for pupils affected by the closure.
A federation spokesman said they are "committed to ensuring high standards" for pupils remaining at the academy school over the coming months.


A British computer expert who admitted supporting terrorism through the internet has been sentenced in a US court to 12-and-a-half years in prison.

Babar Ahmad, of Tooting, south London, had admitted conspiracy and providing material to support the Taliban.
Ahmad has already spent almost 10 years in prison in the UK and US and his lawyer thinks he could be released in about seven-and-a-half months.
He waived his right to an appeal as part of a plea agreement.
Ahmad's co-accused, Syed Talha Ahsan, also of Tooting, was sentenced to time already served, meaning he is now free.
Sentencing Ahmad, the judge said she had to weigh the seriousness of the crime with his good character, after reading thousands of letters of support and hearing from British prison officials who described him as an exemplary prisoner.
Internet Jihadi: Babar Ahmad will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4's The Report on 17 July at 20:00 BST.
Listen again on iPlayer
She said Ahmad was not an operational terrorist, showed he posed no threat to the public and exhibited remorse for setting up websites that promoted jihad.
The judge said she was struck by the impact the Bosnia War had had on him, where he had gone as an 18-year-old and saw the suffering of Muslims, after which he committed to jihad.
The court in New Haven, Connecticut, handed down a sentence of 150 months, half of the 25 years the prosecution was seeking.
Ahmad is expected to carry out the remainder of his sentence in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Ahmad's legal team said his release date would be dependent on good behaviour.
Dominic Casciani, home affairs correspondent, BBC News
Babar Ahmad spent a decade fighting his case - and the judge's relatively lenient sentence - half what prosecutors sought - reflects its complexity.
He and others ran an undeniably influential online operation propagating armed jihadist ideology from the late 1990s; their beliefs born on the battlefields of Bosnia, where Ahmad and others went to protect Muslim civilians from massacre.
His mistake, as he now admits, was to translate that into support for the Taliban as 9/11 approached.
Ahmad was once a hugely influential man. Some of his former peers believe that he could play an instrumental role in persuading today's generation - including those going to Syria - where the line lies between fighting for self-defence and terrorism.
He has many supporters who will welcome him home, but he will also live forever with the label of a convicted terrorist.
Ahmad, who spent a decade fighting against conviction, was accused of being the mastermind behind the worldâ€™s first English website dedicated to jihad.
He had thousands of supporters in the UK during his record eight-year battle against extradition.
He was accused of operating the now defunct Azzam.com family of websites, established to spread jihad in 1996.
The websites published reports of mujahedeen battles in Bosnia and Chechnya, and called for support for the Taliban.
Later, they also published documents setting out Osama bin Ladenâ€™s call for a holy war against the West.
The US authorities said his online activities had an almost unprecedented global reach and that he sent recruits to train with the Taliban.
Ahmad was never charged with an offence in the UK, despite his network operating in London.
Ahmad, 40, has admitted he ran the sites and said he made a grave error as a young man in going on to support the Taliban, but he denied that his interpretation of jihad for self-defence had developed into support for al-Qaeda inspired terrorist attacks.
A statement posted on the Free Babar Ahmad Facebook page said the campaign was "finally coming to the end of a very long journey".
It added: "It has been a very difficult and tiresome struggle but at last, we can see light at the end of the tunnel."


Dan Evans came from a set down to beat fellow Briton Liam Broady in the first round of the Nottingham Open.

Evans, 26, lost the first set 6-3 to 22-year-old wildcard Broady, who is ranked sixth in Britain.
But world number 92 Evans, in his first competitive meeting with Broady, took the second set 6-2 and the final set 8-6 on a tie-break.
The British number four will face Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis, ranked 56 in the world, in the second round.


Up to 70 jobs at two British Steel sites in the north-east of England could be lost, the company has warned.

Plans for Skinningrove and Darlington are aimed at cutting costs and improving competitiveness, it said.
Peter Gate, managing director for special profiles - a steel shape with a specific cross section and composition - said the firm was "striving to become a global leader" in the product.
But it needed to be "more flexible and more efficient" to do so, he said.
This sector of the company was now making a profit but it "must become even more competitive" if the firm was to grow and win more orders, he said.
The Community union said it had received assurances there would be no compulsory redundancies.
Union national officer Steve McCool said it would "make sure this principle is upheld".
India's Tata Steel sold the sites last year, along with the Scunthorpe steelworks, to UK investment fund Greybull, which revived the British Steel name.


It was surviving a brush with adversity that allowed Anisa Telwar's business to really grow.

