Why do Indian gurus sell noodles - and much more?

Popular yoga guru Baba Ramdev is behind one of India's fastest-growing consumer goods companies. Forbes magazine calls his Patanjali empire the "Indian version of Body Shop".
The saffron-robed, bearded Mr Ramdev sells honey, health drinks, fruit juices, sweets, cookies, spices, tea, flour, muesli, pickles, soap, balms, shampoos - and noodles.
An avid supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he has taken on Nestle's hugely popular Maggi instant noodles. Despite early concerns about the quality of his noodles, he is promoting the brand as a healthy alternative to similar food products. The guru's noodles are cooking well in the market.
Encouraged by Mr Ramdev's commercial success, another guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, has unveiled his own line of food products.
Better known for his bling and for tacky performances on stage and cinema as a rotund rock star and bike-riding hero, the guru will now also sell pickles, honey, bottled water, and yes, noodles.
The guru, who runs a thriving sect, wants the "nation to become healthier" by consuming "organic products". The controversial leader lists 117 "humanitarian activities" on his website, including efforts to eliminate homosexuality, running an international blood bank, promoting vegetarianism and feeding birds.
Down in southern India, Sri Sri Ravishankar, a guru popular with the middle and upper classes, has a line of ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) products, including toothpaste, protein shampoos, herbal tea, anti-diabetic tablets, balms and syrups, produced out of a "world-class" facility in Bangalore.
The country's most famous woman guru Mata Amritanandamayi runs hospitals, a TV channel, engineering colleges and business schools, among other things.
Meanwhile, Sri Satya Sai Baba, an orange-robed guru with an afro hairstyle, left behind a multi-billion dollar empire, straddling hospitals, clinics and universities, when he died in 2011.
Indian gurus have long leveraged their mass followings and networks - political and business - for commercial gain.
In the early days, they made money mediating between the east and west. Mahesh Yogi, for example, sold yoga and meditation to millions of foreigners. But times have changed, and the gurus - living gods to the legions of their supporters - have adapted nimbly.
With more than a little help from politicians, the gurus have gone from strength to strength.
It obviously helps that their followers easily translate into captive markets for the products they want to make and sell. Their home-grown marketing savvy helps them build modern-day consumer goods empires. Most make ayurvedic and organic products, tapping into the country's ancient heritage.
Most of the successful gurus are known to be supporters of the incumbent governments, and display remarkable political nous.
"Gurus - spurious or genuine - are key players in the business and politics of spirituality," says Lise McKean, anthropologist and author of Divine Enterprise, a book that examines the business side of the Hindu religion.
"The activities of many gurus and their organisations in the 1980s and 1990s are related to the simultaneous expansion of transnational capitalism in India and abroad."
So selling yoga to foreigners is almost passÃ©. The new-age - and often brash - gurus have set their sights beyond their followers and are reaching out to India's growing domestic market, a move that must be making a number of multinational companies skittish. So, their products are now finding buyers even among the non-believers.
One of them is sociologist Shiv Visvanathan, who has visited some 20 shops selling Mr Ramdev's products. He says he is impressed by the quality of some of his wares.
"The flour is top quality, the shampoo is good. The biscuit, which dissolves quickly when dipped in tea, is bad," he says.
But more seriously, he says, Mr Ramdev is catering to the virtuous cycle of the Indian household - "health, medicine and cosmetics".
"The gurus like Mr Ramdev are telling us is that health is spirituality," says Mr Visvanathan.
Clearly, spiritual capitalism is alive and well in India. The empires of devotion are flourishing. One guru famously said that wealth followed worship.
His message was meant for his devotees who were shunning their charitable obligations. It could have been aimed at the gurus themselves.


Poland reached the knockout stages of a European Championship for the first time as they finished second in Group C after a win over Ukraine.

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Arkadiusz Milik had a shot saved and Robert Lewandowski sent an effort over as Poland missed two early chances.
Ukraine, who were already out, went close when Andriy Yarmolenko shot wide.
Jakub Blaszczykowski curled in a left-foot shot for the winner after 54 minutes and Poland will now play Switzerland in the last 16 on Saturday.
However, Bartosz Kapustka will miss the match in Saint-Etienne after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament.
Relive Ukraine v Poland
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A win by a bigger margin could have seen Poland leapfrog Germany, who beat Northern Ireland, to top the group but they rarely looked like adding to their lead.
And while they will celebrate their progress, they will also have concerns over the form of striker Lewandowski.
He scored 42 goals for Bayern Munich in 2015-16 and was the top scorer in Euro 2016 qualifying with 13 goals.
The 27-year-old was rightly regarded as Poland's key man for the tournament, but has not had a shot on target in his three games so far - and is without a goal or assist in 523 minutes of European Championship finals action since a scoring against Greece at Euro 2012.
Lewandowski should have ended that run early on when he was found by a right-wing cross only to sidefoot wide from eight yards, while he also produced some clever footwork before scuffing a shot wide.
His strike partner Milik did not fare much better, having an early shot saved when through on goal, and he also headed wide later on when he stole in at the near post.
"It will only be a matter of time before Lewandowski and Milik start to score," said Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson. "I don't think you would want to play against them."
Ukraine were the first side to be eliminated from Euro 2016 and, with the pressure off as they played for pride, they performed with a bit more freedom, enjoying 66.5% of possession.
Olexandr Zinchenko, 19, is Ukraine's youngest goalscorer and the midfielder showed glimpses of why he is regarded as one of his country's stars of the future.
He produced a delightful ball to release Roman Zozulya, whose shot was blocked by Michal Pazdan, and came close to scoring when he headed over from close range.
However, by failing to score his team depart as the first team to go five matches without a goal at European Championship finals.
Ukraine captain Ruslan Rotan: "The result was negative. There are a bunch of reasons for this. We could talk about the atmosphere in the team, but I can only say that it was positive - the players found common ground and had a good time together.
"The biggest thing, that we need to work on is our psychological level. Maybe we don't have the right mentality."
Poland coach Adam Nawalka: "That Lewandowski hasn't scored yet is not a problem whatsoever. He is doing a lot of hard work and has had a big influence on our wins and how we have played.
"He's incredibly important for us. He's a player who can help us. He plays in a supportive way throughout. It's just a matter of time for him, he's creating a lot of chances, and I think he'll score in the next match."
Match ends, Ukraine 0, Poland 1.
Second Half ends, Ukraine 0, Poland 1.
Substitution, Poland. Filip Starzynski replaces Arkadiusz Milik.
Yevhen Konoplyanka (Ukraine) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Thiago Cionek (Poland).
Substitution, Ukraine. Anatoliy Tymoshchuk replaces Roman Zozulya.
Offside, Ukraine. Roman Zozulya tries a through ball, but Yevhen Konoplyanka is caught offside.
Foul by Taras Stepanenko (Ukraine).
Arkadiusz Milik (Poland) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Hand ball by Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraine).
Foul by Roman Zozulya (Ukraine).
Robert Lewandowski (Poland) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Taras Stepanenko (Ukraine) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Arkadiusz Milik (Poland).
Hand ball by Yevhen Konoplyanka (Ukraine).
Attempt saved. Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraine) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Viktor Kovalenko.
Foul by Artem Fedetskiy (Ukraine).
Lukasz Fabianski (Poland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Ruslan Rotan (Ukraine) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt blocked. Yevhen Konoplyanka (Ukraine) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Viktor Kovalenko.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Artem Fedetskiy (Ukraine) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Roman Zozulya (Ukraine) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Artem Fedetskiy with a cross.
Foul by Yevhen Khacheridi (Ukraine).
Robert Lewandowski (Poland) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Taras Stepanenko (Ukraine).
Arkadiusz Milik (Poland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Poland. Robert Lewandowski tries a through ball, but Kamil Grosicki is caught offside.
Foul by Taras Stepanenko (Ukraine).
Arkadiusz Milik (Poland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Taras Stepanenko (Ukraine) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Arkadiusz Milik (Poland) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Kamil Grosicki with a cross following a set piece situation.
Foul by Artem Fedetskiy (Ukraine).
Kamil Grosicki (Poland) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Ukraine. Viktor Kovalenko replaces Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Michal Pazdan (Poland) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Oleksandr Zinchenko (Ukraine) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right.
Attempt blocked. Yevhen Konoplyanka (Ukraine) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Bogdan Butko.


Libraries in Birmingham have stopped buying books in an attempt to help with "huge savings" by the city council.

Some of the 38 local libraries are buying no books or newspapers at all.
The Â£189m Library of Birmingham - which opened in 2013 - is continuing to buy special collection books such as large print, and some non-fiction titles.
The city council, which needs to save nearly Â£113m this financial year, said it was "examining future operating models" for the service.
A freeze on buying books is not a blanket policy, the authority said, and "it would examine requests for new purchases on a case-by-case basis".
But because of the savings the council has to make across all departments, there was now a "pause on the book fund".
In February, the Library of Birmingham's opening hours were cut by nearly half - to 40 hours a week - in an attempt to save money.
Since then, 26 hours have been added, but there is a limited service in those extra hours.
Library user Cathy Houghton said: "They've spent so much money on the new Library of Birmingham - this is the outcome.
"Not being able to order any books at all is ridiculous. We should be trying to encourage young children to read, this is just off-putting".
"BOOKS REQUIRED" - that is in big bold letters at the top of a poster put up in one of Birmingham's community libraries - it says: "Due to public savings cuts we are no longer purchasing any new books or newspapers. Therefore we're looking for any books published in the last 12 months to be donated to the library. All gratefully received".
I haven't been able to find out if any other libraries are doing this - but this one at least really is in a pretty desperate situation.
The situation illustrates perfectly the effect of budget cuts on libraries we have heard about before - the main Library of Birmingham had its hours cut - and is only now able to open again into the evening because of the Brasshouse language school taking up residence there.
Birmingham City Council argues it'll still be spending Â£1m on new purchases across its service this year - but it looks like fiction will be the real victim.
Penny Holbrook, council cabinet member for skills, learning and culture, said the authority had listened to feedback from residents and library campaigners, but must "prioritise expenditure".
"As is well documented, we need to make huge savings across the council. We have been examining several future operating models for community libraries.
"However, as we are also reviewing the future operating model for the council as a whole it makes no sense to reorganise the libraries ahead of this.
"The reorganisation of the council - Future Council - will go out to consultation during the autumn."
She said although they had not "corporately" asked for public donations, some individual libraries had, and she welcomed any support the public wished to give.
"However we do not expect the public to make up for cuts to the budget from the government," she said.


