Two men who died in a speedboat accident off the west coast of Scotland at the weekend were suspected puppy smugglers, it has emerged.

Sandy Hamilton, 35, and Kevin James McKinley, 46, both of Larkhall, South Lanarkshire, were pulled from the water off the Galloway coast on Sunday.
BBC Scotland understands that both men were suspected by the authorities of involvement in the illegal puppy trade.
Mr Hamilton also faced trial over the deaths of two people in a road crash.
He was accused of causing death by dangerous driving after a head-on crash killed 85-year-old Giovanni Coppolaro and his wife Maria, 83, from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, in July 2015.
Mr Hamilton and Mr McKinley were reported missing on Saturday evening after failing to return from a boat trip from Port Logan, Wigtownshire.
Police confirmed on Sunday that their bodies had been recovered from the Irish Sea.
Officers are still trying to determine the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
BBC Scotland has learned that both men were known to the authorities in connection with the illegal trade of puppies from the Republic of Ireland.
A major route for the trade sees vehicles transporting puppies across the Irish sea by ferry into Scotland.
A BBC Panorama investigation into the trade - Britain's Puppy Dealers Exposed - was broadcast last year.
The programme obtained footage which showed Sandy Hamilton being stopped in September 2015 on a ferry from Northern Ireland.
A concealment of puppies was found in the boot of his car and on that occasion he was allowed to continue on his journey and keep the dogs.
The stop was carried out by the Scottish SPCA as part of Operation Delphin.
This multi-agency initiative, which includes Stena Line, Police Scotland, Trading Standards and HM Revenue and Customs was set up to tackle the puppy trade business and protect the welfare of puppies and their breeding.
It is now believed that Mr Hamilton and Mr McKinley may have been on their way to collect more puppies in a speedboat at the weekend when the fatal accident happened.
BBC Scotland understands that Mr Hamilton's body was recovered, along with a substantial amount of cash.
Police Scotland would not comment.
A Scottish SPCA undercover inspector told the BBC: "Puppy trafficking has been monitored for some time under Operation Delphin and we have identified a particular route between Scotland and Ireland.
"Operation Delphin has gained success tackling the illegal trade involving puppy trafficking in an attempt to improve animal welfare.
"We have seen the perpetrators develop more elaborate ways to source puppies undetected."
Mr Hamilton was due to stand trial on the death by dangerous driving charge in July 2017.
Mr and Mrs Coppolaro had been travelling in a Jaguar car on the A73 in North Lanarkshire when it was hit by a Volkswagen Golf being driven by Mr Hamilton.
He had denied overtaking a lorry on a bend when it was unsafe to do so.
Mr Hamilton was also accused of driving without insurance.


A pepper spray was the likely irritant that led to 30 people at a Norfolk college needing medical treatment, the college said.

Emergency services were called to the College of West Anglia in King's Lynn on Friday.
An adult student was taken to hospital as a precaution but was later discharged.
Principal David Pomfret said he would be leaving "no stone unturned" to find out what happened.
Emergency services including a Magpas helicopter treated people at the site for breathing difficulties and watery eyes.
A number of classes at the Tennyson Avenue campus had to be cancelled but the full college has since reopened.
A college spokeswoman said emergency services believed the likely cause was "the introduction of a substance to the third floor area by a person or persons as yet unknown".
"Discussions with the emergency services suggest that this is likely to have been a CS-type substance, mace or pepper spray, but this has not been confirmed," she said.
"It is being treated as a criminal act and the college will be working closely with the police to identify the culprits," she added.
Mr Pomfret said: "I would like to reassure students and staff that we have already started an internal investigation to support the police and will be leaving no stone unturned to ensure this matter is brought to a speedy conclusion."
Norfolk Police confirmed it was investigating the incident but has yet to comment further.


Castleford forward Kevin Larroyer has been banned for two matches after pleading guilty to grabbing the testicles of Catalans' Vincent Duport in the process of making a tackle.

Larroyer was sin-binned after the incident, known as a "squirrel-grip" tackle, and later apologised to team-mates, adding it was "not intentional".
He entered an early guilty plea to a charge of "other contrary behaviour".
Larroyer, 28, will miss the first two games of the Super 8s competition.
Castleford went on to win Saturday's match 32-24.
The Tigers finished top of the Super League table after 23 regular-season matches and need just one win from seven Super 8s games to guarantee themselves a semi-final spot.
Meanwhile, Widnes will be without Alex Gerrard for the first two matches of their Qualifiers campaign - in which the Vikings will be bidding to retain their Super League status - after he pleaded guilty to Grade C dangerous contact in their defeat by Warrington on Thursday.


Share trading in MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator, has restarted after earlier being suspended following a huge fine imposed by Nigerian authorities.

Trading in MTN Group was halted in Johannesburg after the stock fell 8%.
Dealings later started again after the company said it was in talks with Nigerian authorities about reducing the record $5.2bn (£2.7bn) fine.
The sum amounts to double MTN's annual profits last year.
The Nigerian Communications Commission imposed the penalty for failing to cut off unregistered mobile users, giving MTN just two weeks to pay.
22%
of Nigeria's annual budget
Double MTN's annual group profits ($2.69bn after tax)
$80 for every single MTN customer in Nigeria
1.5x Nigeria's annual capital expenditure
95% of Nigeria's annual spend on servicing its national debt
The company said on Monday it was in talks with the Nigerian presidency, internal security agency and the communications regulator about the fine.
Chief executive Sifiso Dabengwa, who used to run the company's Nigerian operations, is understood to have flown to Abuja in a bid to negotiate a lower penalty.
Nigeria is MTN's biggest market, with 28.5 million subscribers, followed by Iran and South Africa.
The company's shares had fallen by about 25% since the fine was announced on Monday last week, wiping about 60bn rand (£2.7bn) off its market value, with the company now worth about £13bn.
The stock was down 5.5% after trading recommenced.
There's more to this story than meets the eye. It's not simply a case of a company failing foul of regulatory authorities and getting a slap on the wrist - some analysts say this $5.2bn slap is enough to break or seriously bruise MTN's wrist.
The fine was imposed because MTN failed to cut off unregistered SIM cards, which was regarded as crucial to limiting the communications of Nigeria's various armed criminal and terrorist groups.
It is thought that the kidnapping of a former finance minister, Chief Olu Falae, was the thin end of the wedge for the Nigerian authorities.
He was taken by armed men at the end of the September. It transpired that the phone the kidnappers were using to communicate their ransom demands had an unregistered SIM card from MTN.
That is when the Nigerian government is thought to have finally run out of patience with the mobile operator.
MTN has 231 million subscribers in 22 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
In September, the company was named as most admired brand in Africa in the Brand Africa 100 awards, beating Samsung, while it was also awarded the continent's most valuable brand - worth $4.6bn (£3bn).
MTN was South Africa's second mobile operator when it was set up in 1994 after the fall of apartheid.
It began its expansion across Africa four years later with operations in Rwanda, Uganda and Swaziland.


A cold caller who became a "figure of horror" has been sentenced for driving an elderly couple into £73,000 of debt.

Barbara Stone pressured John and Olga Moyle into buying advertising space while working at Leicester-based Aspire magazine, a court heard.
The 62-year-old, who previously admitted two counts of fraud, was given a 22-month suspended prison term.
Judge Stuart Rafferty told said she had "made people's lives a misery" and "hounded [the Moyles] to death."
The Moyles' daughter, Franny, said she was "very disappointed" with the sentence, describing the defendant as a "nightmare" for the family.
The court was told Stone, of Taunton Close, Wigston, cold called the Moyles in 2010 and convinced them to place adverts for their small holiday home in France.
For nearly 10 months - while Mrs Moyle was being treated for cancer - up to £8,000 a month was taken from their account, finally totalling £73,000.
Stone told them sponsors - who did not exist - would reimburse the money.
Ms Moyle told the BBC: "Stone would ring my father every day, putting him under huge pressure - harassing him.
"My father didn't realise that amount of money was going out because he wasn't checking his accounts - he wasn't checking his accounts because my mother was dying.
"[When I found out] I was horrified, was in shock - seven years later it still keeps me awake at night."
The court also heard the couple were conned out of an additional £30,000 by Derby-based Wyvern Media, itself the subject of a major court case last year.
The resulting debts meant the Moyles had to sell their Shropshire home of 50 years. Both have since died.
The second fraud charge related to Stone taking £14,000 from a dog shelter in Shropshire.
Her defence team said she was stressed at work, eager to please bosses and did not receive any of the money.
Ms Moyle said: "[Stone] must be without scruple, she has become a figure of horror."
James Delaney from Trading Standards said: "[Stone] was callous and manipulative. She relentlessly targeted people who begged her to stop.
"Unfortunately the Moyles are not here today and I'm sure her behaviour had an impact on their final years."
Aspire has not commented on the case.


A watchdog has criticised prison staff in Northern Ireland for their reaction when an inmate, who later died, was found "unresponsive" in his cell.

