Islamic State (IS) militants have abducted tens of thousands of civilians from around the Iraqi city of Mosul to use as human shields, the UN says.

The group also killed some 190 former members of Iraq's security services and 42 civilians, apparently for refusing to obey its orders, the UN adds.
Iraqi, Kurdish and allied forces have advanced on their push to retake Mosul, the jihadist group's de facto capital.
As many as 1.5 million people are believed to remain there.
There are fears IS could use them to defend itself as the operation gets closer to the centre of the city.
"Credible reports" suggested that civilians in sub-districts around Mosul had been forced from their homes and relocated inside the city since the offensive began earlier this month, UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.
Men, women and children from 6,000 families were abducted in areas including Shura, she added.
"Isil's depraved cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilian hostages to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations, effectively using tens of thousands of women, men and children as human shields," Ms Shamdasani added, using an acronym for IS.
She said the allegations had been corroborated by the UN but added that the true number might be greater.
The UN said last week IS was apparently not allowing families to flee for territory held by the Iraqi army outside Mosul and that civilians suspected of being disloyal to to the group appeared to had been targeted.
The organisation added that only "modest" numbers of people had so far fled Mosul.


Hundreds of cyclists dressed in Santa outfits have been the first people to use a major new £45m road ahead of its official opening next month.

The South Bristol Link Road joins the A370 to the A38 and forms part of the route for the city's Metrobus scheme.
Simon Dunn from Alun Griffiths Contractors, which built the road, said: "It'll make it easier for the traffic to get to the airport."
Critics say it will worsen pollution and will fail to reduce traffic levels.
The cycle path section of the South Bristol Link Road is already open but safety checks are needed before the main road opens in January.
"The last thing we want to do is open the road just before Christmas and there are any concerns or any issues," said Mr Dunn
"The sensible thing to do is to leave it until January, do the safety checks and then open it."
Green Party prospective candidate for the Bristol South constituency Tony Dyer said: "Part of it goes through green belt and we're not convinced it's going to make a major difference to traffic.
"It will work for a small section of it but our other concern is how it's going to drive more demand for yet more roads."
The four councils behind the wider transport strategy also say the new road, which is 3.1 miles long (about 5km), will help boost south Bristol's economy, a view shared by the local Chamber of Commerce and firms in the area.
Chief executive of Computer Share UK, Naz Sarkar, said: "We have 1,500 people working here. Many of them live locally and they can travel by foot or cycle, they can use the free buses that we lay on for them.
"But we also have people who travel from much further afield, from Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wales and Wiltshire and for those people they do have to drive and the congestion in Bristol has made it difficult for them."


Twenty-eight more people were killed on Scotland's roads last year than in the previous 12 months, according to figures just published.

There were 200 fatalities in 2014, an increase of 16% on the previous year. The number of people seriously injured also increased by 1% to 1,694.
The figures showed there were 1,040 child casualties, a fall of 2%.
Overall the total number of road casualties - 11,240 - was the lowest since records began in 1950.
The road casualty figures have been declining for almost four decades but for the first time for eight years the number of fatalities went up.
The official government figures showed that the 200 road deaths included 93 car users, 56 pedestrians, 31 motorcyclists and eight pedal cyclists
They showed seven children among the 200 deaths, two fewer than 2013.
There were 171 children seriously injured, up from 143 in 2013.
According to the statistics, there were five fewer pedal cyclists killed but 18 more pedestrian fatalities.
There were also eight more motorcyclists killed and four more car user fatalities.
The statistics showed:
Transport Minister Derek Mackay said: "The increase in fatalities and the number of people seriously injured in road accidents in 2014 is disappointing.
"However it also demonstrates the need for every one of us to take responsibility when using the road network. The longer term downward trends and the annual decline in the total number of casualties, to the lowest level since records began, are encouraging but more can, and must, be done."
The minister added: "Some of the more recent interventions such as the landmark change in Scotland's drink-drive legislation - which has seen us leading the way in the United Kingdom - will undoubtedly help prevent the tragic and unnecessary loss of lives on our roads.
"Other innovations such as the A9 average speed camera programme are already delivering benefits, and significant investment is improving safety for cyclists.
"We are also encouraging councils to cut speed in towns and cities through our revised 20mph limit guidance. I am confident that these developments will have a positive impact going forward."


South Africa's government has opposed a legal bid by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to claim ownership of her ex-husband Nelson Mandela's rural home, in an ongoing dispute over his estate.

In court papers, Mrs Madikizela-Mandela said that South Africa's first black president had unlawfully registered the property in his name, reports say.
Mr Mandela died nearly a year ago, and left his ex-wife out of his will.
His estate was provisionally valued at 46 million rand ($4.3m; Â£2.5m).
The thrice-married Mr Mandela divorced Mrs Madikizela-Mandela in 1996.
The two were South Africa's most celebrated political couple until their marriage collapsed after 38 years.
Mrs Madikizela-Mandela launched court action in October, saying she had "customary rights" to the rural home they once shared in Qunu village.
She says Mr Mandela may have committed land fraud when he registered the property in his name, the South African Press Association (Sapa) reports.
In papers filed in the Mthatha High Court last month, she said the ex-president had incorrectly used part of the State Land Disposal Act by donating the land to himself, according to the local Dispatch newspaper.
Her lawyers want President Jacob Zuma and the Department of Rural Development to produce official records proving the property belonged to Mr Mandela, including the validity of the title deed, local media reports say.
She wants the registration of the property under Mr Mandela's name to be annulled by the court, the Dispatch reports.
In response, Mr Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj said that the state attorney had filed a legal notice to oppose the action, pending instructions from the president.
Mrs Madikizela-Mandela's lawyer Mvuzo Notyesi told the Dispatch that he was confident of their case.
"That is a completely irregular notice. We are told there is a notice. They cannot file a notice to oppose before they furnish us with the required information. It is completely premature and totally irrelevant," Mr Notyesi is quoted as saying.
In his will, the ex-president said: "The Qunu property should be used by my family in perpetuity in order to preserve the unity of the Mandela family."
Mrs Madikizela-Mandela believes the property is rightfully hers and says that it was given to her by abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo while Mr Mandela was in prison for his role in fighting white minority rule.
Mr Mandela was released in 1990 after 27 years in jail and became South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994.
His large family - which includes grandchildren and great grandchildren - was hit by legal disputes over his wealth and burial site as he battled a recurring lung infection in the months leading to his death at the age of 95.
He was married to Graca Machel, the wife of Mozambique's late President Samora Machel, at the time of his death.
Mr Mandela has one surviving child, Makaziwe, from his first marriage to the late Evelyn Mase and two daughters, Zinzi and Zenani, from his marriage to Mrs Madikizela-Mandela.


Flanker Nic Cudd has signed a new two-year deal with the Newport Gwent Dragons.

The 24-year-old arrived at Rodney Parade from Llanelli in September on a one-season contract because of a back row injury crisis.
He will make his 18th appearance against Leinster on Friday, has been rewarded with a new Dragons deal.
"I was given an opportunity to prove myself as a professional and hopefully I have done that," said Cudd.
The former Scarlets academy product has impressed this season and been one of the success stories of the season for the Dragons.
"We haven't had the best of results this season but I think it is going well for me on a personal front," said Cudd.
"I have had plenty of games and feel that I am improving as a player.
"Over the past few months I have improved in terms of physicality and carrying the ball."


Bernie Ecclestone stands a little under 5ft 3in tall but for 40 years has wielded a giant influence in Formula 1 with canniness, wit and not a little menace.