The Toyota car factory in Derbyshire has joined forces with Kew Gardens to create wild flower meadows on its land.

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9 June 2014 Last updated at 16:25 BST
Tony Walker, deputy managing director of the company, said the firm was leading the way in what could be done to help the environment.
He added that it would also save the business money.
Simon Hare reports for East Midlands Today.


A series called Shield 5 is set to be released on Instagram over the month of February.

1 February 2016 Last updated at 10:41 GMT
The film comprises of 28 15 second episodes that will be published on the social platform each day at 5pm.
The plot revolves around a security driver, played by Christian Cooke, who is arrested for his involvement in a diamond heist and forced to go on the run to clear his name.
The film also stars Elliot Gleave, also known as the musician Example.
BBC Click spoke to the film's actors, as well as its creator and director Anthony Wilcox about the challenges of making a high production film for social media.
More at BBC.com/Click and @BBCClick.


Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt's comments that he intends to give the SDLP his second preference vote in the upcoming election spark controversy within his party.

13 February 2017 Last updated at 15:42 GMT
Mr Nesbitt was speaking on the Sunday Politics programme on BBC Northern Ireland.
Senior UUP figure Danny Kennedy has urged voters in the Newry and Armagh constituency not to follow that lead.


An 18-year-old "gang enforcer" has been jailed for killing a man during a row.

Michael Keen, 42, was stabbed in 15 times and was found dead at a house in Hazel Avenue, Darwen, Lancashire in August last year.
A Merseyside-based organised crime gang supplying drugs in the Darwen area was linked to the killing, police said.
Daniel Bamford, of Harvey Lane, Warrington, was found guilty of manslaughter. He was jailed for a total of 16 years at Preston Crown Court.
He had also earlier admitted one count of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and two counts of supplying Class A drugs.
Mr Keen had been forced into allowing Bamford, a gang enforcer, to oversee the supply of drugs from his home, police said.
The pair had argued and Mr Keen was stabbed in the head, neck, arm, abdomen and back on 25 August, police said.
Det Insp Zoe Russo said: "This was a challenging and at times complex investigation.
"Bamford is clearly a dangerous and violent offender whose actions led to Michael Keen's death."


In our series of letters from African journalists, novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at the trouble Nigeria is having balancing the books.

Whatever criticism you may have of President Muhammadu Buhari, his administration cannot be accused of being dull.
Week after week, some new action on the government stage causes eyeballs to bulge.
Even those newspapers which typically scream front page headlines such as: "Friend Kills Friend Over Girlfriend" now have more than enough government activity to meet their customers' needs for sensationalism.
The budget fiasco was the latest drama to unfold, and it came with a diverse cast of characters.
First on the stage was President Buhari. Out he marched in late December, superintendent straight, stern-faced, to present Nigeria's 2016 $31bn (£21bn) budget to the National Assembly.
With great fanfare, the Senate received the boxed document, gave a resounding round of applause, and even got the man at the top to crack a grin.
It was an occasion worth celebrating, indeed.
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani:
"The amount budgeted for books for the vice-president's office far exceeds that for some of the country's major universities"
The first time in as long as anyone can remember when the country's annual budget was ready before the middle of the year.
It was also the first in three years that a Nigerian president had personally presented a budget to the National Assembly.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan usually dispatched his finance minister to perform the duty.
In addition, the budget was made available online for citizens who so wished to freely scrutinise.
Who says Nigeria is not progressive?
Having thus made history, President Buhari exited the stage to go and continue chasing after the men and women who have been accused of spending the past few years stuffing their bellies full with funds meant for the war against Boko Haram militants.
With each new day, his trawl seems to drag in a new high-profile culprit. What a true brotherhood the multitude of alleged thieves must have shared.
There was a brief subplot when the budget went missing from the National Assembly, when no-one could trace the document presented by the head of state.
But that matter was quickly resolved and a fresh document found its way from the State House to the senators.
Once again, all was well with the world.
So what if there were some slight differences between the original document which disappeared and the new one?  The show had to go on.
In a detailed analysis, the online news site Premium Times excavated some alarming figures from the budget, showing for example that the total amount budgeted for the State House clinic which serves just a few people, far exceeds that for some of the country's major hospitals which serve millions.
In addition, the amount budgeted for books for the vice-president's office far exceeds that for some of the country's major universities.
Yes, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is a professor of law. We know the learned folk like to read, but still.
On and on the alarming discoveries continued.
Nigeria at glance:
Source: World Bank
Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari in profile
None of this was in keeping with the president's well-publicised austere nature.
Even the presidency appeared speechless and confused.
The office was still struggling to understand the situation when the government ministers took the stage.
Next thing, the Senate discovered a questionable sum of 10bn naira ($50m, £35m) "smuggled" into the budget of the ministry of education.
Then Health Minster Isaac Adewole expressed shock at the figures for his ministry, which he was expected to defend in parliament.
"This was not what we submitted," he said. "We'll submit another one".
With that, the mystery of the State House budget was solved.
Apparently, while President Buhari was busy poking alleged looters out of their holes, a "budget mafia", in the words of an unnamed presidency source and thought to refer to some civil servants - had padded out his budget with a few billion naira, which he knew nothing about.
Like most good dramas, the budget fiasco is not only about entertainment.
It has a moral at the end. The director of the budget office has been sacked.
And thanks to this tale of bloated figures and discrepancies, President Buhari now knows that his famous war on corruption must extend beyond big names and past governments.
The looters are within his camp as well as without.
More from Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani:


South Korean car maker Kia has come top in a closely watched US car quality ranking, edging out the luxury brands that usually claim the crown.

It is the first time that a non-premium brand has come first in the annual study by consultancy J.D. Power.
The survey of more than 80,000 car buyers found that Kia had the fewest problems in the first 90 days, followed by Porsche, Hyundai, Toyota and BMW.
Worst performers were Daimler's Smart, Fiat, Volvo, Land Rover and Mini.
In the ranking of 33 cars brands, 21 saw an improvement over the past year.
The study also showed that for only the second time in the past 30 years, US brands received better marks collectively than foreign cars.
J.D. Power said that in past years, electronic features such as Bluetooth, voice recognition and touch screens had often been prone to glitches dragging down the results and that this year carmakers had managed to improve their reliability.
Together with its affiliate Hyundai Motor, Kia is the world's fifth largest automaker by sales.


A South African court has withdrawn murder charges against the leader of controversial vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad).

Abdus Salaam Ebrahim was arrested following the murders of three Tanzanians in Cape Town last week.
A state prosecutor said the charges were being provisionally withdrawn to allow for further investigation.
Pagad is Muslim-dominated group which was formed in 1995 to fight crime in and around Cape Town.
It was implicated in a number of bombings in the mid-1990s, including a blast at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in 1998, which it denied.
The government once described the group as a terrorist organisation and it maintained a less visible presence until 2011 when it began a campaign to "take back control of the streets", says the BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg.
Are vigilantes the answer to gang threat?
Mr Ebrahim made a brief appearance in a Cape Town court on Thursday after spending about a week in jail in connection with the murders of three Tanzanian men, alleged to have been drug dealers, and the attempted murder of South African woman.
Pagad supporters filled in the public gallery inside the courtroom and shouted: "Allahu Akbar (God is great)", when the magistrate agreed to have the charges withdrawn, South Africa's Cape Argus newspaper reports.
The Tanzanian men were shot and killed outside a shop in Athlone, a gang-ridden suburb of Cape Town, on 13 August.
Two men died on the scene and the third in hospital. A South African woman was seriously injured during the attack.
At the time, Ashim Nassoro, the owner of the shop, said he saw men armed with AK-47s and 9mm pistols firing shots from outside the premises, local reports say.
Another Pagad member, Zakariyah Albertyn, who was held for questioning on Monday in connection with the triple murder, was released without being charged on Wednesday.
Pagad's campaign came to prominence in 1996 when a local gang leader, Rashaad Staggie, was beaten and burnt to death by a mob.
Officials have been cautious about the resurgence of Pagad in the Western Cape province and there are fears that its involvement in crime fighting will only make matters worse, our correspondent says.


Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones and UK PM David Cameron are discussing how to save thousands of steel jobs.

