The US premiere of family film A Dog's Purpose has been cancelled following a campaign by animal rights activists.

Filmmakers made the announcement after animal charities, including Peta, to call for the film, which stars Dennis Quaid, to be boycotted.
It comes after a leaked video showed a German Shepherd struggling to stay out of a torrent of water during the filming of the Canadian production.
The film's producer and distributor deny the dog was mishandled.
But in a joint statement, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures called off the weekend's promotional events, saying they did "not want anything to overshadow this film that celebrates the relationship between humans and animals".
The footage was posted on the TMZ website on Wednesday.
The director Lasse Hallstrom and actor Josh Gad said they were "disturbed" by the video.
The minute-long 2015 video from the Winnipeg movie set posted online appears to show a dog in distress.
In the video, a man can be overheard saying: "Don't worry, it's warm water at least. He ain't going to calm down until he goes in the water. Just got to throw him in."
The dog, called Hercules, is seen struggling and clawing the side of the pool as his handler pushes him into the water.
One animal rights organisation, Animal Justice, alleged the filmmakers breached federal and provincial laws.
It filed cruelty complaints with the Winnipeg Humane Society, the Chief Veterinary Office of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Police.
The Winnipeg Humane Society says it was consulted for two scenes in the film.
"This dog was fearful and not properly trained for this experience," the organisation's chief executive said in a statement.
"Training for a scene like this should take place weeks - if not months - in advance to help a dog get comfortable with not only being in water of that depth, but also the turbulence."
American Humane, the organisation that oversees animal safety during filming, said it was investigating the incident and had suspended its representative who was on the set.
Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures have suggested that the TMZ footage was edited, saying there was several days of rehearsals for the water scenes to ensure the dog was comfortable with the shoot.
"On the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot," an earlier statement read.
Director Lasse Hallstrom, who is known for What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Chocolat, expressed concern over the footage on Twitter.
"I am very disturbed by the video released today from the set of my film A Dog's Purpose," he said, denying TMZ's report that he had witnessed the incident.
"I have been promised that a thorough investigation into this situation is underway and that any wrongdoing will be reported and punished."
Actor Josh Gad, who voices the dog in the film, said he was "shaken and sad" after seeing the video.


A woman from Bristol is attempting to push a bed on wheels from John O'Groats to Land's End.

Rosie-Mai Iredale, 26, is raising money for a children's charity Full Reach.
Dressed in pyjamas and a dressing gown, she started her challenge late last month and hopes to complete it in three months.
Ms Iredale, who has had to contend with heavy rain showers and strong winds, is close to reaching Inverness on her journey south.
She sleeps in the bed at night in campsites, but also gardens offered to her by people she meets on her trek.
Thousands of people every year walk, cycle and drive from John O'Groats to Land's End or vice versa.
Last month, cyclists Dominic Irvine and Charlie Mitchell from Hampshire broke an endurance record that was first set almost 50 years ago.
They cycled non-stop on a tandem from Land's End to John O'Groats in 45 hours 11 minutes and two seconds, beating the record first set in 1966 by five hours.
In 2013, Sean Conway, 32, from Cheltenham, swam from Land's End to John O'Groats following a route up Britain's west coast.


A juror has been discharged in a trial of an alleged terror cell for "jokingly" asking whether a police officer in the case was single.

Four men from the West Midlands are accused of plotting an attack on British soil before their arrests last summer.
They deny preparing terrorist acts.
The judge said he was informed the female juror asked a court usher more than once to find out if the officer was single.
Mr Justice Globe said he was given information that another juror had also said Det Sgt Ryan Chambers was attractive.
The judge said that woman had not asked the usher to find out his relationship status but the discharged juror "went ahead".
The four-month Old Bailey trial was halted as the judge was about to finish his summing up and send jurors out to begin deliberating verdicts.
He said the issue arose following an inquiry from a news reporter who "overheard" something.
Naweed Ali, 29, and Khobaib Hussain, 25 - both of Sparkhill in Birmingham - and  Mohibur Rahman, 32, and Tahir Aziz, 38, of Stoke-on-Trent, have denied preparing terrorist acts.
They claim an undercover officer planted a partially-constructed pipe bomb and other incriminating evidence found by MI5 in a car.
The senior judge reminded the jury Det Sgt Chambers was among a number of officers to face criticism by the defence.
The judge suggested there was a "very strong possibility" one or more of the remaining jurors might have known about the discharged juror's inquiries about Det Sgt Chambers but failed to speak up.
He said: "To put it mildly, I'm disappointed that I was not given that information.
"I have had to ask myself if it is so important that I should not allow you as a group to continue considering this case.
"I have come to the conclusion I have to draw a distinction between the person I have had to discharge and the rest of you."


John Denham and John Healey are to leave the shadow cabinet as part of a reshuffle by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

The shadow business and health secretaries are said to be leaving "of their own accord".
Under Labour rules, scrapped at last week's party conference, the shadow cabinet was elected every two years.
Now Mr Miliband is able to choose for himself who serves in his team. Among those expected to be promoted are new MPs Rachel Reeves and Stella Creasy.
Full details of the reshuffle are expected on Friday.
Other former big hitters who have been tipped to return to the front bench include the former lord chancellor Lord Falconer and former home secretary Alan Johnson.
In a letter to the party leader, Mr Healey said it was a "big decision" to leave the cabinet but it was time to put his family first.
He wrote: "We - and you personally - have had a strong and successful conference.
"I know you will now be turning your mind to strategy for the months ahead, including the make-up of your shadow ministerial teams, so I wanted to let you know of my wish to step down from the shadow cabinet."
Mr Miliband replied: "I know this has been a difficult and very personal decision for you, but in both government and opposition you have served tirelessly and with distinction."
Meanwhile, Mr Denham has agreed to serve as Mr Miliband's unpaid parliamentary private secretary.
Rumours that a reshuffle was imminent have been swirling since party members at Labour's conference in Liverpool voted to back Mr Miliband's call to scrap shadow cabinet elections.
A previous attempt to scrap the elections last year, before Mr Miliband was elected leader, was rejected by Labour MPs. But he chose to pursue the issue once he became leader.
He had argued that the elections system led to candidates "campaigning against colleagues" for months, which was a "huge distraction".
Among those urging a change at the top is the former deputy PM Lord Prescott, who told the BBC recently: "There are some people in there who are undoubtedly not carrying their weight."
The Labour leader and deputy leader are elected separately by MPs, party members and members of affiliated trade unions and socialist societies.
Mr Healey, MP for Wentworth and Dearne, is a favourite with Labour MPs, coming second in the shadow cabinet elections last year.
The 50-year-old served as local government minister and housing minister in the previous government.
Mr Denham, 57, only just held onto his Southampton Itchen seat in the 2010 general election, winning by a margin of 192 votes.
He made headlines in 2003 when he resigned from Tony Blair's government over the Iraq war, but later returned to office as universities secretary and communities secretary.


Middlesbrough's defensive "naivety" cost them in Wednesday's 4-2 Premier League defeat by Hull City, says head coach Steve Agnew.

Despite taking an early lead the Teessiders were 3-2 down at half-time.
"You can't question the attitude, commitment and effort, it was first class," Agnew told BBC Tees.
"But we were a bit naive at times defensively, not just the back four, as a team. So we all take responsibility for that and look forward to Burnley."
England defender Ben Gibson was culpable for the first two goals having failed to clear, while Hull's fourth goal came as Harry Maguire was unchallenged in the penalty area.
The defeat left Boro in 19th place after 30 games, seven points behind Hull, who are one place above the relegation zone.
Middlesbrough welcome Burnley to the Riverside on Saturday.


Campaigning is under way after the House of Commons backed Theresa May's call for a general election on 8 June.

