The Northern Ireland Assembly has rejected a proposal calling for the introduction of gay marriage, after debating the issue for a fourth time.

A total of 96 MLAs took part in the vote and 49 voted against the Sinn Féin motion calling for civil marriage equality for all, with 47 in favour.
Sinn Féin, SDLP and five Alliance MLAs supported the motion.  The DUP opposed it and the Ulster Unionists were given a free vote on the issue.
Of 53 unionists, only four voted yes.
Ahead of the vote, a petition of concern was tabled, meaning the motion would require cross-community support from both unionists and nationalists to succeed.  However, it did not come into play.
A full breakdown of the vote has been published on the assembly website.
The controversy surrounding Northern Ireland's DUP health minister, Jim Wells, featured heavily in the debate.
The health minster issued a public apology on Friday, after he was recorded on camera making comments linking gay relationships and child abuse.
Mr Wells then announced his resignation on Monday, after it was confirmed that police are also investigating an incident involving a lesbian couple during a door-to-door election canvas by Mr Wells in County Down.
It is alleged that he called at the couple's house, and during a conversation was critical of their lifestyle.
He is due to step down on 11 May to spend more time with his seriously ill wife, but Sinn Féin said his resignation should take immediate effect.
Sinn Féin's Catriona Ruane expressed sympathy over his wife's illness but said he should have resigned immediately after linking child abuse to gay parents.
She Mr Wells had "violated" his pledge of office by making his original remarks.
"No matter how much pressure someone is under there is no excuse for the comments that were made. What make the comments even worse was that they were made by the health minister who had taken a pledge of office, who is responsible for safeguarding children," she said.
Earlier, DUP leader Peter Robinson has asked people "not to take on the characteristics of a lynch mob" over the controversy surrounding Mr Wels.
"We need to be very careful on these issues that we have some proportionality," he said.
"This was a comment made by a minister who for a considerable number of months has carried on his work during the day and been sitting beside his wife during the night as she's been fighting for her life."
Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kinahan told the Assembly he was supporting the Sinn Féin motion for marriage equality and was "proud" that his party had given its MLAs a free vote on the motion.
"At school and in the army I believed - and I'm ashamed to say joked carried by the flow - that gay lesbian and such matters were wrong and could be laughed at - I'd never really sat down and thought about it," Mr Kinahan said.
The UUP MLA said his eyes were opened to discrimination when one of his colleagues, who he described as an "excellent soldier"  left the army after failing a vetting process for promotion.
"I want a society here in Northern Ireland where no-one is made to feel a second-class citizen to any extent and certainly not due to sexual definition. I want no discrimination whatsoever on account of religious belief or sexual orientation," Mr Kinahan said.
Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle told MLAs his party "is committed to delivering a shared society for everyone  based on religious and civil liberty and equality for all regardless of age, gender, disability, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation and to stand against discrimination or stigmatisation of any kind".
"The Alliance Party therefore supports the extension of state provided civil marriage to same sex couples, provided that robust legislative protection can uphold the religious freedom of faith groups to define and practice religious marriage as they determine."
SDLP MLA Colum Eastwood said: "We need to, as an assembly, as people in positions of power and responsibility, we need to be seen to be embracing all members of our community - all members of our community.
He added: "There is no reason whatsoever, Mr Speaker, why the north of Ireland should be the only place on these islands that doesn't have marriage available to same sex couples."


Officials in Maryland and Washington DC are suing Donald Trump for accepting payments from foreign governments via his business empire.

The lawsuit cites the US constitution's emoluments clause, which says no federal official should receive a gift or a fee from a foreign government.
The suit claims Mr Trump is "flagrantly violating the constitution", Washington DC's attorney general said.
It is the first such lawsuit filed by government entities.
"Never in the history of this country have we had a president with these kinds of extensive business entanglements or a president who refused to adequately distance himself from their holdings," Karl Racine, the District of Columbia attorney general said while announcing the lawsuit alongside Brian Frosh, Maryland's attorney general, on Monday.
A non-governmental organisation, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, lodged a similar legal action in January.
The Justice Department on Friday said those plaintiffs did not suffer in any way and there were no grounds for the suit. The department also said it was unconstitutional to sue the president in his official capacity.
Mr Trump has not yet commented on the latest move.
The constitutional challenges to Donald Trump's ongoing business ties as president just got some state-level muscle behind them.
While the lawsuit by the District of Columbia and Maryland isn't the first attempt to force the president to more fully separate himself from his real-estate empire, the two governments bring a new level of legitimacy and resources.
The first hurdle the states face is whether they have the proper legal grounds to file this case. Given that this is judicial terra incognita, there's no telling how the courts will react.
There's never been a businessman-turned-president quite like Mr Trump, so there's never been a lawsuit quite like this one.
If Maryland and DC are able to proceed, the case could turn out like many other Trump-related controversies, where the president's own words - and those of his associates - are used against him. While Mr Trump pledged to extricate himself from his day-to-day business operations, his son Eric has acknowledged he still gives his father regular financial updates. Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway also was recently reprimanded for praising daughter Ivanka's clothing line.
Even in a best-case scenario for the president, this represents the latest in a growing list of legal headaches.
Mr Trump is already contending with inquiries by congressional committees and a special prosecutor into his campaign's alleged links to Russia, which American intelligence agencies accuse of meddling in last November's US election in a bid to boost support for the property developer.
Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has turned day-to-day control of his real estate empire and other assets over to a trust managed by his adult sons.
But he has not sold them off as critics said he should do in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
"The emoluments clauses are a firewall against presidential corruption and the one thing we know about President Trump is he understands the value of walls," Mr Frosh said, referring to the president's plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
"This is one he can't climb over and one he can't dig underneath."
The lawsuit will ask for a court injunction blocking Mr Trump from accepting foreign money.
A list of Trump's potential conflicts
The lawsuit is also seeking to access to his personal tax returns as part of the legal process known as discovery, according to US media.
A key case in the dispute is Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, just down the road from the White House.
Mr Trump opened the business last year by leasing a large building that used to be a central post office.
The Trump Organization has said it would donate profits from customers who represent foreign governments to the Treasury department, but will not require those customers to identify themselves.
According to the Washington Post, the lawsuit will detail examples of foreign governments favouring the president's hotel over others.
It will cite how the Kuwaiti embassy planned to hold an event at a Four Seasons hotel, but eventually chose Trump International as the venue.
Maryland and Washington are expected to argue that the Trump hotel also hurts competing hotels in their jurisdictions.
The legal action will refer to Mr Trump's international hotels, golf courses and other commercial properties.
The president's lawyers have argued the emoluments clause is intended only to stop federal officials from accepting a special consideration or gift from a foreign power and does not apply to payments such as a bill for a hotel room.
Monday's other Trump news
Trump travel ban in fresh court defeat
Ivanka Trump condemns 'vicious' critics
Sessions to testify publicly on Russia
Trump-like Julius Caesar loses backing
Trump targeted at Spacey-hosted Tonys


A leading scientist has said UK science will suffer unless any post-Brexit agreement allows the free movement of people.

Prof Sir Paul Nurse said the country's research was facing its biggest threat in living memory.
He added that researchers had to have a big voice in negotiations with the EU.
But Leave campaigners say the UK should be able to negotiate a deal to continue to receive European funding and still curb overall immigration..
British science was one of the biggest winners from EU funding. And so it is among those that have most to lose.
UK universities receive 10% of their research funding from the EU, amounting to just over Â£1bn a year.
Full membership of the funding body requires participating countries to allow free movement of people.
Sir Paul Nurse said that exit from the EU jeopardised the world-class science for which the UK was known.
It risked damaging the economy and could lead to a loss of skills and talent.
"For science to thrive it must have access to the single market, and we do need free movement," he said.
"We could negotiate that outside the EU, which will probably end up costing more money and we would have little influence [in deciding research priorities].
"Or perhaps we should just reconsider this entire mess and see if there is something that can be done to reconsider this once the dust has settled."
The Nobel Prize-winning scientist added that even if the government agreed to reimburse the lost funds, which Leave campaigners had suggested might be possible, it would not replace the important international collaborations that British science needed to remain at the forefront of research.
But Leave campaigners, such as Chris Leigh, from Scientists for Britain, say that there are several ways for the UK to negotiate a deal to continue to receive grants from the main European research programme, called Horizon 2020, and still stop free movement.
He said: "The first involves H2020 access for members of the European Free Trade Association, and, in the case of Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, this does appear to be linked to free movement.
"The second involves countries whose H2020 access is covered by the EU's Neighbourhood Policy, such as Israel, Tunisia, Georgia and Armenia, and this does not appear to require free movement.
"We also note that the current 'partial-access' status of Switzerland has opened up a third option, in that Swiss scientists have full access to Tier 1 H2020 activities, but participate in other aspects of H2020 (Tier 2/3) as a third country, but do so by funding their involvement directly.
"We would, however, urge our own government to recognise the importance of researcher mobility to science, and recommend that any future arrangements should ensure that scientists and students from around the world are still encouraged to visit, study and work in the UK."
British Universities employ about 30,000 scientists from EU countries.
The president of the Royal Society, which represents the UK's leading scientists, Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, said many of them were now facing an uncertain future and so may choose to work elsewhere.
He said: "They are not just statistics; they are people worried about their job security.
"Government needs to act quickly to ensure that these researchers know that their jobs are safe.
"Universities have employed them because they are the brightest and the best, and other countries will know that and will come and get them."
Dr Noemie Bouhana, 40, a French researcher who arrived in the UK 18 years ago, lectures in crime science at UCL and leads an EU-funded project to track terrorism and the radicalisation of young men, involving collaborators across Europe.
She said: "Never in a million years would I get funding from central UK funds for this type of project, which is international, interdisciplinary and involves a mix of engineering and social sciences.
"I was shocked and disappointed when I heard the referendum result.
"At first, I did not believe it.
"I checked on several websites to see if it really was true.
"I then knew that I would not be in an EU country, and I hadn't realised how important that was to me, and I don't want to live in a non-EU country."
Mike Galsworthy, of pro-Remain campaign group Scientists for EU, said the country's current full relationship with the EU brought huge added value for UK science "from our strong policy voice on academic and single market standards through to leading roles on the EU multinational research programme".
He added: "We want to keep as much as possible, but, as the case of Switzerland showed us, negotiations will be complex.
"Much policy voice will be lost, and our renegotiated level of access will revolve around freedom of movement, the relationship with the single market, financial contributions and the interests of the remaining countries."
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Scott McDonald has admitted he was "tempted" by an offer from Western Sydney Wanderers but that Motherwell rejected their latest approach.