Tata Steel plans to sell its UK plants, which employ 15,000 people - 6,000 in Wales - and support thousands more.
Mr Jones will call for the Welsh plants to be taken into "public ownership" until a buyer is found. The PM has said nationalisation is not the answer.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid is due to fly to India later to discuss the sale process with Tata's chairman.
Beforehand, Mr Javid is due to meet union representatives, when he will be urged to back their plan for the future of the Tata sites.
Tata has plants in Wales at Port Talbot, Llanwern and Orb in Newport, Shotton in Flintshire and Trostre in Llanelli. The company also has sites in England, including Scunthorpe, Rotherham and Corby.
Mr Javid, who has faced criticism for his handling of the issue, said he held "productive" talks with Tata executives on Monday, saying that progress had been made.
He will attend the London meeting between Mr Jones and Mr Cameron, along with Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns and Chancellor George Osborne.
Tata suitor claims he can save jobs
Who might buy Tata in Port Talbot?
What's going wrong with Britain's steel industry?
Tata Steel UK: What are the options?
Is China to blame for steel woes?
Mr Jones said he had a simple message to the prime minister that the plants must not close.
"Britain must remain a steel producing country and we must work together to achieve and maintain that," he said.
"The Welsh Government has committed to doing what we can within our available powers and resources, and now its time for the UK government to act.
"There are strong economic, moral and strategic reasons why we must continue to produce our own steel, and I will be making that argument very clearly, as well as asking for solidarity and support for our workforce.
"I will be asking the PM to provide assurance that the UK government will take Tata's plants in Wales into public ownership to allow enough time for a buyer to be found."
Mr Cameron said: "At this morning's meeting, Carwyn Jones and I will look at how London and Cardiff can work together to make sure that the Port Talbot plant has a solid future and end the uncertainty for workers and their families.
"We remain fully focused on finding a buyer to run the steelworks and today's meeting is an opportunity to discuss what needs to be done to make this prospect as attractive as possible to investors."
Tata Steel has said there is "no fixed timeline" for the sale process but stressed that urgency is needed to avoid "a long period of uncertainty" for employees and customers.
Former deputy PM Nick Clegg has called for the government to assist with Tata's pension liabilities.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There has to be some government intervention, directly or indirectly, to lighten the burden of the pension liability with any new buyer."
Tata had a long-term future if the issue of cheap Chinese steel imports were addressed, he said, and it was "legitimate" for the government "to step in to help" as it had done with pension liabilities at Royal Mail.
Last week, Mr Cameron said the UK government was working to save thousands of steel jobs but warned there was "no guarantees of success". He also said nationalisation was not the right answer.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Conservatives of having an "ideological allergy to public ownership".
The union plan involves securing the customer base by guaranteeing production at Tata sites, not allowing Tata or other buyers to "cherry pick" parts of the business, and offering government support for two to three years while the industry gets "back to self-sustainability".
Potential buyer Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Liberty Group, said on Monday he could take over all of the business without mass job losses.
He said he had "very encouraging" talks with the UK government but there was still a lot of work to do.
Meanwhile the assembly's enterprise and business committee is meeting to discuss the steel crisis on Tuesday.
It will take evidence from Economy Minister Edwina Hart, representatives of Tata and Cardiff-based Celsa Steel, union officials and Neath Port Talbot council chief executive Steve Phillips.


Police in Bangladesh have defended their efforts to find missing Test cricketer Shahadat Hossain.

Hossain, 29, and his wife have been missing for more than two weeks after allegations they abused and tortured an 11-year-old housemaid, who was found on the street in Dhaka on 6 September.
Police have been criticised for failing to find the pair.
Nazrul Islam, the investigation's senior officer, told the BBC's Bengali Service they were "serious about it".
He added: "We have conducted raids in Shahadat's father's house, and his in-laws' house.
"It doesn't matter if he's a national cricketer or not - he's an accused before the eyes of the law. We will track him down and put him before the court."
Authorities have come under scrutiny for their failure to find Hossain in the 17 days since he disappeared.
Mozammel Haq - who found Hossain's maid and is now the plaintiff in the case - is among those to have expressed their frustration.
"I found the girl in a street near my house - she was severely injured," Mr Haq told the BBC's Bengali Service.
"She alleged that she had been tortured by Shahadat Hossain.
"I took her to the police station and filed a case. It is very frustrating that he has not been arrested."
Hossain has been suspended from all cricket by the Bangladesh Cricket Board while the allegations are investigated.
Hossain is a medium-fast bowler who is arguably Bangladesh's most famous player. He has played for the Tigers since 2005.
He has taken 70 wickets in 36 Tests and 47 wickets in 51 one-day internationals, with best figures of 6-27. Domestically, he plays for Dhaka Division.
Hossain last played for Bangladesh in a Test match against Pakistan in May, when he twisted his right knee and was ruled out action for six months.
He was the first Bangladesh player to have his name added to the Lord's honours board when he took 5-98 against England in May 2010.


Daniel Sturridge says his future is at Liverpool after accusing his critics of "disrespect".

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It has been reported the striker, who has played nine games this season due to injury, wants to leave Anfield over criticism of his fitness record.
"I think it is astonishing, disappointing - whoever is saying it - but that's football," said 26-year-old Sturridge.
"I am very ambitious, very determined to help Liverpool have success.
"To say a player doesn't want to play is the biggest disrespect you could ever say to a footballer," he added.
Manager Jurgen Klopp has spoken of his frustrations over Sturridge's fitness and several former Anfield stars have said it is time for the club to sign a replacement.
Chris Sutton, who won the Premier League title with Blackburn, questioned the mentality of Sturridge, saying players would say he has a heart 'the size of a pea'.
"I would probably say a lot of the things people say about me aren't true," Sturridge said before Thursday's Europa League match at home to FC Augsburg, with the tie goalless after the first leg.
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"I don't think anyone will understand how much it means to me to play football and I'll continue to do my best and focus on Liverpool.
"It's important to worry about the present. It has been a difficult time being injured but it is part of football and now I'm looking forward to the future, of course with Liverpool."
Sturridge, who has two-and-a-half years left on his contract, has scored five goals since April, when a hip problem forced him to have an operation in New York in May.
He joined Liverpool from Chelsea in January 2013 and went on to score 28 times for club and country in 2013-14.
But he missed five months of last season with a thigh injury suffered on England duty, and also had treatment for calf and thigh problems before returning.
He then picked up a hip injury against Manchester United in March 2015, which cut short the previous campaign.
"That is what we needed: to hear from him not second-hand," said manager Jurgen Klopp, whose Liverpool side face Manchester City in the Capital One Cup final on Sunday.
"He has to start games to get in the best shape. He needs to play football and do the things on the pitch and we will be happy."
Listen - 'Daniel Sturridge should just go and play'


Swansea City defender Neil Taylor says the club is under less pressure to sell players due to the money coming in from the new Premier League television deal.

Top-flight clubs will share more than £5bn from 2016 to 2019, a 71% increase on the previous three-year deal.
Gylfi Sigurdsson and Andre Ayew have been linked with moves away from the Liberty Stadium, but Taylor says the club will not need to sell their stars.
"Teams don't have to sell like they used to," said Wales' Taylor.
"I think what you're going to find is that with the money coming to the Premier League teams don't have to sell. That might mean a few more clubs hanging on to their best players."
Swansea head coach Francesco Guidolin has said he expects interest in midfielder Sigurdsson this summer.
The 26-year-old Iceland international won Swansea City's supporters' and players' player of the year awards after scoring 11 goals in the club's successful fight against relegation.
He is under contract at Swansea until 2018, but has been linked with a number of big clubs, while Ayew has said his future depends on a summer discussion with chairman Huw Jenkins.
"It's the same every year for our club, we have players that come through, they do well," said Taylor, who was visiting his old school Ysgol Brynhyfryd in Ruthin before joining up with the Wales squad for their training camp in Portugal.
"Gylfi is someone that has come now in two spells and done well for us. We want to keep hold of them obviously, Andre has scored goals.
"But just like when we lost Wilfried Bony and people down the years and we lost Sigurdsson the last time, we do lose important players because they get poached by bigger teams.
"It's important that we try and keep them and add to that this season because we've realised how hard it is."
Swansea have been linked with summer moves for two of their former players - Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony and Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen.
Ivory Coast international Bony joined City from Swansea for £25m in 2015, while Allen left for Liverpool for £15m in 2012.
Both have struggled to nail down starting places at the north-west clubs and Taylor admits he would be delighted to see them return to west Wales.
"There is a lot more work to be done than just somebody to say that we want them back. You have to talk about money, you have to talk about whether the players want to come back here," Taylor said.
"They are both at big football clubs that are fighting for trophies, like Liverpool in the Europa League. There's a lot more to happen before we bring those players in but people of that ilk are definitely people that we should be looking at."


Jurgen Klopp hopes to draw on the experience of past Liverpool managers and oversee a sustained period of success at the club.

Klopp, 49, was appointed in October 2015, and led the Reds to eighth in the Premier League, as well as the finals of the League Cup and Europa League.
The German wants to replicate the success of Liverpool "grandfathers" such as Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.
"Sometimes you can use the experience of other people," he told the BBC.
"I don't live in the past but there is a reason why we are here - because of our fathers and grandfathers. These people are like the grandfathers.
"Life is so quick. What keeps you in the race is the experience."
Klopp was speaking to MOTD presenter and former Everton, Tottenham and Leicester City striker Gary Lineker in an interview for The Premier League Show, a weekly magazine programme that airs for the first time on BBC Two at 22:00 BST on Thursday.
Shankly won the First Division three times, the FA Cup twice and the Uefa Cup once while managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974.
Paisley won three European Cups, six First Division titles, the Uefa Cup and three League Cups from 1976 to 1983.
Klopp signed a new contract in July that will keep him at Anfield until 2022. His side started the season with a 4-3 win at Arsenal but lost 2-0 at Burnley on Saturday.
"I would like to celebrate something each season over the next six years," he added. "Not the small thing, really celebrate something - driving on the big bus through Liverpool. That would be nice.
"I've said it before, but it is not important what people think when you come. It is important what they think when you leave. That is when you need to be judged."
Klopp moved to Liverpool after seven years at Borussia Dortmund.
The German club are famous for their 'Yellow Wall', a stand packed with 25,000 fans that creates one of the most intimidating and impressive atmospheres in world football.
However, Klopp says the atmosphere generated during Liverpool's dramatic comeback at Anfield against Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-finals in April eclipsed anything he had experienced before.
"When I was at Mainz, there were 20,000 people going nuts," he said. "Then I went to Dortmund and you would get 80,000. Not too bad, but then the last half-hour against Dortmund was the best I've ever had. I felt no-one could stop us."
Media playback is not supported on this device
In the interview, Klopp also gives an insight into his managerial philosophy.
He also says he understands why people might think he "is crazy", given his emotional antics on the touchline.
Klopp said his number one aim as a manager is to excite fans.
"Having memorable games in a row, that is my first target," he said.
"People being unable to wait for the next game, that is what football should be. If you can do this very often, then you will be successful."
Having experienced the benefits of a winter break in Germany, Klopp is keen to see it introduced in the Premier League.
He highlighted England's performance at Euro 2016 in France as a reason why it would be beneficial for England, who were knocked out at the last-16 stage by Iceland.
"I know a lot of these players, they have a good attitude and want to work," said Klopp.
"Dele Alli, what a season, but then maybe it felt like 500 games in his legs, he was not 100%.
"Harry Kane... what a season and then he cannot show it at the European Championship. You need fresh legs."
Watch The Premier League Show online and on BBC Two at 22:00 BST on Thursday.