The owner of a successful US cosmetics company, back in 2002 she was hit by a development which threatened the firm's future - her long-time South Korean manufacturer announced that he was ending their partnership and going out on his own.
Ms Telwar suddenly found that her Atlanta-based business Anisa International - today one of the world's largest designer and manufacturer of make-up brushes - had nowhere to get its products produced.
Describing the situation as "pretty scary", and faced with the possibility of her business having to shut down, she instead determined to fly to China and secure her own factory.
The Anisa International plant, based in the city of Tianjin in northern China, now makes more than 25 million make-up brushes per year.
Ms Telwar, 48, looks back on the split with her former South Korean partner as being like the break-up of a marriage - yet one with a happy ending.
"It was a bit like a divorce," she says. "But at the end of the day, it was probably one of the best things that ever happened."
Owning her own factory meant that she took full control of the manufacturing process, allowing her to design new products more freely, she says.
And thanks to this newer, wider range of make-up brushes, Anisa International's sales have increased substantially.
Today, the company has annual revenues of more than $30m (Â£18.5m).
It is a "white label business" in that it makes its make-up brushes for other firms, including many of the big names in cosmetics, such as Estee Lauder and Sephora.
Born in New York, but raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Ms Telwar undoubtedly gets some of her business drive from her Russian mother Fatima Telwar, who after a childhood in Turkey emigrated to the US.
Fatima Telwar ran her own import and export business, buying general goods in the Middle East, such as rugs, and then selling them in the US.
After two years at business school, Anisa Telwar joined her mother's business when she was in her early 20s.
The decision to go out on her own came after a meeting with the fateful South Korean manufacturer, and Anisa International was born in 1994.
While the Korean firm would make the brushes, Ms Telwar would do the distribution, marketing and selling - jobs it was soon apparent that she was rather good at.
While she had little capital to put into the business, Ms Telwar instead said she was determined to both work hard and think creativity.
"I had my sweat equity, and I had some marketing savvy on how to sell these brushes differently," she says.
To do the later, Ms Telwar went to visit the big cosmetics firms, and got them to think more about how well a certain brush worked with their product.
Whereas previously make-up brushes were not given much attention, Ms Telwar got the firms to focus on what softness, texture or size of brush worked best with a particular foundation powder, or eye shadow, or other such cosmetic item.
It soon led to Anisa International picking up orders.
The company now employs more than 500 people, across its manufacturing base in China, its headquarters in Atlanta, and offices in New York and London.
Ms Telwar says she remains as passionate as ever about the business.
"This industry excites me," she says. "When I was younger I really wore a lot of make up, I see how it can enhance, how it can improve, how it makes women feel.
"This is a luxury type item that makes us feel good. I connect to that a lot."
As well as her general leadership duties, Ms Telwar keeps a close eye on make-up trends to look for new ideas.
She says she mines magazines and social media sites.
"That's my role, I feel, in this organisation," she says. "I am supposed to find the trend."
Ms Telwar is also happy to speak to experts, such as her 15-year-old niece.
Recent new product developments include nail painting kits. The company also continues to develop new types of manmade fibres for the bristles in its brushes.
"I love the idea of designing something new that can be dynamic and visually beautiful." says Ms Telwar.
As the company prepares to move to a bigger head office across town in Atlanta, she says she continues to ask that all new recruits are creative people.
"I do look for people who have creativity, no matter what," she says. "Because you can be creative in finance, you can be creative in admin.
"I look for people who want to follow our vision in this industry, that want to be part of the team."


Caribbean poet Derek Walcott has won this year's prestigious TS Eliot Prize for Poetry for his latest collection, White Egrets.

Walcott, 81, was up against several other well-known poets including Simon Armitage and Seamus Heaney.
Judges' chair Anne Stevenson said the judges had found it difficult to choose a winner.
But they concluded White Egrets "was a moving, risk-taking and technically flawless book by a great poet."
The collection includes two poems written to Barack Obama.
Walcott wins Â£15,000, while his fellow nominees pick up cheques for Â£1,000 each.
The writer's previous collections include In A Green Night: Poems 1948 - 1960 and his epic work, Omeros, which draws on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1992.
The other nominees were Annie Freud, John Haynes, Pascale Petit, Robin Robertson, Fiona Sampson, Brian Turner and Sam Willetts.
Previous winners of the prize include Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy and Seamus Heaney.
The TS Eliot prize was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday and honour its founding poet.


Fife lightweight Stevie Ray is already looking forward to the UFC event in Glasgow this summer after beating Massachusetts' Joe Lauzon in Nashville on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old from Kirkcaldy was under the cosh in the first five-minute round but then edged ahead with his superior striking against his tiring opponent to win 28-27, 29-27, 28-28.
Ray has won 21 of his 27 fights.
"I want to 'main-event' Glasgow. UFC is coming, I've earned my spot," he said.
"I'm the number one fighter from Scotland and it would be a dream come true to headline there. I'll take anybody. I want that headline spot."
Ray beat the UK's top-ranked lightweight Ross Pearson at UFC Fight Night Belfast last November and with this win over the 32-year-old New Englander Lauzon, tied with Nate Diaz for the most post-fight bonuses, he has further boosted his standing.
Ray told the UFC website: "I thought it was close so I wanted to finish out the third round strong.
"I knew his takedowns and top control during some of the fight could be held against me - even though I was being very active from the bottom - so I wanted to put it all on the table at the end.
"I expected this kind of fight from the beginning. Joe has all of those bonuses and that's because he fights like a warrior. I knew he would be tough and that I'd have to be tougher."


A two-year-old girl got her foot stuck inside a toy Minion, forcing fire crews to saw it in half to free her.

Darcie Butler had been playing at her home in Malvern Road, Oldbury, when she became trapped at about 06:30 BST.
"I was in bed when I heard my partner shouting 'come downstairs, Darcie's got her foot stuck'," said her father Steve, a car salesman.
"It was a nightmare. I tried to pull it apart but in the end we had to call the fire station."
Firefighters had to saw the Minion toy in half to free Darcie, but Mr Butler said it had not fazed her.
"She did like the toy but she's not too bothered," he said. "She's playing with both halves and keeps saying 'it's broken.'"


A man has appeared in court charged with murdering a footballer's brother in a shooting.

Keal Richards, of Francis Street, Chapeltown, appeared before Leeds magistrates charged with the murder of Raheem Wilks, 19.
Mr Wilks, the brother of Leeds United's Mallik Wilks, was found seriously injured on Gathorn Terrace in Harehills at 13:20 GMT on Thursday.
Mr Richards, 21, was remanded to appear at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday.
More on this story from BBC Leeds and West Yorkshire
In court, he spoke only to confirm his name and address and answer the charge of murder.
A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Wilks died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
A 49-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman previously arrested in connection with the death have been released on bail.


The actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films says hopefuls from Bristol auditioning for the new film should "disguise their accents".