David Brown became ill in Maghaberry Prison in December 2012 and died later in hospital from a brain haemorrhage.
The Prisoner Ombudsman said staff left him unattended for five minutes in an unresponsive state and did not raise the alarm immediately.
The watchdog has concluded the response of the Prison Service was "inadequate".
The report by Prisoner Ombudsman Tom McGonigle also found that a nurse treating the inmate was not made aware that it was an emergency situation and other prisoners were not locked in their cells during the incident.
However, Mr McGonigle, said: "While some things could have been done better, a key finding of this independent investigation is that there was no possibility to achieve an alternative outcome for Mr Brown."
The Prisoner Ombudsman's office is required to investigate all deaths in custody in Northern Ireland, including deaths due to natural causes.
The report into David Brown's death said painkilling drugs were found in the 46-year-old's system during toxicology tests, but added that the drugs had been prescribed to him.
It said the medication was found at "concentrations that lay within their respective therapeutic ranges".
"This is important as there was speculation about a white powdery substance that was found around Mr Brown's nose at the time of his death," a statement from the ombudsman said.
Despite criticising prison staff for their immediate reaction to finding the prisoner unconscious in his cell, the report did not find fault with the inmate's medical management during his time in the jail.
A clinical reviewer who investigated the case "did not feel that an opportunity to achieve an earlier diagnosis existed, or that there would have been a possibility to achieve an alternative outcome for Mr Brown".
The ombudsman's report into the handling of the prison's case identified four matters that required improvement.
Two of the four areas related to record-keeping and post-incident support for staff.
The need for improvement in these two areas had already been highlighted to the prison authorities and the South-Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, which treated the inmate.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) has accepted the ombudman's four recommendations and said they have already been implemented.
The health trust has also accepted their recommendation, and told the ombudsman it has been reiterated to their staff and will be considered at a "Lessons Learned" forum.
Mr McGonigle has expressed sympathy to the prisoner's family.


The death toll from alcohol poisoning in India's western city of Mumbai (Bombay) has crossed 100.

Police spokesman Dhananjay Kulkarni said the number of people who had died now stood at 102, and seven people including two women had been arrested.
He had earlier described the incident as the worst of its kind in the city in more than a decade.
Toxic alcohol deaths are a regular occurrence in India, where people often drink cheap bootleg liquor.
Residents of the Malad slum area fell ill after drinking the cheap homemade alcohol on Wednesday.
Mr Kulkarni said police have been unable to locate the outlets that sold the alcohol.
All of those who have died come from Laxminagar in Malad which is a sprawling slum in the north-west of the city.
A majority of the people who live here are daily wage labourers, and since most of those who have died are men, there are many families who have lost their only earning member.
Sarika Itkar, a 32-year-old woman lost her husband who worked as a sweeper. "I have two children. How am I going to look after them now?" she asked.
The government has announced compensation of 100,000 rupees ($1575; Â£995) for the families of those killed, and today some officials were in the slum verifying documents to distribute the money.
Locals say the alcohol was bought from unlicensed sellers who lived in the area, and it used to be sold in plastic packets for as little as 10 rupees for 50ml.
Police suspect the deaths were caused by methanol poisoning, but are still awaiting reports, Mr Kulkarni said.
Distilling alcohol safely requires a precise control of the temperature, because if that rises above a certain level then methyl alcohol can form. Sometimes, certain herbs or chemicals might be added to increase the strength or improve the flavour, and these can react badly with other chemicals.
At least 29 people were killed after consuming toxic alcohol in Uttar Pradesh state in January.
India has witnessed many other incidents of toxic alcohol deaths in the past:


Scottish boxer Mike Towell has died in hospital after being seriously injured in a bout on Thursday.

The 25-year-old, from Dundee, was rushed to hospital after a fifth-round loss to Welsh fighter Dale Evans in a St Andrew's Sporting Club fight at Glasgow's Radisson Blu Hotel.
Towell's partner, Chloe Ross, said he "fought right to the end".
He is only the third professional boxer to die in the UK from apparently fight-related injuries in the past 21 years.
His management said he passed away with his family at his bedside.
St Andrews Sporting Club confirmed Towell's death in a tweet on Saturday morning.
"Within the last hour Mike Towell passed away - he will always be in our hearts #RIPIronMike," it said.
In a Facebook post, his partner Ms Ross said Towell died "peacefully" shortly after 23:00 BST on Friday, 12 hours after he was taken off life support.
"I'm absolutely heartbroken to say my annoying best friend passed away tonight at 11.02 very peacefully," she wrote.
"Michael had severe bleeding and swelling to his brain.
"He had been complaining of headaches for the last few weeks but we put it down to migraines with the stress of his fight.
"It has been the longest 24 hours of our lives. My baby has lost his daddy. But he will be so so proud of his dad in what he achieved."
Ms Ross added: "Once he was taken off of his life support he managed 12 hours, 12 whole rounds off his life support, he fought right to the end and he's done us all so proud... He left doing the thing he's best at... there's only one."
A spokesman for St Andrew's Sporting Club later said that Towell's management team was not aware of any headache problems leading up to the fight.
Towell was knocked down in the first round of the fight before recovering to continue the match.
Referee Victor Loughlin stopped the fight in the fifth round shortly after Towell was knocked down by Carmarthen fighter Evans for a second time.
He received treatment in the ring and was given oxygen before being taken to an ambulance on a stretcher.
Spencer Oliver, the former European Super Bantamweight champion who was placed in a coma after being injured in a fight in 1998, said Towell would not have been allowed to fight if there had been doubts about his health.
He said: "He would have to have had all his medical tests. He was in a British title eliminator so all his brain scans would have been up to date and everything would have been in place with Mike going into that contest."
But boxing promoter Frank Warren raised concerns about the reports that Towell had been suffering from headaches.
He said: "If that's true, obviously he shouldn't have been fighting.  And I'm quite sure, the doctor, who examines the boxers and the medicals, if they had of known that, they would not have allowed him to box.
"So, obviously once the British Boxing Board of Control complete their investigation into the matter, they'll be able to give further comment on that."
Boxing tragedies
Towell's family are understood to have been joined by his manager, Tommy Gilmour, during his final hours.
Mr Gilmour said"He was Iron Mike to the end, he kept fighting till the last, and we have lost an exciting boxer but, more importantly, a very special man.
"I am devastated and all my thoughts are with Mike's mum Tracey, his partner Chloe and their little son Rocco.
"He was one of the greatest characters I have worked with, I came away from every phone call or chat we had smiling and shaking my head in bewilderment."
Iain Wilson, owner of St Andrew's Sporting Club, who was with Towell and his family following the fight, added: "He wasn't just a fighter at our club, he was my friend and a special heart-and-soul guy.
"I was with the family through the night after the fight, they are heartbroken and everyone at the club shares their grief.
"We have lost one of our favourite sons and boxing has lost an explosive talent but the biggest loss of all is for the Towell family. We will rally round them now to do all we can."
Trainer Shane McGuigan said on Twitter: "Heartbreaking news that Mike Towell has lost his life. May he rest in peace, thoughts go out to his loved ones. #RIP"
Promoter Eddie Hearn said: "Absolutely devastated by the passing of Mike Towell - all of our thoughts with his friends and family at this time."
The boxer had been undefeated going into Thursday's fight, with 11 previous wins and one draw on his professional record.
Veteran Labour MP Paul Flynn described Mike Towell's death as "a terrible tragedy" and renewed his call for blows to the head to be banned in sport.
The shadow cabinet member twice called for the rule change through private member's bills in 1998 and and 2005 but failed on both occasions.
Mr Flynn said: "I think the consciences of people in the sport are aroused by tragedies of this kind and I think people should be aware of the dangers.
"We ought to change the rules in many sports and realise that the head is a very delicate part of the body and to protect it, and minimise the number of blows the brain suffers."


Think back to the dramatic events of January and February, when for a moment it seemed Arab dictators were falling like dominoes.

Then look at the bloody stalemate that characterises the region today.
The two trailblazers, Tunisia and Egypt, have entered an ambiguous transition as the forces of change confront old elites clinging to power and privilege.
Elsewhere - in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and above all Libya - the dictators are hanging on, through the violent suppression of protest.
The notion that people power would sweep through the region, erasing the old order like a tsunami, was always illusory.
We are wrong to think that everything has changed - or that nothing has changed.
Three lessons stand out.
While Arabs share the same grievances - over autocracy, corruption, the lack of jobs - the expression of these grievances plays out differently in each country.
In Egypt the generals were the decisive force in toppling the ruler (which does not make them revolutionaries).
In Syria and Bahrain there is a sectarian dimension fuelled by minority regimes for whom majority rule is especially threatening.
By sending troops into Bahrain, in response to an overblown Iranian threat, Saudi Arabia exacerbated sectarian tension.
Libya is different again, because of the lack of a strong centralised state - and because the opposition has called in Western help.
In no two cases is the balance of forces identical.
In origin, the Arab uprisings were nationalistic. They brought together different groups united by the demand that a hated dictator should go.
But religion has not suddenly disappeared.
The question is not whether Islam will play a role in determining the region's future, but what that role will be.
For the moment, Islamist groups - notably the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt - are speaking the language of democracy and national unity.
The Islamists realise they have a unique opportunity to enter the political arena.
It is an ideal moment to put their democratic pretensions to the test.
A split between a more reactionary Islamist old guard and a more open-minded younger generation is not inconceivable.
Western powers, not least the Obama administration in Washington, have been slow to realise the limits of their influence. They are reacting to events, not driving them.
In Yemen, for example, the Americans initially supported President Ali Abdullah Saleh - but then, seeing the writing on the wall, began to distance themselves from him.
Even in Libya - the one place where the West has gambled on armed intervention - it is discovering it may not be able to determine the outcome.
However uncomfortable in the short run, in the end that may be no bad thing.
The Bush administration toppled the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, with consequences the region is still living with.
This time the pressure for regime change is coming from within.
Democratisation will be destabilising. It always is. And getting rid of the dictator does not necessarily produce democracy.
But everywhere the mood has changed. In city after city, the barrier of fear has been breached. In that sense, at least, there can be no going back.
Roger Hardy is a visiting fellow at the Centre for International Studies at London School of Economics.