At times, Ecclestone has had close to absolute power. So the end of his reign following the takeover of the sport by US giant Liberty Media represents a seismic change.
Ecclestone, now 86, is a tactician of remarkable skill, and a deal-maker extraordinaire who used chutzpah and brinksmanship to turn F1 into one of the world's biggest sports, form relationships with world leaders such as Russian president Vladimir Putin and make himself and many of F1's participants multi-millionaires.
In a remarkable four decades, Ecclestone revolutionised the sport:
But what made him mind-bendingly - some would say obscenely - rich is what brought him down in the end.
Selling on the commercial rights to F1 is the source of Ecclestone's vast wealth. But it was never about the money, per se - it was about the deal. And now the deal has done him in.
Restructuring the finances of the sport in the first years of this decade, Ecclestone also reorganised its decision-making process.
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He did it to increase his power, but the structure he set up inadvertently neutered him and gave the big teams - particularly Mercedes and Ferrari - power to block him. This has led to log-jam.
The latest company to buy the sport - USA's Liberty Media - has looked at this, at a skewed prize-money structure, at a policy that is threatening to price out much-loved historic races in favour of characterless new ones in countries with questionable regimes, at a refusal to engage with digital media, and several other issues, and decided to ease him out.
Ecclestone is held in genuinely high regard within F1 for everything he has achieved but, outside a handful of acolytes, few will be genuinely sorry to see him go.
There has been a feeling for some years that he is a man out of time, that the sport needed to move on. In truth, this has contributed to the stalemate in F1 - people were simply waiting him out.
Many believe his departure will be good for the sport. However, it will certainly make F1 less colourful, and it is hard to imagine seeing the like of him again.
Ecclestone's involvement in F1 started in the late 1950s. After a brief driving career in lower categories, he emerged as a manager for the British F1 driver Stuart Lewis-Evans but then disappeared from racing when Lewis-Evans was killed in a fiery crash at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix.
He appeared again in the late 1960s, again as a manager, this time to the Austrian Jochen Rindt. He was already very rich.
What had the fortune come from? "Property," Ecclestone says. All manner of rumours have abounded, including that he was involved in organising the Great Train Robbery, when £2.6m was stolen from a Royal Mail train in Buckinghamshire in 1963.
"Nah," Ecclestone once said. "There wasn't enough money on that train. I could have done something better than that."
Rindt became F1's first and so far only posthumous world champion after he was killed at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix. But this time Ecclestone did not retreat.
Within a couple of years, he bought Brabham from its founder, the three-time world champion Sir Jack Brabham, and began establishing his power base.
Back then, circuit deals and television rights were operated on a somewhat haphazard, piecemeal basis. Ecclestone offered to look after them on the teams' behalf and wasted little time in building his influence.
He persuaded television companies to buy F1 as a package, rather than pay for individual races. That guaranteed vastly increased exposure, and the sport's popularity grew increasingly quickly.
The vast growth of F1 from what it was then to what it is today arguably started in earnest after the 1976 season, when a championship battle between the playboy Englishman James Hunt and the ascetic Austrian Niki Lauda caught the public's imagination.
By the 1980s, F1 was becoming a global sport, more and more races were being shown live, and a generation of charismatic stars enhanced its appeal - Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and, most of all, Ayrton Senna.
Ironically, Senna's death in 1994 only increased its reach and shortly after that the sport started on the route that has led to Ecclestone's departure.
Controversially, in the mid-1990s, Ecclestone struck a deal with his long-time friend and ally Max Mosley, who was then the president of governing body the FIA. It saw his own company become the rights holder of F1, taking over from the teams' collective body that Ecclestone previously ran.
This led to a furious row with some of the teams - particularly McLaren, Williams and Tyrrell - who claimed what Ecclestone was doing was illegal and that he was effectively robbing them.
But the complainants were eventually bought off. Ecclestone then set about monetising his new asset.
In 2000, Mosley granted Ecclestone the commercial rights to F1 until the end of 2110 for a one-off fee of $360m. Even then, many were shocked by the relatively paltry amount of money that changed hands to secure such a lucrative and lengthy deal.
This led to a dizzying series of sales as the rights transferred through various institutions. A German cable TV company bought them, and then collapsed, which led to its creditors - banks - taking its assets. In 2006, the German bank BayernLB sold its 47.2% stake in F1 to an investment company called CVC Capital Partners.
CVC ran the sport for 10 years, employing Ecclestone as chief executive and empowering him to carry on as before, before selling to Liberty last September, in the deal completed on Monday.
But the sale from BayernLB to CVC is what ultimately led to the court cases on bribery charges that Ecclestone fought and survived a couple of years ago - and which he ended by paying the German courts $100m to end the case, without a presumption of guilt or innocence.
It did not escape notice that a man charged with bribery had paid - perfectly legally under German law - to end a criminal trial.
Despite his diminutive stature, Ecclestone is a forbidding character. Stories abound in F1 of real and threatened menace.
A conversation with him is akin to juggling sand - he ducks and dodges and avoids questions with obfuscation, distraction and quick wit, a dizzying mix of truths, half-truths and fallacies.
He is approachable but apart, engaging but unknowable. After a verbal sparring match, he will sometimes reach up and chillingly pat you on the cheek, not unlike a mafia don in the movies.
For years, the more unsavoury aspects of Ecclestone's stewardship were glossed over or laughed off - largely because he was making those he was working for so much money.
But in recent years, the tone in F1 has changed as more and more people began to feel he was past his sell-by date.
He was a reluctant embracer of the internet age, and rejected entreaties to try to use it to extend F1's reach.
His argument was that he saw no way to make money out of it; others argued that his modus operandi of pursuing only the deal, the bottom line, and disregarding its potential longer-term effects was doing more harm than good.
His simple model - sell television rights and races to the highest bidder no matter who it was; squeeze the highest price possible out of continuing partners - created an annual global revenue in the region of $1.5bn (£1.2bn).
Yet he became increasingly haphazard and intransigent in his decision-making, coming up with unpopular ideas such as a double-points finale in 2014 or the fiasco over the change to the qualifying format at the start of 2016 - to try to spice up the sport.
He was responding to declining audiences, but seemed to ignore the fact they were dropping largely because of his switch away from free-to-air towards pay television in key markets, and the questionable effect on the racing of gimmicks such as the DRS overtaking aid and tyres on which drivers could not push flat out.
The declining audiences have led to a crisis of confidence within the sport, the response to which is a new set of rules for 2017 that mean faster, more dramatic-looking cars. But already there are concerns that these may not have the desired effect.
But while the problems are real, the fact remains that F1 has just changed hands in a deal that values it at $8bn (£6.4bn).
And that is almost entirely down to Ecclestone and what he has built with his remarkable personality, vision and drive.
Controversial he certainly was; past his best he may have been. But for all his faults, Bernie Ecclestone is a unique and titanic figure who turned what was essentially a niche activity into a glittering global enterprise that to many represents an intoxicating mix of glamour, danger and raw, unmatched drama.
Gone from power he may be, but he will never be forgotten.


The millionaire founder of the Maximuscle nutrition brand was airlifted to hospital after a crash at a high-speed racing event.

Zef Eisenberg was riding a gas turbine engine motorbike at the Straightliners Top Speed meeting at Elvington Airfield in North Yorkshire.
The 43-year-old fell from his Madmax Turbine bike during a during timed track run at 14:00 BST.
It is understood he has a suspected broken pelvis.
The event is a gathering of vehicles to attempt land speed records.
A spokeswoman for the Madmax race team, owned by Mr Eisenberg, said he "had an accident racing" and was taken to Leeds General Infirmary. He is understood to have sustained a suspected broken pelvis.
She added: "He is in a stable condition and is receiving the very best care."
Guernsey-based Madmax is a specialist engineering team focusing on extreme motor bikes, quad bike and land speed racing


Great Britain beat Italy in the men's quarter-finals of the European Wheelchair Basketball Championships to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

Terry Bywater led the scoring with 24 points in a 77-48 victory.
"It's another dream, another Paralympics and there's no reason why we don't deserve it," he told BBC Sport.
The women's team, who lost their final pool game 64-52 to the Netherlands, have already qualified for Rio.
GB's men are chasing a third straight European title after back-to back successes in 2011 and 2013.
They got off to a slow start against the Italians in the first period, but a three-point basket from Bywater sparked a run of 10 unanswered points to take a 36-27 half-time lead.
Haj Bhania's side eased their nerves in the second half to earn a 29-point win and book a semi-final tie against Germany on Friday (14:45 BST).
GB women will play London 2012 Paralympic champions Germany in their semi final at 18:15 BST on Friday after a hard-fought effort against the Netherlands.
Helen Freeman finished the game with 28 points but it was not enough to upset the tournament favourites, who raced away with the lead in the second half to claim a 12-point victory.


Not just the ability to win big, or win regularly, or take home trophies. Teams do that every year across every sport.
What the very best can do that the pretenders cannot is win the tight ones - not just occasionally, or with a little luck, but with such regular dead-eyed poise that it is as much a habit as tying up bootlaces or shaking hands at the close.
There could be no surprise in New Zealand's 34-16 win over Wales at a first raucous and then silenced Millennium Stadium. Here are three things that have happened since Wales last beat the All Blacks: the opening of Britain's first motorway, the debut single of Elvis Presley, the end of rationing.
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There were even those - Wales coach Warren Gatland among them - who chose to bemoan bad luck at inopportune moments, most noticeably the unkind bounce that beat Leigh Halfpenny and allowed Beauden Barrett to gather his own chip and put his side into a late lead that they would never relinquish.
That is to underestimate what sets this All Blacks team apart. Wales may have led 13-10 with 17 minutes to go and then 16-15 with 11 left on the clock. That they were then hit by a black-shirted blitz that yielded 18 points in seven minutes had nothing to do with fortune and everything to do with the gulf between the world champions and the rest.
For these late tornados are no freak occurrence. From Dan Carter's drop goal against Ireland in 2012 to Ryan Crotty's try in Dublin a year later, from Conrad Smith's try in the first Test against England this summer to Malakai Fekitoa's converted try against Australia in October, the All Blacks have made the point again and again: when the pressure is on, you will crumble, and we will thrive.
They are to rugby in this era what Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United were to football in the past two decades.
There is never a panic, never an urge to try something miraculous. There is just belief, a clinical composure and the physical and mental fitness to strike the critical blow at the decisive juncture.
Wales played with admirable passion and power for three-quarters of this frantic, error-strewn contest. But, the reaction of the All Blacks leaders afterwards spoke of the vast difference between nearly and never.
"I don't think that we wriggled off the hook," said coach Steve Hansen, almost bemused. "Games are played for 80 minutes and you've got to play for 80."
"It wasn't as if we were under the pump," said his record-breaking captain Richie McCaw. "We just had to hold the ball."
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McCaw is not one for histrionics. In harness with Hansen he could win the Deadpan World Championships with room to spare.
For 60 minutes their team knocked the ball on, kicked it out on the full and were turned over repeatedly at the breakdown. They looked average, tired, uninspired.
It wasn't rugby rope-a-dope. Wales were ferocious when the ball was on the floor and up fast and furious when the opposition had it in hand.
They fought back once when Rhys Webb's snipe and gather of Taulupe Faletau's return pass cancelled out Julian Savea's try, and then again with forward power and Halfpenny's boot when Barrett's cross-field kick brilliantly set up Jerome Kaino for another.
At their backs they had a support as raging as anything in world rugby, the sort of partisan atmosphere that England coach Stuart Lancaster fantasises about creating at Twickenham. They even had a random half-time appearance from a show-boating David Hasselhoff ("New Zealand gave us the haka. Later we'll give them the Hoffa!").
But in the key little moments it was Wales who stumbled and fumbled, New Zealand who accelerated into the distance.
With a lead of three and the ball deep in the All Blacks 22, Webb knocked on with men outside him. Halfpenny, with a kick to clear, chose instead to take the ball back into contact after a fine Welsh turnover and was himself stripped of the ball before Savea's score. Mike Phillips delayed his own clearing kick fractionally too long and Kieran Read charged it down for another.
The All Blacks? 17-stone hooker Dane Coles ran fast and straight down the left flank before drawing the covering tackle like a skinny wing wonder of old to feed McCaw in the build-up to Kaino's score.
It was simple, but it was also the sort of thing that only seems to happen to New Zealand tight forwards. Even their battering-rams can cut holes like a fencer's foil.
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It is 61 years and counting now for the men in red against those in black, 26 defeats stretching back in a long row to the year when Everest was first scaled and Queen Elizabeth crowned.
Gatland is responsible only for the last seven of those, but he has now lost 22 straight matches against the southern hemisphere big boys of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. He has seen his side concede an average of 23 points in their last 11 Tests.
This is also now Wales's worst set of results in a calendar year since 2010, when they managed only two wins from 12. A year later, of course, they were a late penalty away from reaching the World Cup final, and Gatland - winner of two Grand Slams in his tenure, beneficiary of a long-term and lucrative contract - could yet oversee a similar renaissance.
But, with every passing week, his greatest challenge at that World Cup appears to be getting out of that demolition derby of a group that also includes England, Australia and Fiji.
Ireland have been reinvigorated under Joe Schmidt, Scotland revitalised by Vern Cotter. Wales are resolutely Gatland's Wales: physical, combative, often predictable.
"I can't ask the players to give any more than they did today," said Gatland on Saturday night.
He will have to. Because at the level this team aspires to, they are consistently, if bravely, falling short.