Dave Prowse starred in episodes four to six but his Bristolian accent was later dubbed over by James Earl Jones.
He told people going to Bristol for the open casting sessions for Star Wars: Episode VII to be "very, very serious about the whole thing".
"You can't go 'oo-aar my dear here's my lightsaber," he said.
According to a casting notice, film-maker Disney wants to fill two roles for the new film.
The company is looking for a "street smart and strong" orphaned girl in her late teens and a "smart capable" man in his late teens or early 20s.
Bristol will host the first auditions for the film on 9 November at the Arnolfini.
Prowse, who is 6ft 6ins (1.96m) tall, said it was an "honour" for the city.
He said those attending "will need to be very, very serious about the whole thing as it will change their lives, as it did for me."
Prowse was born in Bristol in 1935 and attended Bristol Grammar School.
Before entering the acting profession he was a successful bodybuilder and weightlifter.
The actor's early screen roles included parts in a number of Hammer horror films and Doctor Who.
He also played the Green Cross Code man in television road safety commercials for 13 years.
When Prowse attended his own audition for Star Wars in 1976, nobody knew what a massive success it would turn out to be.
Director George Lucas offered Prowse either the part of Chewbacca or Darth Vader.
Prowse chose the role of the latter and told Lucas "everyone remembers the villain, George".
Prowse went on to play the bodily form of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Of the open casting session method being used by Disney, he said: "It's an interesting way to go about it.
"There is a fantastic amount of talent out there just waiting to be discovered, and there is so much interest in Star Wars."
Although he now lives in Croydon in Surrey, Prowse said he regularly returns to Bristol to see family in Filton, and is "very proud" of his roots.
He said if the forthcoming film receives a premiere in Bristol he would "be there like a shot".
Star Wars: Episode VII is scheduled to begin shooting at Pinewood Studios in spring 2014, for an expected 2015 release.


A "rotten" Victorian pavilion in Skegness will be handed over if £3.5m of funding is secured for a community hub to be built in its place.

Skegness Town Council wants to create the hub on the site of Tower Gardens Pavilion, which dates back to 1879.
East Lindsey District Council, which owns the building, said it was backing the move.
Funding of £3.5m is being sought from the Coastal Communities Fund, after a successful first round bid.
If the bid is successful, work could start in 2017.
The proposed hub would include a tearoom, heritage museum and tourist information centre
Previous attempts to save the building, which has been empty since 2007, have been unsuccessful, and a survey found rising damp, corrosion, holes in the roof, collapsed floors and rotting woodwork.


A convicted drug dealer who masterminded a large-scale drugs operation while in prison has been jailed for a further 12 years.

Philip Bell, from Boston, Lincolnshire, organised for heroin and cocaine to be couriered into the town from Merseyside and West Yorkshire.
He used contacts he met in Hatfield Prison, near Doncaster, to source and supply the drugs, police said.
A further 14 people received jail terms of between two and eight years.
Police forces from across the UK, led by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, were involved in detecting the conspiracy offences, seizing cash and drugs with a street value of more than Â£1,600,000.
Police said the drugs were distributed in Boston and the surrounding area, with large quantities being sent to Hull.
Speaking after the sentencing at Lincoln Crown Court, Det Insp Paul Myers, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, described Bell as "manipulative and amiable" and the "mastermind of the operation".
He said: "Bell manipulated his associates, friends and family - some of which had never been in trouble with the police before."


A joint session of the Supreme Court and Privy Council is to hear appeals in two cases where convictions were gained under the doctrine of joint enterprise.

Joint enterprise has become an effective way to prosecute murder, especially in cases involving gangs.
But it is controversial because in such cases, there is no need to prove a member of the group intended to kill.
Campaigners say up to 600 people are serving life for murder as a result of unjust joint enterprise convictions.
To be guilty of murder, the prosecution need only show that someone foresaw the person they were with "might" kill or inflict serious harm, said BBC legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman.
He said the "unprecedented" hearing will "scrutinise the contentious 'foresight' test at the heart of joint enterprise, and could change it".
Our correspondent said: "The test at the heart of joint enterprise is one of foresight and possibility, and many believe that lowers the burden on the prosecution and allows those who are simply too morally remote from the crime, bit-part players or not even players at all, to be swept up in a prosecution and convicted on the basis that they were all 'in it together'.
"If the test is passed and a person is convicted of murder, they will receive the mandatory life sentence."
Concern about the use of joint enterprise has also been raised in the past by former President of the Supreme Court Lord Phillips, who said it is "capable of producing injustice, undoubtedly".
In December 2014, the House of Commons Justice Committee called for an urgent review into its use to prevent overcharging.  Its report noted that a large proportion of those convicted were young black and mixed race men.
The Supreme Court case involves defendant Ameen Jogee, who was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 20-year term at Leicester Crown Court in 2012.
Paul Fyfe, 47, a former Leicestershire police officer, died from a single stab wound at his girlfriend's flat.
The court has to prove that Jogee, in "egging" on Mohammed Hirsi to harm Mr Fyfe, foresaw that it was "probable" rather than "possible" that his friend would then use a weapon to murder the man.
Hirsi, from Spinney Hill, was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years for stabbing Mr Fyfe.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which hears final appeals from many current and former Commonwealth countries as well as UK overseas territories, is considering a case involving the murder of a taxi driver in Jamaica.
The judgments in both cases will be reserved and are expected to be published in the new year.


A "sexual predator" has been jailed for eight and a half years for blackmailing Muslim women with intimate photos and videos taken without their knowledge.