Work has started on the £6m renovation of a cruise terminal in Southampton.

The Mayflower cruise terminal's departure, check-in, security and passenger lounges and drop-off and pick-up areas have been redesigned.
Steven Young, director of port services and government affairs at Carnival UK, said the aim was to create a "stress-free travel experience".
The work, which involves removing 100 tonnes of walls and floors, is due to completed by April.
Operator Associated British Ports (ABP) said the work would bring the terminal "in line with the requirements and standards of the modern-day cruise ship".


Images of two people who helped at the Hillsborough disaster have been released as part of witness appeals.

The pictures were published by the team investigating the 1989 tragedy, in which 96 people died after a crush during an FA Cup game in Sheffield.
In total, pictures of 100 people at the Liverpool v Nottingham semi-final match have been released in 10 appeals.
Of those, 47 have been identified or have come forward.
Images of those yet to be traced are available on the Operation Resolve website.
New inquests into the disaster are being held in Warrington, Cheshire.


The Hatton Garden jewel raid was the "largest burglary in English legal history", a court has been told.

Jewels and precious metals estimated at Â£14m were taken when raiders bored through a wall into a vault.
The raid was planned on Friday nights at a pub and took place over the Easter weekend, in London's jewellery quarter, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Three men deny conspiracy to commit burglary. A fourth denies conspiracy to conceal or transfer criminal property.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of men arriving in a white van, and from it unloading various tools, bags, metal joists and wheelie bins.
They heard that while at Hatton Garden, the men used walkie-talkies to communicate, and their mobile phones were in "radio silence".
Once inside, the men used the lift shaft to access the basement, disabled the alarm and drilled into the vault wall.
Inside the vault, raiders ransacked safety deposit boxes used by traders of jewellery, precious stones and precious metals.
Prosecutor Philip Evans told jurors "this offence was to be the largest burglary in English legal history".
He said "at best" about one third of the property had been recovered and that was mostly lower-value goods.
Defendants and charges
The thieves bored a hole 20in (51cm) deep, 10in (25cm) high and 18in (46cm) wide through a wall at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company.
There was evidence the search for suitable equipment might have started four years ago.
The jury was shown 3D-images that revealed other damage the burglars caused.
That included broken doors and gates, and the shutter to the basement lift access which had been prised open.
The burglary spanned the weekend, with the raiders returning on 4 April with more equipment, after they were only partially successful on 2 April, jurors heard.
They were told much of the evidence had come from mobile and landline telephone data, and that the burglars had left no "forensic trace".
Mr Evans said the burglary was arranged during Friday night meetings at The Castle pub on Pentonville Road in Islington, north London.
Previously John Collins, 75, of Bletsoe Walk, Islington; Daniel Jones, 58, of Park Avenue, Enfield; Terry Perkins, 67, of Heene Road, Enfield and Brian Reader, 76, of Dartford Road, Dartford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.
They will be sentenced at a later date.
Reader was described as the "Governor" or the "Master", and had been heavily involved in the planning of the raid, the court heard.
A book called "Forensics For Dummies" was found at Jones's house.
Mr Evans said they were the ringleaders and had "a great deal of experience" in planning and executing sophisticated crimes.
He said they would only have involved others who could be "fully trusted".
The trial continues.


UK house prices have recorded a quarter-on-quarter fall for the fourth month in a row for the first time since 2012, according to the Halifax.

The mortgage lender said that property prices between May and July were 0.2% lower than the previous quarter.
The figures, based on Halifax's own mortgage data, showed annual house price growth had slowed to 2.1%.
A number of surveys have suggested a cooling or relatively stagnant UK housing market.
"House prices continue to remain broadly flat, as they have since the start of the year," said Russell Galley, of the Halifax.
The Halifax said the cost of the average home rose by 0.4% between June and July, with the average property valued at Â£219,266.
First-time buyers will be given some cheer from the figures, which indicate that house prices are not accelerating out of reach at a pace seen previously.
A year ago, house prices were growing at an annual rate of 8.4%, but the pace has since slowed.
The Halifax says demand is weaker owing to a cocktail of weak wage growth, a rise in prices in the shops, and affordability concerns. It echoes its rival, the Nationwide, in pointing to a continuing shortage of houses on the market as a reason why prices are still rising, albeit at a slower rate, rather than having fallen.
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: "Mortgage rates are staying extremely low. This state of affairs has been supporting the housing market to an extent and is likely to continue to do so with no immediate interest rate rise on the horizon.
"One of the big issues facing prospective buyers is not so much getting the mortgage they need but finding a property they wish to buy. Until supply improves, this will continue to be the case."
Where can I afford to live?


A former senior official described as China's most wanted fugitive, accused of embezzling more than $40m (Â£26m), is set to be extradited from the US.

Chinese state media said Yang Xiuzhu amassed a fortune overseeing construction projects as deputy mayor of Wenzhou in east China in the 1990s.
Ms Yang, 68, left China in 2003. She was detained in the US after entering with a fake Dutch passport last year.
She tops China's list of 100 suspects it wants to extradite.
Ms Yang went into hiding after being sought by anti-corruption investigators in China.
She is now in a detention facility in Hudson County, New Jersey, according to the US immigration agency.
Luis Martinez, a spokesman for the agency, said: "As a foreign law enforcement fugitive, Yang is an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] priority."
In April, China published the names of 100 suspects in foreign countries wanted for economic crimes, with Ms Yang, on Interpol's website, topping the list.
It was part of Operation Sky Net, which targets officials accused of corruption and living abroad with the aim of confiscating misappropriated money and assets.
State media reported that earlier this month, the number two suspect, Li Huabo, was repatriated from Singapore after five years at large.
China's President Xi Jinping launched a crackdown on corruption when he took office in 2012.
China is pushing for talks with the US on an extradition treaty, which would boost prosecution efforts.  It has said there are more than 150 economic fugitives in the US.


Dan Lydiate, Tom James and Gareth Anscombe are among 13 players released by Wales to play for their regions.

Wing James started against Ireland and Scotland, while flanker Lydiate made appearances off the bench.
Full-back Anscombe missed the game in Ireland with injury but was a second half substitute in the 27-23 win over Scotland in Cardiff.
Welsh squad players based in Wales do not have to be released during the Six Nations Championship.
With the international tournament taking a break, all four Welsh regions are in action.
On Friday, 19 February Ospreys play Edinburgh while the Dragons are away to Benetton Treviso.
Saturday sees the Blues at home to Leinster and Scarlets travel to Ulster on Sunday.
Squad players based outside Wales have already been released to their clubs.


Ronny Deila has some serious issues to address, urgently, both on and off the field.

His team were taken apart by Molde, a side sitting seventh in the Norwegian league, who were able to expose recurring weaknesses in the Scottish champions.
A fragility at the back has been one of the themes since the season began and though Deila can point to their defensive record being the best in the Scottish Premiership, European competition has laid bare the problems in that area.
This was evident even before the departure of Virgil van Dijk to Southampton, with some observers identifying the loss of Jason Denayer as having had a greater impact in that regard.
With both gone, though, Deila has been unable to field, or perhaps even identify, a first-choice central defensive pairing, with new signing Jozo Simunovic only able to finish one match thus far.
Dedryck Boyata, at fault for the first of Molde's three goals, has much to do to convince supporters he can cut it, Tyler Blackett is a work in progress and Efe Ambrose has been found wanting on big occasions, not least when Celtic threw away a two-goal lead at home to Fenerbahce.
But while the conceding of some goals has been down to individual error, a tactical set-up that commonly leads to Emilio Izaguirre and Mikael Lustig being caught too far up the park has to be questioned.
It is a ploy that, as assistant manager John Collins infamously observed, is rarely punished on the domestic front where Celtic will continue to dominate regardless of European performances.
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But time and again, Celtic have been punished for failing to adequately adapt those tactics to allow for a higher calibre of opposition.
Deila has to take responsibility for failing to learn from a weakness that has haunted them since the wretched displays against Legia Warsaw in last season's Champions League qualifiers.
As a team, Celtic have not performed to the required level when it has really mattered in Europe under Deila.
To the Legia debacle add Maribor, Malmo and now Molde. It was only three years ago that Neil Lennon's side were beating Barcelona in the Champions League group stage - a world away from the level at which this team is performing.
Some fans - principally the ones venting their anger at Celtic's chief executive Peter Lawwell on Thursday night - would argue this is a result of a gradual downsizing over that period, selling players and replacing them with inferior versions.
Celtic operate as a highly successful business but at some point - Thursday night being a prime example - that policy comes under scrutiny as a club with a much smaller budget is able to brush the Scottish champions aside.
But that brings the argument back to how the players are coached and then set up as a unit, an area in which Deila has been found wanting if European results are anything to go by.
And then there is the matter of his management of personalities, which came into sharp focus as Kris Commons berated the decision to take him off on Thursday night.
Deila's relationship with Commons - a strong character and a powerful one within the dressing-room dynamic - has been the subject of debate almost since the Norwegian's arrival.
A belief that Commons is not Deila's type of player persists, but in recent weeks the forward has started the majority of matches as Celtic began to put together a run of form that took them to their familiar spot at the top of the Premiership.
Commons is a passionate man and perhaps his reaction to being substituted was nothing more than an example of a player's frustrations at being replaced - arguably unjustifiably.
But as Deila labelled that reaction as "unacceptable" and Commons was shepherded past reporters afterwards, speculation will resurface as to the management team's ability to command the respect of some of the club's senior players.
The best way to quell that will be to reaffirm their domestic dominance against Dundee United and Aberdeen in the league and Hearts in the League Cup before a revenge mission against Molde in a fortnight's time.
Anything less and Deila will be in for an even more uncomfortable ride than the turbulent plane journey back from Norway.