The A-League club have renewed their interest after failing to sign the 33-year-old striker this summer.
"It was a 50-50 thing," he told BBC Scotland. "The club was considering it, I was considering it and, in the end, it didn't come to any fruition.
"Obviously it was something I wanted to explore. The club weren't as keen."
The former Australia international is in his second season of a second spell at Fir Park and signed a new one-year contract in the summer.
But the club managed by former Crystal Palace defender Tony Popovic had hoped to take the former Celtic and Middlesbrough striker back to his homeland for the first time since he left Cranbourne Comets for Southampton in 2000.
Asked if the offer was still alive, McDonald said: "It may well be, but that's not in my hands at all. That would be up to other people to discuss it.
"I haven't heard anything else from representatives or anything else that the deal is still there.
"As far as I'm aware, that club hasn't signed anyone else, so if Motherwell were to change their mind - but that's not happening.
"We are where we are and we resume where we are."
McDonald started on the bench for Motherwell's Scottish Cup defeat by Rangers on 21 January, with manager Mark McGhee later explaining that the striker's "head was not in the right place" because of the transfer approach.
"I offered to play, but we had a conversation and we felt I hadn't trained all week leading up and there was a heavy amount of preparation put into that cup game itself in terms of shape and starting XI," said the striker, who stressed that "the manager and the club have been fantastic to me".
"I agreed it wasn't right for me to step in on Friday and basically call the shots - I'm back in the team.
"That wouldn't be fair on the rest of the squad who had worked really hard during the week as well for me to go and take one of their places and the manager agreed on that.
"Of course, the offer was tempting and that's why it dragged on that whole week."
McDonald returned to the starting line-up for the weekend Premiership loss to Rangers and was sent off after 27 minutes for a foul on Kenny Miller and Well have launched an appeal against the red card.
Western Sydney lie eighth in the 10-team A-League.


Fines by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) against nuisance call firms have increased by more than three times this year.

The watchdog imposed fines of £1.14m for nuisance calls and texts compared with £330,000 of penalties in 2014.
It comes after a change to the law in April made it easier to penalise firms.
The biggest fines were for companies selling pharmaceuticals, call blocking services and payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation.
From April, the ICO only had to demonstrate calls and messages were a "nuisance" rather than the cause of "serious damage and distress".
An ICO spokesman told the BBC the lower threshold helped "enormously" in bringing more fines.
The regulator received 170,000 complaints this year and has made unsolicited calls one of its top priorities.
Andy Currey of the ICO said the regulator had another 90 investigations in the pipeline with fines likely to total £1m.
Mr Currey said: "The law is clear around what is allowed, and we've been clear that we will fine companies who don't follow the law. That will continue in 2016."
Help Direct UK, a Swansea-based call centre, was fined £200,000 after sending thousands of spam texts for PPI claims, bank refunds and loans, prompting almost 7,000 complaints in one month.
Two firms selling call blocking services, Cold Call Eliminations and Point One Marketing, were fined £75,000 and £50,000 respectively.
Other penalties included £200,000 for a solar panels company that made six million nuisance calls, and £130,000 for Pharmacy 2U for selling customer details to marketing companies.
Last month, the ICO sent over 1,000 letters to companies involved in buying and selling personal data to check they were acting lawfully.
Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer watchdog Which? said: "Millions of people are still being plagued with nuisance calls so it's good to see more firms being fined for flouting the rules.
"However we also need to see further action including much tougher penalties for senior executives of companies making unlawful calls including board directors being held personally accountable."


Nigeria scored twice at home to beat Swaziland 2-0 on aggregate and progress in Africa's qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.

The Super Eagles were toothless in front of goal in the first leg, which ended 0-0, and needed 52 minutes of the return game to make the breakthrough.
Moses Simon fired them ahead, finally ending the resistance of a team they were expected to sweep aside.
A second goal was added by Efe Ambrose on 88 minutes before Swaziland had Phumlani Dlamini sent off when he was shown a second yellow card.
Another of the continent's heavyweights, Ghana, secured their passage in very similar fashion to Nigeria.
Having been held 0-0 to Comoros in the first leg, the Black Stars hit two goals without reply in the return match to go through 2-0 on aggregate.
Wakaso Mubarak grabbed the opener and Aston Villa's Jordan Ayew added the second late on.
And just as Swaziland ended their match with 10 men, so too did Comoros when Omar Mdahoma received a second yellow card with eight minutes remaining.
Egypt made the most of Chad's late arrival to win easily 4-0 to go through 4-1 on aggregate.
Chad only arrived at the Borg Al Arab stadium in 30 minutes before kick-off.
This after their flight from N'Djamena was delayed due to a row over player bonuses and then the condition of the plane they were using for the journey.
The Pharaoh's were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes with goals from Mohamed El Neny and then Abdalallah El Saied.
Portugal based Koka then headed home twice in the space of five minutes before half-time to put the game beyond doubt.
Cape Verde, fourth in the Fifa rankings for Africa, beat Kenya 2-0 to overturn a first leg loss and win 3-2 on aggregate.
Heldon Ramos, who is on loan at Portguese side Rio Ave, with both goals for the Blue Sharks.
Kenya had only arrived in Praia hours before the match after a lengthy flight from Nairobi following a delayed departure as players and the charter airline demanded to be paid before they would take off.
Mali were another side to overcome a first leg deficit winning 2-0 against visiting Botswana to make 3-2 overall.
Bordeaux's Cheick Diabate made it 2-2 on aggregate with a penalty after only 10 minutes of play Bakary Sako of Crystal Palace, gave the Eagles lead on the half hour mark.
Senegal were pushed all the way in the first leg by Madagascar but were better at home in Dakar with a 3-0 victory to make it 4-2 overall.
West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate gave the hosts the lead midway through the first-half with Moussa Konate scoring the second eight minutes after the break.
Mame Biram Diouf, who scored in the first leg, made sure of the win with eight minutes remaining.
Tunisia eased past Mauritania with a second 2-1 win, to make it 4-2 overall.
Defender Syam Ben Youssef gave the hosts the lead early in the second half before Moulaye Ahmed 'Bessam' Khalil gave Mauritania hope with an equaliser.
Substitute Saad Bguir, who plays for local club Esperance, sealed the victory for the hosts.
African champions Ivory Coast were convincing 3-0 winners over Liberia in Abidjan to complete a 4-0 aggregate win.
Striker Giovanni Sio, who plays for Rennes in France, scored twice before half-time.
While Nice midfielder Jean Michel Seri was also on target for the Elephants.
Burkina Faso overturned a first leg deficit against Benin with a 2-0 victory in Ouagadougou.
Jonathan Pitroipa was on target from the penalty spot before Chelsea's Bertrand Traore completed the comeback and send the Burkinabe through 3-2 on aggregate.
Algeria crushed 10-man Tanzania 7-0 in Blida with Porto's Yacine Brahimi scoring as early as the first minute.
Napoli's Faouzi Ghoulam then scored the first of his two goals with a superb freekick from outside the area, he also scored from the penalty spot after the break.
Tanzania had to play the whole of the second half with 10 men after Mudathir Yahya was dismissed for a second bookable offence after 41 minutes.
Moments later Riyad Mahrez, of Leicester City, made it 3-0 at half-time.
Islam Slimani, who scored the goals to secure a 2-2 draw in the first leg, grabbed another brace in the second half including a penalty.
Carl Medjani was also on the scoresheet as the Algerians won 9-2 on aggregate.
South Africa needed an own goal to earn a narrow 1-0 win over visiting Angola in Durban.
Manucho Diniz was the unfortunate player who got the last touch on a corner to give Bafana Bafana the 4-1 aggregate win.
Libya were the first team on Tuesday to book their place in the next round after a 3-1 win in Rwanda gave them a 4-1 aggregate victory.
Khumaj put the visitors ahead in the second leg to put them in control of the tie.
Rwanda's Jacques Tuyisenge made it 1-1 on the day and offered his side some hope of a comeback but Libya pulled away thanks to a brace from Mohamed Ghanudi.
And Cameroon are through, despite being held to a 0-0 draw at home to Niger. The Indomitable Lions secured their passage in the first leg with a 3-0 win.
Congo finally emerged victorious after a fantastic tussle with Ethiopia, the Red Devils winning their second leg 2-1 to go through 6-4 on aggregate.
Ethiopia's Getaneh Kebede scored the opening goal of the second leg to level the tie at 4-4 on aggregate.
But Francis N'Ganga nudged Congo ahead overall when he made it 1-1 on the day and Thievy Bifouma's strike sealed his side's victory.
The final group stage begins next October, the 20 second-round qualifiers will form five groups of four teams with the winners of each group booking their place at the finals in Russia.


A 21-year-old student with bone cancer whose friends raised more than £56,000 for him to complete his bucket list has died.

Matt Greenwood was given nine months to live after cancer in his hip spread to his lungs.
The principal of St Edmund Hall, in Oxford, where Matt was studying, said he was an "extremely brave man".
The engineering student from Walsall was described as "inspirational" and was commended for his sense of humour.
Last month, Matt's friends launched a campaign to help him complete his bucket list.
Prior to his death, Matt thanked people for their support, saying it had been "unbelievable from all directions, just an outpouring of love and it's really, really been moving."


