Steve Cotterill has been sacked as Nottingham Forest manager.

The 47-year-old's exit comes after he met Forest's new owners the Al-Hasawi family, who assumed control on Tuesday.
A statement said the owners, who have called a news conference on Saturday, have decided to make a new appointment "to deliver their long-term vision".
Cotterill took over from Steve McClaren in October and ensured Championship safety, but he has been temporarily replaced by assistant boss Rob Kelly.
Forest's new owners have also cancelled their pre-season tour to America.
A disastrous start to last season saw the Reds hovering just above the relegation zone, and the club was put up for sale by then owner Nigel Doughty when he stepped down as chairman in October.
Doughty died four months later and the club's future became increasingly uncertain.
Despite the off-field problems and the inability to make new signings in the transfer market, Cotterill used the loan market effectively and helped Forest steer clear of relegation in an impressive end to the season.
European Cup-winning stars John McGovern and Garry Birtles told BBC Sport on Wednesday that Cotterill deserved the chance to lead a promotion challenge, but that any decision needed to be made quickly with the season fast approaching.
It will be a plum job as it is when a club is taken over if the new owners are going to put in some money
But the Al-Hasawi family, who have a long history of success with Kuwait's premier football team Al-Quadisya Sports Club in their homeland, have acted swiftly to sack Cotterill and are keen to bring in their own man.
Forest's statement said the decision was taken after "long deliberations" and thanked Cotterill for guiding them through "an extremely difficult and traumatic period and for retaining the side's Championship status last season".
Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson and ex-Wolves manager Mick McCarthy are among the bookmakers' favourites to replace Cotterill.
But Redknapp has told BBC Radio Nottingham's Robin Chipperfield he does not want to be considered for the role.
"I am not interested," he said. "But it's an amazing club with great tradition. I'm sorry to see Stevie Cotterill lose his job."
McGovern told BBC Sport: "Nothing in football should surprise us… I think he's a little unlucky.
"Steve Cotterill did a reasonably good job coming in while there was a transfer embargo going on and eventually did do what he was asked to and keep the club in the Championship.
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"New owners have taken over and they obviously have their own man in mind. As quickly as the decision has come regarding Cotterill they must also have had discussions with someone to take over, he's just very unlucky.
"Most of the top managers that are out of work - Harry Redknapp and Mick McCarthy - have been put in the frame.
"It will be a plum job as it is when a club is taken over if the new owners are going to put in some money because that makes the job a little easier."
Forest's new owners announced on Tuesday that they will hold a new conference at the City Ground on Saturday.
The club, who also revealed plans to name their academy the Nigel Doughty Youth Academy, have said they will not be making any further statements.
Keith Mather, chairman of the Nottingham Forest Supporters' Club, told BBC Sport: "It was a struggle at many times last season, and the guys who have come in with a massive investment want to see something come of that investment. It's one of those cases of a new brush sweeps clean."
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Casino gambling revenue in Macau soared in 2010 to reach a record high, according to official figures.

Revenue totalled $23.5bn (Â£15.2bn), up 57% on the previous year, reinforcing the territory's position as the world's  most lucrative gambling market.
Earnings have been driven by an influx of gamblers from mainland China.
Macau - a former Portuguese colony returned to China in 1999 - is the only Chinese city where gambling is legal.
It opened up its gambling industry to foreign competition in 2002, triggering a building boom.
In 2007 gambling revenue there overtook that of the Las Vegas Strip in the US.
The figures for 2010 were released by Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
As well as an annual record, gambling revenue also set a monthly record in December 2010 of $2.36bn - up 66% year on year.


Charlton Athletic have named former Leyton Orient striker Kevin Nugent as assistant manager to Russell Slade.

Nugent, 47, joins the club having been first-team coach at Luton last season.
He is reunited with Slade, who he previously worked alongside as assistant manager at Orient during a four-year spell.
"This is a fantastic club to join and I'm really looking forward to getting started and working with Russell again," Nugent told the club's website.
His coaching career has also included spells at Swansea alongside Kenny Jackett, with whom he secured promotion to League One in 2007.


A flagship leisure centre in Dumfries has begun a lengthy closure to allow major repairs to be carried out.

The DG One facility opened in May 2008 after a string of delays.
However, it has been plagued by building faults and the council-run facility is now set to undergo repairs and maintenance costing nearly Â£4m.
It will shut completely for four months with its swimming pool facilities closed for a further 13 months after that.
Dumfries and Galloway Council is seeking compensation from the contractors who built the complex.
It includes a claim for the costs of providing temporary sport facilities during the closure.
Gym facilities have been transferred to the town's Loreburn Hall while a temporary swimming pool has been put up in the Ice Bowl car park.


Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has played down suggestions Crystal Palace midfielder Joe Ledley could return to the club.