European students applying for UK degrees in 2017 need guarantees about funding or their numbers could crash, university leaders will hear later.

EU students currently pay the same fees and have the same access to loans as UK students.
But those starting in 2017 and 2018 could lose out after Brexit, Universities UK president Dame Julia Goodfellow will warn in a speech.
Ministers should provide urgent reassurance, Dame Julia will say.
Following the EU referendum in June all four UK nations confirmed that current EU students and those starting courses this autumn would be eligible for loans and grants to fund their studies for the duration of their courses.
But there has been no such clarification for EU students applying to start degrees next year or the year after.
The Brexit process is likely to take at least two years, so these students could face changes to fees and funding during their courses, and this could put them off applying to UK universities, Dame Julia will argue.
The application process for degrees starting in 2017 opened on Tuesday so the situation has now become urgent, she will warn the Universities UK annual conference in Nottingham.
She wants the UK government to take "swift and positive action" to reassure EU students applying for next year that they will pay the same fees and have access to the same financial support throughout their courses.
This is necessary to "prevent a likely sudden decline in EU student applications" across the UK, she will warn.
Currently more than 125,000 EU students are studying at UK universities, about 5% of the overall student population, Dame Julia, who is vice-chancellor of the University of Kent, will say.
"Put simply, universities are currently unable to answer two crucial questions that are being frequently asked by prospective EU students considering whether to apply to start courses in the UK in autumn 2017: 'What fees will you charge for any years of my course which are post the date of exit?' 'Will I be able to access any financial support?'
"This issue is urgent. Ucas applications opened yesterday for the 2017-18 intake and EU students are almost twice as likely as UK students to apply very early for those courses with October deadlines.
"I urge government to take swift and positive action to address uncertainty, prevent a likely sudden decline in EU student applications and provide much needed reassurance to prospective EU students and universities across the UK."
Dame Julia's warnings follow concerns about the stability of research funding at UK universities, with some research groups saying they lost out on grants in the weeks following the referendum.
The latest global university ranking table, published on Tuesday by QS, shows UK universities losing position compared with international competitors.
"Uncertainty over research funding, immigration rules and the ability to hire and retain the top young talent from around the world seems to be damaging the reputation of the UK's higher education sector," said QS head of research Ben Sowter.
Mr Sowter said his research was carried out before the referendum but he believes the result will have "undoubtedly added to this uncertainty".
A Department for Education spokesman said: "EU students make an important contribution to our world-class universities, and we want that to continue. While the UK remains a member of the EU, rules regarding the student loans EU nationals receive are unchanged - EU students currently eligible to receive funding will continue to do so for courses they are currently enrolled on, or about to start this autumn.
"The government will continue to work closely with the sector."


Nigeria international Ogenyi Onazi has changed his mind about leaving Turkish club Trabzonspor over unpaid wages.

The 24-year-old has now received new assurances from the club about his salary after he terminated his contract with them on Tuesday.
His agent and former Nigeria international Ayodele Stephen Makinwa says the issue was settled amicably.
"To be clear, we never asked for any financial improvement or whatsoever," Makinwa told BBC Sport.
"We settled the differences with additional guarantees with regards to payment."
"It's an avoidable and unnecessary problem but both parties have come out with a mutual understanding now."
Onzai has resumed pre-season training with the Turkish club.
On Tuesday, Makinwa explained the old deal they had with Trabzonspor.
"We have an agreement with the club which strictly states that the player has a right to terminate his contract if the club failed to pay him for two months or more," he said.
Onazi only joined Trabzonspor on a four-year deal from Italian side Lazio last August.
The Turkish club refused to comment on the situation when contacted by BBC Sport.
Algeria's Carl Medjani and Ghana striker Majeed Waris both recently quit the Turkish club following a dispute over unpaid wages.


Sir Elton John and Gordon Ramsay are taking action against the publisher of the Sun and defunct News of the World over phone-hacking claims.

The singer and celebrity chef are among 63 alleged victims to have issued a bid for compensation at the High Court.
News Group Newspapers already faced claims from 28 people who also allege their voicemails were intercepted.
More than 1,000 people have already settled with the company, which denies the practice took place at the Sun.
The latest claims include stories published by the Sun, after a High Court judge ruled in April 2016 there was enough evidence for claims against the paper to be heard.
The hacking revelations led to the closure of the NoW in 2011 after it emerged that journalists intercepted the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Since then, celebrities including Hugh Grant and Charlotte Church have settled claims against the NoW over phone-hacking, while other cases - including actor David Tennant - are still being heard.
Christopher Hutchings of Hamlins Solicitors, the lead firm for the 91 claimants, said the inclusion of the Sun had led to more alleged victims coming forward.
"This surge in the number of claimants is a reflection of the expansion of the case to cover the Sun," he said.
Mr Hutchings added some claimants were seeking damages for "concealment and destruction of evidence" by NGN.
Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor and theatrical agent Caroline Chignell are among the other people taking action, who include sporting celebrities, actors and entertainers.


Player, coach, consultant, mentor - Wayne Smith has done it all in his 20-year, 200-Test association with the All Blacks.

"I doubt any one has put more time, energy, intellectual equity and sweat into the All Blacks than Wayne Smith. He has seriously enhanced the legacy of the jersey he loves so dearly." (New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew).
Now in his third stint as a coach, and having won two World Cups, one of Smith's last acts with the national side is plotting the downfall of the British and Irish Lions on Saturday.
Nicknamed 'The Professor', Smith is considered one of the greatest tactical thinkers of the modern game, and says Test matches like this one at Eden Park will be won and lost in the preparation.
"You are on Saturday what you have done during the week," the All Blacks assistant coach says.
"You have to know your enemy as well as yourself, and we do a lot of work on that.
"This Lions team is a hugely talented team and they have come to play.
"This game is a massive game [the three-Test series is tied at 1-1] and there is going to be massive pressure. It's possibly a game that is tougher than the World Cup final."
Capped 17 times in Test matches as a player, Smith traces his coaching philosophy back to his first forays with Treviso in Italy in the 1980s and '90s.
"I learnt my coaching in Italy, and so I learnt a different methodology to other New Zealand coaches," Smith added.
"I think that's where the 'Mad Professor' came from - I asked questions rather than instructed."
Now 60, Smith will stand down following this season's Rugby Championship, the southern hemisphere competition against Australia, South Africa and Argentina.
"The time always comes when you know it is right to move on, for you and for the team. It's my time now," he said.
"It's been a privilege - the whole thing has been a privilege."
And as for his future plans?
"We'll have a bit of time in the camper van, go back to Italy for a month or two every year and hopefully a travel around a wee bit.
"It'll just be a good chance to reconnect with people and family, and change the lifestyle.
"I'll do a wee bit of rugby coaching - I'll help people if I'm passionate about it."
After moving back home from Italy, Smith forged his reputation with the Crusaders in Canterbury.
The All Blacks job came in 2000, and went in 2001, when Smith was sacked and replaced by John Mitchell.
As is the trend with modern Kiwi coaches, he went abroad to develop, taking over at Northampton, where he made a lasting impression, not least on former England and Lions scrum-half Matt Dawson.
"When he arrived he gave me a brutal dissection of how I was viewed at Northampton by players, management and fans," said Dawson.
"It wasn't favourable but it made me think about how I conduct myself. Most people pat you on the back. [With Wayne] either you buy in or you're jettisoned.
"He also was hugely influential to Sir Clive Woodward's management team, letting them in to Northampton and giving away how he was managing and motivating the England players at Saints.
"Former England kicking coach Dave Alred's psychology methods were definitely enhanced by Smith's mindset mapping technique."
Dawson's Northampton and England half-back partner Paul Grayson said Smith's honesty, allied to his rugby expertise, made him a superb coach.
"He always advocated honesty and unlike many before and since he was always true to his beliefs and values, and that meant the harsh truths were laid bare," added Grayson.
"It also meant that you knew when he said he would help you get the best out of yourself that you believed him, and as long as you were prepared to work hard it would happen.
"A pat on the back from Smithy was a genuine reward. With his unparalleled knowledge of the game, coupled with skilful and genuine man-management, he inspired achievement."
Those qualities meant the All Blacks again came calling in 2004, when Graham Henry approached Smith about joining his backroom team.
After long deliberation, Smith accepted, conscious of having unfinished business at home.
"When Graham rang me to ask if I would come back if he got the All Black job, my wife Trish ran up the stairs and said 'no, no, no!'
"My family were passionate about Northampton but also a wee bit upset about how we left New Zealand, and didn't want me to go back into the All Black environment at that point. But I knew deep down inside I had to, for myself.
"I had developed as a coach and I wanted to come back to New Zealand to show I had the resilience and toughness to go through the good and the bad of the All Blacks.
"I was keen to get back into that environment to show I could do it and to experience what I consider the greatest team in the world."
Thirteen years on, and Smith has certainly experienced the range of emotions with his beloved All Blacks.
Following World Cup heartbreak in 2007 - and a devastating quarter-final exit at the hands of France in Cardiff - Smith, Henry et al clung to their jobs before leading the All Blacks to glory four years later.
After a highly successful stint with the Chiefs in Waikato, Smith was again a man in demand, with current head coach Steve Hansen making the call in 2015, as Henry did a decade earlier.
"Steve is an old mate of mine. I played with Steve, and I was coach of Canterbury B in the late 1980s and he was my captain," Smith remembers.
"We go back a hell of a long way - he's a great mate, as is Graham Henry."
"We all work hard. All the staff here work hard. I think that's one of the things about the All Blacks environment - the jersey demands you put everything into it, and the players and staff are the same."
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After winning back-to-back Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs in between successive World Cups, the Lions series is Smith's last hurrah.
He says he has not been surprised by the tourists' expansive style so far in this series, and is revelling in the game of chess being played between the coaching teams.
Albeit with 14 men, New Zealand failed to score a try in the second Test, which is something Smith is determined to address.
"We clearly want to play rugby, and we are born to play rugby in a certain style," he said.
"But they are smart coaches. We know the [Lions] coaches well, and they are top-quality coaches, so they are always going to be too clever to come out here and try and play a stodgy game."
And following the Lions' dramatic series-levelling victory in Wellington, Smith is embracing the magnitude of Saturday's occasion.
"We revel in the big games. Every All Black game is its own entity. Every game in the jersey is a big game - you love the pressure.
"It's going to be pretty red hot on Saturday night."