Visa is waging a war on cash, with a scheme in the US encouraging small businesses to ditch it as a form of payment.

Chief executive Al Kelly told investors last month that the company was "focused on putting cash out of business," and is considering bringing the initiative to these shores.
The move is good business sense for Visa, which makes money every time it facilitates a transaction. But is it just a sign of the times?
Now that payments under £30 can be made with the tap of a contactless card, perhaps it's hard to see why anyone would bother to carry cash.
But figures show the British public still has a soft spot for good old paper and coins.  While the number of cash payments fell 11% between 2015 and 2016, cash is still the single most popular method of payment, accounting for 40% of all transactions in the UK last year.
Whether it's for convenience, symbolism or simply to avoid transaction charges, there are still situations where cash is the best way to pay.
Visa considers incentives for UK firms to go cashless
Tipping: A guide to who gets what and how much
Most people hope that a service charge would go directly to the waiting staff. But some restaurants keep tips paid for with a card, or distribute them across the whole of the workforce. However, if you choose to leave a tip in cash, you have a much better chance that it will benefit the person you intended it for.
Likewise, if you want to leave money for the housekeeping staff in a hotel, a bartender or a cloakroom attendant, leaving cash is the best way to make sure it gets to the intended beneficiary.
Collections
Famously, it was revealed that the Queen does occasionally carry cash in her statement Launer handbag. Why? So that on Sundays so she can make a donation to the church collection. Giving money to a religious service or local event still tends to be a cash-based gesture, while charity collection tins are designed so passersby can put in their spare change as they walk past.
However, quick-off-the-mark churches, charities and even buskers are adapting to our increasing propensity to go cash-free.  Pet charity The Blue Cross sent out "tap dogs" last year with contactless payment jackets, allowing the public to "pat and tap the dog" to make a £2 donation.
Market stalls
There are occasional cases where market stalls take card payments.  But in general, whipping out a credit or debit card to pay for a punnet of cherries will be met with a blank stare.  For small businesses and independent traders, the cost of taking cards can eat into their margins as they have to pay several fees to cover the cost of the transaction.
So for them, cash is often the preferred option -and it means they won't pass on that cost to you.
Weddings
Yes, you can tuck a cheque into the card, or ask the recipient for their bank details, but it doesn't quite have the same effect as a crisp £20 (or maybe even £50) note. And for some cultures the symbolism of cash is particular poignant.
At Chinese weddings, it is customary to give a red envelope containing cash, while in Greece guests are often invited to pin banknotes on to the bride and groom.
At Indian weddings, cash is sometimes given in odd numbers, as giving a sum ending in one is seen as lucky.
In 2014, London buses went cashless, only accepting pre-paid plastic travelcards or contactless bank cards as a form of payment.  By contrast, there are still some bus operators in other parts of the country who only take cash, unless you have bought a ticket in advance.
It's not just public transport: getting around by car can also be much easier if you keep cash on you. Many know the experience of borrowing 20p from a stranger to feed a parking machine that only takes exact change, while some taxis are still a card-free zone.


The first Nigerian to do the North Pole Marathon tells the BBC how proud she felt to plant her country's flag in the snow at the end of the race.

Tuedon Morgan, 42, said Antarctica, where she has been on two previous trips, was a playground compared to her experience at the North Pole last week:
The North Pole was extremely difficult for me: It was so cold, with temperatures of -41 C, and I noticed that my body was losing a lot of energy - it was like the magnetic field was sucking all my energy out.
The last 4km (2.5 miles) were the hardest for me - I started to see buildings where I knew that there was nothing there.
I didn't have any training for this - I didn't have any snow to train on.
In Qatar, where I live, it's the extreme opposite: I wear T-shirts and shorts to run; in the North Pole you have to wear all these different layers.
We were 44 competitors from 22 countries and I finished quite late, I was one of the last people to finish. But I compete[d] with myself.
I was just singing and praying and when I got to the bend where I could see where other people had planted their flags, I kept saying to myself: "I have to plant the Nigerian flag there; your country's flag has to be there."
A South African has done the race; I don't think any other Africans have done it, so for me it was awesome to do that for my country, for Nigeria and for Africa as a whole.
As I was leaving, other Nigerians arrived - they had been to the geographical North Pole and they had raised the Nigerian flag there as well.
It was awesome. I would do the North Pole again. Right now, sitting here, I'm thinking: "I want to go back to do it again."
It all started one day in January 2008, when I woke up and looked myself in the mirror and I said: "I need to change my lifestyle."
I would go to bed early and wake up really tired, I weighed 121kg, which is about 266lbs, I was a big girl.
I was extremely happy with the way my life was, I never envied any slim person, but I was always breathless. I've got four kids, I could barely do much for them, my bad leg was getting worse, my doctors would give me some injections and would tell me how to lose weight.
That day I made up my mind and I said I was going to commit to this, so I got into the gym and I started walking on the treadmill and then I went on the road and I just built up from there.
I joined a running club - the first day they wanted to do a 7km run and it took me over two hours - I was the last one to finish but I went back the next day, I just wouldn't give up.
For me, losing weight, I wanted to do it as slowly as possible, gradually. I needed to learn to eat.
I think my biggest problem was food - I love food and that's why myself and a friend, we've founded a weight-loss group, we've got over 5,000 African women in it, we have a cook book and they can use our menus free of charge.
It's been very difficult because I have four boys, I have my husband, I have my job.
People say: "I don't have the time" - everyone has the time, you have 24 hours, it's time management.
I don't watch TV late at night. I wake up at 03:30 and I go running from 04:00 to 05:30. When I come home, I wake my husband and my kids.
So my running time in the morning is my time, I'm not using family time. It's all about compromise.
My husband, when I came home yesterday from the North Pole, said: "What's our next challenge?"
I have already done 33 marathons - but every race is different.
For example, in the North Pole we didn't have spectators. In New York they virtually lift you up your feet, the crowd. London is the same.
The message I'm sending out there is always belief in yourself, you have no limits, you can do whatever you want to do.
We're the ones who set the boundaries. It might take longer for some but if you're persistent, if you keep knocking, it will happen.
Tuedon Morgan was interviewed by Akwasi Sarpong on BBC Focus on Africa on the World Service


NHS Borders has abandoned £1.87m plans to move a mental health rehabilitation unit to a former care home in Hawick.

It had approved the relocation from the East/West Brigs ward in Galashiels to Crumhaugh House in 2015.
It said at the time that the move would address "patient care and safety issues" in the service.
However, NHS Borders said changes in provision at Galashiels had "called into question" the decision to relocate to the vacant Hawick property.
The move would have relocated 28 staff from one town to the other.
Dr Cliff Sharp, associate medical director, said: "After very careful consideration I took the somewhat unusual step of going back to the board and requesting that we did not progress with the relocation to Hawick.
"On the basis of the information presented to them the board approved the request.
"In light of this decision which has been communicated to affected patients, families, carers and our staff, I would like to assure you that the board will restart the process to find a suitable alternative use for the Crumhaugh House property."


Early in June 2015, Apple Music became the latest in a succession of music services, including Spotify and Tidal, which allow music fans to stream music directly from the internet without actually owning it.

But days later Taylor Swift, the global popstar, published an open letter to Apple. She was shocked, she says, that during the three-month free trial for new subscribers, Apple would not be paying musicians for the songs its users streamed. "We don't ask you for free iPhones," she wrote. "So why should we give you free music?"
Apple quickly caved. But by then, the spat had reignited an important debate: does streaming reward artists fairly? There are other concerns too. Does it affect the quality and variety of music that's made? And does it change the way we listen?
In other words: is streaming good for music? Here, four experts give their views to the Inquiry programme.
Lucy Rose is a 26-year-old British singer-songwriter. She started by recording songs in her parents' living room.
"We put a video up and it was only from people sharing that YouTube video that actually anything happened with me. I was unsigned, playing small gigs, but that was a real big break for me."
After her videos and songs got millions of plays on streaming sites, a record company took her on, and began to promote her, even in countries where she didn't have a physical record out.
"We got flown out to do some shows in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and China, and that was only possible because these streaming services were exposing my music to people that probably wouldn't have heard it otherwise.
"I feel like it's getting harder and harder to survive in the music industry and to get established in any way. Not as many people are buying records as they used to, which makes things a lot harder for us. Because if people don't buy my record... I will get dropped by my label."
"I was interested in the number of streams I got on Spotify and I think it was around five million plays of the entire album from start to finish, in America, which for me was really exciting. But at the same time I didn't see any money from that... so I don't think it's actually made a difference how the company sees me as an artist."
Spotify says that for five million individual plays, it pays $25,000. But they don't pay artists directly: instead they pay the artists' labels and publishers who own the music.
Chris Carey works for Media Insight Consulting, a boutique consultancy focusing on data in the music industry.
"The reality for music streaming is you are changing the business model. You're going from paying for all your consumption upfront to almost paying as you go, so you get much smaller payments but you get them much more often. So rather than getting paid once for your album you instead get remunerated every time someone listens.
"There's a tightrope to be walked between valuing the artists appropriately for the work, but also then convincing consumers to pay.
"There's an argument that says the free service and the premium service are too similar. I think the challenge is to make the premium service even better rather than simply making the free service worse.
"The pricing would be different if we hadn't gone through the illegal downloading world but I think the fundamental challenge we've got is that music is undervalued as a result of that first step and what we're now doing is playing catch-up, that we're trying to compete with free.
"If you look at the decline of the recorded music industry, we are a small fraction of where we were 10, 15 years ago. We're now arguing about how we get out of that hole. For people who are innovating in that space, I'd be very happy to defend them.
"I think it's a giant opportunity if streaming can become a mass-market activity."
Carrie is a music fan and vinyl obsessive who got her first job in a record store aged 20.
"I have streaming in my office and I can listen to music all day long and maybe not tell you the next day most of the artists I listen to. But if I'm purposely taking out a record that I own and putting it on, I'm choosing what that is and I'm connecting with it more.
"I just really like the idea that I'm holding the physical artefact of what the musicians wanted you to have, what they created in their brain, you know. You can listen to it when you want and you can hold it.
"I was obsessive, like a lot of people, about reading the liner notes and learning about, oh, what does this person do, oh, this person was on the other album too, this other band, they must know each other.
"I think streaming has turned out to be, and will continue to be, an incredibly effective discovery tool. The fact that you can think of a song or read about an artist and you can go and listen to the music and have this giant listening station at your discretion is fantastic."
Lars Ulrich is the drummer with Metallica, the heavy metal band that's sold more than 100 million records.
"I believe streaming is good for music. I mean the thing that I read a lot is that people sit there and go, 'I'm not getting paid very much for streaming.' But there's one major thing that gets overlooked in that argument and the whole thing is that streaming is a choice on all fronts.
"It's a choice for the fan to be part of, it's a choice for the artists who are involved in making their music available on streaming services. It's a choice by the record companies that represent the artist. Fifteen years ago those choices didn't exist.
"Streaming probably does benefit artists with higher profiles. And if you listen to the playlists a lot of these playlists that are being made available for people in the streaming service, they seem to feature higher profile artists and that just seems to be the way it's sort of playing out right now.
"One of the main reasons I connect less with new music in my life now is because there's less great new music to connect with. A lot of the stuff that's been played is just regurgitated, this year's flavour, this thing, but it's not people on the leading edge like the Beatles or the Miles Davises or the Jimi Hendrixes taking us all by the hand into these completely unknown, uncharted musical territories.
"When there's less people buying music, there's less money generated back and record companies take less chances and instead of promoting 500 records a year, they promote 50 records a year and they don't put the same amount of money into breaking new art. The saddest thing about all of this is that there's less and less money being put into younger artists and there is a danger of younger artists coming close to extinction.
"Thirty, 40 years ago I would get on my bike, drive to the record store, spend time figuring out which record I could buy by listening to a bunch of them. By the time I got home I would end up spending every minute of my free time for the next week just acting with this particular record.
"Nowadays music, to an extent, for some people it's become kind of background noise."
The Inquiry is broadcast on the BBC World Service on Tuesdays from 12:05 GMT/13:05 BST. Listen online or download the podcast.