MPs voted by 522 votes to 13 - with Labour and Lib Dem helping secure the two-thirds majority needed to bring forward the election from 2020.
The prime minister urged voters to give her "the mandate to speak for Britain and to deliver for Britain".
Jeremy Corbyn said a Labour government would stop Mrs May from using Brexit to make the UK an "offshore tax haven".
Speaking in Croydon on his first campaign stop, the Labour leader said if elected, he would raise the minimum wage to Â£10 an hour and increase spending on the NHS, social care and council housing.
The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said sources suggested Mr Corbyn wanted to frame the election as being about the delivery of public services, and the kind of economy the UK will have after Brexit.
She said she understood that Mr Corbyn had ruled out "progressive alliances" with other parties, such as the Greens, as a way of thwarting Conservative attempts to increase their majority.
The Labour leader confirmed there would be no coalition deal between his party and the SNP.
In other election developments:
The next general election had been expected in 2020, but the Fixed Term Parliaments Act allows for one to be held earlier if it has the support of two-thirds of MPs. The Commons backed holding a poll in 50 days time by a majority of 509.
Defending the move, Mrs May told MPs there was a "window of opportunity" to hold a poll before Brexit negotiations began in earnest in June.
The prime minister is hoping to significantly boost her current Commons majority of 17 to increase her authority, ahead of 18 months of talks which will determine the manner of the UK's exit from the EU.
Mrs May, who became PM last July after the EU referendum, told MPs that it would be wrong for the UK to find itself reaching the most "difficult and sensitive" phase of Brexit negotiations in late 2018 and early 2019 at a time when a general election was "looming on the horizon".
During a special Commons debate, she said it was the "right and responsible" thing to do hold the election now to help the UK prepare for life outside the EU.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg
What will you hear a lot of from the Tory leader? Well if her very first campaign visit is anything to go by, David Cameron and George Osborne's "long-term economic plan" mantra will be replaced by the phrase "strong and stable".
On the stump you'd be forgiven for losing count of the number of times she used the phrase. One totting-up puts it at 13 mentions.
Brexit has undoubtedly set the backdrop for this election, and provided the catalyst for its timing. But the Conservatives plan to win to deliver their version of Brexit by again and again comparing what they claim is the "strong and stable" leadership provided by the sitting prime minister, and the alternative put forward by Jeremy Corbyn.
Tomorrow he'll make his first big election speech, his first big chance to recast that argument.
Read the rest of Laura's blog
Speaking later, on her first campaign speech in Bolton, Mrs May contrasted the "strong and stable leadership" she could provide with what she warned would be a "coalition of chaos" if Jeremy Corbyn was elected.
The Lib Dems, she said, were willing to "prop up" Labour, while she warned the SNP's "tunnel vision" over Scottish independence risked destabilising the country.
The SNP, whose MPs abstained in Wednesday's vote, has accused Mrs May of political opportunism and said only it stands in the way of a "hard-line" Tory government.
Nine Labour MPs opposed the snap election as did three independents and the SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell.
Although Parliament will not be officially dissolved until early May, campaigning is already under way - with Lib Dem leader Tim Farron addressing a rally of activists in south-west London earlier on Wednesday.
Mrs May has said she will not take part in any TV leaders' debates, leading to criticism from Mr Corbyn and other party leaders that she is "running scared".
As the Commons backed the General Election - which will be held just over two years after the Conservatives won a narrow victory in the May 2015 poll - senior politicians from all parties have been clarifying their intentions.
Former Conservative chancellor George Osborne said he would not be standing again in Tatton in order to concentrate on his job as editor of the Evening Standard, although he hinted at a possible return to frontline politics in the future.
Also standing down is Labour MP Gisela Stuart, who chaired the winning Vote Leave campaign in last year's referendum.
But former Lib Dem deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has said he will stand in Sheffield Hallam, and Conservative grandee Ken Clarke will again contest Rushcliffe, a seat he has represented since 1970. He had previously said he intended to stand down in 2020.
Meanwhile, Labour's ruling National Executive Committee has confirmed that existing MPs who wish to stand again will be automatically selected and that any unsuccessful candidates from 2015 will be asked to put themselves forward.
The NEC will directly fill any vacancies in England triggered by retirements while the parties in Scotland and Wales will handle their own procedures.
In a statement, it said it regretted that local parties in England would not be able to select candidates as normal but it would be "simply impossible to hold trigger ballots, selection hustings and meetings in the 631 Parliamentary constituencies" before the 11 May deadline for nominations.
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Trade unions have warned of the potential of industrial unrest at the Dounreay nuclear site in a row over pay.

The GMB, Unite and Prospect have called on Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) to increase its 1% pay offer.
The unions said DSRL's parent company Cavendish Dounreay Partnership had "significantly increased its profits year on year".
The Dounreay site near Thurso in Caithness is being decommissioned.
Prospect negotiator Richard Hardy said: "Our members are working hard to decommission the site, yet much of the money this generates is flowing out of Caithness and Sutherland, reducing the economic benefit for the local community.
"Everybody should get a share of the profits, not just the shareholders."
Sandra Owsnett, the DSRL trade union co-ordinating committee chairwoman, said: "It is our firm belief that the offer of 1% falls far short of members' expectations.
"We do not believe DSRL have made any serious attempts to address members' concerns and this has been made clear during the negotiations."
DSRL has yet to comment.


Young Derbyshire wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein's maiden County Championship hundred could not prevent Division Two's bottom side being asked to follow on against Worcestershire.

Resuming on 15-0, the visitors looked in danger of a three-day defeat when they slumped to 103-6 just after lunch.
But Hosein (108) shared a 96-run stand with debutant Greg Cork, son of former England Test all-rounder Dominic Cork.
After being bowled out for 248, Derbyshire then closed on 15-1.
Worcestershire vice-captain Leach, who took 5-60 in Derbyshire's first innings, struck an early blow in the second innings when he removed Ben Slater.
That took him past his previous best of 59 to 64 Championship wickets for the season, in addition to scoring more than 600 runs.
Hosein's fourth successive fifty-plus score was a great response by the 20-year-old to the arrival of Gary Wilson from Surrey on a three-year contract, which was announced earlier this week.
Assistant coach Matt Mason told BBC Herefordshire & Worcestershire:
"It was a flat, slow pitch but a fantastic day really. To take 11 wickets was a great effort from the boys. I'm really pleased for the bowling group as they've had it tough this year.
"It was one of the few occasions where the group of bowlers strung overs together from both ends and, even when they had that good partnership, they still hung in there and got their rewards.
"'Leachy' is on 64 with wickets now which is a fantastic effort. It's not a fluke or coincidence that he gets his rewards like that because he works so hard. He never stops trying.
"He puts the ball in the right areas, he bowls what I call a very brave length, a bit fuller than most bowlers do in this competition."
Derbyshire's Harvey Hosein told BBC Radio Derby:
"It was a really special feeling, getting my maiden first-class hundred. I've felt in good form in the last few games and long may it continue.
"I've worked very hard on my technique and temperament and things and luckily it is paying dividends. Hopefully I can keep improving and get even bigger scores. I just want to be a consistent performer.
"The wicket is still doing a bit off the seam but it seems to be a bit quicker now than earlier in the game so hopefully we can apply ourselves and get the runs we need."


Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to 10 points with a comfortable win over Eintracht Frankfurt, as their title rivals lost.

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring on 38 minutes and Douglas Costa doubled the lead two minutes later.
The Poland striker scored his second of the game after half-time to reach 100 goals for Bayern in his 136th game.
Elsewhere title chasing RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund both lost ground on Bayern with costly defeats.
Frankfurt captain Marco Russ came on as a second-half substitute to play in his first Bundesliga game of the season, after recovering from testicular cancer.
Mario Gomez scored the winner as second-placed Leipzig lost 1-0 at home to Wolfsburg.
Third-placed Dortmund, who beat Benfica 4-0 on Wednesday to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, conceded after 11 minutes away to Hertha Berlin as ex-Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou scored.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his 32nd of the season to equalise for Dortmund on 55 minutes, before Marvin Plattenhardt scored Hertha's winner with a free-kick on 71 minutes.
Bayern, who beat Arsenal 5-1 on Tuesday in their Champions League round-of-16 tie, lead the table on 59 points, with Leipzig on 49 and Dortmund on 43.
Match ends, FC Bayern München 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 0.
Second Half ends, FC Bayern München 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 0.
Kingsley Coman (FC Bayern München) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Taleb Tawatha (Eintracht Frankfurt).
Attempt missed. Ante Rebic (Eintracht Frankfurt) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Aymen Barkok.
Foul by Thiago Alcántara (FC Bayern München).
Marco Fabián (Eintracht Frankfurt) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Marco Fabián (Eintracht Frankfurt) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Aymen Barkok.
Attempt missed. Renato Sanches (FC Bayern München) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Thiago Alcántara with a cross following a set piece situation.
Kingsley Coman (FC Bayern München) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Taleb Tawatha (Eintracht Frankfurt).
Attempt missed. Arjen Robben (FC Bayern München) left footed shot from the right side of the box is too high.
Attempt saved. Douglas Costa (FC Bayern München) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Corner,  FC Bayern München. Conceded by Aymen Barkok.
Attempt missed. Douglas Costa (FC Bayern München) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Arjen Robben following a corner.
Corner,  FC Bayern München. Conceded by Taleb Tawatha.
Attempt saved. Mijat Gacinovic (Eintracht Frankfurt) right footed shot from more than 40 yards on the right wing is saved in the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Eintracht Frankfurt. Marco Fabián replaces Branimir Hrgota.
Substitution, FC Bayern München. Renato Sanches replaces Arturo Vidal.
Attempt missed. Thiago Alcántara (FC Bayern München) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Philipp Lahm.
Substitution, FC Bayern München. Kingsley Coman replaces Robert Lewandowski.
Offside, FC Bayern München. Thiago Alcántara tries a through ball, but Arjen Robben is caught offside.
Foul by Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München).
Branimir Hrgota (Eintracht Frankfurt) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Eintracht Frankfurt. Aymen Barkok replaces Danny Blum.
Attempt missed. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Douglas Costa.
Attempt missed. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Arjen Robben following a fast break.
Corner,  Eintracht Frankfurt. Conceded by Manuel Neuer.
Attempt saved. Danny Blum (Eintracht Frankfurt) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ante Rebic.
Substitution, FC Bayern München. Jérôme Boateng replaces Javi Martínez.
Substitution, Eintracht Frankfurt. Marco Russ replaces Makoto Hasebe because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München) right footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the right is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Arjen Robben.
Attempt saved. Douglas Costa (FC Bayern München) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Robert Lewandowski.
David Alaba (FC Bayern München) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by David Alaba (FC Bayern München).
Danny Blum (Eintracht Frankfurt) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal!  FC Bayern München 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 0. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Arjen Robben.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Ante Rebic (Eintracht Frankfurt) because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Danny Blum (Eintracht Frankfurt) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Assisted by Ante Rebic.


An advert published by the UK's leading broadband provider indicates confusion within the firm about the internet's origins.