Farhan Mirza, 38, of Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent, secretly filmed the women and threatened to share the footage before demanding money.
Mirza, who denied the charges, met some of the women on online dating sites.
He was jailed for voyeurism, blackmail, sexual assault, theft and fraud at Cardiff Crown Court.
During the trial, jurors heard Mirza had initially impressed his victims by claiming to be a doctor and hung surgical scrubs in his wardrobe and carried a stethoscope in his car.
He also claimed his family were highly educated professionals working in locations around the world.
But the court heard he was an IT worker at a college and worked as a part time taxi driver. He lived with his mother in a terraced house in Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent, at the time.
Jurors heard the "sexual predator" targeted Muslim women because of the "terror" and "embarrassment" they would have felt at having intimate photos and videos made public.
But his lies were exposed after one of his victims found £70,000 in cash and hundreds of images of naked women, including a video of herself which she knew nothing about, at his home.
After the discovery, she said he threatened to blackmail her and she feared reprisals from ultra-religious groups such as the Taliban if a video of her was sent to her Pakistani family.
She eventually went to the police who discovered other women had been blackmailed by Mirza.
Sentencing Mirza, Judge Tom Crowther said in the case of his first victim, "you wanted to take her for everything you could get".
He said "that demonstrates the pure misogyny of how you were living off this scheme".
Mirza was described as "manipulative, deceitful and callous" by PC Pat Maguire, the officer in charge of the investigation for Gwent Police.
After the hearing, Mr Maguire said Mirza had shown "no remorse for his actions throughout this investigation".
"I would like to thank the victims for their courage to come forward and report these offences to the police," he said.
"They have shown great bravery and dignity throughout."


A man has been charged after a four-year-old girl was injured in an apparent hit-and-run crash.

The child was thrown across the car's bonnet when she was hit at about 16:15 GMT in Oxford on 22 February, police said.
She was struck in Mortimer Road, near to its junction with Nowell Road.
A 19-year-old Oxford man has been charged with perverting the course of justice and failing to stop after an accident.
Updates on this story and more from Oxfordshire
The accused has also been charged with four counts of driving without a licence, four counts of driving without insurance, and failing to report an accident.
He has been remanded in custody, and ordered to appear before Oxford Magistrates' Court on 1 April.
The girl received cuts, bruises and abrasions and was treated at the John Radcliffe Hospital and has since been discharged.


A plaque and cairn will be unveiled later to mark the discovery of a unique 330-million-year-old fossilised shark that was found in Scotland in 1981.

The relic was discovered at the Manse Burn in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, after a young boy found fossils and showed them to a local expert.
A later excavation unearthed the one-metre-long Akmonistion zangerli.
Known as the Bearsden Shark, the "fossil wonder" is the only complete shark fossil of its kind in the world.
The plaque and cairn will be unveiled by Dr Neil Clark, curator of Palaeontology at Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum, where the fossil is now kept.
"The Bearsden Shark, the fossil wonder of the Hunterian's collections is the best-preserved fossil shark of its time in the world," he said.
"This was a very special discovery because in most fossils it is only the hard shelly, or bony, structures that are preserved while the soft tissues generally rot away.
"From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, its fragile cartilage skeleton is almost intact after 330 million years locked in the black shales of Bearsden."
Dr Clarke added: "Even the partly digested remains of its last fish supper lie undisturbed still within the bowels of this one-metre-long fossil."
"Although the fossil has the scientific name Akmonistion zangerli, I am sure it will continue to be affectionately called the 'Bearsden Shark'."
The discovery is now being marked by a group of local residents who will display the plaque on a small cairn near the site.
East Dunbartonshire Council Provost Una Walker will help unveil both on Monday.
The provost said: "It is a source of great pride that such a significant scientific discovery was made in our area and it is thanks to the hard work of the local residents that the site is now properly marked."


Talks between world powers and Iran have failed to reach an agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told a press conference that there had been a lot of "concrete progress but some differences remain".
Baroness Ashton said talks would resume on 20 November.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was not disappointed with the outcome in Geneva, and that the talks were "something we can build on".
He said all parties were "on the same wavelength" and "there was the impetus to reach an agreement".
US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "There is no question in my mind that we are closer now than we were before."
By James ReynoldsBBC News, Geneva
It was striking to see the respective chief negotiators Mohmamad Javad Zarif and Lady Ashton walk in together to deliver a joint final statement. They appeared to be relaxed in each other's company.
But it's also clear that they have not reached a deal. Serious differences clearly remain. The two negotiators wouldn't reveal what those differences were. Instead they agreed to meet again.
These three days of talks were the most intensive negotiations about Iran's nuclear programme for many years. It's worth noting in particular the fact that the US Secretary of State John Kerry took part in more than eight hours of direct talks with his Iranian counterpart.
This marked the most extensive high-level contact between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. That, in itself, counts as something of a breakthrough.
The international powers are concerned that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon - but Iran says its programme is peaceful.
A proposal that was floated would require Iran to freeze expansion of nuclear activity in return for limited relief from economic sanctions.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that his country would not abandon its "nuclear rights", which included uranium enrichment.
"The rights of the Iranian nation and our national interests are a red line. So are nuclear rights under the framework of international regulations, which include enrichment on Iranian soil," he told parliament in remarks quoted by the Isna news agency.
Delegates had earlier suggested there was "good progress".
But diplomatic sources said France had wanted tougher terms for Iran.
Before the late-night press conference, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the three days of negotiations had ended without a deal.
"The meetings in Geneva have made it possible to move forward," he said.
"But we have not yet managed to conclude, because there are still some questions remaining to be dealt with."
Meanwhile, Mr Kerry told reporters: "We have not only narrowed differences and clarified those that remain but we made significant progress in working through the approaches to this question of how one reins in a programme and guarantees its peaceful nature."
He added that the window for diplomacy would not stay open indefinitely.
The Geneva talks involve Iran and the P5+1 - the US, Russia, Britain, France and China as permanent UN Security Council members, plus Germany.


Greene King has raised its takeover offer for Spirit Pub Company, whose board says it will accept the bid if other terms can be worked out.