Firefighters have attended a blaze in the Shankill area of Belfast which gutted two terraced houses and damaged another.

12 July 2016 Last updated at 13:03 BST
The houses were close to a bonfire at Hopewell Square.
Alan Walmsley of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said crews were at the incident "very quickly" and that their "hard work" had prevented a row of terraced houses being destroyed.
He said at this stage it looked like the fires at Hopewell Square may have been caused by burning embers carried through the air.


McBusted aren't known for doing things quietly, so to announce their 2015 tour, the supergroup threw an indoor fireworks party for their fans.

The band had a fire-eater, popcorn and candy floss machines and played tattoo roulette.
They will kick off their UK arena tour in Glasgow next March.
They've promised fans music from Busted and McFly, but will also play stuff from their brand new debut album McBusted.
"Massively overwhelmed" is how drummer Harry Judd summed up the band's success so far.
"It was like a dream state, we were like, 'What the hell was going on?' But the tour [earlier this year] was epic, you know, we made an album. The whole thing has just been crazy.
"But we are ready to go back on tour again, because you know it's been a while and that's the more fun thing."
McBusted united back in 2013 and one of their first performances was at BBC Children In Need.
The band's 2014 tour became the largest UK arena tour of the year and they ended up playing to more than 350,000 people.
But singer Tom Fletcher says the popularity has made them want to look forward.
"We love playing all the old songs," he said. "But I think what's exciting now, is it's not about being nostalgic and looking back.
"We have a whole new album of songs that we're really proud of and really excited to play live."
Matt Willis admitted he had to put in a lot of work to make things better with his wife, after he called her during BBC Radio 1 Breakfast show game Call or Delete.
He pranked her by saying he had been given a huge opportunity in Hollywood and they needed to make a decision about moving there ASAP.
"Wounds are healed, wounds are officially healed. But it did take a few days, I'm not going to lie, it was a bit ropey for a few days.
"But no, she was fine, but I think I just went a bit close to the bone."
The McBusted tour dates are as follows:
Glasgow, The SSE Hydro - 12 March
Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena - 16
Leeds, First Direct Arena - 18
Manchester Arena - 21, 22
Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena - 24
Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena - 28, 29
Liverpool Echo Arena - 31
London The O2 - 4, 5 April
Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena - 9, 10
Bournemouth, BIC - 13, 15
Nottingham, Capital FM Arena - 18
Belfast, Odyssey Arena - 22
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


Greece's prime minister has called a referendum on 5 July for voters to decide whether to accept a bailout deal offered by international creditors.

Alexis Tsipras made clear he was against the "unbearable" bailout plan.
Parliament is debating whether to ratify the vote, and some queues have been seen outside banks in Athens.
Eurozone finance ministers are meeting to discuss the crisis, and to decide whether to give Greece an extension of the bailout until after the vote.
The current bailout expires on Tuesday, the same day Greece's IMF debt is due.
It is unclear what would happen if Greece does not get a temporary extension. Without a deal on the bailout, there are fears Greece's economy could collapse.
The head of Mr Tsipras's coalition partners, Panos Kammenos, called for calm amid reports that worried Greeks had begun queuing outside banks to take out their money. Many fear that Greece's central bank might start restricting withdrawals.
In a televised address, Mr Tsipras described the bailout plan as "humiliation" and condemned "unbearable" austerity measures demanded by creditors.
The government portrays the referendum as yes or no to austerity. The opposition says it is, in effect, yes or no to Europe. Some of them say the referendum itself is unconstitutional, and are urging the Greek president to reject it.
But Mr Tsipras will argue that he had no other option. He was elected to get a better deal rather than no deal at all. But no better deal was on offer.
As for Greece's creditors I think they will be one part flabbergasted, one part anxious, and one part wondering what on earth they do next.
But several eurozone finance ministers, arriving in Brussels for their fifth meeting on Greece in little more than a week, said there was no question of accepting Mr Tsipras's request to extend his country's current international bailout by a few days, to prevent the Greek economy collapsing before a referendum can be held.
Some of the ministers will now want to focus on Plan B instead - how to ring-fence Greece and protect the rest of the eurozone from any potential economic shocks ahead.
"I call on you to decide - with sovereignty and dignity as Greek history demands - whether we should accept the extortionate ultimatum that calls for strict and humiliating austerity without end, and without the prospect of ever standing on our own two feet, socially and financially," he said.
"The people must decide free of any blackmail," he added.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tweeted in support of the referendum.
Some opposition figures on the other hand accused Mr Tsipras of using the vote to push Greece out of the EU.
A senior centre-left politician in Germany's coalition government, Carsten Schneider, called for the European Central Bank (ECB) to stop propping up Greece's economy with emergency injections amounting to $89bn.
BBC economics editor Robert Peston said that if the ECB continued its emergency support, some members of its governing council feared it would be breaking all central banking rules.
Mr Tsipras was speaking hours after talks in Brussels, where the IMF and EU offered a five-month extension to Greece's bailout programme.
The proposal would have released €15.5bn of funding, €1.8bn of which would have been available immediately. However, that was conditional on Greece carrying out reforms.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had urged Athens to accept what she called an "extraordinarily generous" offer.
What if the Greek talks fail
Can Greece stay in the euro?
Chris Morris: Tsipras may face impossible choice
How did Greece get in this mess?
The protracted negotiations are stalled over what reforms Athens is prepared to take, with disputes emerging on pensions and increasing Value Added Tax.
If Greece does default, it could exit the eurozone, with possible repercussions for the rest of Europe and the world economy.
Only once agreement is reached will the European Commission, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) unlock the final €7.2bn tranche of bailout funds for cash-strapped Greece.
Greece has been in recession for much of the past six years. After winning elections in January, Mr Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party promised to end tough austerity measures.
Syriza says tough bailout conditions have impoverished Greece, fuelling unemployment - currently at more than 20% - and failing to reduce the massive debt pile.


Nature experts have discovered an amazing underwater forest thousands of years old under the sea close to the Norfolk coast in England.

26 January 2015 Last updated at 09:11 GMT
The trees were part of an area known as 'Doggerland' which formed part of a much bigger area before it was flooded by the North Sea.
It was once so big that hunter-gatherers who lived in the area could have walked to Germany, in Europe, across its land.
The underwater forest was discovered by Dawn Watson and Rob Spray from Sea Search on a diving trip to study marine life.
The prehistoric forest lay undiscovered until it was exposed by the extreme storms along the east of England coast in December 2013.
Check out this underwater footage of the forest which experts believe could date back more than 10,000 years.
Underwater diving footage is copyright and courtesy of Rob Spray and Dawn Watson.


The turmoil and tragedy of life in the World War One trenches will be replicated at a mid Wales castle as part of centenary events.

July's anniversary of the Battle of the Somme is being marked at Powis Castle, near Welshpool, with the basement now turned into a replica trench.
It will aim to  give a flavour of a frontline soldier's life.
Central will be the story of Percy, the fourth Earl of Powis' son, who died in the battle.
An exhibition, which includes battlefield objects, old newsreel and food packaging, runs until September.


A reptile believed to have pre-dated most species of dinosaur has hatched at Chester Zoo for the first time.