League One side Gillingham have signed centre-back Alex Lacey on a two-year deal after he rejected a new contract at League Two club Yeovil Town.

Lacey made 72 appearances for the Glovers after joining them from Luton before the 2015-16 season.
The 23-year-old is Gillingham's first signing since former manager Peter Taylor was named director of football.
The Gills finished 20th in League One this season, just one point above the relegation zone.
"We offered him a fantastic deal to remain at Huish Park but he wanted to play at a higher level," Yeovil boss Darren Way told the club website.
"We wish him all the best in his career."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Bus drivers in Leeds have announced plans to stage two further strikes in an ongoing pay dispute with First Leeds.

Members of the Unite union plan to walk out for 24-hours from 02:00 BST on Friday and then for a further six hours from 04:00 on Monday, 11 July.
The drivers claim they earn Â£2 less per hour than other regional First drivers.
First Leeds disputed the claim and said it was "disappointed" to learn of the new strike plans.
Read more about this and other stories from across West Yorkshire
The company has queried the alleged pay-gap which has prompted two 24-hour strikes by union members since 13 June.
Unite regional officer Phil Bown said its members are seeking a 36p per hour increase with a view to further negotiations in April 2017.
First offered a 38p per hour rise frozen until May 2018 which the union rejected.
Mr Bown said: "We do not want to do this any more than the passengers wants us to do this, we want to go to work and earn a living.
"We're very sorry and we've just spent two weeks not taking any action to have a cooling off period but that's failed and left us with no option but to move to strike action."
First bus services in Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax are unaffected.


The deep anatomy of last year's devastating quake in Nepal is revealed in a new analysis by scientists.

Satellite data is used to show where and how the rocks ruptured under the country, leading to the loss of more 8,800 lives.
The Magnitude 7.8 tremor occurred at a point where the main fault takes a deep dip just south of the high Himalayas.
This "ramp" structure, as the group calls it, probably also plays a key role in building the famous peaks.
As tectonic forces drive the Indian subcontinent under Central Asia, rocks ride up the ramp, adding a few millimetres a year to the height of the snow and ice-capped mountains.
John Elliott from Oxford University, UK, and colleagues report their assessment of the 25 April quake in the journal Nature Geoscience.
They examined images from Europe's Sentinel-1a radar satellite and other spacecraft to map the buckling of the ground.
These pictures enabled the team to infer what was going on deep beneath the surface.
The researchers trace the quake activity to a locality some 10-15km down.
It was spread across what they term a "hinge point", where the main fault in the region transitions from being relatively horizontal to being sharply angled into the Earth.
This geometry has a number of consequences, the scientists say.
First, it neatly explains why the surface surrounding the capital Kathmandu rose up by about a metre during the quake, and dropped by roughly 60cm in the more mountainous terrain to the north.
And, secondly, it also provides a good model for how the Himalayas gain height over time.
The team proposes a cycle of slumping on the occasion of major quakes and mountain-building in quiescent periods, with the increase in elevation dominating over the long term.  The high Himalayas currently gain on average about 4mm per annum.
Last April's tremor occurred in what scientists refer to as a seismic gap - a segment of the fault that has not experienced any significant strain-releasing activity in a long while.
The 2015 shock brought relief only to the far eastern sector of this gap, meaning the potential for future large quakes is still present to the west.
And there is potential also to the south.
The latest analysis demonstrates that the main fault did not rupture all the way to the surface on 25 April. It stopped abruptly some 11km under Kathmandu.
"There is still half of the fault - that's going south of Kathmandu, from a depth of 11km up to the surface - that hasn't yet broken," Dr Elliott told BBC News.
"Our hypothesis is that the abrupt stop is because the main fault has been damaged and it was held up where it intersected with other, smaller faults. But this will only be temporary.
"These earthquakes tend to happen on the century timescale, but this barrier could be pushed through on a shorter timescale. Of course, our problem is that we are not able to predict when; we can never give a date."
The Oxford scientist said that if the remaining portion did break all the way to the surface in one go, it would likely produce a quake of similar magnitude to the 25 April event, but being much shallower could have more damaging effects.
How Europe's Sentinel radar satellite viewed the Nepal quake
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


The Denver Broncos produced a defensive masterclass to upset the Carolina Panthers 24-10 and win Super Bowl 50.

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Carolina were heavy favourites, having lost only once all season and with the league's Most Valuable Player of the season Cam Newton at quarterback.
But Newton was smothered by the Broncos defence and gave up three turnovers, including one that led to a touchdown.
That helped Denver, quarterbacked by veteran Peyton Manning, open a 10-0 lead early on and they never lost it.
It had been rumoured the game would be 39-year-old Manning's last, but he said afterwards he would "take time to reflect".
"It's been an emotional week and it's an emotional night," he added.
Newton did not have a good game, but he was not helped by an awful display by Carolina's receivers, with Jerricho Cotchery guilty of two crucial drops.
It's a third Super Bowl title for the Broncos - after wins in 1997 and 1998 - while the Panthers are still waiting for their first.
"It's very special," said Manning. "This game was much like this season has been. It tested our toughness, resilience our unselfishness."
Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware gave a lot of credit to Denver defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
"He came in and figured out how to utilise the guys, utilise the talents," he said. "He changed everything up to where we could be more aggressive and get to the passer, but also create a lot of havoc."
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"They just played better than us," said Newton, a first round draft pick in 2011. "I don't know what you want me to say.
"They made more plays than us and that's what it came down to. We turned the ball over, gave up sacks, threw errant passes. That's it."
Defensive end Keony Ealy said the team would learn from the defeat.
"It sucks, but I can't dwell on it," said Ealy, who tied the Super Bowl record with three sacks and became the first player to record multiple sacks and an interception in a Super Bowl.
"The better team won. They showed up, they played. They didn't make mistakes, we did make mistakes. We can't do that."
Broncos linebacker Von Miller was named the game's Most Valuable Player after completing five tackles, two and a half sacks and two forced fumbles.
"I'm so proud of my guys," said Miller. "It's been every last one of you guys in the locker room that has gotten me to this moment right here."
He becomes only the 10th defensive player to win the award and only the fourth linebacker.
Miller, 26, was the number two pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, in which Newton was drafted first by the Panthers.
For Manning, the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards and touchdown passes, this win will strengthen his case to be seen as the greatest quarterback of all time.
He has now won two and lost two of his four Super Bowl appearances - his first win coming with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006 - and improved his post-season record to 14-13.
It was not a vintage performance from the quarterback, who was sacked five times and did not throw for a touchdown.
But simply playing on the winning team represented a remarkable turnaround after a difficult season during which Manning was ignominiously benched for deputy Brock Osweiler after throwing four interceptions in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs in November.
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British group Coldplay were the main performers at the half-time and they were joined by Beyonce, Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson.
Coldplay opened the show by singing 'Yellow' and 'Viva La Vida' as children carrying multi-coloured umbrellas and violins streamed onto the pitch.
Mars and Ronson performed their hit 'Uptown Funk', before Beyonce sang her new song 'Formation'.
The artists closed the show by performing a mash-up of Coldplay's hit 'Fix You' and Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love'.


The announcement that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila are to divorce came after months of speculation in the Russian media over Mrs Putin's near-invisibility.