Conservative UK ministers will find an "underhand way" to give Northern Ireland more money at Wales' expense, First Minister Carwyn Jones has said.

It follows reports the Democratic Unionist Party wants £2bn extra funding from a Tory-DUP deal at Westminster.
Mr Jones described such a deal, to give Theresa May a majority in key Commons votes, as the "great power bribe".
Responding, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said UK ministers had a "pretty strong record" on funding for Wales.
After the Conservatives' failure to win a majority in the general election, they have been locked in talks with the DUP for support to help them survive as a minority government.
Sources told the BBC on Wednesday the DUP wanted £1bn investment in the Northern Irish health service and a similar figure for infrastructure projects, although a DUP MP called those figures "wide of the mark".
Mr Jones said: "Ah, the great power bribe.
"What we're seeing there is an attempt to provide more money for Northern Ireland and, if I were the DUP, I'd do the same thing.
"But the reality is you can't give more money to Northern Ireland and not trigger the Barnett formula, which would mean more money for Wales and Scotland."
The Barnett formula is a long-running mathematical calculation that distributes money to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Mr Jones added: "I think every underhand way will be found to give more money to Northern Ireland at the expense of Scotland, Wales and indeed the English regions."
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has said "any potential incentives considered for one nation... must also be considered for Wales".
But Prof Gerry Holtham, an economist and former adviser to the Welsh Government, said the Barnett formula "works in one direction only" - to ensure spending changes in England are reflected in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - and was "just a convention".
"If the government decides it's going to do a formula bypass, which it's done on many past occasions, that's what it does," he said.
"They will do what they can get away with, basically. If the pressure for fairness is politically significant then they might make some concessions but they really don't need to."
The DUP is also reported to be calling on the Treasury to scrap Air Passenger Duty (APD) in Northern Ireland.
Such powers have already been transferred to Scotland.
Mr Jones, whose Welsh Government owns Cardiff Airport, said: "It's completely irrational that Scotland and Northern Ireland would control Air Passenger Duty, as would England, but Wales wouldn't."
Mr Cairns said the current funding settlement for Northern Ireland was "very different" from that for Wales.
"Wales has £120 for every £100 that's spent in England, Wales has a funding floor that Northern Ireland doesn't have," he said.
"And Wales also has City Deals for the Cardiff Capital Region and the Swansea Bay City Region as well as a commitment to the North Wales Growth Deal - there isn't a City Deal in Northern Ireland.
"So that demonstrates we've got a pretty strong record and I hope that is recognised."
Pontypridd MP and Labour's Northern Ireland spokesman Owen Smith said any Tory-DUP deal had to be scrutinised.
But Westminster politics "can't inhibit getting the peace process up and running" in Northern Ireland, he said.
Speaking on BBC Wales' The Wales Report, he said: "Talking about parity between the sorts of treatment that Northern Ireland gets and other parts of the UK isn't what we've done in the past.
"Northern Ireland is a special case and it will always need special consideration."


Ireland's Justice Minister Alan Shatter has resigned.

Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny announced the resignation.
He said Mr Shatter had resigned following receipt of a report into allegations made by police whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe.
It is critical of a number of agencies, including the Department of Justice. He said the minister had taken responsibility for this and was stepping down.
By Shane HarrisonBBC NI Dublin correspondent
Alan Shatter was a very controversial justice minister.
Deemed by many to be too close to the former police commissioner, Martin Callinan, he had only last month survived a vote of confidence.
He announced his resignation after receiving a report, that won't be published until Friday, into how he and his department handled the issue of a police whistleblower.
The whistleblower had raised concerns that senior officers had acted inappropriately in getting penalty points removed from the driving licences of well-connected offenders.
Mr Shatter has said that he disputes some of the report's findings but he was going to take responsibility so as not to distract from the government's work.
On Tuesday, a report by the Republic of Ireland's data commissioner also found that the former justice minister had broken data protection laws by disclosing, on live television, police information that an opposition parliament member had been using his mobile phone while driving.
It's hard not to believe that his resignation also has something to do with the local and European elections.
Too many bad news stories coming at the same time, about an already unpopular minister, probably sealed his fate.
In his resignation letter, Mr Shatter said he disputed some aspects of the report.
However, he said he was anxious that any controversy that arose from it did not distract from the work of the government, or create difficulties for the coalition parties in the upcoming elections.
Taoiseach Kenny told the Irish parliament (Dáil): "The report is critical of the inadequacy of the actions of a number of agencies, notably the Garda Siochana [police], the Department of Justice and Equality and the minister.
"He made up his mind and handed in his resignation, which I accepted with a reluctance."
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said it would have been appropriate to have informed the Opposition about the report.
He said it had caused a significant degree of surprise and shock.
On Tuesday, Mr Shatter was found to have broken data protections laws by disclosing personal information about independent TD Mick Wallace.
Last May, Alan Shatter revealed to Irish state broadcaster RTÉ that Mr Wallace had been cautioned by police for using his mobile phone while driving.
The issue became known as Shattergate.
Mr Shatter survived a no-confidence motion in the Irish parliament last month.
He became a government minister three years ago, and during his tenure he has never been far from controversy.
Two bugging scandals, a very bitter row over drivers' penalty points and his failure to complete a breathalyser test at a police checkpoint kept him in the headlines.
Mr Shatter, a lawyer, was put in charge of two government departments - justice and defence.
As the Republic of Ireland introduced painful austerity measures, Mr Shatter set out on a wide-ranging reform agenda, which included plans to close more than 100 police stations.


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Controversial plans to reform children's heart surgery in England have been suspended as the decision was based on a "flawed analysis", Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced.

The NHS had planned to concentrate care in fewer, bigger centres.
There was opposition to ending surgery at Leeds General Infirmary, Glenfield Hospital in Leicester and the Royal Brompton in London.
Mr Hunt ordered an independent review of the decision.
Repairing the hearts of children born with congenital defects is one of the most complex procedures in the NHS. About 3,700 such operations take place each year.
Ten hospitals currently perform the delicate surgery required, but last year the "Safe & Sustainable review" performed by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts ruled expertise was spread too thinly.
It said surgery should be concentrated in seven specialist centres by 2014 in order to improve safety. They were:
Campaigners were concerned at a loss of local services and a High Court judge quashed the decision to stop surgery in Leeds saying the consultation was flawed and "ill judged".
Amid the tension, Mr Hunt asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP), an advisory body, to assess the decision.
He told the Commons: "The IRP report also concludes that the outcome of the Safe & Sustainable review was based on a flawed analysis of the impact of incomplete proposals, and leaves too many questions about sustainability and implementation.
"This is clearly a serious criticism of the Safe & Sustainable process. I therefore accept their recommendation that the proposals cannot go ahead in their current form and am suspending the review today."
Shutting services and hospitals is never a popular decision, there is nearly always a huge amount of support for a local hospital.
And yet there is evidence that creating fewer specialist centres saves lives.
In London, stroke care was moved from 30 hospitals to just eight.
The move is thought to save 400 lives a year.
This suspension by Jeremy Hunt does not change the underlying principle of fewer, bigger and better.
This is a reprieve for the three hospitals which were set to lose their child heart surgery teams.
But in the future there will be fewer hospitals providing this care and there is likely to be similar campaigns to save local units when a final decision is eventually made.
He said the consultation, which has already cost more than Â£6m, did not have the confidence of the public with some feeling the decision was predetermined.
He said choosing which hospitals provided surgery was one of the most flawed areas of the review, but added "we need to get on with this" as the original argument for improving care was unchanged.
The IRP's report said: "The Panel's advice addresses the weaknesses in the original proposals, but it is not a mandate for either the status quo or going back over all the ground in the last five years."
Lord Ribeiro, the chairman of the IRP, said access to services was one of the panel's main concerns.
"Many of the relatives said to us, 'Of course, we would travel to the Moon to have our daughter or son treated,'" he said.
Lyall Cookward, aged four, has been treated repeatedly in Leeds.
He was born without one of the walls which separate the chambers of the heart - an atrial septal defect.
Surgeons had to create a new septum and heart valves for him and he had emergency surgery at just four weeks old.
Further operations followed and there will be more in the future.
His family want him to continue being treated at Leeds General Infirmary, but would have been forced to travel to Newcastle if the reforms went ahead.
One of his parents, Steph Ward, said: "We're absolutely delighted, everything that we said was wrong with the review has been vindicated.
"The review has been conducted in a manner which is absolutely disgusting and betrays the parents and patients it was set up to look at services for."
"But, for them, it is also about the quality of care that can be provided for the whole family, and many of them do have to travel long distances, with great cost, and, therefore, if they could see the changes that were being provided for them would provide a service which, for them - and this is what we were told - for them, appeared to be no better than what they had locally, then they had concerns about that."
Mr Hunt set NHS England, which has taken over the responsibilities of the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, a deadline of the end of July to come up with the next step in the process.
The fate of children's heart surgery will also be considered alongside changes to adult heart surgery.
Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director for NHS England, said: "We welcome the review, and NHS England will now study its recommendations in full to learn from them.
"We will institute a new process that recognises the very strong case for redesigning services to meet the demands of the future whilst addressing the legitimate concerns in our local communities."
Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We have to be frank with people that we can't expect really technical surgery, like children's heart operations, to be carried out at every hospital in the country."
He said it was clear the original review had not been conducted properly, "so we need to make a re-start".
Sharon Cheng, of the group Save Our Surgery, which has campaigned in Leeds, said:  "[Mr Hunt's] comments about the Safe & Sustainable process and outcome completely vindicate the action that we took to challenge this, and demonstrate that exposing the flaws in the review was the right and necessary thing to do."
She called for the new review to be "fully open and accountable".
Meanwhile the chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals Sir Leonard Fenwick, who had been told the hospital would keep its unit, said the decision was "a little surprising".
The Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: "When it was published, while I fully support the reduction in sites, I expressed concerns about the distribution of the seven sites, skewed towards the western half of England and leaving a large swathe of the east, from Newcastle to London, without a surgical centre.
"For a family in Hull or Lincoln, already at their wits' end with worry, the wrench of leaving home to travel hundreds of miles with the cost of accommodation and time off work would add to high levels of stress and anxiety."