A conservationist has been trying to breed tuatara - which are native to New Zealand - for the last 38 years.
Isolde McGeorge said tuatara, which first appeared 225 million years ago, "really are a living fossil and an evolutionary wonder."
She said she "broke down in tears" when the reptile hatched and that it was an "incredible achievement".
It followed "lots of hard work, lots of stressful moments and lots of tweaking of the conditions", Ms McGeorge added.
See more updates on this and other stories from Merseyside and Cheshire
"Tuatara lived before the dinosaurs and they survived after dinosaurs had died out," she said. "They really are a living fossil and an evolutionary wonder.
"To be the first zoo to ever breed them outside of their homeland in New Zealand is undoubtedly an amazing event."
Source: Chester Zoo
She said the night before the reptile hatched, she spotted "two beads of sweat on the egg".
"I had a feeling something incredible was about to happen and so I raced in early the next day and there she was.
"Immediately I broke down in tears - I was completely overwhelmed by what we had achieved."
The new arrival is the offspring of a pair that came to the zoo from Wellington in 1994, accompanied by a Maori chief.
The keeper said she had waited a "very, very long time" for the hatching, but added: "When you've worked with tuatara for as long as I have you come to realise that they don't do anything in a hurry."
A spokesman said the reptile hatched in December, but the zoo had waited until they were sure it was healthy before deciding to "go public".


This will be a comeback election for the party's former deputy leader, Anas Sarwar, who lost his Westminster seat last year.

He has all but guaranteed himself a Holyrood seat in May's election by securing top spot in Glasgow, above his old boss, Johann Lamont.
Another former MP, Thomas Docherty, may revive his political career having won third place in mid-Scotland and Fife.
There are some new faces. GMB union official Richard Leonard and councillor Monica Lennon are the first and second placed candidates in central Scotland.
But in most regions, Labour's current Holyrood hierarchy dominates.
The party leader, Kezia Dugdale and her deputy, Alex Rowley, were automatically placed first in Lothian and mid-Scotland and Fife.
Senior MSPs Iain Gray, Jackie Baillie and Jenny Marra are the lead candidates in the south, west and north east - almost certainly ensuring their political survival.
Eight other serving MSPs including Michael McMahon, Paul Martin and the former minister Patricia Ferguson are less fortunate.
They are so far down the central and Glasgow lists they stand little chance of being elected unless they win their constituencies.
The former leadership contender, Ken MacIntosh, cannot rely on a list seat if he loses in Eastwood. He is fourth in the west of Scotland.
Those who nominated him for the leadership, in the contest with Kezia Dugdale, have all been dumped down the list rankings.
There was a time when Labour hardly bothered with the regional lists, except in the highlands and islands.
In the early days of devolution, the party won so many constituencies it didn't qualify for many top up seats.
But the rise in support for the SNP has changed that. Now the lists offer a lifeline for some Labour politicians.


An ex-bookkeeper accused of raping and murdering a student has told a jury his "over-eagerness" to sexually satisfy her caused her death.

India Chipchase, 20, was found dead at Edward Tenniswood's home in Stanley Road, Northampton, on 31 January.
Mr Tenniswood, 52, denies the charges.
He told Birmingham Crown Court that he inadvertently throttled Miss Chipchase through "inexperience and incompetence".
Mr Tenniswood told the court:  "I, in my over-eagerness to please her, either sustained the pressure just too long or just gripped too tightly."
He added: "Without the guidance of her hands - and I was eager to please - obviously I sustained the pressure too long and that obviously caused the death, in retrospect."
He claimed he failed to notice the part-time barmaid's body was lifeless despite refastening her bra and reclothing her, while wearing surgical-style latex gloves, before leaving his victim alone.
Mr Tenniswood is said to have approached Miss Chipchase outside Northampton's NB's nightclub before taking her in a taxi back to his house.
The court has already heard that instead of raising the alarm, he went out to buy a kebab and spent 22 hours drinking lager in an Ibis hotel until police arrested him.
During cross examination, prosecutor Christopher Donnellan QC put it to Mr Tenniswood: "You were kneeling either side of her. You managed to get her trousers down and then you raped her?"
Mr Tenniswood replied: "No, no, 100% no."
The prosecutor then asked how the defendant failed to notice Miss Chipchase was probably dead when he redressed her.
He replied: "She was just floppy as I expected her to be in a semi-comatose state."
He added: "Now you mention it, the paleness of the skin. I guess that would be the reason I was thinking something clearly wasn't right."
The trial continues.


A nine-year-old boy died after suffering a suspected allergic reaction at school, police have said.

The pupil collapsed at the Al Hijrah School in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, at about 14:20 GMT on Friday.
He died at nearby Heartlands Hospital.
Police said they are working with the school and Birmingham City Council to establish the circumstances surrounding his death. A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out soon.
Colin Diamond, executive director for education at Birmingham City Council, said the school was "doing all it can to support the family through this terrible time".
Brigid Jones, the city council's cabinet member for children, families and schools, said on Twitter: "My thoughts are with the family of the young man who tragically died following an incident at school yesterday."


A CCTV image has been released of a man police wish to speak to in connection with an assault and robbery on a night bus in East Lothian.

The N44 bus was travelling in the  Newbigging area of Musselburgh at 03:40 on Sunday 5 July when the attack happened.
The man is white, 18-21 years old, 5ft 9in tall, of slim build, with dark hair and a Scottish accent.
He was wearing a dark jumper, jeans and black shoes at the time.
Det Con Stephen McCormick said: "This robbery has been a terrifying experience for the victim and other passengers on the bus and our officers have been making extensive enquiries to find the person responsible.
"We would urge anyone who may recognise the man pictured or is able to provide any information that might help our investigations to get in touch immediately."


Doctor Thorne actress Stefanie Martini has been cast as a young Jane Tennison in a prequel to popular crime drama Prime Suspect.

Tennison will tell the story of the early years of the character made famous by Dame Helen Mirren.
The cast also includes veteran actor Alun Armstrong as the head of a crime family and The Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison as DC Tennison's sergeant.
An ITV spokeswoman said filming had begun on six hour-long episodes.
Martini tweeted that she was "so happy" to be able to announce her involvement in the series, written by Prime Suspect creator Lynda La Plante.
Other cast members include Australian actor Sam Reid as Tennison's inspector and Geraldine Somerville and Nick Sidi as her mother and father.
The spokeswoman said the show would look at the beginning of Tennison's career, "revealing why she became such a complex and formidable character in the Metropolitan Police".
The Tennison prequel follows the success of Endeavour, which tells the story of Inspector Morse's early years in the police. The drama, which featured Martini, recently announced a fourth series.
No transmission date for Tennison has been given.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


A Green Party councillor was among seven people arrested at a tree-felling protest in South Yorkshire.

Sheffield councillor Alison Teal was taken into custody earlier following a stand-off between police and campaigners in the city.
Police were called as Sheffield City Council contractor Amey tried to remove trees in Chippinghouse Road.
The work was part of a Â£2bn Streets Ahead scheme which includes the removal of trees across the city.
Ms Teal, councillor for Nether Edge and Sharrow, was one of four women and three men arrested.
Live updates and more stories from Yorkshire
Natalie Bennett, former Green Party Leader, and prospective parliamentary candidate for Sheffield Central, tweeted: "My thoughts are with @alisonclareteal arrested this morning trying to #SaveSheffTrees"
The Streets Ahead scheme is a city-wide maintenance project to upgrade roads, pavements, street lights and bridges.
It includes the removal of diseased, damaged or dangerous trees, but campaigners claim healthy trees are also being unnecessarily destroyed.
Sheffield City Council said it was "very disappointed that this disruption of lawful highway work is continuing".
In a council statement, councillor Bryan Lodge added: "A number of arrests were made when protestors positioned themselves within the safety barriers, posing a danger to on-site workers and themselves.
"As a result, all works were stopped immediately.
"The majority of residents on Chippinghouse Road did not disagree with our proposals for tree works."
Robert Murphy, Green Party councillor for City ward, said: "The council is not listening to people, there have been huge petitions to the council and it has often ignored the independent tree panel.
"Some people are pushed to the end."
Charges against two women arrested after a previous tree-felling protest in Sheffield's Rustlings Road were dropped in January.
The council apologised for dawn felling tactics that led to the arrests and vowed not to repeat them.


Five members of the same family have been killed in a helicopter crash in north Wales.

Two of those on board have been named locally as Kevin and Ruth Burke from Hulcote, near Milton Keynes.
They were believed to have been travelling to Dublin, where Mrs Burke was born, for a christening with three other adult family members.
A massive air and land search was launched on Wednesday when the aircraft vanished after leaving the Luton area.
Kevin and Ruth Burke are believed to have been directors of the Milton Keynes-based Staske Construction company - the registered owner of a Twin Squirrel helicopter.
This was the model that vanished from radar contact while over Caernarfon Bay.
It is believed Mr Burke was originally from Manchester and was a qualified pilot.
Supt Gareth Evans, of North Wales Police, said the crash site was in the Rhinog mountains between Harlech and Trawsfynydd and the bodies of all five people on board had been found.
A mountain rescue team found the wreckage.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch are now leading an investigation of the forensic recovery of the aircraft once specialist officers start recovery of the bodies.
But the police have said they might have to suspend recovery for the night due to worsening weather conditions and "treacherous terrain".
Police said they were not aware of any plan for the helicopter to stop in Caernarfon as part of its route.
Formal identification of the bodies has not yet taken place and the coroner for north west Wales, Dewi Pritchard-Jones, has opened an investigation.
Police have not revealed the exact location of the crash and have asked for members of the public to stay away from the site "to allow emergency services and personnel access". An air exclusion zone is also in place.
"Their recovery is not just important to their families but also the investigation as it may help identify any contributory factors," added Supt Evans.
Family of those killed have been informed and the police have confirmed all five adults are "part of the same extended family from the Milton Keynes area".
Initial searches on Wednesday followed the intended flight plan of the aircraft over the Irish Sea.
But the Coastguard said on Thursday that inquiries led them to divert their efforts to Snowdonia National Park.
Prior to the crash site being discovered, UK Coastguard duty commander Mark Rodaway said: "These aircraft normally carry beacons that we can track by satellite - they're activated by salt water - we've not seen any of that and also mobile phone data has aided our inquiries in shifting inland."
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said the UK government would offer its full support to the investigation.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said it "stood by to offer consular assistance".
The Eurocopter AS55 Ecureuil 2 (Twin Squirrel), made by Airbus, has a cruising speed of 140mph (225km/h) and a range of nearly 440 miles (700km).
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Workers at two closure-threatened steel plants in Scotland have taken the fight to save their jobs before MSPs.