Lyudmila Putin had long shunned the limelight, and in the last few years her public appearances had become increasingly rare. Before the joint TV appearance at which the couple announced that their marriage was over, Mrs Putin was last seen at her husband's side on Russian television when she attended his inauguration as president in May 2012.
Invisible "first ladies" were the norm during the Soviet era, when secretive leaders preferred to keep their wives and families out of sight.
The phenomenon of Raisa Gorbachev appeared to represent a break with this tradition. At a time when her husband was breaking the mould of Soviet politics, the impeccably dressed and eloquent Raisa was overturning notions of how a typical Soviet first lady should look and behave.
However, though Raisa quickly became the darling of the Western media, she was disliked by many back home - for exactly the qualities which made her popular abroad. In fancy, bespoke outfits and often in the media spotlight, Raisa's image contrasted with the tough reality of her crumbling communist country.
Naina Yeltsin, the wife of Russia's first post-Soviet president, was less flamboyant than her predecessor, but still had a distinctive image and voice.
But with the dawning of the Putin era in Russian politics, there appears to have been a return to the camera-shy image of presidential wives in the Slavic-majority states.
Lyudmila Putin's low profile was in marked contrast to the global role played by her husband as president of Russia.
She did recently feature on the cover of a glossy magazine. But the three-times first lady was seen in public so rarely that her appearance at an awards ceremony in late March - her first since last year's inauguration ceremony - caused quite a stir in the Russian media.
One Russian independent journalist, Mikhail Fishman, went so far as to say that Mrs Putin's presence "equals zero". He suggested that having a family can help a ruler to be seen as open and down-to-earth, but that President Putin, an "authoritarian monarch", prefers to be viewed as aloof and God-like.
What about other post-Soviet first-ladies?
Ukraine's Lyudmila Yanukovych - wife of the president - is almost as invisible.
Reports say the first lady is living as a recluse in Donetsk, the stronghold of her husband's party, making rare appearances at regional events, and is almost never seen in Kiev.
Even before Viktor Yanukovych was elected president in 2010, she had vanished from the public eye.
Her most memorable public speech was made at a rally during the Orange Revolution in 2004, when her husband, the then prime minister, was vying for the presidential job.
Her beret awry and language clumsy, she accused the rival pro-Western camp of supplying their supporters with US-made felt boots and drug-laced oranges. The remarks were so extreme that they are still remembered, and ridiculed, almost a decade on.
The embarrassment caused by that speech is the likely reason for her disappearance, suggests a prominent Ukrainian journalist, Sergei Leshchenko.
He adds that the "first lady" concept - a feature of US politics - has not taken root in the former Soviet republics, because most of their leaders were born and raised in the USSR and share its mindset.
Belarusian expert Valeriy Karbalevich says the Soviet tradition of "not putting the wives of leaders on display" is deeply rooted in the public consciousness.
In Belarus, ruled in authoritarian Soviet-era style, there is no first lady. President Alexander Lukashenko has in recent years been accompanied even at official ceremonies by his young son Nikolai.
The boy attended his father's inauguration and accompanied him on numerous foreign visits, most recently to Venezuela to pay last respects to the country's populist leader, the late Hugo Chavez.
The fair-haired and neatly attired Nikolai, never uttering a word by his father's side, could almost be seen as a replacement for the first lady.
Mr Lukashenko is now often seen in the company of women much younger than himself, opposition websites claim.
Paradoxically the first ladies in Central Asia, a region considered patriarchal and conservative, enjoy rather more prominence.
Tatyana Karimova of Uzbekistan is eclipsed by her controversial, jet-setting elder daughter Gulnara in the media. But Tatyana engages in what is presented as charity work, and accompanies her husband, President Islam Karimov, on visits.
President Karimov holds Uzbekistan in an iron grip, smothering any dissent, and this publicity for his family serves to underline their clan power.
In neighbouring Kazakhstan first lady Sara Nazarbayeva, according to her official biography, has for many years been overseeing several charitable projects and is the author of six books.
Azerbaijan's Mehriban Aliyeva, a dazzling fashionista, is arguably the most prominent among the eastern first ladies. With her hand in a variety of cultural and "charitable" programmes she has arguably overshadowed her husband, President Ilham Aliyev.
But the ruling family's image is carefully managed and human rights groups accuse the authorities of stifling democracy and jailing dissidents. Azerbaijan also gets a poor rating in the corruption index compiled by Transparency International.
Trained as a doctor and now an MP, Mrs Aliyeva is active in the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. A few years ago, there was much talk that she could succeed her spouse in 2013, but the speculation has now subsided.
Wikileaks cables have revealed the first lady in a less flattering light, as seen by Western journalists. But with the media in her country tightly controlled, Mrs Aliyeva can still enjoy a high profile unperturbed, whatever the allegations swirling around her.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.


Yorkshire Ambulance Service, which was previously rated as requiring improvement, has been upgraded after it was inspected by the health watchdog.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report in 2015 raised serious concerns about dirty ambulances and out of date lifesaving equipment.
It also highlighted concerns in relation to equipment checks and maintenance.
The CQC has now rated the service as good.
More on this and other local stories from across Yorkshire
During the previous inspection, officials found infection control practices were not always followed by staff and procedures for the disposal of clinical waste was concerning.
A large number of ambulances were found to be dirty on the outside and the general cleanliness inside was highlighted as a problem.
Life-saving equipment used by paramedics for major disasters was also out of date.
However, after the latest inspection in September the chief inspector of Hospitals, Sir Mike Richards, said: "The Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust faced real challenges, which were apparent at our previous inspection.
"Although we found a caring organisation in 2015, we told the trust it must improve the safety, effectiveness, and responsiveness of the service it was providing to the people of Yorkshire."
"Since then, the trust, has worked hard to address the issues we raised," he added.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service serves five million people in East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
Rod Barnes, chief executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: "All of our services demonstrated significant improvement since the CQC's inspection in January 2015.
"We do recognise, however, that there is always more we can do to improve."


A council has rejected plans to give responsibility for the county fire service to the police and crime commissioner, it has been claimed.

Gloucestershire police boss Martin Surl said he was "hugely disappointed" an offer to discuss the idea with the county council was rejected.
The authority has paid about Â£25,000 to look into the government proposals.
Gloucestershire County Council said the interim report suggested it would cost money to transfer control to the PCC.
The government wants to introduce legislation to allow PCCs to take over responsibility of fire services.
Mr Surl said the council had already dismissed the idea. "They've declared there's no merit in this," he added.
Councillor Nigel Moor, cabinet member responsible for the fire service, said the report showed there were "very few, if any, savings to be made".
"Having the service under our control is a major reason for it being one of the most efficient in the country.
"Moving Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service from the county council to the PCC would cost the fire service, the county council and Gloucestershire Police money - no one would make any savings from it."
A council spokesman said there would be a cost to transfer responsibility to the PCC but the exact amount was not yet known.
The report would be finalised "in the next few weeks", he added.


Phil Mickelson has ended his 25-year partnership with caddie Jim Mackay.

Mickelson won five majors and 41 PGA Tour titles with Mackay - nicknamed 'Bones' - on his bag.
The 47-year-old said the separation was "mutual" and confirmed his brother, Tim, will take over from Mackay.
"Our decision is not based on a single incident. We just feel it's the right time for change. Bones is one of the most knowledgeable and dedicated caddies in the world," said Mickelson.
"The next player to work with him will obviously be very lucky. My relationship and history with Bones far exceeds golf. He has been one of the most important and special people in my life since the day we met, and I will always be grateful for everything he has done for me."
Mickelson has earned in excess of $80m (£63m) in prize money since working with Mackay. He has won the Masters three times, the Open Championship and the US PGA, as well as finishing second or tied for second six times at golf's other major, the US Open.
Mackay was at Erin Hills last week to prepare for the US Open in the event Mickelson was able to take part in the tournament, which clashed with his daughter's graduation ceremony.
In a statement Mackay said: "When Phil hired me in 1992, I had one dream: to caddie in a Ryder Cup. Last year, at Hazeltine, Phil played in his 11th straight Ryder Cup. It was so cool to have a front-row seat.
"I wish Phil nothing but the best. His game is still at an elite level, and when he wins in the future (definitely the Masters), I will be among the first to congratulate him."


With 31 days until the US election, here is your daily election briefing, with a look at hurricane politics, an eye-catching Clinton endorsement and an armistice between two feuding Fox presenters.

The Drudge Report, a conservative news aggregation website, has caused a stir by arguing that US government warnings about Hurricane Matthew are a conspiracy designed to make "an exaggerated point on climate" change.
In the pivotal swing state of Florida, meanwhile, Governor Rick Scott is facing a wave of criticism from Democrats because he has so far resisted calls to extend the Tuesday deadline to register to vote, amid all the storm-related disruption.
Democrats are seriously concerned that voter turnout may be dampened on 8 November, but it's unclear if the governor actually has the legal authority to grant more time.
It's a relatively quiet day on the campaign trail, with so much attention on the skies above.
According to our political maven, the Trump and Clinton camps ought to be cautious in what they say about the weather.
Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington, says:
"As Hurricane Matthew batters Florida, both campaigns are likely to tread carefully lest they be seen as trying to politicise the natural disaster. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have already sent out a press release expressing their concern for those in the storm's path, and the Clinton campaign announced it was delaying commercials on the Weather Channel until after the hurricane passes. Neither candidate has public events scheduled for Friday, and given that the storm will dominate the nation's attention, their time is probably better spent preparing for Sunday's presidential debate."
TV personality Rosie O'Donnell, whom Donald Trump has called a "slob" and "pig", and Ivanka Trump, his daughter, "ran into each other" in an exclusive Manhattan restaurant.
On Thursday night, while dining in Nobu 57, the candidate's daughter (and key advisor) bumped into the comedienne, a Trump aide has confirmed.
It seems that O'Donnell even had a civil conversation with the daughter of her arch-tormentor, who revived his beef with her in last week's first presidential debate.
O'Donnell even penned a poem on her website called "8 million to one" in which she describes Ivanka as "absurdly kind" and the "most beautiful woman i have ever seen".
The daughter of former New York mayor and vocal Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani spoke to Politico on Thursday about her string of pro-Clinton Facebook comments.
One of Caroline Giuliani's recent posts features a friend holding a rabbit with the caption, "my handsome guys cheering HRC on in the first debate".
This is not the first time that she's drifted from her father's camp. In 2008, as a 17-year-old, she expressed support for President Obama, also on Facebook, but later deleted her page.
Read more at Politico
Fox News primetime hosts Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity appear to have buried the hatchet, after rowing this week over the Republican candidate.
Kelly had suggested on her show that her colleague did not ask tough questions of Donald Trump, whom Hannity supports.
Hannity hit back in a tweet: "u should be mad at @HillaryClinton. Clearly you support her."
Who is ahead in the polls?
49%
Hillary Clinton
45%
Donald Trump
Last updated October 3, 2016


Emergency departments at Scottish hospitals have recorded their best December performance since 2009, figures have shown.