Some families may lose as much as £50,000 over the next 16 years due to cuts in child benefit, the accountancy firm PwC says.

The government will start to withdraw, or cut altogether, child benefit from families where an adult earns more than £50,000 a year.
The benefit clawback will start on 7 January 2013 and will affect about one million families.
PwC says their potential loss could be substantial.
"Many people affected by the child benefit cuts have probably not considered what the true cost will be to them over time," said Alex Henderson, a tax partner at PwC.
Child benefit is currently paid at the rate of £20.30 a week for the first child, and then £13.40 a week for each child after that.
It lasts until each child reaches 16, or 18 if they are still in full-time education, and in some cases until they are 20.
Q&A: Child benefit changes
PwC took two hypothetical families to see how much money they might lose, if all their benefits were withdrawn because one of the adults earned more than the forthcoming upper limit of £60,000 a year.
In one family, there were two children aged 1 and 3 at the start of 2013, currently receiving £1,752 a year in total.
In the other, there were three children aged 1, 3 and 5, currently receiving £2,449 a year in total.
PwC worked out that the two-child family stood to lose just under £39,000 in total, by the time the youngest child turned 18, while the three-child family would lose rather more at £50,700.
The calculations assumed that without the clawback, the families' benefits would have risen in line with the consumer prices index, at a rate of 2.5% in 2013 and then 2% thereafter until 2029.
Carol, a mother of three from Southampton, told the BBC News website that she was shocked at how the sums involved would add up over the years.
"We currently receive £2,260 a year, we are not on the breadline but it is the equivalent of paying for a family holiday," she said.
"The change is grossly unfair. We decided that one of us should stay at home to look after the family, but we are being penalised," she added.
She said her complaint to her MP had been channelled up to ministers but the reply had been that the cutback she faces was justified because it would help maintain the benefits for lower-paid claimants.
HMRC is starting to send out letters this week targeted at about one million child benefit recipients, who it thinks are also in households where someone earns more than £50,000 a year.
The letters warn them that they may lose some or all of their child benefit next year if they or their partner's earnings are above that limit.
The letters offer the recipients a choice - tell the Revenue about the family's income, using the self-assessment system if necessary, so the taxman can calculate the extra tax charge; or give up claiming the child benefit altogether.
The Revenue does make it clear that in families where someone earns between £50,000 and £60,000, it will always be to their advantage to keep on claiming the benefit.


Two people have appeared in court charged with murdering 65-year-old John Gogarty.

The body of Mr Gogarty was found at a house on Marsh Street, Wombwell, on 17 July.
Helen Nichols, 38, and Ian Birley, 43, both of Mont Walk, Wombwell, appeared at Barnsley Magistrates' Court where they were remanded in custody to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on 10 August.
A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Gogarty died from stab wounds.
A 48-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder on 21 July remains on police bail.


Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has apologised for the stigma and conditions suffered by women who were inmates of the Magdalene laundries.

Mr Kenny said the laundries had operated in a "harsh and uncompromising Ireland," but he stopped short of a formal apology from the government.
About 10,000 women passed through the laundries in the Irish Republic between 1922 and 1996, a report has revealed.
The laundries were Catholic-run workhouses that operated in Ireland.
Mr Kenny expressed his sympathies with survivors and the families of those who died.
• Originally termed Magdalene Asylums the first in Ireland was opened in Dublin in 1765, for Protestant girls
• First Catholic home was founded in Cork in 1809
• Envisaged as short-term refuges for 'fallen women' they became long-term institutions and penitents were required to work, mostly in laundries on the premises
• They extended to take in unmarried mothers, women with learning difficulties and girls who had been abused
• The facilities were self-supporting and the money generated by the laundries paid for them
• Between 1922 and 1996 there were 10 such laundries in the Republic of Ireland
• Many Irish institutions, such as the army, government departments, hotels and even Guinness had contracts with Magdalene laundries
• The women toiled behind locked doors unable to leave after being admitted and while the laundries were paid, they received no wages
• The last Magdalene asylum in Ireland, in Waterford, closed in 1996
• The congregations which ran them were the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, the Religious Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
He added that the report found no evidence of sexual abuse in the laundries and that 10% of inmates were sent by their families and 19% entered of their own volition.
The inquiry chaired by Senator Martin McAleese found 2,124 of those detained in the institutions were sent by the authorities.
There will be a debate in the Irish parliament in two weeks time giving members time to read the 1,000-page document.
Girls considered "troubled" or what were then called "fallen women" were sent there and did unpaid manual work.
In 2011, the UN Committee Against Torture called on the Irish government to set up an inquiry into the treatment of thousands of women and girls.
In response, the Irish government set up an inter-departmental committee, chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, to establish the facts of the Irish state's involvement with the Magdalene laundries.
Survivors and representative groups, and the religious congregations, co-operated with the departmental committee.
Senator McAleese's inquiry found that half of the girls and women put to work in the laundries were under the age of 23 and 40%, more than 4,000, spent more than a year incarcerated.
Fifteen percent spent more than five years in the laundries while the average stay was calculated at seven months.
The youngest death on record was 15, and the oldest 95, the report found.
Some of the women were sent to laundries more than once, as records show a total of 14,607 admissions, and a total of 8,025 known reasons for being sent to a laundry.
Statistics in the report are based on records of eight of the 10 laundries. The other two, both operated by the Sisters of Mercy in Dun Laoghaire and Galway, were missing substantial records.
Women were forced into Magdalene laundries for a crime as minor as not paying for a train ticket, the report found.
The majority of those incarcerated were there for minor offences such as theft and vagrancy.
A small number of the women were there for prostitution.
The report also confirmed that a police officer could arrest a girl or a woman without warrant if she was being recalled to the laundry or if she had run away.
Amnesty International has called for former residents of Magdalene laundry-type institutions in Northern Ireland to come forward to report their experiences to the Historic Institutional Abuse Inquiry.
Amnesty spokesman Patrick Corrigan said: "Those who suffered abuse as children are now eligible to come forward to the inquiry, recently established by the Northern Ireland Executive, and we would encourage them to consider doing so."
Some former inmates rejected Enda Kenny's apology and demanded a fuller and more frank admission from government and the religious orders involved.


A suspected methane gas blast at a mine in a rebel-held area of east Ukraine is believed to have killed at least 30 people, the rebels told the BBC.

They only confirmed 23 deaths at the Zasyadko coal mine. Ukraine's officials say as many as 33 people may have died.
There are fears the rebels lack the resources to deal with the disaster, the BBC's Tom Burridge reports.
Zasyadko was the scene of Ukraine's worst mine disaster nearly eight years ago, when 101 people were killed.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has demanded access to the mine for government rescuers and police.
The mine is close to a front line where the pro-Russian rebels have been battling Ukrainian government troops.
However, Ukraine's mine unions head Mykhailo Volynets told a Ukrainian TV channel there had been no fighting in the area in recent days.
While Ukraine's economy has significantly shrunk since fighting began in April, many coal mines continue to operate in the conflict zone.
Mining safety standards are poor, and there are frequent accidents.
18 November 2007: 101 miners killed after a methane explosion at Zasyadko Mine, Donetsk
11 March 2000: 80 killed after a methane explosion at Barakova Mine, Luhansk region
4 March 2015: 33 feared dead after suspected methane gas blast at Zasyadko
Confusion surrounded the death toll in the hours after the blast, which occurred more than 1,000m (3,200ft) underground at 05:20 local time (03:20 GMT).
In the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev, speaker Volodymyr Hroisman announced that 32 people had been killed and called for a minute's silence.
However, he later retracted the figure, saying instead that one person was dead and the fate of about 30 others was unknown.
The rebels said 23 miners were confirmed dead.
But the Ukraine-controlled Donetsk regional administration said later on Wednesday that 33 people died, and nine bodies had already been recovered.
It is known that, at the time of the blast, 230 people were in the shaft. About 200 have now been accounted for.
The sister of one miner who was in the pit at the time of the explosion, Alexei Novoselsky, stood at the entrance to the mine, in tears, Reuters reports.
"Tell me, are there survivors?" she asked a passing rescue worker. "Why are you concealing the truth?"
A welder at the mine, who gave his name as Oleg, said: "I've been down the pit for 23 years, and this is the fourth explosion that I can recall.
"If they didn't get them out straight away, then later they will only retrieve bodies. An explosion is a terrible thing."
The mine is one of Ukraine's biggest coal producers.
At the end of last year, the mine was reportedly still supplying coal to coke and chemical works owned by Ukraine's wealthiest businessman, Rinat Akhmetov, in Donetsk region.
In the old coal-mining area of Donbas, the Zasyadko mine is one of the newest. It started operations in 1958 and is now said to be part-owned by Yukhym Zvyahilsky, a local leader with money and influence who was once an acting prime minister of Ukraine and is now an MP.
The mine is also one of the most dangerous. It is deep and it has particularly hazardous levels of methane.  The year 2007 was particularly bad. It saw three accidents, the worst of which claimed the lives of 101 miners.
In normal circumstances Ukraine has an established rescue procedure. There are many skilled local rescuers helped by teams that are brought in quickly from other parts of Ukraine. But these are not normal times.
The war in eastern Ukraine caused a lot of material damage to infrastructure, power supply and road links across the Donbas. It also ruptured the existing links with central authorities. It is unlikely that the rebels will talk to Kiev and allow the rescue teams in but will they turn to Russia for help?
Whatever the death toll of this accident, it adds to the depressing statistics in this part of Ukraine where the UN has reported more than 6,000 people killed by the conflict that is tearing it apart.