BT's Openreach division referred to the UK as the "country that invented the internet" in the ad, which was printed over the weekend.
However, the US is widely credited as being the net's creator thanks to a Department of Defense project that dates back to the 1960s.
BT has acknowledged the error.
"For most people, the words 'internet' and 'world wide web' are interchangeable," said a spokesman for the firm.
"We accept the language wasn't precise enough for some, but no harm has been done."
The internet refers to the millions of interlinked computer networks used to transmit data. It encompasses information sent via email, chat tools, apps and a range of other online services in addition to websites.
By contrast, the world wide web is a subsection of the internet made up of webpages, documents and other resources connected together via hyperlinks.
The internet was born out of Arpanet, a US government-backed scheme that initially only connected the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), 400 miles (644km) away.
It was not until 1973 that a university in the UK and a Norwegian research institute were added as the first international participants in the project.
Although University College London subsequently helped test the networking protocols that gave rise to what we now recognise as the internet, much of the original work on them had been carried out at Stanford.
"While Donald Davies and his team at the National Physical Laboratory can lay claim to having developed packet-switching that enabled the technological infrastructure of the internet, Vint Cerf and a number of Americans were the driving forces behind the Arpanet that became the internet," commented Prof Martin Campbell-Kelly, a trustee at The National Museum of Computing.
It is not clear, however, that the UK can even lay claim to having invented the web.
The English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee was indeed its creator, but he was working at Cern - the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland - at the time.
Even so, one computing historian suggested BT's mistake was an easy one to have made.
"People mistakenly conflate the internet and the world wide web all the time," said Tom Lean.
"But while Britain may not have invented the internet, not only was the web co-invented by a Brit, BT themselves rolled out the world's first service that was a lot like the world wide web, Prestel, back in the 1980s.
"Sadly BT closed Prestel in the early 1990s, because they couldn't interest enough people in using it."


JPMorgan Chase has reported a 12% rise in profit to $5.91bn (Â£4bn) for the three months to the end of March, as revenue from bond trading improved.

The US banking giant said net income in its corporate and investment banking division was $2.5bn, up $412m compared with the same period a year earlier.
But it also reported an after-tax charge of $487m for legal expenses.
And it set aside a total of $959m to cover bad loans, $109m higher than a year earlier.
JPMorgan's legal expenses stem in part from the fact that it still faces an investigation by the US Justice Department into its involvement in the manipulation of foreign exchange markets.
It also faces a probe into its hiring policy in Asia.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, the largest mortgage lender in the US, reported a 2.6% fall in profits in the first three months of the year and set aside more money to cover bad loans.
Net income was $5.46bn in the three months to the end of March ,compared with $5.61bn a  year earlier.
The bank said it was setting aside $617m for credit losses an increase of $198m on the same three months a year earlier.
JPMorgan said revenue from fixed-income bond trading rose 5% to $4.07bn, adjusted for the sale of businesses last year, including a commodities operation.
"We have an outstanding franchise which is getting safer and stronger, and is gaining market share over time," said chief executive Jamie Dimon.
"We continue to build the company for the long-term, we are investing in controls, infrastructure, systems, technology, new products and bankers."
The bank said it was increasing its second quarter dividend from $0.40 to $0.44.
JPMorgan's investment bank, along with its rivals, is under pressure to cut costs as customers have reduced their trading activity following the financial crisis.
Regulators have also demanded that big banks take fewer risks, hold more capital and improve controls.
The bank has said it wants to cut expenses by $2.8bn by 2017, excluding legal costs, though some of the savings are expected to be offset by more spending to improve risk controls.
JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are the first of the large US banks to report quarterly results.
Overall, results are expected to show that low interest rates have continued to hold down profits as consumers and businesses refinance loans at lower rates.


An unexpected rise in deaths last year helped funeral provider Dignity return to profitability.

The company said there was a 7% increase in deaths in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland, in 2015.
There were 588,000 deaths last year, compared with 550,000 in 2014.
Chairman Peter Hindley described it as an "extraordinary" year and said the percentage increase in the 2015 death rate had not been recorded in any year since 1952.
Provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics show death rate rises last year were at their highest in England and Wales since 1963.
Public health experts have expressed concern about the rise in deaths last year.
They believe cold weather and an ineffective flu vaccine may have played a part in the high numbers of deaths in the early part of 2015.
Dignity expected the number of deaths this year to revert to 2014 levels.
The company posted a £69m pre-tax profit, compared with a £67.7m loss for 2014 after refinancing its debts and returning money to investors.
Underlying profits were up 23% to £72.2m, while revenue rose 14% to £305.3m.
The company conducted 73,500 funerals at 767 locations throughout the UK.
A higher number of funerals were undertaken at a higher average revenue, Dignity said.
Mike McCollum, chief executive, said: "Our staff have performed tremendously in a year when we had to look after a lot more families than originally anticipated. Our standards remained high, as reflected in the outstanding responses from our client surveys."
Shares in Dignity share fell almost 5% to £24.43 in afternoon trading. Shares in the UK's only listed undertaker have risen more than 25% in the past 12 months, valuing the company at £1.2bn.


Twice as many Britons as previously thought could be carrying the human form of "mad cow" disease, variant CJD.

Researchers believe one in 2,000 people in the UK is a carrier of the disease linked to eating contaminated beef.
Their estimate in the BMJ comes from studying more than 32,000 samples of human tissue removed during appendix operations carried out between 2000 and 2012 at 41 hospitals.
It remains unclear if any of these carriers will ever develop symptoms.
Early predictions of a vCJD epidemic didn't come to fruition.
To date, here have been 177 UK deaths from vCJD. Most of these occurred in the late 90s and early 2000s. There has been only one death in the last two years.
The rare, fatal disease progressively attacks the brain.
But it appears that relatively few who catch the infectious agent that causes the disease develop symptoms. People can be "silent" carriers for decades and not even know it.
The BMJ research identified 16 such carriers out of the thousands of appendix tissue samples studied.
Experts say many vital questions remain unanswered.
Since the link between vCJD and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease, was discovered in 1996, there have been strict controls to prevent meat from infected cattle from entering the food chain.
However, the average time it takes for the symptoms of vCJD to occur after initial infection is still unclear.
Preventing spread
This means people exposed to infected meat before the food controls were introduced continue to develop variant CJD, and may spread it to others.
Experience tells us that the disease could be transmitted from human to human via blood - in the UK, there have been three reported cases of vCJD associated with a blood transfusion.
Blood donor services take measures to ensure blood is not infected but there is no test to screen for vCJD, although scientists are working on this.
And there is currently no cure for the disease.
Prof Sebastian Brandner of University College London, who led the BMJ research, said: "We do not know what will happen.
"Will these people develop disease and can they transmit it? There are many questions we still do not know the answers to."
Prof Richard Knight, director of the National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh, said the answers might not be known for decades.
In the meantime, surveillance was key, he said.
"You can see from the data available that its likely that we will get a secondary or tertiary wave of disease but its likely that these further waves will be small.
"Future clinical cases will be pretty small in number," he added.
Dr Graham Jackson, of the MRC Prion Unit at UCL Institute of Neurology, said: "Given the high levels of infection indicated by this research, it is now crucial we establish how many people in the UK harbour that infection in their bloodstream in order to adequately assess the risks of transmission through contaminated blood donations.
"Studies to develop new blood tests for CJD must remain a priority to assist with screening and protecting the UK blood supply."


A businessman who registered the births of 26 non-existent babies as part of a benefit fraud scheme has been jailed for 28 months.

Rory McWhirter, of Edinburgh, collected identity details from people he had deceived into applying for fake jobs at a Glasgow hotel.
He used the details to obtain their marriage certificates before using them to register the fake births.
McWhirter then used the birth certificates to claim benefits.
McWhirter, who travelled around Scotland to register the births, previously admitted a charge of fraud committed between 1 June 2014 and 22 October 2015.
He claimed tax credits amounting to £14,222, child benefits of £19,658 and a Sure Start maternity grant of £500.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that McWhirter was caught after returning to the scene of one of his early false birth registrations at Aberdeen registry office where he was recognised by staff.
Depute fiscal Vicki Bell told the court that McWhirter presented letters to registrars at various offices throughout Scotland purporting to be from doctors confirming the births of children at home.
During the meetings he acted as if he was the male named on the marriage certificate while registering the birth, the court was told.
McWhirter's solicitor John McLeod said his client earned about £80,000 per year and would be able to repay the money at £2,000 to £2,500 a month if he was not jailed.
Mr McLeod said: "The money was going straight into his property business venture.
"He has had two failed businesses - first a bar that was swiftly run into the ground and the property company.
"He felt he couldn't go back to his family - who are successful - for a second bail-out so came up with this scheme.
"This was well planned in the sense that a lot of effort was put in.
"But it is hardly Machiavellian and it came unstuck because he was foolish enough to go in to the same registrar's office several times."
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: "This was a fairly sophisticated fraudulent scheme.
"It was an attack on the public purse, on the integrity of the system of births, deaths and marriages and also an attack on the system of working tax credits, child benefit and maternity grants.
"Putting that all together there is no alternative to custody."


Only a third of children in Wales have healthy teeth overall and this is lagging behind England, a major survey suggests.

Thousands of children have been examined every 10 years since 1973.
A third of children in Wales were said to have good oral health overall, which compares to 39% in England.
Decay was found in 52% of 12 year olds and 63% of 15 year olds, a slight improvement on the 2003 survey.
But around 70% of them reported problems with their teeth.
Decay was found in 41% of five-year-old children in their primary teeth and in 55% of eight-year-old pupils, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre report.
Severe dental problems were worse among children from poorer backgrounds.
Around a half (47%) of five year olds could be said to have good oral health.
But that declined with age, to around a quarter of 15 year old children.
Other findings:
The last results in 2003 showed that oral health had improved greatly since the 1970s and 1980s.
This time, 12 and 15-year-olds were also asked to fill in a questionnaire on how they looked after their teeth.
In 2009 the Welsh government launched a national scheme to encourage better dental health amongst young children. Since then it has invested over Â£12m in the programme.
It also suggested the programme had led to a recent  6% drop in the proportion of five-year-olds experiencing dental decay.
Experts point out there could be several reason the health of children's teeth in Wales was still lagging behind those from other UK nations including socio-economic conditions.
That survey 10 years ago also showed a big drop in 15-year-olds with obvious decay from 94% in 1983 to 58%.
Scottish children are not included in the 2013 survey but Wales has better results than Northern Ireland, where 31% were judged to be in good oral health.
The Welsh Government said its own most recent monitoring survey showed a 6% drop in the proportion of five-year-olds with dental decay.
"However, there is more to do to improve the dental health of children in Wales especially since the vast majority of tooth decay is avoidable," said a spokesperson.
"Parents can help their children by reducing sugar intake and encouraging them to brush their teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. "
It has also published its own survey of dental health to identify how much decay among five-years-olds is already present at the age of three.