A total of 94.9% of patients were seen within four hours - up five percentage points since December 2014.
Ministers have set a target of at least 95% of A&E patients being seen and then admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
The health secretary said NHS Scotland had shown "consistent improvement".
The latest weekly figures show the target was missed for core A&E departments in the week ending 24 January, with 93.8% of patients seen in time.
But the Scottish government said the figure was 6.6 percentage points better than in the same week last year.
The poorest-performing health board was NHS Lanarkshire (91.7%), with Wishaw General Hospital the poorest-performing site (86.8%).
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "We know that the winter months bring additional demands across the whole health and social care services.
"We have seen that demonstrated over recent weeks but, thanks to the dedication of NHS and social care staff, we have also seen a consistent improvement on last year.
"Today's figures continue that trend and December's A&E performance is the best since 2009."
Figures for the rest of the UK are released at different times, but overall Scottish emergency departments are treating people more quickly than England, Wales or Northern Ireland.


Pope Francis has officially announced his first visit to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

He will spend two days in each country, beginning in Ecuador on 6 July and ending in Paraguay on 12 July.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Thursday hailed the planned visit as an "honour" and said his country was already celebrating.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has also welcomed the news, saying that it was a joy to have the visit confirmed.
The Vatican said in a statement that it would publish the Pope's full tour program shortly but some of his itinerary has already been announced.
In Bolivia, local media said the pontiff was expected to travel to the city of La Paz and then to Santa Cruz, where the main celebrations will take place.
Mr Correa said the Pope would visit Ecuador's capital Quito and the city of Guayaquil.
"We will work with all our energy so that his visit, like that of John Paul II 30 years ago, will be unforgettable," he added.
This will be Pope Francis' second trip to Latin America. His first was to Brazil in 2013.
During his five days in Brazil, he attended the biggest-ever Catholic World Youth Day and addressed up to three million pilgrims at a vigil on Copacabana Beach.


UKIP leader Nigel Farage had to find refuge in a pub after he was swarmed by angry protesters as he left a press conference.

When he later left the Canons' Gait pub in Edinburgh's historic old town and was escorted into a police van, protestors chanted "scum, scum, scum".
Mr Farage was in Edinburgh to launch his party's Scottish campaign following recent electoral gains in England.
Police said two men had been arrested following the protest.
Mr Farage told the BBC he had never had a reaction like this before.
Earlier this week, Mr Farage said First Minister Alex Salmond was "illogical" to want to keep an independent Scotland in the EU.
During the protest, Max Crema, 21, Vice President of services at Edinburgh University Students Association, suggested UKIP has "a well documented history of racism".
Mr Farage replied: "If you believe that then you are less intelligent than you look, dear boy.
"We are a non-racist, non-sectarian party and unlike every other party in British politics we actually forbid people who have been on extreme left or right-wing extremes from joining our party."
Protesters chanted "Farage is being lifted" and "How does it feel to be treated like an asylum seeker?"
A UKIP spokesman described the scene as "inchoate rage".
"Was it anti-English? I doubt it, I don't think they thought that far," he said.
"I don't think he was shaken up by it. He was laughing, in fact."
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "Two men have been arrested following a protest outside a public house on Edinburgh's Canongate.
"Officers responded to the address to facilitate a peaceful demonstration which arose during a UKIP meeting that was taking place inside.
"During the protest, which took place around 4.30pm, a 49-year-old man was escorted from the premises to ensure his safety."


"Crazy and unbelievable", "the best match I have ever played in my life", "a historic achievement that will be remembered forever".

These are just some of the reactions to Barcelona's astonishing Champions League comeback from a 4-0 first-leg defeat by Paris St-Germain.
The Catalans turned the tie on its head - and scrambled the senses of fans worldwide - by winning the return leg 6-1 at the Nou Camp. They were 5-3 down on aggregate in the 88th minute.
Social media sites were ablaze with comment but one Tweet, from Dunfermline Athletic's official account, stood out.
".@FCBarcelona... congratulations guys.... fancy a friendly to say sorry for taking our record," read the tongue-in-cheek invite from the Scottish Championship club.
So, what is the record the Fifers are referring to, and is it the finest comeback involving a Scottish team in Europe?
Valencia won the 1961-62 Fairs Cup by beating Barcelona 7-3 on aggregate. The following season the holders journeyed to East End Park on an icy night just before Christmas boasting a 4-0 lead from the first leg.
Manager Jock Stein, less than three years before his appointment at Celtic, had urged his Dunfermline players to attack from the first whistle.
And the team, who had beaten Everton in the previous round, rattled the Spaniards with three goals within 17 minutes.
The Fifers then conceded a goal but scored two more to peg the match at 5-5 on aggregate at half-time.
Centre-half Jim MacLean deflected a shot into his own net to dampen the hosts' hopes before Alex Smith made it 6-2 on the night, 6-6 on aggregate.
In the days before the away goals rule, the tie was decided in a third game in Lisbon, which Valencia won 1-0 to reach the quarter-finals. The Spaniards went on to retain the trophy with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
Arguably, Kilmarnock's feat against Eintracht Frankfurt in their first year in European football trumps the Pars' claim.
The Germans, who had lost 7-3 to Real Madrid in the famous 1960 European Cup final at Hampden, were 3-0 up from the first leg.
And they looked to have killed off any Killie hopes of progressing to round two of the Fairs Cup when they scored within two minutes at Rugby Park to make it 4-0.
But the 14,930 fans roared the hosts forward and Ronnie Hamilton netted twice with Brian McIlroy, James McFadzean and John McInally also scoring to seal a sensational comeback.
Celtic came close to over-turning a 5-0 first-leg defeat by Artmedia Bratislava in 2005, winning the second leg 4-0. But can anything better those games involving Killie and the Pars?
Use the comments section to provide us with suggestions and share your memories of great European nights involving your club.


Catalans Dragons winger Pat Richards will retire at the end of the season.

The 34-year-old former Wigan Warriors back was contracted until the end of next year, but has decided to retire at the end of the current campaign.
The Australian-born Ireland international started at Parramatta Eels before switching to West Tigers.
He joined Wigan in 2006 and during his eight-season stay he won the Super League and Grand Final twice, as well as the Man of Steel award in 2010.
"I'm disappointed to see a so great a player, with so much class on and off the field, hanging up his boots," said Dragons head coach Laurent Frayssinous.
"As a team, it's an extra motivation to finish the season as high as possible to offer him the end he deserves."
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The temperature is 40C in Melbourne, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are sporting matching headbands, and every hotel in the city is booked.

It can only mean one thing: the Australian Open tennis tournament is finally here and under way.
The Open is arguably the biggest annual sporting event in the southern hemisphere.
Hundreds of thousands are in Melbourne to watch the matches during these next two weeks, while hundreds of millions more will watch the action on TV... and that means big business.
As the first of the four annual international tennis Grand Slam tournaments, the event attracts fans from across the globe, with nearly 700,000 tickets sold.
Melbourne's contract to host the Australian Open was due to expire in 2016, but a pledge of a three-stage upgrade package to its sporting precinct - with a price tag of close to A$1bn ($822m; Â£540m) - has secured the event for the city until 2036.
The first stage of renovations has just been competed, including 1,500 additional stadium seats and a fully retractable roof for the Margaret Court Arena.
Three of the principal courts now have such roofs.
These additions should avoid the stoppage of play due to extreme weather, which was an issue last year when players were complaining of heat exhaustion.
It was so hot, shoes were melting and sticking to the courts.
Stage two will involve upgrades to Rod Laver Arena and a pedestrian path connecting Melbourne Park to the train station.
Craig Tiley, chief executive of Tennis Australia, says the return on this hefty infrastructure investment will more than pay for itself.
"It's estimated that the Australian Open earns the State of Victoria over 200 million [Australian dollars] annually," says Mr Tiley.
"If you take that over the next 30 years with the investment of over 900 million [Australian dollars] that's going to be made, it's going to more than return on that investment within a few years and the rest will really just be icing on the cake."
But Larry Dwyer, professor of economics and tourism at the University of New South Wales says it is a more complicated picture.
He warns that the economic benefits of large-scale events are often oversold, and says it is important to look at all the possible costs involved.
"There will be social costs. There will be environmental costs. Traffic congestion, closed streets because of an event, discomfort for residents. It might be noise; there's lots of community costs incurred from events," says Prof Dwyer.
He says there can be an environmental cost, too, when a large number of spectators are gathered in one area, as is the case for the tennis, including issues such as a larger carbon footprint associated with event travel and transport.
But for the city's hospitality industry, the financial benefits surrounding the event are very clear.
About 40% of the fans that attend the tennis are from overseas or other Australian states, and together they account for nearly half a million hotel nights across Victoria state.
And the business gains go far beyond accommodation.
Melbourne likes to think of itself as the sporting capital of the nation, and enthusiasm for tennis reaches a fever pitch in January.
Proximity to the players and wide media coverage of the matches excites die-hard tennis fans and piques the interest of new ones.
Michael Baroch runs the Melbourne International Tennis School (MITS), with campuses in both Melbourne and Singapore.
He says being near the tournament is great for business.
"We can send our kids to actually go and watch the best players in the world and look at their favourite players - and how they play tactically, technically, and even mentally," he says.
"So it's really advantageous to us in particular for the Australian Open to be here in Melbourne."
Marc Sophoulis, one of the coaches at MITS, who is working with a number of players competing in the Grand Slam this year, says the prestige of the event is alluring to other students.
"It does create a bit of buzz having three or four players from the Australian Open training among our players," he says. "We see players increasing their work loads on court and approaching us for more hours of lessons."
Meanwhile, other companies are getting creative in their pursuits of the tennis dollar.
Australia's P&O Cruises have launched a customised Australian Open Cruise from Sydney to Melbourne for the tennis, which includes admission to the matches.
Tammy Marshall, senior vice president of the company, says that some 1,800 cruise passengers booked with them six months in advance.
And she says the venture brings in a lot of spending power to Melbourne, and a boost of A$1m to the Victorian economy.
"What we do understand from a recent economic study is that our guests are spending about A$146 per person per day in Melbourne when they are cruising," she adds.
The Australian Open is the crown jewel in Melbourne's impressive calendar of sports events, which John Eren, state minister for sport and tourism, says are crucial for the Victorian government.
"Right across the globe it's a universal language," he says. "Everybody loves their sport, and for us, sporting events are worth about 1.8 billion to the economy here in Victoria."
With another 30 years of hosting the event on the horizon, Melbourne has secured its position as a global tennis destination at least for the foreseeable future.