Landowners have reacted angrily to plans to force them to sell up to allow work to start on a new 6,000-house town between Southampton and Portsmouth.

Fareham Borough Council voted to impose Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) to speed up the planned Welborne development.
Principal landowner Mark Thistlethwayte said he was "gobsmacked" by the move.
Council leader Sean Woodward said it was due to "frustration" at no planning application being submitted.
Fareham Borough Council formerly adopted the Welborne Plan last year.
The authority has more than 1,300 families on its housing waiting list and nearly a third of the homes due to be built are classed as "affordable".
Ten parties own land earmarked for the Welborne development, with two private parties currently owning 90% of the 1,000-acre site. The landowners are responsible for bringing forward a plan for key infrastructure issues.
Mr Woodward said: "Welborne's been talked about for over a decade, we've been through the planning process, public inquiries, we've had the plan adopted - everything has been agreed
"We'd have reasonably expected development to be starting - it isn't and we need to help the process along.
"We want to get on with delivering the much-needed Welborne by whatever means."
Speaking at a council meeting on Thursday, Mr Thistlethwayte said the landowners had been "working in harmony" over Welborne and had spent Â£5m advancing detailed plans with developers.
"We committed to Fareham Borough Council we would jointly put in our conjoined planning applications to the council by 31 March.
"We were absolutely gobsmacked when we were informed of the council's plans."
The landowners said they would continue with their own planning application.
Residents in nearby villages have protested against the plans, claiming they would have a detrimental effect on the countryside.
If the CPO plan is agreed by the council's executive, building work would start in 2017 at the earliest.
The new town is due to be completed by 2038 with an eventual population of 15,000 people.


Engineers are "working around the clock" to repair a damaged gas pipe which has closed a number of roads in Cwmbran, Torfaen.

Contractors accidentally severed the pipe on Thursday, causing a gas leak which led to the evacuation of the nearby Premier Inn and Ashbridge Inn.
Avondale Road, Chapel Lane and Pontrhydyrun Road remain shut while work is carried out to repair the pipe.
Wales & West Utilities said the pipe could be made safe by midnight Friday.
A spokesperson said: "This is a very complex job, and our engineers are working round the clock to resolve the situation as safely and as quickly as possible.
"We anticipate that the pipe will be made safe, and the gas leak stopped, by midnight tonight [9 October], and our engineers will then make a permanent repair to the pipe.
"When the pipe is made safe, the pub and hotel will reopen, and we will review what traffic management will be needed to make a permanent repair."
No gas supplies have been affected by the leak.


The Sundance Film Festival has launched its 2015 edition with a documentary about famed jazz singer Nina Simone.

What Happened, Miss Simone? traces the American singer's life from her early days as a classically trained pianist to her later jazz and blues career.
Her struggles with mental illness and her involvement in the civil rights movement are also covered in the film.
The premiere, in Park City, Utah, was followed by a short concert by singer-songwriter John Legend.
"I'm so grateful to be here today honouring the legacy of the wonderful, powerful, dynamic, super-talented Nina Simone," he told the audience at Thursday's event.
Legend, who received an Oscar nomination last week for a song he co-wrote for Martin Luther King biopic Selma, went on to perform three numbers made famous by Simone, who died in 2003.
The latest edition of the annual independent film showcase, which runs until 1 February, will feature 118 feature-length documentary and narrative films in its programme.
Festival co-founder Robert Redford makes an on-screen appearance himself this year in A Walk in the Woods, an adaptation of the Bill Bryson memoir that will have its premiere later.
Other titles in the line-up include Slow West, a 19th Century western starring Michael Fassbender; True Story, a fact-based crime drama starring James Franco and Jonah Hill; and Grandma, a comedy starring Lily Tomlin that will close this year's event.
Festival director John Cooper said there had been "a lift in the quality" in submissions, adding that "the wild ride of the festival is going to be felt by the audiences.''
The opening of this year's event follows the announcement that Sundance London, an offshoot of the festival that ran from 2012 to 2014, will not take place in 2015.
It also comes in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks in Paris, something Redford touched upon during a news conference on Thursday.
"That was a sad event, it was a shocking event," he told reporters. "I also have a hunch it was a bit of a wake-up event.
"Freedom of expression seems to be in danger in a lot of areas," he continued, "But as far as we're concerned, we will do everything in our power to keep it alive here."


Labour's Douglas Alexander says it is "not too late" for the main parties to win back the trust of voters.

He said UKIP's win in the Rochester and Strood by-election sent "strong messages" to all political parties.
"The principal fuel in UKIP's tank is more anti-politics rather than even anti-Europeanism."
He added that the party which wins next May will be the one that "best answers the anger and sense of alienation that voters feel today".
Mr Alexander is shadow foreign secretary and the Labour Party's general election co-ordinator.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "There is a deep anger in the way the country is run, and who it is run for, and people feel shut out of the economy and ignored by politics.
"The truth is there is no single policy answer to this, no magic policy, no speech or campaign tactic that can address all of the disengagement that people feel.
"You have to defeat that cynicism and alienation with practical answers but that has to be done conversation by conversation, doorstep by doorstep."
He also said the result was "a humiliation for the prime minister", and denied that Labour had "given up" on the seat.
Mr Alexander also said Labour's leader, Ed Miliband, was angry about a tweet sent by MP Emily Thornberry showing a home with a white van parked in the driveway and England flags hung out the windows.
He said Labour needed to be winning over voters and the tweet did not "make the task any easier".
He added: "I understand he didn't hold back in making clear how angry he was that this would lead to widespread misinterpretations, not just as to Emily Thornberry's motives, but to the kind of conversations we're having now."
The party's candidate in Rochester and Strood, Naushabah Khan, spoke to BBC Radio Kent on Friday.
She said: "I'm disappointed that I don't have the opportunity to represent the area that I love and the people that I've spoken to over the course of this by-election, and since I was selected as a candidate last year.
"I'm very proud of the campaign that we've run, I'm proud of the support that I've had. I think we've ran a very positive campaign here and I'm proud of it."
When asked whether she would still be the Labour candidate for Rochester and Strood in May 2015, she replied: "I was selected here a year ago to fight an election in May 2015 and that's what I intend to do.
"I'm going to be out next year and I'm going to take from this election the things that I've learnt, the stories that I've heard from people, and they're the issues I'm going to continue to fight for."


They're likely to be one of the must-have presents this Christmas but warnings have been given out about hoverboards.

8 December 2015 Last updated at 17:23 GMT
It's because there are worries that some of the hoverboards on sale could have parts which catch fire.
Ayshah's been finding out more.


Flooding is affecting many parts of Scotland after the country was battered by strong winds and heavy rain brought in by Storm Desmond.

About 600 people had to be evacuated from their homes in the Borders town of Hawick.
There are multiple diversions on roads throughout Scotland and high wind warnings on most of the bridges.
Dozens of flood warnings remain in place and police have urged drivers to travel with caution.
A severe flood warning in Hawick has now been lifted but flood alerts are active along sections of rivers in the Borders, Tayside and Moray and Speyside.
At the scene
BBC Scotland's Catriona Renton
The sky above Hawick is now blue and there has not been a drop of rain for hours. So very different from last night when the River Teviot flowed fast and angrily through the town.
Throughout yesterday 600 people were evacuated from their homes along the river bank.
Some sought refuge in the local sport centre, many spent the night in bed and breakfasts or with friends and family.
In nearby Newcastleton people were also moved out of their homes temporarily as Storm Desmond made its mark.
The local volunteer flood group in Hawick were busy helping throughout. Now the town counts the cost and assesses the damage.
Last night the famous Pringle shop in Hawick had water up to its letterbox.
Today to look at Hawick you would hardly know there had been a flood here but while the water drains away its effects remain.
The River Tay in Perth was expected to reach its highest level for more than a decade and other rivers are at risk of bursting their banks.
Homes close to the River Esk in Langholm were also evacuated on Saturday night as water breached the bank, while flooding has also been reported in some areas of Annandale and Eskdale including Wamphray, Cummertrees and Hoddom.
The bad weather has also hit rail travel, with services between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Inverness cancelled after flooding on the Perth to Inverness line.
And Virgin, ScotRail and First Transpennine have all suspended train services between Glasgow and Carlisle.
Find updates about travel problems on the Traffic Scotland website and keep up to date with our Severe Weather Twitter list.
However, Nigel Goody, from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said the weather situation was improving.
He said: "The heavy rain which we've had overnight, over the last 48 hours really, is now dissipating. And the river levels are responding accordingly.
"However, I would say that the danger is not over yet. River levels continue to be high, and in some areas unprecedentedly so.
"So the public should be vigilant and should certainly not approach rivers in these conditions."
Met Office weather warnings which had been in place throughout Saturday have now all been lifted.
Live flood warnings from the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
View the flood map by tapping on the image below
Tap here for the interactive flood map.
Note: the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency display their flood alert data differently. While the Environment Agency highlights individual rivers only, in Scotland the entire region is coloured to indicate the level of alert.
This map and flood alert data are supplied to the BBC by third parties. The BBC is not responsible for its accuracy and you use it at your own risk.