Waiting time figures for the Accident and Emergency departments of Scotland's hospitals are to be published weekly, the Scottish government has announced.

The move follows criticism that Scotland's quarterly reporting of A&E waiting times did not allow action to be taken to quickly address problems.
The Scottish government had previously announced it would move to monthly stats but would now report weekly.
Opposition MSPs said the health secretary had been slow to act.
The Scottish government's chief statistician said the weekly publication, from 3 March, would include the total number of attendances at each core emergency site and a breakdown of waiting times.
It will include the total number of attendances and the number waiting longer than four, eight and 12 hours.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "The regular collection of year-round A&E statistics first began under this government, and I welcome the move to the weekly publication of A&E figures which will make NHS Scotland even more accountable to the public and patients who use their services.
"The new weekly Scottish A&E statistics will also contain more detail than the statistics that are published by NHS England."
Ms Robison said the government would also set up a new website to make statistics on NHS performance more accessible.
The waiting times move came the week after a support team was sent to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley where 84% of A&E patients were treated within a four-hour timeframe. The national target is 95%.
The latest set of A&E statistics, which were for the period from October to December, suggested 91% of patients were treated within four hours.
This compared to 94% in the previous quarter and was slightly worse than England's performance of 92.6%.
The numbers were below the overall performance in England but above that in what were described as "core sites" in major cities south of the border.
Opposition parties had said the delay in getting the statistics and the fact they did not identify individual hospitals made it difficult to identify where the problems were.
Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman Jenny Marra said: "This U-turn from the SNP on A&E reporting has been a long time coming.
"If the SNP had been prepared to publish A&E figures weekly over the last year this crisis could have been caught at a much earlier stage and hardworking staff given the support they need."
She added: "This is change of policy has been forced through by Scottish Labour. Just this month Shona Robison was totally opposed to ending the secrecy in our NHS.
"The crisis in Scotland's A&E departments has meant the SNP could no longer hide from the truth which is they are letting our NHS down."
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Jim Hume said: "Scotland's A&E units are in crisis mode yet the health secretary took weeks to respond to our calls for transparency. SNP ministers have taken their eye off the ball.
"Communities and the government can use these weekly statistics to bring A&E waiting times down."
Dr Peter Bennie, chair of BMA Scotland, said the pressure on NHS services and staff this winter had been "relentless".
He said: "The BMA welcomes greater transparency in workforce and activity information within Scotland's NHS, so that areas of pressure and opportunity for improvement are properly understood and can be acted upon quickly."
Dr Bennie said he hoped the focus on A&E would not lead to wider pressures on the NHS being ignored.


Body piercings have been used to control wheelchairs and computers in a move scientists believe could transform the way people interact with the world after paralysis.

The movement of a tiny magnet in a tongue piercing is detected by sensors and converted into commands, which can control a range of devices.
The US team said it was harnessing the tongue's "amazing" deftness.
The development is reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The team at the Georgia Institute of Technology made the unlikely leap from body art to wheelchairs because the tongue is so spectacularly supple.
A large section of the brain is dedicated to controlling the tongue because of its role in speech. It is also unaffected by spinal cord injuries that can render the rest of the body paralysed, tetraplegic, as it has its own hotline to the brain.
"We are tapping in to the inherent capabilities of the tongue, it is such an amazing part of the body," Dr Maysam Ghovanloo told the BBC.
A lentil-sized piercing in the tongue produces a magnetic field, which changes as the tongue moves. Sensors on the cheeks can then detect the precise position of the piercing.
In the trial, on 23 able-bodied people and 11 with tetraplegia, six positions in the mouth were programmed to control a wheelchair or a computer such as touching the left cheek to turn the chair to the left.
On average, people with tetraplegia were able to perform tasks three times as fast and with the same level of accuracy as with the other technologies available.
The researchers believe they will be able to have a command for every tooth in the mouth and that by using combinations of tongue positions would be able to develop an "unlimited" number of instructions.
These could dial a phone, change the channel on the television or even type.
Dr Ghovanloo said: "People will be able to do more and do more things more effectively."
He said patients were "all very cool with it" but some older people did not take part in the trial due to tongue piercing reticence.
At the moment the device is limited to university laboratories. The team is trying to fit the sensors into a dental brace to make it more stable on the road, get it approved by the US regulators and come up with a way of getting the expensive kit into the hands of patients.
Dr Mark Bacon, the director of research at the charity Spinal Research, said the ultimate goal remained regenerating the spinal cord but living aids were "needed now".
He told the BBC: "While this may only be beneficial to those with the profoundest motor dysfunction, being able to capture the tongue's complex range of motion to command other assistive devices seems a valuable avenue to explore.
"After all the tongue is capable of the most exquisite commands through the act of speech so why not use that range of motion to command assistive devices more discretely.
"We should bear in mind that the tongue does other things and a smooth and safeguarded mechanism to ensure against potentially dangerous engagement whilst eating, speaking or even swallowing may not be trivial."


Sam Allardyce claimed navigating Crystal Palace's route to Premier League survival had helped him recover and look to the future after his humiliating tenure as England manager, which ended after only 67 days and one game.