The government is to announce further spending cuts in Wednesday's Budget, with the savings going to large-scale infrastructure projects designed to boost economic growth.

Most Whitehall departments will have to cut 2% of their spending over the next two years, amounting to about £2.5bn.
But health, schools and HM Revenue & Customs budgets will be unaffected.
The cuts come on top of the 3% spending reductions announced for the next two years in last year's Autumn Statement.
In its 2010 spending review, the government originally announced departmental spending cuts averaging 19% - equivalent to £81bn - up to 2014-2015.
Chancellor George Osborne told his colleagues of the new austerity measures at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.
Overseas aid will also be shielded from the cuts, while local government and police budgets will be protected for the first year.
However, other government departments - such as justice, environment and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - will be told to deliver a further 1% cut to their day-to-day budgets in both 2013-14 and 2014-15.
By Nick RobinsonPolitical editor
A No 10 spokesman said the move had been made possible by under-spending by government departments this year, which "reflected the success that secretaries of state across the board have had, working with the Treasury, on bringing departmental resource spending down".
The Ministry of Defence is being given special leeway to roll over unspent cash worth £1.6bn over the next two years.
Total annual underspends across Whitehall have averaged about £6bn since 2007 and the figure for 2012-3 will be announced on Wednesday.
Energy Secretary Ed Davey, whose department will have to find extra savings, denied ministers had been taken by surprise by the chancellor's announcement, saying they had been given "more notice" of it than expected.
"What was really noticeable around the cabinet table was people supporting the overall approach not only of the chancellor but the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander," he told the BBC.
By Norman SmithChief political correspondent, BBC News Channel
Number 10 insist there were no protests around the cabinet table when George Osborne unveiled his plans for yet more spending cuts.
And yet there were probably a fair number of ministers grinding their teeth in fury.
Why? Well because once again health, schools and overseas aid were protected, leaving the remaining departments to take an even bigger share of the pain.
The move is certain to fuel a growing view in Tory circles that ring-fencing makes no sense, is unfair and has to end.
Mr Osborne made clear at the weekend that the prime minister is determined to "do right by the NHS".
But he was rather less categorical about the prospects for the aid budget.
Recent polling evidence suggests many voters would also be quite happy to see an end to the cash increases for development spending.
And this latest spending squeeze can only add to the pressure on Mr Cameron to abandon his pledge to protect overseas aid at the next election.
"We have to get to grips with this (the deficit). In countries where they don't they're paying a very heavy price."
The government has come under pressure to increase spending on capital projects, such as roads and housing, with its critics saying it is not doing enough to help economic growth.
Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable has led calls for this in cabinet but David Cameron and Nick Clegg have previously ruled out funding such a move by increased borrowing.
For Labour, shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said: "If this is the only additional investment in infrastructure in the Budget, it will be a huge disappointment.
"Business groups, the IMF and even Vince Cable have all said now is the right time to invest, at record low interest rates, in building homes, road and schools to create jobs now and strengthen our economy for the future.
"The test for the Budget is whether it delivers bold action to kick-start our flatlining economy and significant tax cuts for middle and low income families, not a £3bn tax cut for the very richest and more of the same failing policies."
The TUC estimated that the extra £2.5bn a year for infrastructure would "boost growth by a measly 0.06%".
"With interest rates negative in real terms, the chancellor has the perfect opportunity to invest in Britain's future, rather than raiding departmental budgets to cover his failed economic strategy," said its general secretary Frances O'Grady.
Government policy on alcohol pricing is also expected to be announced by the chancellor, following reports the government has ditched plans for 45p per unit minimum alcohol pricing.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson says Mr Osborne may be considering scrapping the beer duty escalator - which automatically increases alcohol duty by 2% above inflation every year.
The chancellor will give his fourth Budget speech on 20 March at 12:30 GMT
There is full coverage of the Budget and how it affects you on the BBC News website
You will also be able to watch the event on a special programme on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel from 11:30 GMT
If so, he will feel under pressure to increase taxes on cheap but strong alcoholic drinks to show that the government has not abandoned David Cameron's campaign to crack down on cheap booze, our correspondent says.
A boost for house-building and an extension of the government's NewBuy scheme, which helps people with small deposits buy newly built homes, may also be included.
Mr Osborne - who will carry out of a review of spending for 2015-6 in June - is under pressure due to the lack of growth in the economy and the loss of the UK's AAA credit rating last month. The government's target for eliminating the structural deficit has already slipped to 2017-8.
The Office for Budget Responsibility will publish its latest forecasts for economic growth and borrowing alongside the Budget.
Asked on Tuesday how the government planned to spend revenue raised by bringing forward state pension changes by a year to 2016, Downing Street said some of it would go to paying for the cap on social care costs.
A spokesman said the Treasury would announce in "due course" how the remainder would be spent.


Police have confirmed that the body of a man pulled from the River Nith in Dumfries  is that of a missing fisherman.

Charles Mellor, 57, disappeared a week ago while fishing near the former Carnation factory.
His body was found in The Caul area on Thursday.
Mr Mellor's disappearance on Friday night prompted a major search operation, involving the coastguard and the police underwater unit.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Nith Inshore Rescue, and members of the Moffat Mountain Rescue Team were also involved in the search.


British middleweight champion Nick "Bang Bang" Blackwell says he is relishing his title defence against Chris Eubank Jr in Kent on 5 March.

Wiltshire's Blackwell, 23, is confident of defeating Eubank Jr at Bluewater when the pair finally get to meet.
And Blackwell, who has lost three of his 23 fights, says he is delighted that the match has now been confirmed.
"The fight has meant to happen three or four times but it hasn't materialised," Blackwell told BBC Wiltshire.
After winning the British title in 2015, Blackwell says Eubank Jr is in for a tough night.
"I stayed right over Christmas," he said. "I'm fit and ready now and there is still seven weeks to go so it's going to be a good one.
"He knows it's going to be a tough fight. It's a tough fight for little reward. for him. I'm confident I'm going to win.
"On paper, I'm the underdog but I know I've got everything needed to beat him. I just know I'm going to win this fight."


A woman is in a critical condition after she was hit by a car on a dual carriageway in Essex.

The woman sustained leg and head injuries in the incident on the A12 just south of Chelmsford, at 01:30 GMT.
A 41-year-old man from Sevenoaks, Kent, has been arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving and causing grievous bodily harm.
The southbound carriageway was closed between junctions 16 and 15 until 07:00 GMT.


Almost 400 people have been made redundant over the holiday period after a door manufacturing company closed.

Leaderflush Shapland, which has sites in Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, sent out redundancy notices on New Year's Eve.
Amber Valley Conservative MP Nigel Mills said the closure was "the worst possible news for those affected".
Administrators Deloitte said the firm had been under financial pressure for "some time".
One employee, Colin Meakin, from Belper in Derbyshire, said: "It is just going to be hard and I am not confident I will be able to get a job.
More news and updates from Derbyshire
"We knew it was coming but it is hard to be upbeat.
"It has still not sunk in - it is really depressing and I feel really let down."
The firm, which is a division of Laidlaw Interiors Group, will also close its office in Barnstaple.
The other six divisions of the group have either been sold or are being put on the market.
Mr Mills added: "It must have come as a surprise to a lot of employees, but over the past few weeks, it has become obvious the business was struggling for profit and for cash flow and clearly the worst has happened.
"But there are many successful companies around here so we will doing all we can to get them down here and try to get them jobs as soon as we can."
A Deloitte spokesman said: "Leaderflush Shapland has suffered significant on-going losses making trading unsustainable."
There were almost 300 job losses in Langley Mill and 77 in Mansfield, with 32 employees being retained to help wind up the operations.


James Murdoch "stands by" testimony he never saw an email revealing phone hacking went beyond a single reporter, the Leveson Inquiry has heard.