Up to 270 jobs could be lost after Tata Steel announced plans to mothball the plants in Motherwell and Cambuslang.
Staff from both facilities have unfurled a "Save Our Steel" banner outside the Motherwell site.
They boarded a coach for Edinburgh to attend a debate on the future of the Scottish steel industry at the Scottish Parliament.
A total of 225 jobs are threatened at the Dalzell plate-rolling works in Motherwell, along with 45 posts at the Clydebridge plant in Cambuslang.
Tata announced the job losses, along with 900 posts at its facility in Scunthorpe, two weeks ago.
The company blames cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs for a collapse in steel prices.
The Scottish government has pledged to do everything possible to keep the plants in Motherwell and Cambuslang operational.
Its preferred option is to find a buyer but ministers have not ruled out moves to bring both facilities under public ownership.
A Scottish Steel Task Force, chaired by business minister Fergus Ewing, and including representatives from trade unions and Tata, as well as local councils, met last week to discuss the way forward.
Mr Ewing said all members had agreed a "primary focus" was "to secure an alternative operator" for both plants "and retain as many jobs as possible."
The member's debate on the steel industry can be watched at Holyrood Live.


Pope Francis has urged Kenyans to work for peace and reconciliation as a rise in militant violence threatens his first trip as pontiff to Africa.

He arrived in Kenya on Wednesday, at the start of a three-nation tour of Africa.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and ululating crowds welcomed him at the airport in the capital, Nairobi.
The Pope said conflict and terrorism fed "on fear, mistrust, and the despair born of poverty and frustration".
The pontiff played down security fears about his trip, joking that he was "more worried about the mosquitoes."
A leading Muslim cleric in Kenya welcomed the visit, saying it gave hope to the "downtrodden in the slums".
An atheist group said it would challenge in court a government decision to declare Thursday a holiday in honour of the pontiff.
Pope Francis's five-day visit will also see him go to Uganda and Central African Republic, which has been hit by Christian-Muslim conflict.
Kenya's government has said that up to 10,000 police officers may be deployed during the visit.
Militant Islamists have carried out a series of attacks in Kenya - including the 2013 siege at Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre, which left at least 67 dead, and the killing of about 150 people during an assault on the Garissa National University College in April this year.
"All men and women of goodwill are called to work for reconciliation and peace, forgiveness and healing," Pope Francis said at a function hosted by President Kenyatta in State House.
Pope Francis also warned of the "grave environmental crisis" facing the world, and said leaders needed to promote "responsible models of economic development".
He made a veiled reference to corruption by calling on leaders to work with integrity and transparency, says the BBC's Joseph Odhiambo in Nairobi.
President Kenyatta called on the Pope to pray that Kenya succeeds in its fight against corruption.
On Wednesday, he sacked six ministers following allegations of corruption in the government. The six have denied the allegations.
Religion in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Source: US-based Pew Research Center 2011 survey
About 30% of Kenyans - including President Kenyatta - are baptised Catholics, and there is huge excitement around the visit, our correspondent says.
Crowds lined the streets of Nairobi to catch a glimpse of the pope as he was driven in a grey Honda saloon to Mr Kenyatta's office for his official engagement.
One of Kenya's main newspapers, The Standard, welcomed him with headlines in Latin, Grata Franciscus Pontifex, and the regional Swahili language, Karibu Papa Francis.
The Pope is expected to tackle corruption, poverty and religious conflict during his five-day visit.
Abdalla Kwamana, the vice-chairman of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, said he would attend an inter-faith meeting the pontiff is hosting on Thursday.
He described the visit as highly significant, and welcomed the Pope's decision to include a shantytown in his itinerary.
"It is often said that Kenya is owned by the rich and powerful. The people in the slums are never recognised," Mr Kwamana told the BBC's Newsday programme.
"When he goes to see them and console them, they'll feel they are people of substance," he added.
Pope Francis is due to hold a mass on Thursday at the University of Nairobi sports ground, where a crowd of more than one million is expected, Kenya's private Daily Nation newspaper reports.
The tiny Atheists in Kenya group said the decision to declare Thursday a public holiday and a day of prayer was unconstitutional.
"The constitution clearly states that there shall be no state religion. We cannot have the government acting religiously," its leader Harrison Mumia said, Nation FM radio station reports.
One in six of the world's Catholics are in Africa.


The fuselage of a World War II Spitfire that has spent the last few years in a garden in Oxford has failed to reach its asking price at auction in Surrey.

The aircraft, nicknamed "Bette" after one of its pilot's girlfriends, was built in 1941 from donations from the Borough of Lambeth Spitfire Fund.
It was stationed in Cornwall, Hampshire, Norfolk and Shropshire during the war but crashed in 1944.
Bidding stalled below its Â£120,000 to Â£150,000 valuation.
The aircraft saw service with four RAF squadrons between 1941 and 1944 and was flown by author Alec Lumsden, who gave it the name Bette and added a character from the Daily Mirror cartoon strip 'Just Jake' to the paint work.
After it crashed in Shropshire in September 1944, killing its Australian pilot, its wreckage was taken to Ibsley museum, Ringwood, Hampshire and displayed.
The aircraft was later passed to a collector who showed it at events. It has also been immortalised by modelmakers Airfix and Revell.
John Tomlin, from Historics at Brooklands, said: "The historical side of war birds is an up-and-coming market. There are now about 42 flying Spitfires and this seems to be increasing ever year.
"The rarity, the history and the provenance of all these aircraft make them very investable items and they're investments that can be used and enjoyed by a lot of people."
Experts believe it would cost about Â£1.8m to fully restore the plane.


A Somerset MP is calling for an electoral pact between the Conservatives and the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, said the two parties could merge.
Mr Rees-Mogg also wants UKIP leader Nigel Farage to replace Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister.
"I think that would be a better bet for Conservatism and the right wing in British politics," he said.
His comments come after Conservative calls for the party to change course to win back voters who switched to UKIP in England's local elections.


It could boost the health of Australia's most disadvantaged people and is having a profound effect on lives, yet it doesn't involve a doctor, a clinic or medication.

Simply getting a driving licence can have enormous benefits for young Aboriginal people.
In regional towns with limited public transport, they can often feel compelled to drive without a licence, but inexperience can be fatal.
While Aboriginal people are less likely to have a driving licence than other Australians, they are up to three times more likely to die on the roads.
There are stiff penalties, too, for unlicensed motorists, whose lives can then spiral out of control.
By being behind the wheel of a car Aiden Burns, a 21-year old Aboriginal Australian from Dubbo in outback New South Wales, has managed to break a dispiriting cycle of unemployment and isolation.
"I have had no-one to drive me. Usually I am at home by myself through the day," he said.
"If you don't have a licence, you've got to sit there and be bored.
"You can't go for a drive, go see a friend, or go see a family member just for something to do."
He is proud to be part of a project that helps indigenous groups in the nation's most populous state get their driving licenses by guiding them through the maze of documentation and giving them lessons.
"It definitely makes you feel a lot better.  It keeps you out of depression," he said.
Driving Change operates across New South Wales, with offices in the suburb of Redfern in Sydney, the country town of Condobolin, and Dareton that sits near the border with Victoria.
The scheme is run by the George Institute for Global Health, which has a hand in various initiatives in more than 50 countries.
Prof Rebecca Ivers, director of its injury division, says driving lessons are part of a holistic approach to caring for indigenous Australians.
"The Aboriginal definition of health is social and emotional health and wellbeing," she said. "It is about the health of the whole community, not just the physical health of the person.  The programme does have a huge impact on the health of a community."
"You can end up in jail pretty quickly," said Prof Ivers.
"It is really critical that we support people before that process starts to happen so then people can move on, move into employment and education, and actually end up with really satisfying, fulfilling lives."
In the Northern Territory, a programme to help residents to drive in more than 20 isolated settlements is also claiming success.
The DriveSafe NT Remote initiative also gives indigenous inmates the opportunity to get their driving licence before they're released to improve their chances of finding work.
"They haven't gone through proper driver training before.  This good news message spreads like wildfire.  It is very exciting for the community," said the head of the territory's Department of Transport, Clare Gardiner Barnes.
"It is an educative process that has not ever happened at the community level before," she added.
In Dubbo, 400km (250 miles) northwest of Sydney, Driving Change uses mentors to nurture confident and safe drivers.
Office manager Rose McBride says the programme eases the burdens many students carry.
"Having a licence helps in mental health because if you don't, they become depressed and they think they are worthless, so having that licence will boost their whole wellbeing, and their family and community as well," she explained.
So far it has given dozens of people the freedom to drive and thrive.
Darren Toomey, the head of the local Aboriginal Land Council, believes it is providing his community with fresh direction and hope.
"We are the most resilient people in the world. We have been around for a long time and I think it is an opportunity now for our youth to move forward. They are our future," he said.
At the end of another productive lesson, Aiden Burns is bursting with ambition.
'Words can't describe how driving feels," he told me. "I'm excited. I know it is going to be a life-changer.
"My life goal is to be a chef, so I am definitely going to use this opportunity to push towards my goal."


Jeremy Corbyn and Carwyn Jones are the "two most dangerous men for Wales' future", Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has warned.