French MPs have passed a law that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines of up to €3,750 (£3,027, $4,274) for those buying sexual acts.

Those convicted would also have to attend classes to learn about the conditions faced by prostitutes.
It has taken more than two years to pass the controversial legislation because of differences between the two houses of parliament over the issue.
Some sex workers protested against the law during the final debate.
The demonstrators outside parliament in Paris, numbering about 60, carried banners and placards one of which read: "Don't liberate me, I'll take care of myself".
Members of the Strass sex workers' union say the law will affect the livelihoods of France's sex workers, estimated to number between 30,000 and 40,000.
Sweden was the first country to criminalise those who pay for sex rather than the prostitutes, introducing the law in 1999. Other countries have since adopted the so-called "Nordic model": Norway in 2008, Iceland in 2009, and Northern Ireland in 2014. Earlier this year, the European parliament approved a resolution calling for the law to be adopted throughout the continent.
But many advocacy groups warn the model makes sex work more dangerous.
Catherine Stephens, an activist with the UK-based International Union of Sex Workers, and a sex worker herself, says criminalisation makes those in the industry "much more likely to have to accept clients who are obscuring their identity, which benefits people who want to perpetrate violence".
Ms Stephens told the BBC that criminalising those who wish to purchase sex makes them less likely to report concerns about a sex worker's wellbeing.
"We have had cases where clients have helped people escape from situations of coercion ... Criminalising the client actively works against that, discouraging them from coming forward. We need to create a situation in which it is easy to report harm, violence and coercion. Blanket criminalisation of premises, brothels, or clients absolutely works against that."
Amnesty International says that laws against buying sex "mean that sex workers have to take more risks to protect buyers from detection by the police". The charity says sex workers have reported being asked to visit customers' homes to help them avoid police, instead of meeting them in safer environments.
Supporters of the law argue that it increases safety. Anne-Cecile Mailfert, the president of the Women's Foundation in France, which provides support to women's rights organisations, says sex workers are better able to seek police protection if they need it.
She told the BBC: "We are giving to the prostituted person a new tool to defend themselves and protect themselves. If they don't want to do that then actually they just don't have to call the police. But if anything happens, if the client is violent, if anything wrong happens, then now they have the law on their side."
The legislation will also make it easier for foreign prostitutes to get a temporary residence permit in France if they agree to find jobs outside prostitution, says Socialist MP Maud Olivier, who sponsored the legislation.
He told the Associated Press: "The most important aspect of this law is to accompany prostitutes and give them identity papers, because we know that 85% of prostitutes here are victims of trafficking."
The law was passed in the final vote on the bill in the lower house of parliament by 64 to 12 with 11 abstentions. It supersedes legislation from 2003 that penalised sex workers for soliciting.
Prostitution itself is not a crime in France, but pimping, human trafficking, brothels and and buying sex from a minor are all already against the law.


A landslip could affect 150 homes and cost Neath Port Talbot council millions of pounds, its leader has said.

About 20 people were told to leave a terraced row in Ystalyfera after mounds of earth fell down the hillside.
One empty property in Cyfyng Road is set to be knocked down while there could be compulsory purchases on others.
Leader Rob Jones said he has spoken to the Welsh Government about financial help for the authority.
He said people can claim packages of home loss compensation before and after they are asked to leave.
If it is then decided to demolish properties, a compulsory purchase will take place, with the amount given to owners negotiated by them and the authority.
"It has the potential to run into millions," Mr Jones said.
He said he has spoken to Welsh Government ministers about help to finance this, adding: "I hope there will be some assistance, but there is no guarantee."
Thousands of tonnes of rock, soil and trees first slipped down the hillside behind the houses in 2012, with a further two landslides this year, causing some gardens to drop away.
Mr Jones admitted there was "no engineering solution" for the 10 properties on Cyfyng Road.
He said more surveys were being carried out and the results could have further implications for about 150 homes that feature on the council's "hazard risk map".
"This is a moving feast because we can't predict where the landslides will occur," he added.
"And therefore this information [from surveys we are undertaking] will give us a better understanding to see if the wider community are implicated in this issue."
Ystalyfera, where many homes are built into the hillside, has a population of about 3,000 and was once home to several mines.
Its geology and industrial past have made it prone to landslides - and there have been at least 45 incidents since 1897.
Earlier this month, some residents in Cyfyng Road were ordered to leave because of an "imminent risk" to their lives.
Of the 10 properties, six households had left while two, who were appealing against the order to leave, remained. The remaining two houses were derelict.
Of the evacuated group, one household remains in "temporary accommodation".
In the meantime, Mr Jones said no decisions had been made on whether any more homes would face demolition.
However, he added: "If it means we have to demolish and go down the route of compulsory purchase orders, then that is something that will be negotiated between the home owners and the local authority.
"I'm in contact with the Welsh Government. I would hope there would be some financial assistance [for compensation payouts] but there is no guarantee."
He said it was not known if other properties nearby could be affected in the future.
Mr Jones said laser scans of the area from the air, known as "lidar surveys", would shed more light on the issue.
However, he stressed the council had a "statutory duty" to maintain public safety and would do whatever was necessary to protect people's lives.
On Tuesday night, about 50 residents held a public meeting in the village to discuss their concerns.
Tracy Clark, who has been forced to move with her children, said: "I don't think we have been informed enough and I don't think we have been helped enough."
Another of those temporarily displaced with her relatives, Morganne Bendle, said: "We're completely broken as a family.
"We don't know what's coming next.  It's possible we might be able to move back in six months, then again it [the property] could be condemned."
Updates are expected to be revealed at a council-organised public meeting at Ystalyfera School on 7 September.
Mr Jones added: "We want to give the local community as full account as possible of the situation to date and it is important that all residents in this area are made aware of the meeting."


The achievements of Yorkshire's Olympic and Paralympic athletes were recognised by large crowds in Leeds.

The Rio Heroes homecoming event saw athletes from across Yorkshire take a tour of the city centre in open-top buses ahead of a civic reception.
Organisers estimate around 30,000 people gathered to watch the parade.
Athletes taking part included triathletes Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, diver Jack Laugher and Paralympic champion Kadeena Cox.
The athletes described the event as an unbelievable experience.
Olympic rower Andrew Triggs-Hodge tweeted: "What a great day! In the county you love, sharing the sheer joy of a gold medal! Loving it!"


With just 28 days to go until Americans go to the polls, here's your daily election dig, including a divided family of voters in Pennsylvania, why viewing figures from the debate were low, and Clinton bags another Bush clan endorsement.

Internecine strife among Republicans over Donald Trump risked escalating into a political bloodbath as the party's most senior elected member, Paul Ryan, took the extraordinary step of effectively washing his hands of their standard-bearer. Diehard Trumpistas are enraged by Republican bosses shunning their own presidential nominee. During a conference call, one Congressman lambasted them as "cowards".
Clinton held her biggest campaign event yet, drawing 18,500 people to a rally in Columbus, Ohio, suggesting her base may be rallying round her after Sunday's vicious televised debate. The Democratic candidate also vaulted to an 11-point national lead in an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll conducted over the weekend.
Nancy O'Dell, the woman who was the subject of lewd comments in the now-infamous Trump sex-boast tape, said: "There is no room for objectification of women," as she hosted her TV show Entertainment Tonight. The creator of The Apprentice, meanwhile, said he cannot legally release footage from the show, disappointing those hoping for a fresh batch of compromising Trump archive clips.
It's not just the Republican establishment that's split - the choice facing the nation has divided households, too, as the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan found out...
Following Trump's suggestion that Hispanics in Las Vegas prefer to be called Latinos, BBC Mundo treads carefully into the minefield of US ethnic identity politics.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera examines the murky claim that Russia is trying to hack the US presidential election.
And squillionaire Clinton supporter Warren Buffett released his tax details after Trump accused him of exploiting loopholes to dodge paying his dues.
66.5 million - the number of Americans who tuned in for Sunday night's second presidential debate, a sharp fall from the first one two weeks earlier, which attracted a record-breaking 84 million viewers.
But this time the two candidates were up against the NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, which was watched by 16.6 million people on NBC.
Yet another member of the Bush clan has come out in support of Hillary Clinton.
Lauren Bush Lauren posted a black-and-white photo of the Democratic candidate on her social media accounts with the caption, "#ImWithHer ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡¸".
Her grandfather, former president George HW Bush, and cousin, Barbara Pierce Bush, have recently telegraphed their support for Clinton.
Can it be coincidence that Lauren Bush Lauren's father-in-law, fashion designer Ralph Lauren, has dressed Clinton for her big moments during this campaign season?
Both presidential candidates will hit the trail in the Florida, which some analysts say could hold the keys to the White House on 8 November.
As a legal battle rages over extending voter registration in this pivotal battleground state, Clinton will be on the stump down in Miami alongside former US vice-president Al Gore.
Trump will hold a rally at Panama City Beach up in the Panhandle.
Who is ahead in the polls?
48%
Hillary Clinton
44%
Donald Trump
Last updated October 10, 2016


Pakistan batsman Younus Khan will retire from one-day cricket after his side's limited-overs game against England on Wednesday.