A man shot in the head in Antigua was wounded while trying to protect his mother, a family friend has said.

Christopher Tester, 37, from Torquay, Devon, was wounded during a robbery at his parents' restaurant on the Caribbean island on Christmas Day.
He was being flown back to the UK by air ambulance after being taken out of an induced coma, friend Charlotte Williams said.
A crowd-funding campaign for his return has raised Â£103,000.
Mr Tester, who grew up in Brentwood, Essex, and went to Brentwood School, was spending three weeks with his parents at the restaurant.
Ms Williams said: "As far as I'm aware after talking with his family, the intruder had come in and his parents were in the process of handing over the cash.
"Chris interrupted the robbery and didn't realise the guy had a gun, and went to shield his mum. The gunman was caught unawares, and that's why Chris was shot."
Mr Tester was put in the induced coma after the shooting and taken to the neighbouring island of Guadeloupe for treatment. He remains heavily sedated and his father is understood to be accompanying him back.
He was en route "via the United States or Canada", Ms Williams said, and was due back at either Exeter or Southampton airport later on Monday.
Ms Williams, who is still in Antigua, said the flight was "unbelievably amazing news" after an "incredible shock".
The crowd-funding page was set up to pay for his return as Mr Tester did not have travel insurance. It initially aimed to raise Â£90,000.
Ms Williams added that a group of school friends had "done everything" to "keep pushing this appeal".
After he returned to the UK, the fund would also be used to pay for ongoing specialist care, Ms Williams said.


A south Indian film star has caused a sensation after being photographed standing in a bank queue with a live piglet tucked under his arm.

Ravi Babu said the piglet would star in his next film called Adhigo, which translates from the Telugu to "there".
Long bank queues have become common after 500 and 1,000 rupee notes were banned in a crackdown on corruption.
"I was taking it to a computer graphics lab when I realised I didn't have money for fuel," Mr Babu told the BBC.
"I stopped at the ATM but had to carry it myself because it squealed when my production assistant tried carrying it.
"You have to hold it with your hand under its chest and hold it close to you to make it feel comfortable."
The picture is being widely circulated on Indian social media.
There have been chaotic scenes in India ever since the currency ban was announced as part of a crackdown on "black money" two weeks ago. People have been queuing up for hours outside banks and cash machines which often are fast running out of money.
This has brought India's largely cash economy to a virtual standstill.
How will India destroy 20 billion banknotes?
Why India wiped out 86% of its cash
Meet the 'money mules' of India's cash crisis
India's 'desperate housewives' scramble to change secret savings
Can India's currency ban really curb the black economy?
The piglet, whose name is Bunty, is one of 25 pigs being reared to star in Babu's film.
"`They just grow too fast. So I am rearing quite a few to ensure the piglet's character looks the same size," he told the BBC.
Standing in line at the ATM in the southern city of Hyderabad, Babu took only about 15 minutes to withdraw 2,000 rupees - with Bunty firmly in hand.
The four people ahead of the star in the queue did not seem too bothered about the piglet and were apparently more concerned about withdrawing money.
It was only when the impatient piglet started protesting that onlookers reacted with amusement.


Former England captain Jamie Peacock has been appointed as national team manager for the Four Nations.

The 38-year-old made 47 appearances for Great Britain and England between 2000 and 2012, scoring 12 tries.
Peacock, who will work alongside new head coach Wayne Bennett, said: "I'm looking forward to being part of a winning England set-up."
The Four Nations, which begins in October, features hosts England, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland.
Peacock played for Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos before retiring in 2015 to join Hull KR as football manager.
He will join former Great Britain internationals Denis Betts and Paul Wellens as part of the England staff and will be responsible for team planning and player support.
Peacock won nine Super League titles and four Challenge Cups in his 17-year career.


A man in his 20s is in a critical condition after being assaulted in south Belfast on Saturday night.

He was attacked along with another man - understood to be his brother - in the Donegall Road area at about 21:30 BST and suffered a serious head injury.
A band parade was taking place at the time, but the attack is not being treated as sectarian.
The second man suffered injuries to his face that are not believed to be life-threatening.
Police have appealed for witnesses to contact them.


Jeremy Clarkson has pulled out of his planned appearance as guest host of the BBC show Have I Got News For You.

He had been due to appear on 24 April in his first BBC appearance since being dropped as a co-presenter of Top Gear, following an attacked on a producer.
Clarkson has hosted the satirical news quiz on numerous occasions.
Jimmy Mulville, managing director of show producers Hat Trick Productions, said he expected Clarkson to be available for a show later in the year.
Mr Mulville said: ""On reflection, Jeremy Clarkson has decided not to host Have I Got News For You. We fully expect him to resume his hosting duties later in the year."
Clarkson was suspended by the BBC on 10 March following what was described at the time as a "fracas" with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in a hotel in North Yorkshire.
An internal investigation found Mr Tymon took himself to hospital after he was subject to an "unprovoked physical and verbal attack" that resulted in swelling and bleeding to his lip.
Following the investigation, on 25 March the BBC announced Clarkson's contract on Top Gear would not be renewed.
More than a million fans signed a petition to reinstate the presenter, but BBC director general Tony Hall said "a line has been crossed" and "there cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another".
The BBC has said Top Gear will continue without Clarkson, however it is unclear whether co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond will remain.
The new series of Have I Got News For You begins on Friday with actor Daniel Radcliffe as the guest host.


Brazil's government has unveiled the first phase of a major economic stimulus package designed to boost growth in the flagging economy.

More than $60bn (Â£38bn) will be invested in the country's roads and railways over the next 25 years, with more than half in the next five years.
This includes 8,000 kilometres of new roads and 8,000kms of railways.
Further announcements involving investment in ports and airports are expected in the coming weeks.
Growth in Brazil is predicted to be less than 2% this year, the weakest annual performance since 2009 and a sharp slowdown from an impressive 7.5% rise in 2010.
The government's recent measures, such as the recent devaluation of the currency, the real, and the progressive reduction in interest rates, have so far failed to stimulate growth.
"The measures unveiled by the Brazilian government this afternoon are good news insofar as they will help tackle some of the supply-side problems that are holding the economy back," said Neil Shearing at Capital Economics.
But he said the benefits would not be felt fully for a number of years.
Brazil's growth over the past few years has been based on the expansion of credit and on consumer spending.
But while this strategy seemed to work, it also exposed serious weaknesses in the country's infrastructure.
The government has now made a conscious decision to encourage more private sector investment.
The business community in Brazil has praised the government's decision to boost investment in infrastructure, but says the action is long overdue.
In addition to the announcements made on Wednesday, President Dilma Rousseff is preparing to lower the price of energy for industry with the abolition of some federal taxes, which could cut the price by 10%.
Brazil is also hoping for an economic boost from hosting the Olympic Games in 2016.


Major changes to the care system in England are being introduced in what is being dubbed the biggest shake-up for 60 years.

The Care Act 2014 includes rights for those receiving care and those who provide it to their loved ones.
It includes standards for access to services from care homes to help in the home for tasks such as washing and dressing.
Meanwhile, NHS and care budgets are being merged in Scotland.
The Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act has been described as the most substantial reform north of the border for a generation.
It effectively forces councils and the NHS to work together to provide more streamlined services.
That aim is also a major topic of debate in England in the election campaign with the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and Greens all having plans for greater integration.
This issue includes NHS funding, GP access and social care, particularly of older people.
Policy guide: Where the parties stand
But the changes coming into force in England on Wednesday apply only to the care system for older people and younger adults with disabilities.
Four major changes are being introduced:
To help protect people's assets, a cap on care costs they have to pay for - set at Â£72,000 for the over-65s - will kick in from April next year. How the cap works for younger people has still to be finalised.
Today's changes, however, still mark a major milestone in care services, which experts say have hardly changed since the current system was created along with the NHS after the Second World War.
The BBC has launched an online guide to the care system for the over-65s. The "care calculator" covers residential care and the support provided in people's own homes, for tasks such as washing and dressing.
Users can submit their postcode and find out how much each service costs where they live in the UK.
There is also a dedicated BBC Cost of Care website, with news stories, analysis and video.
David Pearson, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said the changes were "probably the most significant development" since 1948.
But he said there were still issues to resolve on the underfunding of the system. Unlike the NHS, the care system budget has been cut in real terms this Parliament.
Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire council, who chairs the Local Government Association's Wellbeing Board, agreed with both points.
"Councils simply cannot afford any more financial burdens when social care services are already chronically underfunded," she said.
Janet Morrison, of the charity Independent Age, said the Care Act had the "potential to revolutionise" services.
But she said: "With a rapidly ageing population, we need an honest debate during and after the election about the true costs of care."


A fan who bombarded the BBC's Alex Jones with tweets declaring he was in love with her has been banned from any contact with the Welsh TV presenter.

Shane Goldsmith sent the 38-year-old One Show star a string of messages for 17 months and waited outside the BBC's headquarters to tell her he loved her.
A judge imposed a restraining order which also bars him from the BBC's New Broadcasting House in central London.
Mr Goldsmith, 44, was formally cleared of a single charge of harassment.
More on this story and other news from London
Senior district judge Howard Riddle imposed the restraining order at Westminster Magistrates' Court, banning him from having any contact with the presenter, her partner Charlie Thomson or her parents Alun and Mary Jones.
Goldsmith, of no fixed abode, is also barred from going to any other place Miss Jones lives or works.
Before succeeding Christine Bleakley as a One Show host, Miss Jones had stints on a number of Welsh-language shows and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2011.


Think of the remote Chilean outpost of Easter Island and you are likely to think of the giant stone statues that are dotted around the island and whose origins are shrouded in mystery.