Wales international Ledley, 30, is out of contract this summer.
But he is not a target for Warnock, who also said Cardiff winger Kadeem Harris has agreed to sign a new deal.
"I know Joe. I was at Palace with him, he's a very good pro, but I've not heard from his people and I've not made any enquiries," said Warnock.
Cardiff-born Ledley spent six years with the Bluebirds at the start of his career, making 258 appearances.
He joined Celtic in 2010 before moving on to Palace in 2014, where he played under Warnock.
The former Sheffield United manager has already made two signings during the off-season, goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
The latter will provide competition for the likes of Harris and Junior Hoilett, who are currently vying for places on Cardiff's flanks.
Harris, 23, enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last season as he made 38 appearances for the Bluebirds.
With the former Wycombe player's current deal about to expire, Warnock wants to see him push on next season.
"Kadeem has agreed a contract. Everything's been agreed apart from his signature," the 68-year-old told BBC Wales Sport.
"He's got the confidence. I'm hopefully going to sign players to give him competition because I don't think we got enough goals from Kadeem and Junior last year.
"They know that, they've got to produce more goals, but they were both instrumental in a good run."
Another whose contract expires this summer is Peter Whittingham, Cardiff's longest-serving current player.
As one of the club's highest earners, the 32-year-old has been offered a new one-year deal on reduced terms.
"In Peter's case, quite rightly so because it's a reduced offer, he's looking at his options," said Warnock.
"If he could get two years - and his agent says one or two clubs are offering him that - then you can't blame him.
"It's up to Peter. I think he'd be better off with us. I'm not really looking to replace him.
"I'm not saying he's going to be a regular but I think he could definitely make a good contribution.
"I've not set a deadline, I've not got anyone lined up in that respect. He's got to work out what's best for his family at this stage of his career."


More than 1,500 people have been convicted of crimes relating to the riots in English cities last summer.

Statistics published by the Ministry of Justice show offenders were three times more likely to be jailed by magistrates than other criminals.
The average length of all sentences was longer than for other crimes at just over 14 months.
Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said the "swift and firm" justice handed down by the legal system helped stop the riots.
Figures also show 41% of defendants, where their background was stated, were white and 39% from a black background.
The fresh statistics follow figures from last autumn showing that those who joined in were poorer and younger, with a lower educational record than the average in England.
According to the new figures, as of midday on 1 February, 2,710 people had appeared before courts across England charged with offences relating to the disturbances between 6th and 9th August.
Almost 1,900 defendants have appeared in London courts, followed by 301 in the West Midlands, 240 in Greater Manchester, 92 in Merseyside, 64 in Nottingham and 117 in other areas.
Almost half of all the defendants had been charged with burglary and a fifth with violent disorder, a crime which is similar to the more serious offence of rioting. Some 16% had been charged with theft.
Some 1,519 have been convicted so far - more than half of all those who have appeared. Almost all of those have been sentenced - and more than 60% were immediately jailed. The average sentence of 14.2 months is almost four times longer than sentences for similar offences in 2010.
The figures show that offenders who have been dealt with by magistrates have been four times more likely to go to jail than those who were dealt with in the previous year.
The figures also show:
Updated figures for ethnicity show that 41% of defendants, where their background was stated, were white, 39% from a black background and 12% were mixed. Some 6% were Asian and 2% were defined as Chinese or other.
Previous figures from the government have shown that approximately 13% of those involved in the disturbances were defined as gang members and three-quarters of all those who had appeared in court had a previous conviction or caution.
More than 2,500 shops and business were attacked by looters and vandals, along with a further 230 homes.
Mr Blunt paid tribute to the legal system saying: "The courts, judges and the probation and prison services have worked hard to make sure that those who attacked their own communities during the public disorder last August have faced justice quickly.
"They played a key part in stopping the riots from spreading further by delivering swift and firm justice, and these statistics make clear that the disgraceful behaviour innocent communities endured last summer is wholly intolerable."


The family of a baby whose photograph was stolen from a grave in Basingstoke is being sought by police.

A 32-year-old man was arrested after he spent the night in Worting Road Cemetery and was found with the ceramic image in his possession.
Police have not been able to locate the grave it belongs to and said the theft would "undoubtedly" have "caused tremendous distress" to the family.
Releasing the photo of the baby would not be "in good taste", police said.
"If you know of someone who has had a ceramic photo of a baby stolen from a grave at Worting Road Cemetery in the past couple of weeks, please do ask them to contact us so we can ensure this precious item is returned to them," said PC Neil Plascott from Hampshire Constabulary.
The man, who is not the father of the baby, was arrested on Thursday.


Leicester City have won the Premier League title in one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.