The match will be the 37-year-old's 265th ODI and he has scored 7,240 runs including seven centuries.
Pakistan's leading Test run-scorer, he retired from Twenty20 cricket after lifting the World T20 title in 2009.
"I am retiring from ODI cricket after deliberation with my family, wife, and close friends," said Younus.
He made his one-day debut against Sri Lanka in Karachi in February 2000 but has struggled to hold down a place in the side recently, making scores of 6, 0 and 37 at this year's World Cup.
Younus, who overtook Javed Miandad's mark of 8,832 Test runs during the 2-0 series win over England, had already said he wanted to have a final fling in limited-overs cricket.
"I want to play a few more matches and then go out on a high," he said.
"I  have served the team well so it's my wish to retire after scoring a big knock."


In the ruins of an abandoned house close to India's border with Pakistan, three friends gather to take smack.

They are not down-and-outs, but students, who we are told are from "good families".
They live in Tarn Taran, a typically bustling market town in Punjab, one of India's wealthiest states.
They burn the brown powder, a low grade form of heroin, over metal foil, and then inhale the smoke it makes though a rolled-up 50 rupee ($1) note.
"I started taking it when I was at school," one tells me.
"Smack is easily available at all the schools and colleges in the border area. I reckon that most of the 18 to 25 year olds here take drugs," he says.
Punjab has had a drugs problem for many years, but what the student says confirms the widespread fear that things there have recently become much worse.
All sectors of society have been affected, including ones you would least expect.
Tarn Taran's government-run rehabilitation clinic is treating a policeman, two farmers and a professional wrestler.
"It's as if we're sitting on a time bomb that can explode at any time," said Dr JPS Bhatia, who has run a rehab clinic in the region's main city, Amritsar, for the past 15 years.
"It [the rate of addiction] is definitely on the rise and it is increasing so much that the scenario at the moment is that of an epidemic," he said.
No-one knows exactly how many new addicts there are, but a recent study by the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar suggested that as much as 70% of young Punjabi men were hooked on drugs or alcohol.
While the well-off take heroin, the poor take sedatives or other cheap medicines that are easily available at pharmacies, despite government efforts to limit access to them.
Historically, India's north-eastern region, next to Burma and close to the poppy-growing regions of the Golden Triangle, has had the most addicts.
But the bulk of the world's heroin now comes from Afghanistan, and its main route into India is through Punjab, via Pakistan.
It is a heavily guarded frontier, but cross-border gangs know well how to exploit gaps in the fence.
"What they do is put the contraband in large tyre tubes and float them across the water so that the person on this side of the border can collect it," said Tarn Taran's police chief, Pritpal Singh Virk.
"Certainly I'm worried about it and so are my high-ups. My seniors are always on to me to catch more smugglers and more drug peddlers and we're doing it," he said.
But despite frequent drug seizures, more keeps coming in.
Just as importantly Punjab, with its growing economy, has an ever larger number of willing customers.
The area's main wealth comes from its farms, and several times I hear stories of landowners selling their property to feed their habit.
"The middle class and the affluent are the worst victims of this crisis," explained Dr Bhatia.
"They are not labourers who don't have to worry about getting up in the mornings. They can sit at home taking heroin, while someone else does their work," he said.
One of Dr Bhatia's patients is Vishal Bamber. He actually became hooked on heroin in England where he lived for 10 years, and only returned to Punjab last year.
He did so because he said the treatment here is much more effective than what he was receiving in London.
But while his own experience of India might be hopeful, Mr Bamber has been horrified to see what has happened to the place while he was away.
"I was, like, oh my god, what's happened to my home?  It used to be so clean but the vibes have changed and I'm so shocked," he said.
"There was a time when there was prosperity in this state, people were so energetic doing things, trying new things. But this is now such a sad state. The map of Punjab has changed."
One of the worst affected areas is Maqboolpura, on the edge of Amritsar.
So many of its men have died or deserted their families after becoming addicted that it has become notorious for being "the village of widows".
One woman I meet has lost two husbands, and is now struggling to care for her new one, and her eldest son, who are both addicts.
At least there is hope for most of the children of the area - a charity school run from the house of the headmaster.
"The situation here is pathetic, pathetic," its director, Brij Bedi, told me.
"We encounter drug addicts in the daytime. Sometimes they become very violent also. They're drunk or have taken drugs.
"Sometimes they try to abuse also, but they don't bother us, we're very bold, we're very strong, we're not scared of them.
"At least the children won't touch drugs. They've taken a pledge that they'll fight drug abuse," he said.
"Some want to become lawyers to get justice for the people of this area, while some want to become police inspectors to catch those people who sell it.
"The police know exactly who sells the drugs, but the tragedy is they are helpless. They are gutless people."
There are many critics of the government, but according to Dr Bhatia, Punjab is now waking up to the problem, and beginning to understand how to treat it.
"They say that growth always comes from a crisis situation, and so as we have a crisis here in Punjab there is growth also. We can be very positive that things are moving in the right direction."
But he admits that a much greater effort is needed if this problem is ever to be contained.


Hamilton Academical have released defenders Jesus Garcia Tena and Dan Seaborne "in order to allow them to find new clubs ahead of next season".

Spaniard Tena, 26, joined Accies from Livingston in 2013 but has not played since suffering a knee injury against Ayr United in July.
Seaborne signed from Partick Thistle in August but only made 13 appearances.
"We thank both players for their service and wish them well for the future," a club statement said.


Guy Carawan, whose rendition of We Shall Overcome became an anthem of the US civil rights movement, has died at the age of  87.

The white folk musician popularized the song by teaching it to a group of black activist students in 1960.
It was taken up as a rally cry and was sung at the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King.
President Johnson also quoted the lyrics when describing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The song has a long oral history and can be traced back to a 19th Century church hymn.
It has since been performed by Tiananmen Square protesters and at the dismantled Berlin Wall, the Times reported.
"Playing music at these kinds of situations, it wasn't just another form of entertainment," Carawan told the Chicago Tribune in 1990.
"It was sustenance for people going through hard times."
Carawan was born in California in 1927 and moved to New York City where he became active in the folk revival movement in Greenwich Village.
He and his second wife, Candie, taught music for decades at the Highlander Research and Education Center, a social justice leadership school in Tennessee. whose visitors over the years included Rosa Parks and Luther King.
Carawan had dementia and died at his home in Tennessee on Saturday, his wife told local media.


The bill which proposes further powers for Scotland has passed its first parliamentary hurdle without a vote.

The Scotland Bill was given its second reading in the Commons with no need for a division.
The proposals now move on to the committee stage, when MPs will be able to propose and debate amendments.
The bill follows the recommendations of the Smith Commission, which was set up after the independence referendum.
It would give Holyrood control over income tax rates and bands, a half share in VAT revenues and a greater say over welfare powers in Scotland.
The SNP said the bill falls short in almost every way.
The Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, opened the debate by reiterating the UK government's commitment to deliver its promise of further devolution.
Mr Mundell said that if MPs voted for the bill at the second reading it would be subjected to four days of line-by-line scrutiny at the committee stage.
The Tory MP said he was happy to have his "feet held to the fire" because he was confident it delivered the Smith Commission recommendations in full.
He said: "It is the fulfilment of our manifesto commitment that the all-party Smith Commission agreement should be implemented in full.
"The fact that this bill was introduced on the first day after the Queen's Speech and that this debate is taking place on the first day since the general election speaks volume for the determination to honour that manifesto commitment and get on with the job."
The second reading allows MPs to discuss the principles of the legislation and provide parties with a platform to put forward their opinions.
The SNP, which has 56 of Scotland's 59 MPs, is calling for further powers over employment laws, the minimum wage and business taxes to also be devolved.
SNP MPs made a number of interventions during the debate, claiming that the bill does not meet the Smith Commission recommendations.
The party's Westminster leader Angus Robertson told MPs the bill's genesis was a "breathless panic" from the pro-union campaigners in the days before the referendum in September.
He said the Vow of wide-ranging new powers for Scotland gave way to the Smith Commission agreement, a "watered-down" version of which has now become the Scotland Bill, Mr Robertson said.
"There is no doubt that the bill before us does not match the pledge of the campaign or the spirit or letter of the Smith deal," he said.
"The bill not only falls short but it too has been overtaken by another election a few weeks ago and an overwhelming and unprecedented SNP success."
Mr Robertson told MPs said the SNP would support amendments to the bill which called for Full Fiscal Autonomy for Scotland in the medium term.
That would mean Scotland would have the power to control all its own tax and spending except defence and foreign affairs.
Labour's Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray told the House of Commons that after the bill was passed, the Scottish government would have immense power to change society for the better while continuing to benefit from the pooling and sharing of resources across the UK.
He said: "But, what is required now is the ideas and political will to deliver on that potential.
"That political will has always been a Labour priority, as demonstrated through the Calman and Smith Commissions, to deliver progressive change for Scotland.
"It appears like the SNP are desperate to be disappointed by this bill."
Speaking from New York, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC her party would "seek to amend" the Scotland bill to "bring about full fiscal autonomy".
But she said she was "fully expecting" other parties to block the move. Labour has accused the SNP of "back-pedalling" on what it said had been a flagship policy.
Ms Sturgeon said her party was pursuing a "double track process": to make sure the Scotland bill delivers the further devolution recommended by the Smith Commission while building support for even greater powers for Holyrood.
The first minister said powers over the minimum wage, business taxes and employment law were priorities for the Scottish government.


A town in the US state of South Carolina has banned the wearing of sagging trousers, an offence that may now lead to a $600 (£462) fine.