And so it proved - just not in the way anyone could have predicted - as he resigned suddenly on Tuesday night after only five months at Selhurst Park before penning what was effectively his retirement speech.
So is this really the end of the road for the 62-year-old who has been one of the domestic game's most enduring, controversial and divisive personalities? And how should he be viewed if this is farewell to the man known as "Big Sam"?
Sam Allardyce was often left alone to talk up his managerial credentials - condemned as a footballing dinosaur as he produced evidence to suggest he was actually among the game's modernisers.
Allardyce's most famous quote was arguably his claim: "I won't ever go to a top-four club because I'm not called Sam Allardici, just Sam Allardyce."
He quickly added: "That was tongue in cheek" - or was it?
It actually hinted at the under-appreciation Allardyce often felt was his lot in football, characterised as a back-to-basics long-ball exponent working in the shadows of what he regarded as more glamorous foreign names, whose body of work could not stand up to his.
And Allardyce had a point.
He took charge of six Premier League clubs in Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United, Sunderland and finally Crystal Palace - more than anyone else in the competition.
Media playback is not supported on this device
A study of the fates of Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn and Sunderland confirms they have all ended up in different divisions after his departure, while he took West Ham back into the Premier League and stabilised them before performing a familiar rescue act on Palace this season.
Allardyce's highest Premier League position was sixth with Bolton, a remarkable feat, but this statistic must be viewed through the prism of his being consistently cast in the role of firefighter rather than foundation builder.
After one of his final matches in charge of Blackburn in December 2010, a 3-0 win against Wolves, I asked him would he ever get the credit he deserved?
The response was typical Allardyce: "We never get credit for things, but that's the way it is. We are just a small town club enjoying ourselves by winning football matches. The fortress of Ewood Park is back and the walls are getting higher."
And how they crumbled when he was sacked by new owners Venky's days later.
Allardyce was also happy to work some of the game's stellar names and, despite his public perception, they were happy to work with him.
At Bolton he successfully incorporated France World Cup-winner Youri Djorkaeff, Nigerian maverick Jay-Jay Okocha and Real Madrid legend Fernando Hierro into his team. Ivan Campo also flourished.
And as he guided Palace to safety, he utilised the flair of Yohan Cabaye, Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend while using his tried and trusted methods to rejuvenate Christian Benteke.
Allardyce can also point to the fact he has always been a man in demand, even when his stock was at its lowest after his departure as England manager.
He managed for 488 games in the Premier League, the fifth highest in the competition and a tally second only to Harry Redknapp among English managers.
And he has called time on his managerial career with his proud record of never having a Premier League relegation on his CV still intact.
An achievement all the more commendable considering he took over at Sunderland in October 2015 when they were second bottom and winless after eight league games, and at Palace on Christmas Eve 2016 when they were 17th, just one point off the relegation places.
Palace were, at that stage, the worst performing of all 92 Premier League and Football League sides in 2016 before York City - who were bottom of the National League at the time - with 26 points from 36 games, an average of 0.72 points per game.
When history looks back at Allardyce's career, it may well eventually be viewed more generously and with greater credit.
Sam Allardyce openly coveted the England job for a decade - while others might have played down their ambitions or ability to do the job, he openly revelled in the possibility and was confident of success.
He even went as far as to claim his chances of succeeding Sven-Goran Eriksson back in 2006 were damaged by the FA's lack of PowerPoint facilities.
Allardyce wrote in "Big Sam: My Autobiography": "I wanted to do a real knock-your-socks-off PowerPoint which looked at every single detail. There was nothing missing. Nobody but nobody was going to beat it."
He was the told there were no PowerPoint facilities at the interview venue and he was reduced to handing out hard copies of his presentation.
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So, despite his rehabilitation at Crystal Palace, the manner of his dismissal departure after only 67 days and a single World Cup qualifying win in Slovakia, will be a stain on his reputation forever.
In the wider context, he will always be the man who was forced to give up the job that was his life's ambition after one match.
Increasingly, questions have been raised about whether he said or did anything wrong when he was caught in a Daily Telegraph "sting".
But his lack of judgement and naivety in ending up in a situation where he admitted "entrapment has won", left the Football Association feeling it could not continue with a manager tainted in this fashion and by what it called "inappropriate" behaviour.
And this will be a cause of regret to Allardyce forever.
To watch him in action as the national manager was to see someone at home in the spotlight in which so many had been dragged down, including his predecessor Roy Hodgson when he resigned after England's last-16 exit to Iceland at Euro 2016.
Comfortable and relaxed with the media, clearly taking such pleasure in using the phrase he had hoped to utter for a decade, "I am England manager", the man who started his first interview on the FA website with the words "I can't stop smiling" found the laughter had stopped.
Sam Allardyce was, and remains, a highly popular figure within the game - approachable, humorous and with a rich source of stories and one-liners.
He was, however, a taste that was never quite acquired by many who questioned his methods and his blunt refusal to be burdened down by any sense of modesty about his achievements.
Allardyce's advocates, and there are many, suggest he simply has great self-belief and confidence and can back up his words with results - his detractors painted him as a bluff figure of limited tactical ambition, who dressed up constant mid-table and lower-table survival as major success.
It was perhaps that "Allardici" quote and his claim that he would win a title every year if he was in charge of Real Madrid or Inter Milan, that made him derided in some quarters - as well as his obvious relish in getting under the skin of some of management's biggest games.
When Jose Mourinho accused Allardyce's West Ham of playing  "football from the 19th century" to get a goalless draw at Chelsea in January 2014, he insisted he did not care - albeit using a more colourful turn of phrase.
Allardyce added: "He can't take it, can he?
"He can't take it because we've out-tactic-ed him, out-witted him. He just can't cope."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger used to become infamously frustrated by Allardyce at Bolton.
He won only four of 12 games against him in that time and was badly wounded by a 2-2 draw that virtually cost the Gunners the title in 2002-03.
Allardyce wrote in his book: "I enjoyed beating Arsenal more than anyone when I was in charge at Bolton. We'd really got to them and Arsene Wenger hated us."
He also provoked a sarcastic response from current Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez when he claimed Liverpool's 2005 Champions League win, when they came from 3-0 down at half-time to beat AC Milan on penalties in Istanbul, was "nowt to do with him" in his autobiography, instead saying the victory was down to captain Steven Gerrard.
It was part of a long-running feud between the pair and Benitez, then at Real Madrid, asked his Spanish inquisitors: "Do you know who Sam Allardyce is? Do you know how many trophies he has won? Well, that's my answer."
It was this refusal to bow down before so-called bigger clubs, their managers and their supporters - even his own, when he cupped his ear to angry West Ham fans during a win against Hull City in January 2015 - that has made him a manager and personality who divides opinion, but never a man afraid to fight his corner.
Allardyce did it his way, using his methods, and will say his record shows he was successful.
And if they did not like it he might use the same colourful quip he once delivered in Mourinho's direction.
Rarely has the public's perception of a manager's methods differed so vastly from his own - Allardyce, with justification, regarded himself as well-versed in the most modern methods, while those who disapproved believed his tactics were simply a long-ball, physical throwback to a previous age.
It is worth listening to a player who worked under him, former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, who was with Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers.
He said: "Before I played for him, I was unsure what it would be like because of the perceptions there are of him. The reality could not have been further away from what some people think.
"Sam is a thorough, analytical manager as tuned into the demands of the modern game as any I have worked for."
He added: "Look at the job he did with Bolton, and the calibre of technically gifted players he had. You're not telling me they would have hung around if they thought they weren't being encouraged to express themselves."
Allardyce is renowned for having a specific game plan for every occasion and passionate about the importance of recovery periods, nutrition and supplements.
He was one of the first to make use of ProZone data and used meticulous performance analysis techniques at the cutting edge of sports science.
He was also happy to use sports psychologists to improve results.
It is at odds with the image many have.
In reality, he was always happy to embrace modern techniques.
If this is to be the end of Sam Allardyce's career, the verdict delivered on it will be as divisive and varied as ever.
Allardyce's supporters will talk of a man ahead of his time, denied a top job by an unflattering public image.
Those who never acquired his taste will question a man they believe found his true level as one of football's most efficient and successful firefighters.
The sadness for Allardyce is that one short period now threatens to always overshadow a managerial career that has had many outstanding moments and left the fans of many clubs grateful - even nostalgic - for the time he spent with them.
Allardyce, unfairly or not, will be remembered by many as the man who spent a career building up to his life's ambition - only to see the dream crumble in 67 days as England manager.


Swansea City striker Fernando Llorente says they must be more aggressive to avoid Premier League relegation.

The Spaniard was speaking after Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough left the Swans second from bottom.
Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy criticised Swansea's recent form, saying they "lacked tenacity".
"If we battle, fight, be aggressive, we can be in a good situation, like [in their 3-0 win] at Sunderland," Llorente told BBC Radio Wales Sport.
Llorente joined compatriot Angel Rangel in emphasising the importance of festive home games with Bournemouth and West Ham.
"The games at the Liberty will be so important, we have to win the next two games though, or the situation will be bad," Llorente said.
"We need work, work, work, nothing more.
"All the players together have to be a strong unit.
"We have to react now. This final month of the year is important, we need to win the next two matches."
The World Cup winner admits defeat to a potential relegation rival at the weekend was a bitter blow to the Swans' chances.
"Yeah, it is a difficult moment, because today was a very important day, like a final," he said.
"They (Middlesbrough) are one of the clubs with us. And we started very well in the match.
"But then, with the first goal, the team gets down.
"Then the huge second goal, it makes it difficult. But we have to continue the work and try to improve the things we are doing badly."


Prince Charles has lamented the "economic invisibility of nature" and called on business leaders to act now to save the world's natural capital.

In a video message to a global gathering in Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales warned of a failure to "run the global bank that we call our planet in a responsible and competent manner".
He urged delegates to "act now before it is too late".
The Prince was speaking at the World Forum on Natural Capital.
"I think there is an urgent need for collaboration, sharing of knowledge and a drive to do things differently," he added.
Speaking as patron of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, which organised the two-day event, Prince Charles said: "The value of the planet's ecosystems and biodiversity has not been taken into account fully and consistently in our decision-making systems.
"We are facing what can only be described as a cataclysm of events which pose a real threat to our survival."
Natural capital describes the planet's stocks of natural assets, such as soil, air, water and all living things.
Numerous high-profile reports and studies have identified the range of vital services the natural world provides, such as clean air and clean water.
However, these stocks are being depleted at an unsustainable rate and the situation is set to worsen amid a growing global population and projected climate change.
The forum's co-founder and chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Jonathan Hughes, observed: "This is not just an ecological tragedy but it is a social and economic tragedy as well.
He added one of the motivations for organising the forum, the second of its kind, was to raise awareness of the issues and challenges facing natural resources and wildlife.
"Secondly, we wanted business and governments to act quickly so we wanted to turn the debate around the concept of natural capital into practical tools that business and governments can implement and make a difference that traditional nature conservation has failed to do over the past 50 years," Mr Hughes told BBC News.
The opening address to 500 delegates from more than 40 nations was delivered by Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
She said it was not a surprise the there was a growing interest around the globe in the concept of natural capital.
She said: "This year, more than any other, exemplifies why that is of such profound importance.
"Over the summer… Scotland became one of the first countries in the world to publicly pledge to Implement the (United Nations) global goals on sustainable development.
"The goals set out a plan of action for people and the planet,' Ms Sturgeon observed.
"They start from the premise, the right premise in my point of view, that irradiating poverty in all of its forms… is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
"Protecting the resources that we all depend on is a crucial part of that."
However, she did acknowledge that there were a "range of views around the valuation of natural capital and the involvement of business".
In the build-up to the event, some environmental campaigners accused the organisers of the forum of helping a number of big companies with a history of environmental pollution to "profit from greenwash".
Mr Hughes told BBC News that there was a place within the environmental movement for "placards and banners but the movement also needs to be prepared to work constructively with government and business".
"Scottish Wildlife Trust likes to focus on solutions," he added.
"Only through working with business and governments and making them part of the solutions can we expect to tackle some of the critical challenges facing us."
Many of the speakers made the link between natural capital and climate change, particularly the forthcoming key UN summit in Paris.
Inger Andersen, director-general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told delegates: "On the eve of, potentially, the single largest agreement in Paris, we all have to remind ourselves what is at stake.
"I want to remind you that even with the two degree limit, which will be very hard to reach, that will have very severe impacts on our planet and our ecosystems.
"The story of how we deal with natural capital becomes all the more important. Natural Capital is our single, greatest ally as we try to defend vulnerable communities from the onslaught of more frequent storms, flood and drought."
Delegates were being invited to sign a letter that called on world leaders attending the Paris summit to recognise that tackling climate change could not be achieved unless the loss of the world's natural capital was halted.
"What we are saying is protection of that natural capital is a prerequisite for tackling the climate crisis," Jonathan Hughes explained.
"The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, which the governments from around the world are taking to Paris, [reveal that] a lot of the emissions are from land-use change and land-use degradation.
"So we cannot solve the climate crisis without solving the biodiversity crisis."