The new offer values Spirit at 109.5p per share, up from an original offer of 100p that was rejected last month.
Spirit, which was split off from Punch Taverns in 2011, runs the Chef & Brewer and Flaming Grill chains.
Spirit says it will recommend the offer to shareholders if other terms of the deal can be agreed.
Suffolk-based Greene King runs 1,900 pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK, including the Loch Fyne and Hungry Horse chains.
The planned deal is part of Greene King's shift into restaurants and pubs that serve food.
Under chief executive Rooney Anand, Greene King has been cutting the number of pubs it owns, including a deal in May which saw 275 tenanted and leased pubs sold to Hawthorn Leisure.
In July, Greene King announced preliminary annual profits of Â£105m, down 5% on the previous year.
Restaurants saw a 4.1% rise in profit, while profit growth at pubs was up just 2.2%.


Diversity in research should be an early focus of the new umbrella organisation for UK science funding, according to the Universities and Science Minister, Jo Johnson.

He said it should look at "all the different facets at what makes for a diverse and resilient research system that optimises all the talents available in the country".
The body's new chief executive said it would support "the brightest minds, while recognising that the brightest minds come in many diverse forms".
Sir Mark Walport and Mr Johnson were speaking at a launch event for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in London.
Commenting on the issue of diversity in science, Prof Ottoline Leyser of the University of Cambridge said diversity was essential for a creative and innovative research system.
"This requires an inclusive research culture, which in turn depends on diverse assessment criteria for researchers, diverse funding types and diverse routes for researchers into and out of the research base," she said.
"The creation of UKRI is an opportunity to embed diversity in all aspects of the research system."
UKRI will incorporate the seven existing research councils, as well as Innovate UK and Research England (the research arm of the Higher Education Funding Council for England).
"Research is a global activity," said Sir Mark.
"We practise in an international landscape, we are internationally diverse, and much of the science that's done today is international in nature, both through the instruments that are needed, which can't be funded by any one nation alone, and also by the desire of researchers to work with the best counterparts, wherever they are."
He said the world of science and research is changing, driven by big data, interdisciplinary research and global collaborations. The world of business and industry is also in flux, driven by factors such as data and the need to re-use resources.
Faced with all of those changes, it made sense "to look at our research and innovation landscape in a much more integrated fashion," said Sir Mark.
He said UKRI's vision was "to be the best research and innovation agency in the world" through:
At the event, Mr Johnson also confirmed an investment of Â£100 million to attract global talent to the UK through its new Ernest Rutherford Fund.
The fund will provide fellowships for early-career and senior researchers, from the developed world and countries such as India, China, Brazil and Mexico.
"Rutherford and his immense contributions to science exemplify our vision of a Britain that is open to the best minds and ideas in the world, and stands at the forefront of global collective endeavours to understand, and to improve, the world in which we live," said Mr Johnson.
Follow Helen on Twitter.


Leon Smith has signed a new contract to remain Great Britain Davis Cup captain for the next three years.

The Scot succeeded John Lloyd in 2010, when GB were on the verge of relegation to the competition's bottom tier.
In November, Smith led the team to their first Davis Cup title in 79 years with a 3-1 victory over Belgium.
"It is a huge honour and privilege to continue captaining our Davis Cup Team," said Smith, whose side have won 13 of their last 15 ties.
"We have achieved so much over the last six years and becoming world champions last year will be the highlight of my career.
"I'm really excited at the opportunity to continue working with this group of players, support staff and of course our fans. Our Davis Cup journey has captured the imagination of so many people across the country and I'm looking forward to using our Davis Cup successes as a way to get more kids playing tennis."
Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Michael Downey said he was delighted about Smith's contract extension.
"As I said after Leon led the Great Britain team to the title in Ghent, we are lucky to have the world's best Davis Cup captain lead our nation," he added.
Andy Murray helped Britain to a 3-1 victory over Japan in the Davis Cup 2016 first round last weekend. They will play Serbia away in July's quarter-finals.
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A 13-year-old boy who went missing in Inverness has been found.

Police had appealed for help to trace Nathan MacAskill who had been last seen in the Muirtown area at about 13:00 on Friday.
Officers had asked anyone with information on the teenager's whereabouts to contact them.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said on Saturday afternoon that Nathan had been "traced safe and well in the local area".


Departing Portsmouth defender Enda Stevens has backed his former team-mates to have a successful campaign in League One next season.

Stevens, 26, completed a move to Championship-bound Sheffield United on Monday after two seasons at Pompey.
"The manager (Paul Cook) has a lot of experience of taking clubs up from League Two to League One," the left-back told BBC Radio Solent.
"He always lets the players make mistakes and express themselves."
Stevens has signed a three-year contract with Sheffield United and the former Aston Villa defender will join the Blades after his two-year deal at Fratton Park expired.
Having missed just one game all season, he helped Portsmouth to the League Two title on the final day of the season.
"Ending on a high was obviously the best way I could have left the club," he said.
"It was a difficult decision to leave as I enjoyed myself so much, I enjoyed living in the area and the club is a massive and great one to play for.
"But, I felt the opportunity to play in the Championship was one I couldn't pass up. It's exciting to go to a club that got 100 points in League One this season.
"It's going to be tough to get in the side, but it's up to me to work hard to make it happen."


Do you think you know what happened this year in the world of film?

Have a go at the third of our 2015 quizzes and see how much you remember about the past 12 months.
You can also try our music and arts brain-teasers. A television-themed quiz will also be published on 30 December.


Beijing's official mouthpiece has called it China's "Black Monday".