He told Tories in Aberavon on Friday night the two senior Labour figures posed the "greatest risk to economic growth... the country has ever seen".
UK and Welsh Labour both had a "hard left", "anti-business" agenda that "won't create jobs", Mr Davies said.
A Welsh Labour spokesman dismissed the speech as "a laughable rant".
Mr Davies accused Labour of abandoning "mainstream politics" by electing Mr Corbyn, but he also suggested that people in Wales have been "guinea pigs for Corbynism all along".
For 16 years, he claimed, Labour had made Wales a "failed test bed for the hard left".
Mr Jones met Mr Corbyn for the first time on Wednesday, with a spokesman describing the occasion as "positive".
A Welsh Labour spokesman said: "This is a laughable rant even by Andrew RT Davies's lowly standards.
"It is simply a cheap rip-off of the 'New Labour New Danger' attack ads from 1997 and we all remember how that worked out for the Conservatives.
"If the Tories want to spend the Assembly election campaign banging on about Marx and communism then good luck to them, it just makes them look ridiculous."


Salford make one change to their squad, with Jake Bibby coming in for Junior Sa'u who is suffering with an illness.

The Red Devils have won three of their last four games in Super League to sit fifth after their seven games.
Head coach Keiron Cunningham has been forced into three changes for St Helens.
Full-back Jonny Lomax has recovered from the knee injury that has kept him out for three weeks with Morgan Knowles and Matty Fleming also coming in.
Salford Red Devils: Walne, Murdoch-Masila, Kopczak, O'Brien, Griffin, Johnson, Bibby, Jones, J Carney, Welham, Brining, Tasi, Mossop, Tomkins, Flanagan, Dobson, Krasniqi, Lui, T Carney.
St Helens: Lomax, Makinson, Morgan, Percival, Fages, Smith, Walmsley, Roby, Amor, Wilkin, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Douglas, Walker, Lee, Peyroux, Knowles, Owens, Fleming, Taia.


The granddaughter of a 92-year-old poppy seller who was found dead in the Avon Gorge said she wanted her remembered as a "fun-loving person".

Olive Cooke was one of the UK's longest-serving poppy sellers and had collected money in Bristol for the Royal British Legion for 76 years.
Media coverage of her death focussed on suggestions she had been overwhelmed by junk mail from charities.
But Jessica Dunne said Mrs Cooke was "not a victim".
She said: "I know the letters were a nuisance and an irritation and very intrusive to her, but it wasn't the reason [she died].
"In the letter that she left the family there was no mention of the letters being a causative factor, and there is no blame on the charities.
"She wouldn't have wanted this backlash."
Miss Dunne said her grandmother's death came as a "shock" to the family, but she had faced "episodes of depression at particular points in her life" and it had "got worse as she got older".
Avon Coroner's Court heard that Mrs Cooke was pronounced dead at 18:20 BST on 6 May by a paramedic and was formally identified by her grandson.
An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned until 16 July.
She had complained to the Bristol Post last year about the amount of requests for donations she was receiving.
A friend told the BBC that while he would not blame her death entirely on charities "pestering" her, she had been "under pressure".
Mrs Cooke, from Fishponds, started selling poppies at the age of 16 as her father was an active Royal British Legion member having served in World War One.
She said it took on new meaning for her when her first husband was killed in action in World War Two.


Everton have confirmed Ronald Koeman as their new manager on a three-year deal.

The Toffees will pay about £5m compensation for the 53-year-old, who leaves Premier League rivals Southampton after two years in charge.
Everton have been without a manager since sacking Roberto Martinez just before the end of the 2015-16 season.
Koeman said Everton is a club with a "great history and real ambition", while chairman Bill Kenwright called the Dutchman his "number one target".
A deal with the former Netherlands international, headhunted by new owner Farhad Moshiri, was agreed earlier in the week and is reported to be worth about £6m a year.
The official announcement was delayed until Koeman returned from holiday.
"Ronald has such a strong track record in the game, instantly commanding respect for what he achieved as a player and for his qualities and accomplishments as a manager," added Kenwright.
"We are really pleased to have secured the man who was our number one target from the moment we set out to appoint a new manager."
Former Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boric, now at Premier League rivals Bournemouth, tweeted a Koeman quote from March which criticised a "lack of loyalty" in football.
Boruc added: "No words for this one."
Southampton and England full-back Ryan Bertrand told BBC Sport: "The club is in safe hands, they've rebuilt on more than one occasion and I'm sure they'll do it again."
Saints finished seventh and sixth under Koeman - their best Premier League campaigns.
He is expected to be joined at Goodison Park by brother Erwin and fitness coach Jan Kluitenberg, although a deal for the pair is yet to be finalised.
Everton also considered Unai Emery, who has just left Spanish side Sevilla after winning the Europa League for the third successive season, and Manuel Pellegrini after he left Manchester City, but Koeman was at the top of Moshiri's list.
Southampton said their search for a new manager has already started.
Koeman made more than 750 appearances as a player, scoring 253 goals, and won the 1988 European Championship with the Netherlands.
He also won four domestic league titles in both the Netherlands and Spain.
Koeman has also managed Vitesse Arnhem, Ajax, Benfica, PSV, Valencia, AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord, winning the Dutch league with both Ajax and PSV, and a Spanish Cup with Valencia.
Phil McNulty, BBC Sport's chief football writer:
Everton's appointment of Ronald Koeman as manager is a significant statement of intent from new major shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
Koeman's standing as a player for the Netherlands and Barcelona, for whom he scored the goal that won them their first European Cup in 1992, instantly elevates Everton's credentials and credibility around Europe.
It is an indication of how Moshiri means business and Koeman will be backed by huge transfer funds this summer, irrespective of whether Romelu Lukaku and John Stones stay at Everton.
Moshiri wanted to make an appointment that would demonstrate the scale of his plans for Everton and Koeman fitted the bill - the idea of returning to David Moyes was never seriously contemplated despite the Scot being linked with a comeback at the club where he spent 11 years.
He was clearly happy at Southampton but the recent constant depatures of top players - as well as the personal and footballing finance on offer at Everton - swayed his thoughts towards Goodison Park.
It also means there is now a "northern powerhouse" of managers within 40 miles of each other with Koeman at Everton, Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jose Mourinho at Manchester United.
For Everton, however, the arrival of a character of Koeman's stature will provide an immediate lift after the mutinous final days of the Martinez era.
Adam Blackmore, BBC Radio Solent Sports Editor:
Ronald Koeman did a fantastic job at Saints, especially given he came in at a time when the club were in meltdown following the departure of Mauricio Pochettino and a number of key players.
He is Southampton's most successful manager in the Premier League era, and he managed the club with the same impressive calm authority he played with.
But his U-turn at St Mary's has left a bad taste, and his surprise decision to swap the Europa League for a re-build at Goodison Park means his legacy at Saints will forever be badly tarnished.


A driver was released by the fire service and taken to hospital after three lorries collided on the M25 in Essex.

The clockwise carriageway near Thurrock was closed for over eight hours and tailbacks reached 12 miles after the crash just past J30 for Lakeside.
Police advised motorists to avoid the area before the motorway reopened in the early afternoon.
"Emergency services were contacted at 04:40 BST," police said.
The trapped driver suffered leg injuries which "were not serious".
Essex Fire and Rescue Service assistant divisional officer John Harris said releasing the driver was a complex operation.
"The cab of the lorry was extremely badly damaged and the casualty severely trapped.
"We worked with paramedics to release the man and as soon as he was out he was taken from the scene by ambulance."


Game of Thrones star "The Mountain" has been beaten to Europe's Strongest Man title by a man from Swindon.

Laurence Shahlaei, originally from Cheltenham, took the title in Leeds from two-time title holder Hafthor Bjornsson who is also famed for his role in the popular television series.
Mr Shahlaei, nicknamed "Big Loz", said: "He's a great strongman but it was my day and it felt really good to win."
The 32-year-old is the first Englishman to win the title in 27 years.
Standing at 6ft 2in (1.9m) and weighing 22 stone (145 kg), the Wiltshire-based athlete had to overcome injury last weekend to take the crown.
"I've had a rough few years with injuries and to come back and win Europe's Strongest man has just meant the world to me," he said.
"There's five different events that you have to do. I did a 420 kilo dead lift, which was good enough for joint second and then we did a frame carry - it's a race and you're running a 20-metre course while carrying 450 kilos, which is close to 90 stone, and I won that event."
Competitors also had to lift a 177kg (28 stone) block above their heads "as many times as possible" as well as tackling the infamous Atlas stones - an event synonymous with strongman competitions.
But it was running 20m (65ft) with a Volkswagen Beetle on his shoulders in around 11 seconds that clinched the title from Iceland's Hafthor Bjornsson.
"My favourite of the competition was the car walk.  Imagine Fred Flintstone running in his car - that was basically me," he said.
"I actually broke the world record on that event.  They made the car even heavier this year and I managed over a second off my world record - which was really, really good."


Subway's former spokesman, Jared Fogle, has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he paid to have sex with minors and possessed child pornography, court documents show.