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Tottenham's 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Monday confirmed a stunning achievement for Claudio Ranieri's side.
Leicester started the campaign as 5,000-1 outsiders for the title after almost being relegated last season.
But they have lost just three league games in what has been described as a "fairytale" and the "most unlikely triumph in the history of team sport".
Closest challengers Spurs, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and last year's champions Chelsea, have all failed to match the Foxes' consistency across the season.
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Former Leicester, Everton and England striker Gary Lineker described his hometown team's achievement as "the biggest sporting shock of my lifetime".
The Match of the Day presenter had suggested the Leicester players were on the "edge of sporting immortality" last month.
He told BBC Sport: "I can't think of anything that surpasses it in sporting history. It is difficult to put over in words.
"I got emotional. It was hard to breathe. I was a season ticket holder from the age of seven. This is actually impossible."
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After Leicester drew 1-1 at Manchester United on Sunday, Tottenham needed to win all three of their remaining league games to catch the Foxes.
But their title hopes were ended when they squandered a 2-0 lead to only draw at London rivals Chelsea.
Match of the Day pundit and former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and England striker Alan Shearer said Leicester's achievement was "the biggest thing ever in football".
Shearer, who won the Premier League in 1995 with underdogs Blackburn, told BBC Sport: "For a team like Leicester to come and take the giants on with their wealth and experience - not only take them on but to beat them - I think it's the biggest thing to happen in football."
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Gianni Infantino, president of football's world governing body Fifa, said Leicester's "beautiful story" was a "fairytale".
The East Midlands club was also quick to hail the achievement of Ranieri and his players, saying they "have captured the imaginations of football fans around the world with one of the most brilliant and unlikely sporting triumphs ever seen".
Sports data analysts say Leicester are set for a potential £150m boost for winning the title, coming from Premier League prize money, Champions League participation cash and increased match-day revenues from ticket and hospitality sales.
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"In terms of domestic football, Leicester City winning the Premier League is the greatest achievement ever and I think it will never be surpassed," former Leicester midfielder Robbie Savage told BBC Sport.
"It is incredible. This is a turning point in Premier League history."
Leicester East MP Keith Vaz said: "This is the greatest day in the history of this city. It's the top, absolutely the top to win the English Premier League, the best league in the world. It's a miracle and what Claudio Ranieri has done with this amazing team."
Former Foxes manager Martin O'Neill, who led the club to their previous highest Premier League finish of eighth in 2000, said: "Not only is it a brilliant story, but it gives everyone that little bit of hope again that romance has not left football.
"It's been the talk of Europe, there's no question about that. Everything about this season has been remarkable."
Snooker player Mark Selby, a Leicester fan, clinched his second World Championship title a little over 10 minutes after his hometown team won the Premier League crown. "To be Premier League champions is a fantastic achievement and I want to say well done to Claudio and the boys," he said.
Even Prime Minister David Cameron passed on his congratulations, saying it was "an extraordinary, thoroughly deserved, Premier League title".
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It is Leicester's first top-flight title and the club, owned by Thai billionaire businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, have also qualified for next season's Champions League group stages for the first time.
The Foxes started the season among the favourites for relegation and only the three promoted sides - Watford, Norwich and Bournemouth - were longer odds for the league title.
Ranieri, who took over from the sacked Nigel Pearson in the summer, was seen as an uninspired choice by some fans and pundits after his predecessor had overseen a run of seven wins in nine games as Leicester escaped relegation in 2014-15.
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The Italian's previous job ended abruptly when his Greece side lost to European minnows Faroe Islands during Euro 2016 qualifying.
Yet the charismatic 64-year-old's team - assembled for less than £30m and playing pacy, direct, counter-attacking football - has confounded the experts.
Savage added: "I'm speechless, it is unbelievable. I've seen England win the Ashes and get OBEs and MBEs. This Leicester team's achievement is greater than any of that. They should be recognised in the honours list."
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Leicester's title triumph is expected to generate millions of pounds in additional income for the local economy with tourism boosted by the club's higher global profile.
Kasabian, the Leicester-born platinum-selling, stadium-filling rock band, will play two gigs at the Foxes' King Power Stadium on 28 and 29 May, saying it will be "the biggest party the city has ever seen". Guitarist Serge Pizzorno said: "It feels like we're almost centre of the universe."
Mayor of Leicester Peter Soulsby has kept celebration plans secret, but said: "Twelve months ago we were re-interring the remains of the last king of England to die in battle [Richard III] and we were worried about our football team.
"We had the eyes of the world upon us and frankly we thought that it could not get any better, or bigger. Well, it has.
"I don't believe in miracles but this is as near as it gets.
"We've had media interest from across the world. We were on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, I've spoken to two German television crews in the last few days, Chilean television and Italian television twice. It really has attracted worldwide attention beyond anything that we fully understood."
Chairman Srivaddhanaprabha bought the club in 2010 for £39m and, after Leicester were promoted from the Championship in 2014, said he would spend £180m to get them into European competition in three years.
According to BBC South Asia correspondent Jonathan Head, the Thai businessman's travel retail group King Power has "hit the jackpot" and can now start to "tap into a bottomless well of passion in this football-mad nation of 68 million people".
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Leicester's story is epitomised by 29-year-old striker Jamie Vardy. Released by Sheffield Wednesday at 16 for being too small, he rose through non-league football until Leicester paid Fleetwood Town £1m for him in 2012.
He is now an England international, second in the Premier League's scoring charts this season and was named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year on Monday.
Meanwhile, Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez, 25, was bought for just £400,000 from French second-tier side Le Havre in January 2014.
Only 14 players have made more than a dozen league appearances - illustrating how settled the side has been - and Ranieri's preferred starting XI cost an estimated £22m, less than a 10th of what is arguably big-spending Manchester City's first-choice line-up.
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Leicester 3-2 Aston Villa, September 2015: The Foxes score three times in the final 18 minutes to move second in the table.
Stoke 2-2 Leicester, September 2015: Another comeback maintains the Foxes' unbeaten start to the season.
Leicester 1-1 Manchester United, November 2015: Jamie Vardy scores in his 11th consecutive game - a new Premier League record.
Leicester 2-1 Chelsea, December 2015: Defending champions Chelsea are left just a point above the relegation zone as Leicester return to the top of the table.
Tottenham 0-1 Leicester, January 2016: Rivals Spurs are beaten by a late Robert Huth header. Two further FA Cup games between the teams in the same month see Spurs go through after a replay.
Manchester City 1-3 Leicester, February 2016: Nearest rivals Manchester City are comprehensively beaten by another superb away performance. Riyad Mahrez becomes the first player to reach double figures in terms of both goals (14) and assists (10) in the Premier League this season.
Leicester 1-0 Southampton, April 2016: A fifth 1-0 win in their past six games puts Leicester seven points clear of nearest rivals Spurs with only half a dozen games left.
Leicester 4-0 Swansea, April 2016: Despite top scorer Jamie Vardy being suspended and Tottenham chasing hard, Leicester show no signs of pressure with a routine victory to go eight points clear with three games to go.
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BBC Sport's chief football writer Phil McNulty was one of hundreds of journalists and pundits to predict a lowly finish and probable relegation for Leicester in his season preview.
At the start of the season, 47 people placed a bet with Ladbrokes for Leicester to win the title at 5,000-1, around half of whom chose to cash out early.
One Leicester fan took £72,000 from a £50 bet, when he would have won £250,000.
Joe Crilly, from bookmakers William Hill, described Leicester's title win as "the biggest sporting upset of all time", while Ladbrokes' Alex Donohue said it was his company's "biggest payout by a distance".
Crilly added: "It is not just a one-off like Japan beating South Africa in the rugby (which was 200-1), it has been a sustained effort over a full season and one which we, as bookmakers, continued to believe was impossible until just a few weeks ago.
"The Foxes only became odds-on favourites for the first time at the end of March when they moved five points ahead at the top of the table, such was the scepticism with which we viewed Leicester's ability to continue their title push. It is quite simply incredible."
And these are the 10 most discussed Leicester moments of the season on Twitter:
The popular chant from Leicester fans - that striker Vardy "is having a party" - was never more true as the forward held a get-together at his home for team-mates to watch the Tottenham game.
Supporters also gathered outside the star's home, while many more filled the city's bars and pubs, or took to the streets to celebrate the historic moment.