You are less likely, perhaps, to think of Bach, Haydn, Chopin and Rachmaninov.
But for one native Easter Islander, these long-dead European composers are a daily inspiration.
Mahani Teave started playing classical music as a young girl growing up on the South Pacific island, one of the most isolated places on earth.
But within a year her piano teacher had left. The only piano on the island fell into disrepair and Teave's career looked to be heading the same way.
But her mother had other plans. She moved the entire family more than  3,700km (2,300 miles) to the Chilean mainland so her daughter could continue to play.
Teave completed university and went on to study music in the United States and Germany, where she is now based. Aged 29, she is regarded as one of the region's finest pianists.
Teave describes her childhood as idyllic.
"I was in complete contact with nature, swimming in the ocean, climbing trees, running freely. I wish everyone could enjoy that kind of childhood."
But on an island with a population of fewer than 5,000 people, it was culturally limited.
"There was really no chance to develop," she recalls. "When the piano teacher arrived, her idea was to retire, but then this child turns up and says to her, 'I want to learn piano, please teach me!' So that's how I started. I'd go and practise with her for hours every day.
"When the teacher left, my mum said it was just too cruel, to allow children to dream but then not be able to fulfil them. That's when we moved to mainland Chile."
Teave says she used to find it difficult to reconcile her Polynesian roots with her love of European classical music.
"They were two completely different worlds," she says. "But the more I travelled I came to realise that we're all one people, with the same feelings and the same problems. And it's the same with music. It's about different ways of expressing the same feelings."
Two decades after she first sat down at a piano, Teave is trying to ensure that the next generation of Easter Island children have things easier than she did.
She has started a music school on the island and has persuaded people to donate instruments. Piano classes started in April and violin classes in June.
"The idea is to add cello, guitar and ukulele lessons," she says. "One very generous gentleman has kindly offered to donate a grand piano."
The school has teachers but their salaries are only guaranteed until later in the year.  Teave is trying to ensure funding does not dry up.
"It's been shown that youth orchestras have a real impact on society. If you're in an orchestra you learn to respect the conductor, to listen to your fellow musicians, to work together. And those are important values.
"The alcoholism rate on Easter Island is really high, and one wonders why. I think it's because of the amount of talent and energy that ends up wasted and going nowhere."
Teave is currently playing a series of concerts in cities up and down Chile. Her repertoire includes works by Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy and Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, which has a special place in her heart.
"It was the first piano concerto I ever heard, and I really loved it, and still do," she says. "I always wanted to play it, so when I got the chance here I was really happy."
From Chile she will return to Europe before embarking on a tour of Asia later this year.
Then, in December, she will head back to Easter Island, a five-hour flight from the Chilean mainland, for a concert with her aspiring pupils at the new school.
Teave says the islanders are innately talented musicians but all too often lack the resources they need to nurture that talent. Even when they have instruments, they usually have to teach themselves how to play them. Pianos, cellos and double basses are a novelty.
"Music is a really big part of the culture on the island," she says. "If there's a guitar or a ukulele in the house, you can guarantee that everyone in the family, even the five-year-old kid, can play it."


Wasps trio Rob Miller, Josh Bassett and Brendan Macken have signed new, unspecified-length contracts with the Premiership club.

England Saxons full-back Miller has scored seven tries in 35 appearances since signing from Sale in 2014.
England Under-20s wing Bassett arrived from Bedford in 2013 and has scored 27 points in 21 appearances.
Ireland Under-20s centre Macken is yet to make his first-team debut since signing from Leinster in May 2015.
Wasps' new contract announcements came on the same day that they confirmed the impending departure of fly-half Alex Lozowski to Saracens at the end of this season.
They follow the new contract deals announced for captain James Haskell and fellow loose forward Nathan Hughes last week.
Haskell is one of four Wasps players in the first 33-man England squad named by new coach Eddie Jones for this year's Six Nations, along with lock Joe Launchbury, prop Matt Mullan and uncapped centre Elliot Daly.


Lisa McInerney has won the Desmond Elliott Prize 2016 for her debut novel The Glorious Heresies.

It is the second award for the author this month - the novel also won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.
The judging panel, chaired by author Ian Pears, said it was unanimous in its decision to award McInerney the £10,000 prize.
Pears said: "Lisa is a genuinely exciting writer - there is electricity running through her prose."
"This is a complex, unusual, violent book, bleak but with welcome humour, and she manages a huge cast with confidence," he said.
"There is never any doubt that she is in complete control, right to the unexpected but perfect ending."
McInerney, who is 34, was the youngest of the shortlisted authors.
Her debut novel details how a messy murder affects the lives of five misfits who exist on the fringes of Ireland's post-financial crash society.
The Glorious Heresies beat off competition from novels by Gavin McCrea and Julia Rochester to win.
The prize is presented to one debut novel every year in the name of the publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott, who died in 2003.
Previous recipients of the award, which is now in its ninth year, include Claire Fuller, Eimear McBride, Anjali Joseph and Ali Shaw.


Former Olympian Ron Hill has ended a 52-year streak of running at least one mile every single day after experiencing chest pains.

Hill, 78, has run every day since 20 December 1964, clocking up 52 years and 39 days.
The athlete, who won marathon gold medals at the European Championships in 1969 and the 1970 Commonwealth Games, has inspired successive generations of runners, whether elite or fun-runners.
Here is how the running community from around England have reacted to the news.
"Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Ron Hill, a true legend.
"He is such a great man and his determination is so inspirational.
"Running every day for 52 years and 39 days is such an amazing achievement.
"His performances in the marathon are also incredible."
"It will be devastating if he has to stop.
"The great thing about Ron is that unlike some people who win gold medals and then pack up he has kept running.
"He's always ready to stop and talk to people.
"For our club his association with us is like Sir Bobby Charlton with Manchester United.
"I once tried to run every day for about five years but I gave up after twisting my ankle on a fell, although I still run quite a lot."
"Ron Hill is a hero to me. I think he is one of the most important figures in the evolution  of running
"I only met Ron once and it was in the early 70s before most runners knew anything about streaks.
"Most running fans know Ron Hill for his great marathon victories and world records, his pioneering exploits that included carbo-loading, wearing mesh singlets, split running shorts. and creating road racing shoes that are as formidable exhibits of his love for running as his incredible streak.
"My streak started May 26,1969 so that's 47 years eight months well behind Ron's 52 years plus.
"I'm going to run as long as I can. The last year was rough due to injuries but I have a couple of dogs who remind me I need to get out there each morning."
"I have never been able to manage a running streak but he has certainly inspired me.
"When times have been tough I have thought about people like Ron.
"I remember the story about how he even managed a run with his foot in a plaster cast.
"If I could still be running in my 80s I would be very pleased."
"Ron Hill is so dedicated and disciplined to his running which shows me what can be achieved and helps me in all aspects of my running.
"I met Ron Hill at the start of the Greater Manchester marathon 2016 had a chat with him and shook his hand and said it was brilliant to actually meet him in person.
"I almost run everyday but as i am training for various distances from 10K to the marathon quite often there are rest days in the schedule.
"He is very much an inspiration - he's been running longer than I have been alive.
"Equalling his record is going to be very difficult
"It is very good for the body to run every day - the problem comes when people try to do too much too quickly.
"It is best to build up slowly and reach a rate that is manageable for you
"Regular exercise is good for your physical and mental health."


Doctors trialling the use of ketamine to treat depression are calling for the treatment to be rolled out.

Ketamine is licensed to be used as an anaesthetic but has a reputation as an illegal party drug.
Writing in The Lancet Psychiatry, Dr Rupert McShane, who has led a trial in Oxford, since 2011 says ketamine can work on patients with depression "where nothing has helped before".
However, he is calling for a national registry to monitor its use.
Dr McShane says tens of thousands of people who have not responded to other treatment could be helped by the drug.
But he adds there should be a national registry for those who prescribe the treatment to monitor the results and avoid misuse of the Class B substance.
Of the 101 people taking part who had failed to find a successful depression treatment, 42 of them responded to the ketamine.
"The first ketamine infusion literally saved my life," says one patient.
"I had felt so desperate I was going to end it all.
"Subsequent ketamine treatment has enabled me to return to my job full-time. I still struggle at times but being able to work again has given me such a boost."
Dr McShane hopes more doctors will use it to treat depression but fears that the UK could follow the US where there are private ketamine clinics that vary in their clinical checks.
"We think that patients' treatment should be in specialist centres and formally tracked in national or international registries. This will help us to pick up any safety or abuse problems with longer term use and narrow down what dose, frequency, route and durations of treatment works best."
The dosage of ketamine used in his trial is much less than the amount used by people who take it as an illegal party drug - and he warns against any kind of self-medication.
Dr McShane also warns it is "not a miracle" drug for depression and "maintaining the benefit is a challenge", which has so far only been achieved by repeated dosing.
But participant Louise, a 36-year-old former nurse, said she did not feel that she was becoming dependent on the drug.
"I definitely do not feel at all, in any way 'hooked on' or addicted to the ketamine. I have more trouble with withdrawal and side-effects if I miss a couple of doses of my (standard) antidepressant than I do with the ketamine."
Commenting on the paper, Prof Allan Young, from the The Royal College of Psychiatrists, said there were still "significant gaps" in knowledge about ketamine's use.
"Before ketamine can be recommended for use in clinical practice, extensive research is required to understand how to optimally use ketamine for treating depression," he said.
"The Royal College of Psychiatrists has concerns for patient safety and hence recommends mental health practitioners to proceed with caution when treating patients with ketamine."
Cardiff University psychiatrist Dr Paul Keedwell said: "Ketamine in the treatment of depression is one of the most exciting discoveries in psychiatry for years.
"However, more research is needed and having a registry allows researchers to share new findings, positive or negative."


A missing sex offender from England has been arrested by Scottish police after being found in Oban, Argyll and Bute.