Subway cut ties with Mr Fogle after authorities searched his home in July.
Mr Fogle began appearing in the restaurant chain's ads in 2000 after he lost a large amount of weight by eating Subway sandwiches.
He faces up to 12 years in prison and must pay restitution to his 14 victims.
Court documents released by federal prosecutors on Wednesday show Mr Fogle, 37, is entering a guilty plea to charges of distributing and receiving child pornography and another count of travelling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.  He is due to make a formal plea at a later date.
According to the document, Mr Fogle paid a 17-year-old girl who he had found online to engage in sex acts while he was staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 2012.
He also offered to pay adult prostitutes a finder's fee for putting him in touch with minors for sex acts, including some as young as 14.
The documents also allege the ex-Subway spokesman received sexually explicit material produced by Russell Taylor, the executive director of a charity set up to combat childhood obesity - the Jared Foundation.
Some of the images he obtained featured children as young as six, prosecutors say.
Mr Fogle used "wealth, status and secrecy" to exploit children, lawyer Josh Minkler said after the defendant appeared in court on Wednesday.
Mr Taylor, who was arrested in April, has been charged with seven counts of production and one count of possession of child pornography. In May, he reportedly tried to kill himself in jail and was briefly hospitalised.
According to the documents, Mr Fogle's recommended sentencing could range from five to 12 years. He has also agreed to pay $1.4m (Â£895,000) in compensation to 14 minor victims.
His defence lawyer said he was suffering from a "medical problem" and would be seeking a psychological evaluation.
Separately on Wednesday, Mr Fogle's wife announced she was seeking a divorce and said she was "extremely shocked and disappointed" by the allegations.
Mr Fogle's ad campaign was seen as a huge success, promoting Subway restaurants in the US as a healthy alternative to fast food rivals like McDonald's.


A man arrested in Scotland on suspicion of making threats to kill in an email to Labour MP Angela Eagle has been bailed.

The 44-year-old suspect was questioned by detectives following his arrest in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on Friday.
The arrest came after an email was sent to the account of the Wallasey MP.
A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "The man has been bailed pending further inquiries."
Ms Eagle, 55, pulled out of Labour's leadership race on Tuesday.
She has now backed ex-shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith in his challenge to Jeremy Corbyn.
The ex-shadow business secretary said she was dropping out "in the interests of the party" and would back Mr Smith "with all her might and enthusiasm".


Children's TV presenter Justin Fletcher has been presented with an honorary degree by the University of Reading.

Fletcher, 42, who is from the town, was made a Doctor of Letters in a ceremony at the university's Great Hall.
The actor, best known as clumsy clown Mr Tumble on the CBeebies channel, said: "I'm thrilled to be honoured and enjoyed the day immensely."
In 2008 Fletcher was appointed MBE for his services to children's television and the charity sector.
Fletcher added: "The London Road campus is a hidden gem and the Great Hall is magnificent.
"To be presented with the honorary degree from Professor Andy Kempe, who was my drama teacher at Theale Green School in Reading, was extra special as he really encouraged and supported me when I was 15."
Fletcher has been a children's television presenter and voice-over artist for the past 15 years.
"I'm a big lover of slapstick comedy and I like to try and make my slapstick minimalist in speech so any child in the world can enjoy it," he said.
"When I'm presenting I always think of the children and imagine them sitting at home and really try to engage them and get them believing in my performance and the show."
Nearly 3,500 students will graduate from the university this week in 18 ceremonies held over three days on the campus.


Custom-made, living body parts have been 3D-printed in a significant advance for regenerative medicine, say scientists.

The sections of bone, muscle and cartilage all functioned normally when implanted into animals.
The breakthrough, published in Nature Biotechnology, raises the hope of using living tissues to repair the body.
Experts described the technology, developed in the US, as a "goose that really does lay golden eggs".
The idea of placing individual human cells in a precise pattern to replace a damaged jaw, missing ear or scarred heart muscle holds much promise.
But the field has been limited by the huge challenge of keeping the cells alive - they become starved of oxygen and nutrients in tissues thicker than 0.2 millimetres.
The team at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre developed a new technique that 3D-prints a tissue riddled with micro-channels, rather like a sponge, to allow nutrients to penetrate the tissue.
The Integrated Tissue and Organ Printing System - or Itop - combines a bio-degradeable plastic which gives the structure and a water-based gel which contains the cells and encourages them to grow.
When the structures were implanted into animals, the plastic broke down as it was replaced by a natural, structural "matrix" of proteins produced by the cells.
Meanwhile, blood vessels and nerves grew into the implants.
Prof Anthony Atala, the lead researcher, said tissues could now be printed on a human scale.
While the implants have the same strength as human tissues, the researchers are now waiting to see how durable they are.
But Prof Atala said 3D printing was opening new doors for medicine.
He told the BBC News website: "Let's say a patient presented with an injury to their jaw bone and there's a segment missing.
"We'd bring the patient in, do the imaging and then we would take the imaging data and transfer it through our software to drive the printer to create a piece of jawbone that would fit precisely in the patient."
Similar techniques in which the biodegradable scaffolding is built first and then soaked in cells are already being used in patients.
Women were given lab-grown vaginas at the Wake Forest centre two years ago, but the range of treatments is again limited by keeping the cells alive.
Prof Atala added: "In this study we printed a wide range of tissue strengths - from muscles as a soft tissue to cartilage and bone as a hard tissue showing a whole range of tissue strengths is possible.
"The hope is to continue work on these technologies to target other humans tissues as well."
And ultimately they aim to print directly into a patient.
Prof Martin Birchall, a surgeon at University College London, said the results were "striking".
He told the BBC: "The prospect of printing human tissues and organs for implantation has been a real one for some time, but I confess I did not expect to see such rapid progress.
"They have managed to create what appears to be the goose that really does lay golden eggs!"
He cautioned there was still more research to be done before the printer could be used in patients.
But he concluded: "Given the scale of this breakthrough, progress in other fields, the resources available to the researchers at Wake Forest and the imperatives for human health, I think it will be less than a decade before surgeons like me are trialling customised printed organs and tissues. I can't wait!"
Follow James on Twitter.


A policy banning open homosexuality in the US military has been repealed after nearly two decades.

The dropping of "don't ask, don't tell" means service members can now reveal they are gay without fear of investigation or discharge.
"Repeal Day" parties have been organised across the country to mark the victory for gay rights.
The US Congress voted last year to repeal the law, which was introduced in 1993 under the Clinton administration.
It replaced an outright ban on gay people serving in the military.
Under the policy, gay people were permitted to serve as long as they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation, while commanders were not allowed to ask.
In Vermont, Navy Lt Gary Ross and his partner of 11 years, Dan Swezy, exchanged wedding vows after midnight, as the repeal took effect.
"Today is about every man and women in uniform, regardless of how they identify themselves," said Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen in a news conference on Tuesday.
"The heart of the issue for me is the integrity of the institution," Adm Mullen said. "Seeing this change is a huge step in the right direction to be consistent with that value."
Defence secretary Leon Panetta told reporters that he was committed to removing "all of barriers that would prevent American from serving their country, and from rising to the highest level of responsibility that their talents warrant".
US President Barack Obama in a statement: "As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love."
He added that the US military had taken "another great step toward keeping our military the finest in the world and toward fulfilling our nation's founding ideals".
The armed forces have been accepting applications from openly gay recruits for a number of weeks and will begin processing them now that the new law has taken effect.
The military has also published a revised set of regulations, without references to any ban against homosexual service members.
Those who have been discharged under the don't ask, don't tell rule are entitled to re-enlist.
But existing standards of personal conduct, such as those pertaining to public displays of affection, will not change.
Nor will there be any change to the eligibility standards for military benefits.
Under current rules, service members are allowed to choose a partner as care-giver under the Wounded Warrior programme, or as a life insurance beneficiary.
Some in Congress remain opposed to repeal, arguing it could undermine efficiency and discipline in the military.
After the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act was passed by Congress last December, Mr Obama, Mr Panetta and Adm Mullen certified that allowing openly gay service members would not undermine the military.


The minimum pricing of alcohol will be brought in "as soon as possible", Scotland's Health Minister Shona Robison has told Holyrood.

Ms Robison made her pledge in response to a question by SNP MSP James Dornan.
Last week the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that the policy, backed by MSPs four years ago, did not breach European law.
The case was brought by the Scotch Whisky Association which has the right to appeal the court's decision.
Under the plan, a price of 50p per unit of alcohol would be set, taking a bottle of spirits to at least Â£14.
The Scottish government believed minimum pricing would help address Scotland's "unhealthy relationship with drink".
Asked by Mr Dornan what the government's next step would be following the Court of Session ruling, Ms Robison said: "The Scottish government intends to implement minimum unit pricing as soon as possible - the order bringing minimum pricing in must first be laid in draft in the Scottish Parliament for approval before it can be made by Scottish ministers."
She did not elaborate on what that timetable would be.
However, Ms Robison urged the Scotch Whisky Association not to take the matter back to the appeal courts.
She said: "While we respect the right of the Scotch Whisky Association to seek permission to appeal the judgement I hope it will accept it, enabling us to get on with implementing this life-saving policy."


Housing is the most important issue for Londoners in the upcoming mayoral election, a new poll indicates.

It represents a shift from the 2012 election, when Londoners placed housing fourth after jobs, crime and transport in a similar poll.
Fifty-six per cent of those polled said housing was one of the most important challenges facing London.
Immigration (38%), security from terrorism (26%) and healthcare (23%) were among the other top issues.
The poll of 2,062 adults was carried out by ComRes for BBC London.
The survey suggested the average price considered affordable for buying a two-bedroom house in London is £208,000 - and the average price considered affordable for renting is £646 per month.
The actual average figure for a terraced house in London in 2015 was £569,000, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Figures from the Valuation Office Agency show the median monthly rent in London was £1,400 in the year 2014-15.
In 2015, 24,620 new houses were completed in London, according to the Department of Communities and Local Government.
Mayoral candidates have proposed different ways of improving the housing stock and enabling more people to buy:
In the poll respondents were also asked how important candidates' gender, sexuality, race, age and class were in deciding who to vote for.
The majority of those polled said these demographics were not important, although of all the categories tested, Londoners were most likely to say social class was a factor.
Adam Ludlow, senior consultant at ComRes, said: "While this poll could not be compared directly to the one carried out four years ago, the relative shift in the priority given to housing would seem to suggest people see it as more important now."
He added there were some differences between the views of those in inner London and outer London.
Sixty-five per cent of those in inner London regarded housing as one of the most important issues, compared with 45% in outer London.
Immigration was more of a concern for outer Londoners with 42% classing it as important compared with 31% of inner Londoners.