Timmonsville, a town of only 2,000 people, passed the order on Tuesday. A first offence leads to a verbal warning, a second to a written warning and a third to a fine of $100-600.
Similar orders were previously made in towns in Florida and Louisiana.
One council official said the ban would lead to racial profiling.
In 2007, officials in Delcambre, Louisiana, said their ban was not racist.
In pictures: Sagging trousers
The style is popular with hip-hop artists. The New York Times reported that the style originated from oversized prison outfits, given without belts to avoid suicide attempts.
The Timmonsville order, published by the Florence News newspaper, reads:
"It shall be unlawful for any person driving or walking the streets and roads of the town of Timmonsville to:
(a) engage in public nudity;
(b) display pornographic material such that others are unwantingly exposed to the same or that minors are able to view the same;
(c) display the flesh of one's rear-end, behind or backside during stationary or movement within the city limits;
(d) wear pants, trousers, or shorts such that the known undergarments are intentional displayed/exposed to the public."
"Young children do what they see," Timmonsville Mayor William James Jr was quoted as saying by the Florence News.
"If they see older guys doing that, they're going to grow up and think that it's right. We need to put a stop to it. I understand there's a such thing as fads, but this has gone on way too long."
One member of the council, Cheryl Qualls, objected to the order, saying: "It will increase racial profiling on some of our children here in Timmonsville and across the country," according to South Carolina's The State newspaper.
Sagging trousers were often more expensive, and used as a status symbol, she said.
Ocala city council in Florida overturned its ban on sagging trousers two years ago.


Staff at a shopping centre spent four hours helping a family track down their car after they had forgotten where it was parked.

The family, from Leeds, arrived for their daughter's graduation in Hull on Wednesday and parked in a rush.
As reported in the Hull Daily Mail, they approached St Stephen's staff Carmen Railton and Ebrima Touray after spending an hour looking for their car.
The vehicle was eventually found at the King William car park.
More stories from East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire
Ms Railton, a customer service operator, said: "They had been looking around for an hour when they approached me at about 17:30.
"They said they knew the car was in a pay and display car park, which was Â£2.50 all day and closed at 18:30."
Ms Railton showed the woman - who was with two of her children aged six and four - photographs of Hull car parks on her phone to see if she could jog her memory.
But she said they realised it was King William car park when her husband returned and "could remember a gold horse statue".
Ms Railton and Mr Touray took the family to the car park but found it was locked.
"There was a number on the gate but there was no answer because we later found out the security man was visiting family," she added.
The family eventually got their car back at 21:30 BST when the night security at St Stephen's were contacted by security at King William, and drove home after paying Â£20.
Mr Touray told the Hull Daily Mail the pair had worked later than their shift, but it was worth it.


As protesters in support of lorry drivers threaten to demonstrate at the Port of Dover, what is the impact of illegal migrants on those drivers who regularly make the journey across the English Channel?

Richard McMurray has been a long distance driver with Britannia Appleyard Removals, based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, for nine years, and travelled back to the UK via ferry from Calais on Wednesday night.
"Whenever I stop, I make sure all my doors are locked, and before I set off I check under the wagon.
"We travel in pairs - one will fuel up and the other will stand outside the wagon," he said.
"The migrants are blatant in what they do, and will literally stand by the road waiting for an opportunity.
"At least four or five them. Checking for unlocked doors.  They don't mess about, they just pounce straight away."
Mr McMurray recalled how he had been waiting in the so-called secure compound at Calais when he saw four people get into the back of an unattended lorry, while another shut the door on them.
"I waited for the driver to come back to tell him. He made sure they got out of the lorry and then checked it over."
If found with an illegal passenger on entering the UK, a driver and his employer can each be fined up to £2,000 per migrant and have their operating licence revoked.
"Fines could ruin people's lives," Mr McMurray said.
He told of another driver who found a migrant had climbed behind the windbreaker on top of his lorry.
"Unfortunately, he was heading into France and when the man began knocking he carried on driving for a couple of hours to teach him a lesson.
"I feel sorry for them in a way... they're obviously running from something."
Mr McMurray said there was a noticeable increase in French police along the main approach to the port compared to the last time he was there, and as a result fewer migrants.
"But the police just pull them out of the wagons, frogmarch them back to the gates, and they are left to try again," he said.
According to Home Office figures, more than 19,000 "clandestine entrants" were caught trying to enter the UK in vehicles or trains in 2013-14, compared to 11,731 in 2012-13.
Mark Horner, who works for Brian Yeardley Continental, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, said the number of migrants in Calais was quite intimidating.
"As soon as you stop they're on to the truck."
His final stop before reaching Calais is always three hours away from the port where it is "relatively safe", but he fears the migrants are moving further out from the town in their quest to hide onboard a vehicle.
He also avoids the notorious road nicknamed "diesel alley" - where there are several refuelling stations, and hundreds of migrants.
"Bricks and bottles are thrown at the trucks to make them stop. It's too risky," he said.
"More protection is needed - it's only a matter of time before a driver gets killed or seriously injured."
Mr Horner said migrants often jumped out in front of his lorry, but he just had to carry on driving, weaving in and out of them on the road.
"You're literally by yourself... the police presence is nothing you'd want.
"It's a game of chase for the immigrants, who run in opposite directions.
"Police move them on an hour down the road and they just walk back."
Last week the UK government pledged £12m to help France tackle the problems, with the two countries promising to work more closely.
Mr Horner said he would like to see armed police or the Army guarding the port - either French or British, although he felt that ultimately it was "a UK problem".
"We give benefits out... we offer them everything - they all want to come to the UK."
Matt Cherry has been driving through Calais at least three times a month for the last eight years with the haulage firm EM Rogers, based in Northampton.
Over the years he has seen the problem with migrants escalate.
The French government believes there are 1,500 illegal immigrants in the port town, the numbers having increased by 50% in the past year as people flee from humanitarian crises in northern and eastern Africa and the Middle East.
Mr Cherry said they were now "far more determined and ruthless".
"They're running about, trying to open the trailer, laying down in the road," he said.
"They're desperate people, they'll try anything.
"You're potentially away from home for two or three weeks - it's the last thing you need when you just want to get the boat back to the UK.
"You're just trying to do your job."
Mr Cherry said the migrants had "come from nothing, had got nothing, and had nothing to lose".
"They've travelled through the whole of western Europe but still want to get to the UK, because we're a soft touch."


Twelve people have been killed in a head-on collision between a lorry and a minibus in central France.

The victims were all Portuguese passengers on the minibus, which was travelling from Switzerland to Portugal, officials say.
The driver of the minibus and the two Italian drivers of the lorry survived, they add.
The collision took place just before midnight near the village of Montbeugny, in the Allier department.
Reports say the minibus swerved into the path of oncoming traffic, but the reason was not clear.
One of those killed was a seven-year-old girl.
Emergency services closed the road after the accident and a nearby village hall was used as a temporary mortuary.
The crash happened on a stretch of road said by locals to be notorious for accidents.


The minister who approved plans for a £1bn M4 relief road in south Wales has denied the project is in doubt following her decision to step down.

Transport Minister Edwina Hart announced on Friday she would not seek re-election to the assembly in 2016.
CBI Wales, representing the nation's biggest employers, said it wanted "reassurance" that the road south of Newport would still be built.
Ms Hart said that "everything is in place" for a final decision in 2016.
Plans for the scheme include 24km (15m) of new motorway and a 2.5km-long (1.5m) viaduct crossing the River Usk.
A major remodelling of M4 junctions 23 and 29 is also proposed.
Opposition parties and several Labour AMs are opposed to the plan and some organisations have raised concerns about the cost of the favoured "black" route and its potential impact on the environment.
A public inquiry looking at the proposals is likely to begin in 2016,
Chris Sutton, chairman of CBI Wales, said the delivery of the M4 relief road was a "number one priority for the Welsh economy" and it was important there was "no loss of momentum or change in direction in delivery of this key project".
"We recognise that ministers, and indeed, governments change however the challenge is to quietly 'crack on' in dealing with the long-term issues which form the foundation of future growth," he said.
"We will seek reassurances from the Welsh government in this regard."
However, Mrs Hart played down suggestions the project was now in doubt.
She told BBC Wales:  "Let me make it clear I'm part of a government, I'm part of an administration that has decided to go ahead with this project.
"Everything is in place.
"The decision won't be until 2016 but we've done everything we need to do in terms of how we're looking at the plan developing."
She added: "I wouldn't be so arrogant to give any messages to my ultimate successor.
"All I know is the first minister and myself have been very keen on the project."
Earlier, a Welsh government spokesperson said: "We have announced a preferred route for the project, which we believe is the best solution to transport issues around Newport and is vitally important to the economic prosperity of Wales. Our position on this has not changed."
Iestyn Davies of the Federation of Small Businesses said "a £1bn piece of tarmac for around 13 miles" was not a priority for small businesses.
While he agreed the road around Newport was a "bottleneck", he said the money could be better spent elsewhere to support skills or improve transport across Wales.
Plaid Cymru said a change of Welsh government in 2016 would be a chance to find a "cheaper, quicker, better alternative" to Labour ministers' current plans.
Development work on the road has already begun after three firms were awarded contracts in March.
The Welsh government's statement makes it clear that its position on a new M4 relief road has not changed.
But ultimately the "reassurance" the CBI is looking for can only really come from the next administration.
The project will need majority support in the assembly after the election in May 2016.
With opposition parties and several Labour AMs against the proposed £1bn road, the key factor will be how strong a commitment Labour makes to it in its 2016 manifesto.
And given the long, long history of this idea, it is unsurprising the CBI feels a strong minister in charge is essential.


Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos says he expects a peace deal to end more than 50 years of conflict with the country's largest rebel group, Farc, to be reached within a month.