The ex-News International chairman said he had thought hacking a "thing in the past" when he took over his father's UK newspaper operations in 2007.
It remained his position that he did not know of the "For Neville" email until 2010, he told the inquiry.
He was also asked about meeting David Cameron during News Corp's BSkyB bid.
Mr Murdoch's father, News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch, will appear before the inquiry on Wednesday and Thursday.
It is the first time either of them have appeared in front of the Leveson Inquiry.
James Murdoch, who resigned from News International in February, having been appointed to run the company in 2007.
The inquiry is tackling the Murdochs' awareness of allegations that the practice of illegally intercepting voicemails went beyond News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007.
Last year James Murdoch told MPs he had no prior knowledge of the scale of wrongdoing on the newspapers he controlled.
By Robert PestonBusiness editor
BBC News - Correspondents - Robert Peston
He told Lord Justice Leveson he had a "general awareness that a reporter had illegally intercepted voicemails, had gone to jail along with the private investigator involved".
"It was a general understanding of an event in the past."
The inquiry questioned Mr Murdoch in detail over the "For Neville" email, which was sent by a junior News of the World reporter to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2008, and contained the illegally obtained transcripts of voicemails belonging to football union boss Gordon Taylor.
In December, another email from 2008 was released indicating Mr Murdoch had been copied into messages referring to the "rife" practice of phone hacking at the News of the World and also citing the "For Neville" email.
Mr Murdoch has said although he was copied into the email, he did not read it fully.
He told the inquiry: "I didn't read the email chain. It was a Saturday, I had just come back from Hong Kong, I was with my children. I responded in minutes."
He said he now accepts that the "For Neville" email was "a thread" that raised the suspicion of wider phone hacking at the News of the World.
"The fact it suggested other people might have been involved in phone hacking - that part of its importance was not imparted to me that day," he said.
The News of the World reached an out-of-court settlement with Gordon Taylor, head of the Professional Footballers' Association, in 2008.
James Murdoch said it was "reasonable" to leave the settlement negotiations to NoW legal manager Tom Crone and editor Colin Myler.
He said there was a "budget of a million and change for legal settlements at the News of the World".
He went on to say he was aware "in small detail" of a Â£1m settlement with PR guru Max Clifford in March 2010 as there was a commercial relationship with Mr Clifford which the newspaper wanted to "re-establish".
The Leveson Inquiry is now turning its attention to the relationship between the press and prominent politicians as part of its examination of the ethics, culture and practices of the UK's newspapers.
James Murdoch was questioned by counsel for the inquiry Robert Jay QC about his contact with politicians before and during News Corp's bid for the remaining shares in BSkyB - an attempt which was dropped in July 2011.
He said he was "alive to the risk" that politics might influence his company's position, but added: "We rested on the soundness of the legal case."
He told of a meeting with David Cameron, then Leader of the Opposition, on 10 September 2009 at the George club to discuss the "Sun's proposed endorsement" of the Conservatives for the upcoming general election.
Mr Murdoch also said he discussed the BSkyB bid with Mr Cameron at the home of former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks on 23 December 2010 - seven months after he became prime minister.
It was also two days after Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of his responsibility for overseeing the BSkyB bid after he was secretly recorded saying he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch.
Mr Murdoch said he spoke briefly to the prime minister about the removal of Mr Cable, saying it was a "tiny conversation" and not a discussion.
He denied the purpose of the meetings with Mr Cameron was partly to find out where he stood on issues which would directly affect Mr Murdoch's companies, such as TV and press regulation.
He said: "I might want to know but the purpose of these meetings wasn't necessarily to find out, they were discussions were on a broad range of subjects, from foreign policy to other things."
Asked whether he was friends with Chancellor George Osborne, he said: "We have been friendly. I wouldn't say he was a close friend."
He added he had had been to the chancellor's grace-and-favour home Dorneywood once and had had one discussion with Mr Osborne about the BSkyB bid.
The inquiry also considered emails by Frederic Michel, News Corp head of public affairs.
One referred to a call James Murdoch made to Vince Cable on the day of BSkyB bid, saying it went well and "we should have recorded him".
Another said that Mr Michel had a note from Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's adviser, Adam Smith, that "the UK government would be supportive throughout the process".
The inquiry, led by Lord Justice Leveson, was set up after outrage following allegations that the now-closed News of the World hacked into the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.


Further cuts to council funding would be "disastrous", according to the head of local government body Cosla.

A special meeting of council leaders is due to take place in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
Ahead of that, Cosla president David O'Neill urged Scottish ministers to preserve funding in this week's budget.
The Scottish government said local government had been treated fairly despite cuts to the overall Scottish budget made by Westminster.
The local government revenue settlement funding for councils is due to be announced on Thursday, along with the budget.
Cosla's David O'Neill told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that local government was shouldering more than its "fair share" of cuts.
He said councils were "very adept" at changing the way they worked to cope with budget pressures.
They now need to change how they work with other public agencies, he said.
"Local authorities work better with the health service and other public agencies, but other public agencies are more reluctant to change," he added.
"We need to get other public agencies to come with us."
Mr O'Neill also called for an end to one-year financial settlements, which make it "impossible to plan for the long term".
"We need a long term settlement and a long term solution," he said.
Mr O'Neill said "a cut of the magnitude of last year's £349m would have a disastrous impact on both communities and services".
He added: "All too often when we talk of cuts to local government these are seen in the abstract. The reality is that we are talking about real cuts to services and jobs.
"The simple truth is that a cut to local government means a cut in teaching assistants, a cut in levels of care for all our elderly relatives, cuts for the homeless as a freezing winter starts to bite and cuts to gritting of the roads at a time of freezing temperatures when trains and the wider transport network is struggling to cope.
"Make no mistake, the Scottish government has a political choice here and with additional cash of £418m for next year there should be no cut to local government."
The Scottish government said it remained committed to engaging Cosla in further dialogue on a range of issue.
A spokesman said the finance secretary's Scottish draft budget would "support our economy, tackle inequality and provide high-quality public services for all".
He added: "Local government has experienced the same reduction in funding as was imposed on the Scottish government by Westminster - as outlined in an independent report from Audit Scotland.
"It is therefore clear that local government has been treated very fairly despite the cuts to the Scottish budget from the UK government.
"Local government finance settlements were maintained in Scotland on a like-for-like basis over the period 2012-16, with extra money for new responsibilities resulting in total settlements of £10.8bn in 2014-15 and of over £10.85bn in 2015-16.
"Taking into account the addition of the £250m to support the integration of health and social care, the overall reduction in 2016-17 funding equates to less than 1% of local government's total estimated expenditure in 2016-17."
Meanwhile, a study commissioned by a separate local government umbrella body, has warned council budgets could be cut by £700m by the end of the current Parliament.
The Scottish Local Government Partnership (SLGP) consists of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire Councils.
It commissioned a report by economic think-tank the Fraser of Allander Institute ahead of this week's Scottish budget.
The report said local authorities have suffered more than £1bn of cuts over the past five years and could face further reductions.
Last month, a report from the Accounts Commission said Scotland's councils face "significant challenges" managing their finances in future years.
Auditors found local authorities were generally in good financial health in 2015-16, but faced a difficult future.
The report warned councils needed "to change the way they work" and make long-term plans if they were to achieve the savings needed.


The UK has not seen a bomb attack like the Manchester outrage since 2005 for three simple reasons:

For more than a decade, the BBC Home Affairs Unit has monitored every single terrorist incident, attempted or failed, that has made it into the public domain.
Quite simply, most of the people we have seen dragged through the courts are not capable of this kind of incident.
Many aspire to "martyrdom" and talk about building bombs.
But they are either, to be frank, too stupid and disorganised to turn their fantasies into reality or, alternatively, they get caught because they don't know how to cover their tracks.
Most jihadists discount a bomb attack at the early stages: they realise that it's too difficult to pull off.
They might accidentally kill themselves while making the device.
Their purchasing patterns might raise suspicions in a local pharmacy or, online, prompt GCHQ to have a closer look at their digital life.
They may turn to someone else for help who, unbeknown to both, is already on the MI5 radar.
And so, as the 2013 killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby showed - exactly four years before the Manchester attack - most aspiring attackers opt for a different course.
Vehicles and knives became the weapons of choice.
We saw it in 2014 when a London man planned a knife attack to coincide with the annual act of remembrance.
We saw it again with the Khalid Masood Westminster attack.
But while knives and vehicles - and to a lesser extent guns - have featured in recent terrorism plots, there are people who still want to build bombs to attack crowded places.
Just recently, the younger brother of the man in the Remembrance Sunday incident pleaded guilty to trying to find bomb-making help - and one of his potential targets was an Elton John concert.
So the big question for investigators is given that bomb-making requires expertise, how did the attacker, 22-year-old Salman Abedi, get hold of such a device?
As Tuesday dawned, there were three possibilities:
If Abedi was taught, this could point to someone who has returned from so-called Islamic State territory in Syria and Iraq or another jiahdist theatre, such as Libya, where his father is from.
The militants have constructed devices involving the type of DIY shrapnel of metal nuts that has been reported from the scene at the Manchester Arena.
Al-Qaeda and its offshoots have deployed those devices too. Reaching those camps is a harder journey to make - but don't rule it out.
Either way, these are sophisticated devices, particularly if made to a well-known recipe that is circulated among extremists.
It takes engineering skill. Sometimes the process of making a bomb can't easily be hidden. For instance, the 7/7 devices contained a chemical that bleached the hair of one of the bomb-makers. The fumes can kill plants.
So if Abedi taught himself, how did he go about it in complete secrecy?
Such an outcome would demonstrate how difficult it is to learn about a threat if the individual is acting entirely alone and taking exceptionally well planned precautions to avoid surveillance.
It's not hard to find bomb-making plans online - don't go looking, it's an offence to possess this information - but many of them are useless.
So, again, the attacker would have spent some time thinking and planning this - and that reduces the likelihood that he was acting entirely alone.
The third scenario is the worst-possible because it would point to an active bomb-making technician on the loose in the UK.
Someone who is completely beneath the security services radar.
Someone who has found ways of reaching out to potential recruits without compromising themselves.
Someone who could strike again.
That, of course, is quite a worrying prospect - but by the end of Tuesday, security chiefs could not rule it out. So they had no choice but to raise the official "threat level", published by MI5, to the maximum level of "critical".
That means an attack may be imminent. Nobody can say for sure because the intelligence business involves glimpsing at things in the shadows, hints and suspicions.
It's less of a jigsaw with missing pieces, it's more like an impressionist's picture: one can only ever see part of what's going on.
So, this is very much a manhunt for helpers - even though nobody may know for sure at this stage who, if anyone, they are actually hunting.
The police know the identity of the attacker - this was a very early breakthrough. It took days back in 2005 for the police to be sure who carried out the London attacks.
So as the hours progress, inside Thames House, the home of MI5, and its regional units, a large post-incident operation will be under way. Officers, supported by GCHQ and where necessary counterparts in foreign agencies, will be examining any piece of intelligence to build up a greater sense of the attacker, his life and those around him.
The North West Counter Terrorism Unit, a joint team of MI5 and police officers, will be looking at anything they can glean from the attacker's own devices. Search teams will identify addresses to search - two have already been raided.
Experts from the national Forensic Explosives Laboratory in Kent will begin the astonishingly difficult work of recovering the remains of the device so they can reconstruct it.  These scientists have performed this task on every bomb recovered in modern times.
What they find may, in time, yield vital intelligence - such as the origins of the bomb recipe or its technical construction.
Those details will in turn create new leads - perhaps linking the attacker to a specific group in a specific location: the British and US armed forces also recover remains of bombs overseas for analysis.
It may take months for the full picture to emerge.
But first things first: the race to work out if this killer was a lone wolf or part of a cell that's still out there.