The Shanghai Composite tumbled by 8.5%, its biggest fall since 2007. That plunge wiped out this year's gains as investors refused to buy into the Chinese government's repeated attempts to shore up confidence.
Its latest move over the weekend, to allow pension funds to invest in stocks for the first time, was dismissed by panicky traders. For many, it was just too little, too late.
"The writing has been on the wall for a couple of weeks now," said Stephen Innes, a senior trader with Oanda.
"We've seen a lot of pressure on the Chinese markets and we've seen a lot of government intervention propping that up. From experience, that government intervention can only last so long until investor confidence starts to wane."
And this anxiety was felt across the region, with share markets from Sydney to Seoul sinking into the red.
It's being called the contagion effect, namely the concern that a China-led global slowdown could hurt economies in Asia badly - particularly commodity countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, that have seen their economies boom because of the demand from China over the last decade.
But do Asian economies just need to bite the bullet and get used to a slower-growing China?
As economies develop, they typically tend to slow down, and that's the transition that China is going through.
But the government is now trying to put the brakes on a slowdown that may be going too fast for its liking.
Everyone wants to know what the Chinese government is going to do next to shore up shares and confidence in the economy.
The smart money is on the central bank reducing interest rates and injecting a semblance of consumer confidence into the markets.
That is what many had hoped would happen over the weekend.
But at each point in what appears to be an ever-deepening Chinese slowdown, the government has seemed slow to react.


EasyJet has reported a larger loss for the the first half of its financial year, partly due to the impact of the lower pound and the timing of Easter.

The airline recorded a loss of £212m in the six months to March.
That compares with a loss of £21m in the same period a year ago, when Easter was in March and before the pound was hit by the Brexit vote.
However, EasyJet said its performance had been "resilient" and the losses were in line with market expectations.
Total revenue grew 3.2% to £1.827bn and it flew a record 33.8 million passengers in the six months, up 9% from a year before.
Even so, investors were not impressed with the results, sending the airline's shares down nearly 7% in afternoon trading.
EasyJet's chief executive, Carolyn McCall, told the BBC's Today programme that £82m of the loss was down to the weakness of sterling.
She said it was normal for the company to make a loss in the first half of its financial year.
"Nineteen out of 21 years Easyjet has lost money in the winter and actually airlines do lose money in the winter," she said
Ms McCall added that she was relatively unconcerned about the squeeze on living costs, particularly affecting the UK, where wages are growing more slowly than inflation.
"British people and all Europeans value their holidays, and so they actually prioritise their holidays over everything else," she said.
"One survey said British families were saying they would pay for a family holiday over buying kids' clothes."
EasyJet said that it was on track to gain its European Air Operator Certificate by the summer. It needs this to make sure that it can still operate between European Union member countries after the UK leaves the EU.
A third of its flights are between EU countries and do not involve the UK. Gaining the certificate will lead to a one-off cost, mainly for aircraft registration, of up to £10m over three years, with up to £3m of that this year.
The carrier said that bookings for the summer were ahead of last year, showing that demand to fly remains strong.
It added that it expected to meet current forecasts for its performance for the rest of the year.
In a separate announcement, EasyJet said it would be launching its largest pilot recruitment drive in June, as it looks for an additional 450 pilots.


The first and deputy first ministers have congratulated Donald Trump on becoming the 45th president of the United States.

He claimed a shock victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's election.
First Minister Arlene Foster said she looked forward to working with his administration.
She said Northern Ireland has "strong historical, economic and political ties to the United States".
"As our largest inward investor, the US plays a massive role in our economic progress," she said.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he would "work constructively with President Trump" to "maintain and strengthen our well established and deeply valued relationship with the US".
"Over many years, successive US administrations have made a major contribution to both our peace process and economic development and I expect this to continue," he said.
In comparison to Hillary Clinton, who made several visits to Northern Ireland over the past 21 years, Donald Trump is more of an unknown quantity so far as most Stormont politicians are concerned.
But not entirely unknown. The New York billionaire shook hands with Gerry Adams at a Manhattan fundraiser in 1995.
More recently, he met the late Ian Paisley in 2007 to discuss buying a North Coast golf resort. But the deal never came off.
He does own a golf resort in County Clare which he referred to both as "perfecto" and "small potatoes" during the campaign.
Some locals in Doonbeg hope Donald Trump will do for them what Barack Obama did for Moneygall.
The kind of access Stormont politicians might have enjoyed at the White House under a Hillary Clinton presidency seems unlikely under Mr Trump.
Indeed in the wake of controversy over some of Donald Trump's comments about women and Muslims the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood pledged not to attend a Trump St Patrick's Day reception.
But to be honest no-one had expected that Northern Ireland would be or should be anywhere near the top of a new US President's bulging in tray.
Those days are long gone and we are now entering a new era for the world, never mind Northern Ireland.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood reiterated his pledge not to attend a Trump White House.
"I feel it is important that as an Irish leader I take a stand, even if only small and only symbolic, for the kind of politics which we continue to believe in," he said.
"Across the western world, politics is facing a dark and difficult moment.
"As Rowan Williams recently wrote, we are now understandably terrified about the potential triumph of a politics of resentment, fear and unchallengeable untruthfulness."
Alliance leader Naomi Long also expressed disappointment over the election.
"The problem with a protest vote is that you're left then with a protest president. What does a protest president look like in such an uncertain world?" she said.
"It will be interesting to see if can he unite the (Republican) party and then can he unite the country."
However, Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt congratulated Mr Trump on his victory and said he looked forward to continued US engagement with Northern Ireland.
Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny also congratulated Mr Trump.
"I look forward to working with the new administration in the time ahead in the cause of international peace and security," he said.
Mr Kenny also praised defeated candidate Hillary Clinton for being "a friend to Ireland who fought such a tough campaign".
US firms employ more than 20,000 people in Northern Ireland.
There might also be concern about whether a crackdown on immigration from Mexico could have consequences for the undocumented Irish working in the USA.
The Republican president-elect adopted a protectionist economic stance during his campaign, talking about renegotiating trade deals and imposing tariffs.
If he turns that into policy it could mean a less open global trade system which would not be not good for small economies banking on export-led growth, adds our correspondent.
Mr Trump has also said he will reduce the headline rate of US corporation tax from 35% to 15%.
That could have particular implications for the Republic of Ireland which has attracted lots of tax sensitive US investment.
It could also make weaken the impact of the Northern Ireland Executive's plan to use reduced corporation tax as a tool for attracting investment, adds our correspondent.