Mr Santos said the country would enter a new era if the talks, which started in 2012, were successfully concluded.
A previous deadline set by Mr Santos to complete the negotiations with the rebels was missed on 23 March.
More than 220,000 people have died in five decades of the armed conflict.
The peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Marxist guerrilla group have lasted a lot longer than initially envisioned by President Santos.
What Colombians say about the peace process
What is at stake in the Colombian peace process?
Formal talks started in the Cuban capital, Havana, in November 2012. They were preceded by two years of secret talks.
At an unprecedented meeting with the Farc leader known as Timochenko in Havana last September, the president set a deadline of 23 March 2016 for the talks to be concluded.
But as that deadline approached, both sides said that important differences remained and that they needed more time to reach a final agreement.
At the time, Mr Santos said he did not want to rush into "signing a bad agreement".
He also said that setting a date on the talks to be concluded, had been "risky".
Negotiations have continued apace in Havana since then.
Final points under discussion include a bilateral ceasefire, the decommissioning of the rebels' weapons and guarantees for their safety once they down arms.
A peace deal to end the Western Hemisphere's longest-running conflict would be seen as a coup for President Santos, who cannot stand for election again after two terms in office.
However, the Farc are not the only guerrilla group active in Colombia.
The government earlier this year announced it would also enter into formal peace talks with the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN).
But those talks, which were due to start in Ecuador in May, have been put on hold over a disagreement over kidnappings, which the government wants the ELN to stop for good.
More than 220,000 people have been killed and close to seven million displaced as a result of Colombia's armed conflict, which began in the 1960s.


The Cassini probe has made a daring close flyby of Enceladus, an ice-rich moon of Saturn.

The Nasa craft swept just 50km above the moon's surface in a final attempt to "taste" the chemistry of water jets spewing from its south pole.
Enceladus has produced a series of major discoveries that mean it is now considered one of the most promising places to find life beyond Earth.
Scientists say it has an ocean beneath its icy crust.
What is more, the conditions in this global body of liquid water could be benign enough to support microbial organisms.
"Enceladus is not just an ocean world  - it's a world that might provide a habitable environment for life as we know it," said Cassini program scientist Curt Niebur, in a media briefing on Monday.
"On Wednesday we'll plunge deeper into that magnificent plume coming from the South Pole than ever before. And we will collect the best sample ever from an ocean beyond earth."
Cassini will attempt to detect molecular hydrogen during Wednesday's encounter.
This would be a strong signal that hot vents exist on the rocky ocean floor.
If that is the case, it would be another plus-point in the moon's habitability potential.
Such vent systems are known on Earth to provide the fundamental energy and nutrient requirements for some deep-sea ecosystems.
At these locations, water is drawn into the rock bed, heated and saturated with minerals, before then being ejected back upwards.
Bacteria thrive in this environment, establishing a food web that supports a chain to more complex organisms.
Whether any of this is going on inside Enceladus is just speculation for now.
"The amount of hydrogen emission will reveal for us how much hydrothermal activity is actually occurring on that seafloor - with implications for the amount of energy available," said Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker, from Nasa's Jet Propulstion Laboratory in California.
The flyby took place at about 10:00 Pacific time (17:00 GMT) on Wednesday - but the anticipated scientific insights may be days or weeks away.
"We will have a first chance to have a look at the gas and particle data within about a week of the flyby - a first, quick look. Then over the coming weeks we'll do a more detailed analysis, to really help us understand what's going on in that tantalising ocean on Enceladus," Dr Spilker said.
Cassini is entering the end stages of its mission to the Saturnian system, which began with an insertion into orbit around the ringed planet in July 2004.
Since then it has made repeated passes of the major moons, to image them and to characterise their make-up and environment.
This latest visit to Enceladus is one of the very closest. Indeed, Cassini will never again get quite so near to the moon's surface.
In December, it will venture to within 5,000km of the wrinkled terrain, but thereafter it will fly no closer than 22,000km.
As a consequence, Wednesday's rendezvous represents the last real opportunity to sample the densest regions of the jets.
Previous detections by the probe's instruments have already identified salts and organics in the icy spray.
Key indicators of hidden vent activity include the presence in the plumes of silica particles and methane.
Molecular hydrogen would be a key find: an "independent line of evidence" for hydrothermal activity, according to Dr Spilker. It would support the notion that a process known as serpentinization was in play.
This sees rocks rich in iron and magnesium minerals react with water, and incorporate H2O molecules into their crystal structure.
On Earth, some micro-organisms are able to use the hydrogen byproduct from serpentinization as an energy source to drive their metabolism.
Next year, Cassini will begin a series of manoeuvres to put itself in orbits that take it high above, and through, Saturn's rings.
Then, in 2017, once the probe's fuel has all but run out, ground controllers will command the spacecraft to plunge into the planet's atmosphere, where it will be destroyed.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Plans are under way for a new memorial in Pembrokeshire for Japanese sailors who died when their ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Irish Sea.

Just 29 of the 320 on board the Hirano Maru survived when the vessel was hit, a month before the end of World War One.
Fifteen of the bodies were washed up on Pembrokeshire's shores.
A wooden post in a churchyard in Angle to remember the victims has rotted so locals hope to erect a new memorial.
During the Great War, Japan was Britain's ally and her merchant ships were a target for German U-boats.
On 4 October 1918 -  one month before the armistice - one such vessel, the Hirano Maru, was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland.
Most of those who died washed up on Irish beaches, but 15 bodies were found on Pembrokeshire's shores - seven at Freshwater West, five in Dale, one at St Ishmael's and two in Solva.
David James, of the West Wales Maritime Heritage Society, said:  "All of these graves have markers, but the wooden post that was erected in nearby Angle for seven of the victims has long since rotted away."
He is now trying to get a new memorial erected at the unmarked grave in St Mary's church.
"You could say I'm keeping a promise that I make every Remembrance Day: 'We will remember them'," he added.
"These people were our allies, somebody's sons, husbands and fathers.
"There should be a marker there, I feel it is only right."
In the burial records of Angle churchyard, only one of the victims from the time is named, Shiro Okoshi. The rest are listed as "unknown".
Mr James has contacted the Japanese Embassy to raise the issue, and enlisted the support of a retired Japanese Major General living in Swansea.
Ken Matsui said he was honoured to hear that the people of Pembrokeshire wanted to mark his country's loss.
"I was very touched to hear about this," he said.
"More than 40 Japanese vessels were sunk or attacked during World War One.
"But the Hirano Maru stands out because it was sunk so close to the end of the war - only a few weeks later the German U-boat surrendered to British forces."
If St Mary's church gives the go ahead, Mr James said he hopes to hold a special service of dedication.


The wife of Mark Cavendish has revealed online trolls have wished their children "get cancer and die in pain" after his exit from the Tour de France.

Cavendish, 32, broke his shoulder after colliding with Peter Sagan, who was disqualified from the Tour on Tuesday.
His wife, Peta, has highlighted comments posted next to a video of her son, while Cavendish has since asked for "vile" social media abuse to end.
Cavendish has also received tweets wishing him "serious injury".
Cavendish, who has won 30 stages on the Tour in his career, was edged into fencing by world champion Sagan as riders battled for position late on in stage four.
Some on social media apportion blame for the sprint-finish crash on Cavendish, who in the immediate aftermath said he was "not a fan" of Sagan appearing to elbow him off his bike.
One Twitter user wrote to Cavendish saying: "Why are you complaining about the elbow? Stop hiding behind your team. Just admit you caused it #shameonyou."
Another added: "You're a high school bully. You knock people about and can't take it when another kid slaps you back. Crying to your sponsors."
One of the many messages received by Cavendish called the 2016 Olympic silver medallist "an actor and liar".
Cavendish has also received some messages for support and on Wednesday appealed for abuse to end. "Please know that it's sport and I have a family," he posted on Twitter.
"Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But vile and threatening comments on social media to myself and my family aren't deserved."
Stage six of the Tour was taking place on Thursday with Team Sky rider Chris Froome in possession of the yellow jersey as race leader.


Asian shares experienced mixed fortunes as markets remained nervous over the prospects for a deal on Greece's debts.

On Monday, eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss the final â‚¬7.2bn tranche of Greece's â‚¬240bn EU/IMF bailout.
Ministers said Greece had made "progress", but more work was needed before funds would be released.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed flat at 19,624.84, erasing earlier losses.
But, shares of Sharp rebounded 11% after having plunged 26% on Monday on worries over a possible financial restructuring.
In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% to 4,366.31, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.4% at 27,616.37.
In Australia, shares closed higher, but many investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the federal budget due later on Tuesday.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index ended up 0.9% at 5,674.7.
With Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott facing growing pressure to call early elections, the conservative government is expected to take a more cautious approach in its second budget.
Shares of Qantas rose 7% after the airline's chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline was on track to resume paying dividends for the first time since 2009.
In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi index closed flat at 2,096.77.


There are no plans to change the line-up of weather presenters at BBC Wales despite the Met Office losing its contract with the corporation.

BBC Wales meteorologist Derek Brockway is employed by the Met Office but the BBC confirmed on Monday that no changes are planned to its weather coverage.
The Met Office has provided the data used by the BBC since 1922.
The BBC said it was required to secure the best value for money and will tender the contract to competition.
The Met Office said it was disappointed by the decision.
A replacement is expected to take over next year.
Steve Noyes, Met Office operations and customer services director, said: "Nobody knows Britain's weather better and, during our long relationship with the BBC, we've revolutionised weather communication to make it an integral part of British daily life.
"This is disappointing news but we will be working to make sure that vital Met Office advice continues to be a part of BBC output."
A BBC spokesman said: "Our viewers get the highest standard of weather service and that won't change.
"We are legally required to go through an open tender process and take forward the strongest bids to make sure we secure both the best possible service and value for money for the licence fee payer.
"Our graphics are already supplied by another provider and our long-standing relationship with the Met Office will continue as we intend to still broadcast their severe weather warnings."