Thousands of workers who have been encouraged by the government to take out pension plans could be at risk of losing their savings, the industry regulator has told the BBC.

It follows fears that dozens of companies providing auto enrolment pensions are too small to survive.
The BBC has also uncovered evidence that employers and workers are being deliberately misled by some providers.
The government said it was aware of the issue, and was planning to take action.
Independent experts claim the problem could affect up to a quarter of a million people a year who are putting their savings into so-called master trust pensions.
Such schemes are popular with the 1.8 million small employers with fewer than 30 staff who are currently signing up under the auto enrolment programme.
"There is a risk of these schemes falling over; there is a risk that members might lose their money," said Andrew Warwick Thompson, executive director for regulatory policy at the Pensions Regulator.
However, he said scheme assets invested through asset managers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would be safe.
This will be "the vast majority of cases", he said.
The regulator also raised concerns about some of those in charge of such pension schemes.
Some of the small pension providers "may not be run by competent people", said Mr Warwick Thompson.
Even where directors are qualified, providers do not always make it clear where the savings are invested, or who owns the schemes.
Worse than that, the BBC discovered that at least one master trust appears to be providing misleading information online.
On its website, My WorkPlace Pension claims to have Â£50m of pensions under management, handled by the respected city firm Old Mutual.
When the BBC questioned the whereabouts of that money, My WorkPlace Pension admitted it actually had no such assets at all.
Subsequently Old Mutual told the BBC that it was not handling the company's account, and asked for its name to be removed from their website.
A spokesman for My WorkPlace Pension, called Tony - he would not give his surname - explained that the business was not yet live, although it was close to launch.
However, the BBC has seen a letter suggesting the scheme was being actively marketed as far back as September 2015.
MWP Pension Ltd is a company appointed by My Workplace Pension to do marketing for it.  According to Companies House, it is 50% owned by Gavin McCloskey. He and an associate, Anthony Okeke, were previously directors of another firm which sold sports fashion wear.
Its trading name was one that McCloskey might now be regretting.
They called the business Wide-Boys R Us - possibly a joke at the time, but one that does not sound so amusing when you are in the serious business of promoting pensions.
Unlike big pension providers - known as contract-based schemes - master trusts are not regulated by the FCA. Instead they are overseen by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), which provides a much lower level of supervision.
"There's not so much member protection in the master trust world, versus contract-based schemes," said Nick Keppel-Palmer, the strategy director of Husky Finance, an independent advisory service for small employers.
"If they go down, the members' money won't be protected."
However the government said it was aware of the issues related to some master trusts, and was working to protect employees' savings.
"We are determined to ensure the necessary protections are in place," said Baroness Ros Altmann, the pensions minister.
"Doing nothing is not an option, as ensuring long term security and protection are paramount in pensions."
Those whose savings are invested with mainstream City firms have much higher levels of protection, thanks to FCA regulation.
Some such savings are also protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), but only up to a limit of Â£50,000.
Companies with more than 50 employees are currently excluded from this.
However the FCA is consulting on whether FSCS protection should now be extended to larger companies.
At the moment anyone who registers with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can set up such a pension scheme. They do not need to have any particular qualifications for the job, nor do they need to have any financial assets.
The only criteria is that they need to be a "fit and proper person".
However, in its guidance, HMRC says it assumes that anyone registering will be fit and proper - unless it has information to the contrary.
"It is very easy to register as a pension scheme with the tax authorities, and that's part of the problem," said Malcolm Small, chairman of the Retirement Income Alliance.
The Pensions Regulator has a similar light touch. It says it cannot endorse or recommend any particular pension scheme, and it "has no responsibility for checking that master trust schemes' claims are accurate before they are launched".
Critics say that is evidence that the regulator needs reform.
"The Pensions Regulator doesn't have the power to scrutinise how these pensions are sold. As a result I think there's a problem," said Mr Keppel-Palmer.
In a report for the industry, Mr Small claims only around 10 master trusts are reliable operators - out of a total of 80 - because many are too small or not sufficiently profitable.
The BBC contacted one small pensions company called Smart Pension which said it was confident about its own business plan.
A spokesman conceded that it would not a make a profit for several years, but stressed that it had sufficient funding to see it through to eventual profitability.
It said a separate fund had been set aside by the company to guarantee members' investments.
Of the master trust providers registered with the Pensions Regulator, only five have currently been given a "kite mark" known as the Master Trust Assurance Framework .
These are the official government-backed scheme, National Employment Savings Trust (NEST); NOW: Pensions; SEI Master Trust; The People's Pension and Welplan.
The Treasury has also said it is looking at whether supervision of master trusts should be beefed up. It is considering whether there should be an approved list of providers - what it calls a "whitelist"- to make choosing a pension company easier.
Such moves are likely to be welcomed by the regulator.
"We would like to have a strategy in place, where if there was a mass failure of a number of these small schemes, we're all ready to move in, and we have a plan of action in place," said Mr Warwick Thompson.
Update 23 August 2016:  This story has been amended to clarify that MWP Pension Ltd was a business involved in marketing My Workplace Pension rather than providing any pensions itself.
You can hear the full report from Andrew Hosken on The World Tonight, Radio 4, at 10pm.


A female gorilla born after a rare emergency caesarean section at Bristol Zoo six weeks ago is "teething and has even giggled", the zoo says.

The Western lowland gorilla was delivered after her mother, Kera, developed the potentially dangerous condition pre-eclampsia.
The baby is being hand-reared by zookeepers as Kera is still recovering but "not quite out of the woods".
Keepers are asking the public to choose the baby's name from a choice of three.
Curator of mammals Lynsey Bugg said the gorilla's birth weight had almost doubled to 2.2kgs (4lbs 8oz) and she was getting "noticeably stronger week by week".
She said: "Her arm muscles are becoming more defined, her grip is stronger and she is increasingly alert and attentive.
"She might be small but she is already showing an assertive side to her personality and grunts and coughs at us if we don't give her her milk quickly enough."
Ms Bugg said gorillas developed "in similar ways to human babies" but reached milestones much earlier. Teething started at four weeks, she tried to roll over at five weeks old and at six weeks was becoming "increasingly vocal".
Talking about the mother, Ms Bugg said: "Kera has been very poorly with anaemia and a suspected chest infection, on top of recovering from the pre-eclampsia.
"There have been a few times when we have not been sure whether she would pull through, it's been a very delicate recovery for her and she is still not 100% better."
She said Kera had shown little interest in her daughter due to being ill and they were "exploring the possibility" of another female gorilla fostering the baby after they showed "good protective behaviour".
Bristol Zoo wants to name the baby, who is not yet on show, and is inviting the public to choose from a choice of three names.


Serie A leaders Juventus scored three goals in five minutes as they eased to victory over strugglers Empoli.

It took a dominant Juve until the 65th minute to take the lead as Paulo Dybala finished high past Lukasz Skorupski.
Gonzalo Higuain doubled their advantage two minues later with a powerful left-footed drive from the edge of the area.
And the Argentina strker added a third in the 70th minute, capitalising on Marco Zambelli's error to round goalkeeper Skorupski and score.
The victory extended Juventus' lead at the top of Serie A to four points as second-placed Napoli lost 1-0 at Atalanta.
Match ends, Empoli 0, Juventus 3.
Second Half ends, Empoli 0, Juventus 3.
Juan Cuadrado (Juventus) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Manuel Pasqual (Empoli).
Foul by Stefano Sturaro (Juventus).
Guido Marilungo (Empoli) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus).
Guido Marilungo (Empoli) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt blocked. Marko Pjaca (Juventus) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Gonzalo Higuaín.
Foul by Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus).
Manuel Pasqual (Empoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Corner,  Juventus. Conceded by Lukasz Skorupski.
Attempt saved. Marko Pjaca (Juventus) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Stefano Sturaro.
Mario Lemina (Juventus) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by José Mauri (Empoli).
Foul by Hernanes (Juventus).
José Mauri (Empoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Juventus. Stefano Sturaro replaces Miralem Pjanic.
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Levan Mchedlidze (Empoli).
Corner,  Empoli. Conceded by Juan Cuadrado.
Foul by Mario Lemina (Juventus).
Giuseppe Bellusci (Empoli) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Manuel Pasqual (Empoli) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Foul by Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus).
Levan Mchedlidze (Empoli) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left misses to the left. Assisted by Alex Sandro following a corner.
Attempt missed. Alex Sandro (Juventus) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Miralem Pjanic with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Juventus. Conceded by Manuel Pasqual.
Attempt saved. Mario Lemina (Juventus) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Hernanes with a through ball.
Substitution, Juventus. Marko Pjaca replaces Paulo Dybala.
Substitution, Empoli. Assane Diousse replaces Rade Krunic.
Attempt missed. Juan Cuadrado (Juventus) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Miralem Pjanic.
Goal!  Empoli 0, Juventus 3. Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal.
José Mauri (Empoli) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Paulo Dybala (Juventus) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by José Mauri (Empoli).
Foul by Juan Cuadrado (Juventus).
Daniele Croce (Empoli) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Goal!  Empoli 0, Juventus 2. Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Mario Lemina.