Researchers from Aberystwyth University will investigate finger and palm prints on the wax seals of documents dated between the 12th and 14th centuries.

The seals were the medieval equivalent of modern-day signatures and credit cards, and the imprint team is hoping they will provide insights into British society at that time.
The research will use material from cathedrals, the National Library of Wales and Westminster Abbey.
The study is due to take three years.
Dr Elizabeth New from Aberystwyth University said:  "Seals were not just the preserve of kings and great nobles. Men and women from all levels of society also set their seals on documents.
"Medieval seals contained a variety of images and words, providing strong statements of identity and very valuable sources of information about people, culture and society.
"The images can tell us what things actually looked like, and provide glimpses of humour, piety and family pride. They also enabled otherwise illiterate men and women the means to 'write' their name."


French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that Europe's migration crisis is putting the EU at grave risk.

Mr Valls told the BBC Europe could not take all the refugees fleeing what he called terrible wars in Iraq or Syria.
"Otherwise," he said, "our societies will be totally destabilised."
More than a million migrants, mostly refugees, arrived in Europe last year, many making perilous journeys. On Friday, at least 21 people were killed as their boats sank off Greek islands.
Mr Valls also said that France could extend its current state of emergency for "as long as is necessary" because of the threat from Islamic State (IS) jihadists, whom he called "Daesh".
"We will see if we extend it," he said. "We cannot live forever in a state of emergency."
The measures were introduced after the IS-led Paris attacks on 13 November and then extended for three months.
Mr Valls said the war against IS could last for a generation. "As long as the threat is there we must use all means at our disposal."
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Mr Valls was speaking to Lyse Doucet, the BBC's chief international correspondent, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Europe, he said, needed to take urgent action to control its external borders.
"If Europe is not capable of protecting its own borders, it's the very idea of Europe that will be questioned."
Asked about border controls inside Europe which many fear put the passport-free Schengen zone at great risk, Mr Valls said the concept of Europe itself was now in very grave danger.
He did not directly criticise Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel for her welcoming message last year to refugees.
Mr Valls said she "had courage",  but it was clear he believed her message was wrong, our correspondent says.
"A message that says 'Come, you will be welcome' provokes major shifts" in population, says Mr Valls.
He added: "We know clearly that after the Cologne incidents that with the continuous flow, not only to Germany but the countries of Northern Europe, Austria, the Balkans are confronted with this influx, that's why we need to find practical solutions for our borders."
Mr Valls was referring to attacks in the German city on New Year's Eve - largely attributed to foreigners - that have sparked 800 complaints, 520 of them relating to sexual crimes.
Mrs Merkel will later meet Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Berlin, with both the countries' cabinet members in attendance.
EU countries hope Turkey will help to control the flow of migrants reaching the EU from Syria and other conflict zones.
On Friday, at least 21 people, including eight children, died when two boats sank off the Greek islands of Farmakonisi and Kalolimnos, the Greek coastguard said.
Some 48 survivors reached shore but dozens of other migrants were reported missing.
On the issue of the state of emergency, Mr Valls said France was "at war", which meant "using all means in our democracy under the rule of law to protect French people".
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The measure gives police more power to conduct raids and impose house arrests.
When asked how long he envisaged the state of emergency remaining, Mr Valls said: "The time necessary.
"As long as the threat is there, we must use all the means," he said, adding that it should stay in place "until we can get rid of Daesh", using an acronym for the IS group.
"In Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia we must eradicate, eliminate Daesh," he said. "It is a total and global war that we are facing with terrorism," he added. "The war we are conducting must also be total, global and ruthless."
Mr Valls said France "could see attacks again", adding that six plots had been foiled over the past few months.
Attackers linked to IS killed 130 people in co-ordinated assaults across Paris in November, leading to the first declaration of a state of emergency in France in 10 years.
The measures are set to expire on 26 February.
This week, a group of UN human rights experts said they were "excessive and disproportionate".


Four foreign-owned firms are competing to run train services in Wales and create the £600m South Wales Metro.

Bids have been submitted by Abellio, Arriva, KeolisAmey and MTR for the next Wales and Borders franchise.
The successful bidder will have to make a slice of its profits available to be reinvested in the railway.
They will also be responsible for delivering a major upgrade to the rail network in and around Cardiff as part of the Metro scheme.
A contract will be awarded in early 2018.
The four bids are being assessed by Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh government-owned company, as part of what ministers said would be an "ambitious and creative not for profit model".
Officials said the four preferred bidders were the only four to come forward for the contract.
The Welsh government has set out its ambitions for the Metro but it will be up to the bidders to propose how it will operate, as well as drawing up plans to build a new rail or tram system.
Analysis by Sarah Dickins, BBC Wales economics correspondent
This is the first time that the Welsh Government has awarded a rail franchise. It did not have the power to do so when the all-Wales franchise was awarded to Arriva.
The model this time will focus on what level and quality of service the various bidders can offer. They will be asked to outline what they will do to drive up the numbers of passengers taking trains and buses across Wales.
While the Metro for south Wales will be part of the bid, the company's proposals will also be scrutinised in terms of how they will affect all geographical locations.
Whichever company wins will have a cap set on how much profit they can make. We do not yet know at what level that will be set but once that is passed remaining profit will go to the body responsible - Transport for Wales - to be reinvested in public transport in Wales. That cap will be for negotiation.
Each company is expected to put together its own particular mix of heavy rail, bus and possibly light rail. The preferred contractor is expected to be known by early 2018.
Negotiations are underway with Network Rail about handing over responsibility for the track on the core Valleys lines to the franchise holder.
The current franchise is run by Arriva Trains Wales which gets a subsidy from the Welsh Government of between £150m and £180m a year.
Rail privatisation laws stop the Welsh Government giving the contract to public sector bodies.
The Welsh Government has lobbied for more powers, but said its requests have been turned down in Westminster.
Officials said in time TfW may evolve to take on more responsibilities, similar to Transport for London.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said new trains, quicker journeys and modernised technology were priorities for the franchise.
"We now have four highly skilled, experienced companies entering the next, competitive phase and I am keen to hear more from them about what they can offer Wales and how they can deliver on our plans for integrated public transport," he said.
"Over the next 10 years I envisage significant strides in the delivery of our public transport network including the electrification of the Swansea, Valleys and north Wales lines, a South and North Wales Metro and widespread structural improvements that are already in the pipeline."


Braintree and Maidstone played out a goalless draw in the National League at Cressing Road.

Both sides struggled to create chances, but Maidstone goalkeeper Lee Worgan had to be alert to block Monty Patterson's effort with his feet early on.
Braintree striker Jack Midson had the ball in the back of the net towards the end of the second half, but it was ruled out for offside and that was as close as either side came to scoring.
Maidstone remain in the drop zone despite the point, although they are now only behind Woking on goal difference, while Braintree drop one place to 17th.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Braintree Town 0, Maidstone United 0.
Second Half ends, Braintree Town 0, Maidstone United 0.
Jack Midson (Braintree Town) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Maidstone United. Jamar Loza replaces Jack Paxman.
Substitution, Maidstone United. Yemi Odubade replaces Joe Pigott.
Jack Paxman (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Michael Cheek (Braintree Town) is shown the yellow card.
Second Half begins Braintree Town 0, Maidstone United 0.
First Half ends, Braintree Town 0, Maidstone United 0.
Alex Flisher (Maidstone United) is shown the yellow card.
Chez Isaac (Braintree Town) is shown the yellow card.
Sean Clohessy (Braintree Town) is shown the yellow card.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.


Norwich City have signed striker Nelson Oliveira from Portuguese side Benfica for an undisclosed fee.

Oliveira, 25, has agreed a four-year deal at Norwich, having scored nine goals in 29 appearances for Nottingham Forest while on loan last season.
He has made 16 appearances for his country was part of the Portugal squad that came third at Euro 2012.
"Technically he's a fantastic player. He can take the ball and see things," boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"This lad's a bit different. He wants to come and link with the ball and get other people involved in the game so he's a good option for us."


Relegated Swindon have signed striker Paul Mullin from League Two rivals Morecambe for an undisclosed fee.

The 22-year-old agreed a two-year deal, having scored eight goals in 40 games in the fourth tier last season.
The former Liverpool player made 140 appearances for Morecambe, more than half as a substitute, after joining from Huddersfield in 2014.
"I'm made up to be here. It's a massive club, I'm relishing it and I can't wait to start," he told Swindon's website.
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