An extremely rare and valuable Beatles record that was found languishing in a loft is to be auctioned next month.

Described as "a Holy Grail item", the 1962 10-inch record of Till There Was You and Hello Little Girl lay forgotten in the home of Les Maguire for decades.
Maguire, the keyboardist in fellow Liverpool act Gerry and the Pacemakers, said it could be seen as the record "that sparked The Beatles' success".
The acetate bears the handwriting of the Fab Four's manager Brian Epstein.
A conservative estimate is that the 78 RPM record - the first Beatles disc to be cut before the band broke through into the national charts in late 1962 - will fetch upwards of £10,000 when it is auctioned, although it is such a rare item it is difficult to predict what the sale price will be.
The record of Till There was You - mislabelled by Epstein as 'Til There was You and described as being the work of "Paul McCartney & The Beatles" - was made at the HMV store in Oxford Street, London.
It was presented to future Beatles producer George Martin at the EMI record label in a bid to secure the band a recording contract.
Hello Little Girl, on the other side, which was again mislabelled by Epstein - as Hullo Little Girl - was described as being the work of "John Lennon & The Beatles".
Maguire, 74, of Formby, Merseyside, was given the disc by Epstein in 1963 after it had been returned to him by Martin.
Maguire described the record as "a special piece" and "a one-off".
"I've never been a big fan of memorabilia, but people seem to like it," he said.
"It's no good to me so I've given it to my granddaughter, who is hoping to buy a house after passing her accountancy exams. I hope it goes for a good price."
The record is being sold for the first time, having been locked away in Maguire's loft, carefully wrapped in paper, for more than 50 years.
Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn said in his book, Tune In, that the uniqueness of the disc is "enhanced by Brian Epstein's handwriting on the labels, and the recognition of what it led to".
Despite initial reticence from Martin, The Beatles would sign to EMI in 1962 before going on to become one of the most successful and influential bands of all time.
The recording is, Lewisohn wrote, one of the "rarest and most collectable of all Beatles records".
Ian Shirley, editor of Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide, described the disc as a "Holy Grail item".
He said it would "fascinate Beatles collectors worldwide" and would "no doubt attract bids from those with deep pockets".
The sale is to take place at Omega Auctions in Warrington on 22 March and will be broadcast live online for worldwide bidding.


Sport Wales has been warned it must have a major overhaul and is accused of being "obsolete in its thinking" and "weak in vision" in a report seen by the BBC.

It comes as all activities of the Sport Wales board were suspended.
It claims Sport Wales, which promotes Welsh grassroots and elite sport, "lacks transparency" and risks being broken up unless it agrees to change.
Sport Wales said: "We will continue to work with Welsh Government on this."
The review was commissioned and led by Sport Wales' chairman Paul Thomas, who was appointed in March, in consultation with Welsh Government ministers.
The findings are based on research by an independent firm, which provided the information for the 26-page document.
Sport Wales is in "danger of stagnating", suffers from a managerial "unwillingness to listen" and does not do enough to engage with people outside its Cardiff base, according to the findings.
Issues highlighted as needing to be addressed include communication, leadership, strategy, organisational structure and processes, relationships, governance and funding and collaboration.
The recommendations are to be formed into an action plan to be presented to the Welsh Government, with a view to implement them from January and April 2017 onwards.
"Fundamental change is not an option but a necessity," Thomas wrote in the review.
"The choice facing Sport Wales is very clear.
"Respond to the challenges faced by Wales and its Government and by communities and individuals in a way which acknowledges the views and needs of stakeholders as well as the key national objectives.
"Or, face being broken up into an elite organisation and a health driven body geared to increasing physical activity and wellbeing."
Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and active lifestyles.
Working alongside partners such as governing bodies for sport and local authorities, it says its aim is to achieve shared aspirations of getting every child "hooked on sport" for life and Wales being a nation of champions.
Sport Wales is the main adviser on sporting matters to the Welsh Government and is responsible for distributing National Lottery funds to elite and grassroots sport in Wales.
Welsh Government funding for sport is channelled through Sport Wales, which has a number of grants schemes to increase levels of physical activity and sport.
For 2016-17, the Welsh Government has provided Grant in Aid funding of £22.4m to Sport Wales.
Sport Wales has 160 staff members based across four locations in Wales - a head office in Cardiff and regional offices in Carmarthen, Deeside and Caernarfon.
An Olympic and Commonwealth Games coach was among those to speak anonymously in the review.
"Elite sport would function without Sport Wales, and we do, as I produce several Olympic and Commonwealth medallists, without any help from Sport Wales," the coach said.
"It is about time that this review has been created, as a nation to roll our sleeves up and make change happen for our communities and citizens and sport in Wales."
Another source speaking anonymously, the chair of a national governing body (NGB), said: "During my time, over 20 years, as a stakeholder in Sport Wales I have been repeatedly surprised by how insular Sport Wales is as an organisation.
"I do not believe the organisation is fit for purpose nor can it recognise the need to change indeed it has become institutionalised by its own insular culture."
Sport Wales has set medal targets for the past Olympics and Commonwealth Games, which were surpassed to produce Wales' most successful multi-games in history.
But writing in the review, Thomas argues medal targets should only be one part of the governing body's objectives.
"In all of this it must be stressed that the winning of medals at major games is not an overriding priority but one that must be balanced against all other competing priorities," he says.
"Sport Wales must satisfy a complex set of political, economic and social objectives.
"Sport Wales must have a culture of openness and transparency. A reliance on the status quo is probably the most significant risk facing this organisation over the next decade.
"The successful work Sport Wales has done in the past has meant sport already plays a significant and varied role in many people's daily lives in Wales and will continue to do so under my leadership. However this is no longer enough."


A railway carriage that carried Sir Winston Churchill's coffin to his final resting place has been restored in County Durham.