Inflation is one of the most important issues in economics.

It influences the interest rate we get on our savings and the rate we pay on our mortgages.
Inflation also affects the level of pensions and benefits, as well as the price of some train tickets.
Inflation is the rate of increase in prices for goods and services.
There are a number of different measures of inflation in use. The most frequently quoted and most significant ones are the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
Each looks at the prices of hundreds of things we commonly spend money on, including bread, cinema tickets and pints of beer - and tracks how these prices have changed over time.
The inflation rates are expressed as percentages. If CPI is 3%, this means that on average, the price of products and services we buy is 3% higher than a year earlier.
Or, in other words, we would need to spend 3% more to buy the same things we bought 12 months ago.
RPI includes housing costs such as mortgage interest payments and council tax, whereas CPI does not.
But that only accounts for a small part of the difference between RPI and CPI.
The main difference is caused by the fact that, although they use much of the same data, they calculate the inflation rate using different formulae.
The one CPI uses takes into account that when prices rise, some people will switch to products that have gone up by less.
This results in a lower CPI reading than RPI in nearly all cases.
The method used to calculate RPI is no longer considered as best practice so it has had its national statistic status removed, although the Office for National Statistics (ONS) still calculates it every month.
The data from the CPI and RPI rates are used in many ways by the government and businesses, and play an important role in setting economic policy.
That's because the Bank of England uses inflation to set interest rates. If the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee thinks CPI inflation will be above 2% in the next two years or so, it may increase interest rates to try to subdue it.
Conversely if it thinks inflation is likely to be below 2%, it may cut interest rates.
That's why inflation is a crucial factor in determining the rates banks charge for mortgages and the rates they offer on savings accounts.
It also has a direct impact on some people's incomes.
Anything that is described as index-linked rises in line with inflation, usually as measured by the CPI or the RPI.
State benefits and many occupational pensions rise in line with CPI. Government index-linked savings products and some train ticket prices rise in line with RPI.
The basic state pension is currently governed by the so-called triple-lock, rising by the highest of CPI, average earnings or 2.5%.
Some companies use the level of inflation to set annual pay rises. In recent years however, due to the effects of the recession, many pay settlements have fallen behind price rises.
Every month the ONS collects more than 100,000 prices of goods and services from a wide range of retailers across the country - including online retailers.
Prices are updated every month and price collectors visit the same retailers each time in order to monitor identical goods and make sure they are comparing like with like.
All these prices are combined using information on average household spending patterns to produce an overall prices index.
It also takes into account how much we spend on different items.
So items are weighted - i.e. given more importance in the inflation indexes - according to how much we spend on them.
We typically spend more on fuel than on postage stamps, for example.
So a large rise in the price of petrol and diesel would affect the overall rate of inflation more, as it has a weight of 3.5% in the CPI.
Meanwhile a rise in the price of stamps is less likely to affect the overall index, as they have a weighting of 0.2%.
This guide was compiled with information from the ONS.


Hull City forward Oumar Niasse has had a three-match ban overturned after his red card against Watford was rescinded.

The 27-year-old Senegal international was shown a straight red card for a tackle on M'Baye Niang during Hull's 2-0 win over the Hornets on Saturday.
However, Hull, who are two points above the relegation zone with four games to play, made a successful appeal to the Football Association.
It means Niasse will be available for Hull's trip to Southampton on Saturday.


Bob McHugh struck in stoppage time as Falkirk recovered from the loss of two early goals to stun Rangers.

Blair Alston found the top corner on 72 minutes and Myles Hippolyte rounded the goalkeeper to level before McHugh turned in a neat, near-post finish.
Rangers looked on course for a comfortable victory when Kenny Miller and Barrie McKay applied close-range finishes inside nine minutes.
But the Championship leaders let their lead at the top slip to 11 points.
It was just a third league defeat of the season for Rangers, who will guarantee the title with four wins from their remaining seven games.
But Falkirk boast the same number of losses and a remarkable comeback also takes them six points clear of Hibernian, although they have played three more games than the team in third place.
Rangers had gone 15 matches unbeaten since losing another thriller to Falkirk in December and Mark Warburton's men could have been out of sight after a dominant first-half display.
Having had a strike incorrectly disallowed for offside, James Tavernier drilled in a cross for Miller to tap in the opener.
The huge travelling support were still celebrating when Rangers swaggered forward and fired in a second, with Lee Wallace setting up McKay.
Miller and McKay threatened again, while Wallace and Halliday had shots well saved by Danny Rogers before the interval.
Rangers started the second half with the same drive, with Miller and Halliday going close to extending their lead.
But the home side's desire was never in question and they began to cause problems for the Rangers defence as Luke Leahy, Will Vaulks and substitute Hippolyte had shots repelled by Wes Foderingham.
The Rangers keeper was also tested by a fierce Alston shot in the first half but had no chance when the Bairns midfielder expertly lashed the ball on the half volley into the top corner of the net.
Soon after, the increasingly lively Hippolyte found space on the left, skipped past Foderingham and blasted the ball beyond two covering defenders.
The home fans behind the goal rose and roared as one and in near disbelief as Hippolyte back-flipped away in delight.
And just as they were preparing to celebrate an unlikely point, McHugh handed them the victory and added to the delirium.
Kevin O'Hara did well to create room for a cross on the left and when he drove the ball in low fellow substitute McHugh nicked in to steer the ball home from inside the six-yard box.
A bewildered Rangers had scarcely any time to respond and Falkirk held on to secure a vital three points in their push for promotion.


A couple "owned" and used a man as a slave for 24 years, a court heard.

Emmanuel and Antan Edet controlled every aspect of Ofonime Sunday Inuk's life in London "down to his very name", prosecutors told Harrow Crown Court.
Mr and Mrs Edet, a doctor and nurse from Perivale, also confiscated his passport, the court heard. They deny slavery and cruelty charges.
The jury heard in 1989 Mr Inuk, then aged about 14, left Nigeria with the couple after a friend introduced them.
He had been promised he would be paid for his work for them and would receive an education, the court was told.
Instead, he was forced to clean, sleep on the floor and provide childcare, and told that if he tried to run away he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant, the prosecution said.
Prosecutor Roger Smart told court the couple had "deprived the complainant of his identity, his rights to education and freedom of movement and the money he should have received".
Mr Smart said: "The victim has described as having spent 24 years of his life and having nothing to show for it - his mother has died, he has no means of returning to Nigeria.
"He was entirely dependent on them and they deprived him of his adolescence, his education and his family life. They have treated him beneath contempt."
The young man used to eat by himself, and the couple changed Mr Inuk's name so he had the same surname as them, Mr Smart said.
Mr Smart said this was not the young man's "choice nor his desire" but allowed Mr Edet to "move him not only domestically but internationally at their convenience and whim".
Mr Edet, 60 was a trained obstetrician and gynaecologist and his wife Antan, 58, was a senior sister at a hospital.
Each have pleaded not guilty to holding a person in slavery and servitude and assisting unlawful immigration.
They also deny a further count of cruelty to a person under the age of 16.
Mr Smart told the jury Mr Inuk became so dependent on the couple he had no choice but to stay with them.
The trial continues.


(Open): The London market opened flat but shares in B&Q owner Kingfisher fell after its latest trading update.

Kingfisher shares dropped 4.5% despite it posting a 20% rise in retail profit to £142m for the 13 weeks to 3 May.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 4.09 points at 6,855.31.
Shares in power provider Aggreko were down 2.2% at £17.11. The company announced on Thursday that British Gas boss Chris Weston was to be its new chief executive.
Shares in Centrica - the owner of British Gas - slipped 0.,1% to 330.60p.
On the currency markets, the pound dipped 0.04%% against the dollar to $1.6705 and edged down 0.03% against the euro to 1.2291 euros.


A new wind turbine factory in Hull has produced its first blade for use in an offshore wind farm.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said it "marked a big milestone" in the future for Hull and manufacturing in energy.
The blade is to be supplied to DONG Energy for the Race Bank wind farm in the North Sea.
Associated British Ports and Siemens are investing about Â£310m on manufacturing, assembly and servicing factories for offshore wind industries.
The 10 acre (40,000 sq m) blade factory is part of a 133 acre (540,000 sq m) development.
The waterfront location in Alexandra Dock has been turned into a hub for wind power manufacturing, logistics and assembly.
In a to visit to see the 250ft (75m) blade at the site, Mr Clark said: "It's a huge day for Hull, for the Humber, but also for the country.
"Hull has established itself as an important manufacturing and engineering centre for this innovative and exciting new industry."
Juergen Maier, of Siemens, said: "I hope it will be a catalyst for further significant investments by our suppliers, customers and the industry at large."


MK Dons captain Dean Lewington says he has not yet held talks with the League One club about a new contract.

The 32-year-old left-back played in their first competitive fixture in 2004 and has so far made a total of 634 appearances for the club.
"There's a few of us in the same boat where we don't know what is going on," Lewington told BBC Three Counties.
"I think the club are trying to focus on staying in the league and look towards the end of the season."
"There's not much else you can do, so it's a case of waiting and playing. They'll make a decision when the time comes.
Also coming to the end of their contracts at Stadium:MK are goalkeeper David Martin, 31, striker Nicky Maynard, 30, and midfielders Dean Bowditch, 30, Ben Reeves, 25, and Daniel Powell, 26.
"You always keep doing your job and you're playing for the club as long you're contracted to, and do your best." Lewington added.
Ahead of Tuesday's trip to Charlton Athletic, Robbie Neilson's side are 14th in League One, eight points above the relegation zone.
The 16th-placed Addicks, who are managed by former MK Dons boss Karl Robinson, have won just one of their last 13 games.
It is the club's third meeting since Robinson left the Dons last October after six years in charge.