Paul Vernon, 58, who is from Redditch, Worcestershire, was detained at 13:50.
Police said officers responded to a call from a member of the public following an appeal for information about Vernon's whereabouts.
Vernon was previously jailed for sex offences in Lancashire. He was being sought by West Mercia Police for breaching the terms of his release.


Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has set fire to 15 tonnes of elephant ivory as part of the East African nation's efforts to curb poaching.

The ivory, with a black market value of $30m (Â£19.4m), is the largest consignment to be destroyed in Kenya.
"Many of these tusks belonged to elephants which were wantonly slaughtered by criminals," he said at the ceremony in Nairobi National Park.
Elephant ivory is often smuggled to Asia for use in ornaments.
Rhinos are also poached for their horns for use in traditional medicine.
Conservationists have warned that elephants could be wiped out in some parts of Africa in the next few years.
"Twenty-five years after the historic banning of the ivory trade, demand from the emerging markets once again threatens Africa's elephants and rhinos," President Kenyatta said.
The burning of the ivory was to show that wildlife trophies must be put "beyond economic use", he said.
"We want future generations of Kenyans, Africans and indeed the entire world to experience the majesty and beauty of these magnificent animals.
"Poachers and their enablers will not have the last word in Kenya."
Mr Kenyatta promised that his government would destroy the country's entire stockpile of ivory - thought to be another 115 tonnes - by the end of the year.
"We are committed to combating the menace robustly and persistently until we dismantle the entire vile economy," the president said, adding that Interpol's new regional office on environmental crime in Kenya was a significant boost in the battle.
Last month, China imposed a one-year ban on the import of ivory, amid criticism that demand from its consumers was fuelling poaching in Africa.


A lone paramedic had a substance thrown on to her face, neck and chest while answering a 999 call.

She was on her way to a patient when she was flagged down by three men who appeared to be in distress in Tottenham Hale, north London.
The 32-year-old stopped to help but they pulled bandanas over their faces before one threw liquid through her window.
She was taken to hospital after the attack on 16 July but later discharged.
A Met Police spokesman said the substance was non-corrosive but it is investigating the incident.
Since 2010, there have been more than 1,800 reports of attacks involving corrosive fluids in the capital. Last year, it was used in 458 crimes, compared to 261 in 2015, according to Met Police figures.
The paramedic, who did not want to be named, was on her way to help a man suffering from chest pains when she was targeted in the early hours.
"It was terrifying. This was so cowardly," she said.
"It is my job to help people. I was on my way to help a patient and I stopped because I am caring and I thought they needed my help.
"They have taken away my trust.
"What they've done is horrific in so many ways. It was premeditated and it delayed a patient getting treatment."
She said the attack took a paramedic off the road that night.
"And yet if one my attackers were hurt, I would still treat them because that is the job," she added.
The substance caused irritation to her face, neck and chest. The man who threw it was wearing latex gloves.
London Ambulance Service is reminding its staff of the need to be cautious when flagged down by anyone requesting help or assistance.


US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has used a remarkable set of words to describe the militants of Islamic State (IS).

He warned of their "apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision", argued that they pose "an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it's in Iraq or anywhere else", and depicted them as "beyond anything that we've seen". Is this reckless threat inflation, or is Mr Hagel correct?
The US has faced a variety of effective militant groups in the past, a number of which have successfully targeted American interests.
The most significant of these has been al-Qaeda, which bombed three US embassies in 1998, a US warship in 2000, and attacked New York and Washington with hijacked aircraft in 2001. Over the past decade, al-Qaeda's regional allies have killed numerous other Americans, mostly in war zones. One such ally, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has successfully placed bombs on US-bound aircraft, forcing heightened airport security as recently as July 2013.
By contrast, IS has never come close to attacking the US homeland and has only claimed one American life, journalist James Foley. A Frenchman who fought with IS did succeed in killing four people at Brussels' Jewish Museum in May. But, as my RUSI colleague Raffaello Pantucci observes, there is no evidence that this, or four other disrupted plots, were directed by IS.
The potential return of thousands of European citizens from IS ranks does pose a serious challenge to European intelligence agencies and police forces, even if only a tiny proportion of those returnees are inclined to and capable of conducting attacks.
But this is not a new problem. As early as November 2013, terrorism expert Thomas Hegghammer pointed out that were witnessing "the largest European Muslim foreign fighter contingent to any conflict in modern history".
Unless Mr Hagel has secret intelligence to the contrary, it therefore seems wildly implausible that IS presents, as he put it, an "imminent threat to every interestâ€¦ anywhere".
Even within Iraq, the threat to US forces in Irbil and Baghdad is modest. Mr Hagel's use of the word "imminent" was probably intended to establish a legal rationale for forthcoming US military strikes, and address US domestic concern over Mr Foley's murder.
On the other hand, it should be recognized that IS is one of the most powerful jihadist movements in modern history. The group possesses an estimated 10,000-17,000 fighters, including an estimated 2,000 Europeans, and billions of dollars, according to the French foreign minister.
They control 35,000 square miles of territory across two countries, on which they operate advanced US military equipment seized from the Iraqi army. In places, they enjoy the support of former Iraqi officers once loyal to Saddam Hussein and some Sunni tribes.
IS should therefore be understood not merely as a terrorist group, but as a hybrid revolutionary movement with nation-building aspirations and conventional armed forces. This makes them vulnerable - they have more material infrastructure and capabilities to target than, say, al-Qaeda - but also more resilient.
In this sense, it is reasonable for Mr Hagel to depict IS as unprecedented. Other fundamentalist groups that controlled states, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, have been relatively parochial movements far less extreme in their methods and objectives.
The US has faced far more powerful state adversaries. The Soviet Union, for instance, killed many more people under its control than IS has done and could have inflicted far greater damage on the US had it chosen to do so. But Moscow could be deterred, whereas the "apocalyptic" ideology of IS is perceived as incapable of long-term coexistence or compromise.
Very few groups have combined this territorial control, state-like structure, and avowed intention to attack the West. Mr Hagel, despite his hyperbole, has a point.


An author who raped a woman and her daughter has been jailed for 11 years.

Peter Logan, 45, from Glasgow, committed the rapes over 18 years at addresses in Glasgow and Carnoustie.
He was found guilty of two rape charges, one of indecent assault and two of assault at the High Court in Glasgow.
Logan was finally brought to justice after the daughter told her mother that Logan had raped her when she was aged between 15 and 18.
The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, confronted Logan and both women went to the police.
Logan, whose science fiction novel Pen was published in 2015, claimed the women were liars and denied all the charges against him.
Defence counsel John Scullion said: "He was convicted of very serious offences.
"It is fair to say the jury also acquitted him of very significant aspects of the indictment.
"Given the nature of the convictions, the accused accepts your lordship must impose a significant sentence of imprisonment."
Judge Lord Kinclaven said: "As was rightly said there is no alternative to a significant custodial sentence."
A spokesman for children's charity NSPCC Scotland said: "Logan has been proven to be a sexual monster who inflicted pain, fear and misery on a mother and daughter over a prolonged period of time.
"The seriousness of his crimes is reflected in the lengthy prison sentence handed down and we now hope that his victims are given the help and support needed to recover from what has happened to them."


Scots nurse Pauline Cafferkey has been discharged from a London hospital after being treated there for a third time since contracting Ebola.

The 40-year-old from South Lanarkshire was flown to the Royal Free Hospital on Tuesday after being admitted to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The Royal Free said she had been discharged and was "not infectious".
Ms Cafferkey was treated there twice in 2015 after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone the previous year.
A spokesman for the Royal Free Hospital said: "Pauline Cafferkey has today been discharged from the care of the Royal Free Hospital following her admission due to a complication related to her previous infection by the Ebola virus.
"We can confirm that Pauline is not infectious. The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic."
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt later tweeted: "It's fantastic news that Pauline Cafferkey has been discharged from hospital. Outstanding care again from @RoyalFreeNHS #NHSheroes."
The nurse, from Halfway, Cambuslang, contracted the virus while working as part of a British team at the Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre.
She spent almost a month in isolation at the Royal Free at the beginning of 2015 after the virus was detected when she arrived back in the UK.
Ms Cafferkey was later discharged after apparently making a full recovery, and in March 2015 returned to work as a public health nurse at Blantyre Health Centre in South Lanarkshire.
In October last year it was discovered that Ebola was still present in her body, with health officials later confirming she had been diagnosed with meningitis caused by the virus.
Ebola is a viral illness of which the initial symptoms can include a sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). And that is just the beginning: subsequent stages are vomiting, diarrhoea and - in some cases - both internal and external bleeding.
The disease infects humans through close contact with infected animals, including chimpanzees, fruit bats and forest antelope.
It then spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments. Even funerals of Ebola victims can be a risk, if mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased.
Ebola outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests, says the WHO.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported in March 2014, and rapidly became the deadliest occurrence of the disease since its discovery in 1976.
Almost two years on from the first confirmed case recorded on 23 March 2014, more than 11,000 people have been reported as having died from the disease in six countries; Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the US and Mali.
The total number of reported cases is almost 29,000.
On 13 January, 2016, the World Health Organisation declared the last of the countries still affected, Liberia, to be Ebola-free.
30 December, 2014 - Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey transferred to London unit
31 December, 2014 - Experimental drug for Ebola patient Pauline Cafferkey
4 January, 2015 - UK Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'in critical condition'
12 January, 2015 - Ebola nurse no longer critically ill
24 January, 2015 - Ebola nurse: Pauline Cafferkey 'happy to be alive'
10 October, 2015 - Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey remains 'serious'
14 October, 2015 - Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey now 'critically ill'
21 October, 2015 - Ebola caused meningitis in nurse Pauline Cafferkey
12 November, 2015 - Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'has made full recovery'
23 February, 2016 - Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey flown to London hospital
28 February, 2016 - Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey discharged from hospital