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14 January 2015 Last updated at 18:28 GMT
The carriage has spent four months at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum in Shildon.
It took the World War Two prime minister's coffin from London to Oxfordshire in 1965.
The restoration cost about Â£30,000.
Look North's Ian Reeve reports.


Schools in England will have less to spend per pupil over the next five years, no matter who wins the election, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says.

The think tank's pre-election report, based on parties' spending pledges, says schools face up to 12% in real-terms cuts over the next parliament.
It says increasing pupil numbers and staff wages are adding to the pressure.
The Association of School and College Leaders said it presented a "bleak picture for education funding".
The IFS says day-to-day spending on schools has been relatively well-protected by the coalition government compared with other public service areas, but after the election that will change whoever is in government.
Analysing the spending pledges of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats, the IFS said they all suggest a real-terms reduction of 7% per child by 2020.
When the extra costs of teachers' pensions, national insurance contributions and wage increases are included, the real-terms reduction in spending could be closer to 12%, the report said.
The Conservatives have said they will protect school spending per pupil, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats have committed to protecting the education budget for three to 19-year-olds - covering early years, schools and 16-19 education - in real terms.
But the IFS said: "Pupil numbers are expected to grow by 7% between January 2016 and January 2020, whilst economy-wide inflation between 2015-16 and 2019-20 is currently forecast to be 7.7%.
"As a result, the overall level of school spending could grow by similar amounts under the different proposals. However, if only just met, all these proposals imply real-terms cuts in spending per pupil."
In response to the report, the Conservatives said they were committed to delivering a good deal for schools, and would spend at least half a billion pounds more than Labour.
Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said his party had a better plan than what he called the Tories' "big cuts", while the Liberal Democrats insisted they would protect education budgets in real terms.
ASCL deputy general secretary Malcolm Trobe said:  "It is imperative that the government elected in May addresses this issue quickly and ensures that education funding is sufficient, sustainable and equitable.
"We recognise that there is considerable pressure on the national budget but the country must invest in education both for its long-term prosperity and, most importantly, the future of our children."
Russell Hobby, general secretary of  the National Association of Head Teachers, said that the golden age of education funding was coming to an end right at the time when the demands and expectations of schools were accelerating.
"These budget cuts come at a time when cost pressures on schools from pensions and national insurance are also increasing.
"Salary increases are not funded by the government and you can't keep reducing salaries in real terms and still attract talented people into the profession."


Martin Odegaard only turned 16 last month but has been coveted by some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

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Likened to Lionel Messi and a left-footed attacker like the Barcelona superstar, the 5ft 9.5in Norwegian was wooed by the likes of Manchester United Bayern Munich and Ajax in recent weeks.
Instead he opted to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale at Real Madrid.
Here are 10 things you may not know about the talented teenager:
Odegaard was just 15 years and 117 days when Stromsgodset manager Ronny Deila, now boss of Scottish champions Celtic, gave him his league debut against Aaelsund in April. Odegaard almost marked his debut with a goal, beating a handful of defenders before passing to team-mate Thomas Sorum to score. Sorum joked afterwards: "He loses three or four guys and I get to score. That's a good deal!"
Odegaard eventually scored his first senior goal a month after his debut, on 16 May. It was a cultured finish from just outside the penalty area against Sarpsborg, who were at the time coached by former Sheffield United striker Brian Deane.
Born in the Norwegian city of Drammen, Odegaard is a massive Liverpool fan. The Reds are his preferred team whenever he plays Fifa 15 and when he recently took on Norway team-mate Mats Moller Daehli for the cameras, he beat his room-mate 5-2.
Current Stromsgodset manager and former team-mate David Nielsen has called Odegaard a "superhero", while Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said he was "a kid with talent and personality". Lots, like Deane, have compared him to Lionel Messi. "He's got this unerring ability when a challenge is coming in to recognise it and be gone before it arrives," the former Sheffield United striker told BBC Sport.
More than 30 clubs from around Europe have made enquiries about Odegaard, including Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax and Liverpool. There have been as many as 30 scouts watching him in action for Stromsgodset. Liverpool were one of the many clubs to invite Odegaard to train with them. While at Melwood, he nutmegged Wales midfielder Joe Allen.
Odegaard's father has been a huge influence on his son's career. He estimates that Martin has trained for around 20 hours a week since the age of seven and recalls the moment he knew his son would be "quite good" at football. "I was still playing and Martin must have been no more than eight," he told CNN. "I was out on the pitch running some intervals. When I was finished, I wanted to go home, but we couldn't before he had done 50 more shots."
Bayern Munich have been one of the most persistent clubs chasing Odegaard, first registering contact with him when he was 14. Speaking about Bayern's interest, club chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: "Obviously a beautiful bride and many grooms are waiting on the doorstep. Maybe we are the best-looking groom."
Clubs will do their utmost to sign a player from under the noses of their rivals. Big wages, a nice house, the promise of first-team football and so on. According to some reports, Real Madrid were prepared to offer Odegaard's dad a coaching role with their youth teams in a bid to lure his son to the Bernabeu.
Odegaard became the youngest player to represent Norway at senior level when he started against the United Arab Emirates last August aged 15 years and 253 days. The previous record had stood since 1910, when Tormod Kjellsen made his debut aged 15 years and 351 days. National team coach Per-Mathias Hogmo had admitted he feared an early international baptism could damage Odegaard but eventually called him up for the match against the UAE. It ended goalless, but Odegaard went close to winning it.
Aged just 15 years and 300 days, Odegaard broke a European record that had stood for 31 years by becoming the youngest player to play in a European Championship qualifier, He came on as a second-half substitute against Bulgaria in Oslo in October last year, helping Norway to a 2-1 win. The previous youngest player to feature in a Euro qualifier was Sigurdur Jónsson. He was 16 years and 251 days when he represented Iceland in a game against Malta in June 1983.