A woman has admitted shaking a seven-month-old baby so severely she left him disabled.

Nikki Irvine faces up to five years in prison for injuring the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
She had been charged with assaulting the baby at a house in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, in 2013.
The 29-year-old eventually pleaded guilty at Paisley Sheriff Court to an amended charge of causing his injuries by culpable and reckless conduct.
Irvine, who walks with the aid of two crutches, showed no emotion in the dock as she pleaded guilty to leaving the boy disabled.
The court heard that a civil case involving Irvine, from Johnstone, and the child had been heard at the court earlier.
Sentence was deferred to allow the sheriff involved in that case to deal with Irvine.


Secondary school pupils in parts of Wales are being told there will be no work experience for them this year, in a row over health and safety checks.

The Careers Wales body used to vet work placements, but that role has been scrapped by the Welsh Government.
Head teachers in Gwynedd and Anglesey said the decision had hit "the majority of authorities across Wales".
Government officials said Â£2.4m is being spent over four years to support links between education and industry.
Traditionally, students in Year 10 and 12 are sent on placements for up to two weeks during June and July to experience the real world of work.
Careers Wales used to check that employers and their workplaces were suitable, safe environments for students, and also met legal requirements on insurance and risk assessments.
But Skills and Science Minister Julie James wrote to all head teachers in 2015 to tell them the body would be forced to phase out the work, as it faced "a significantly reduced budget".
Head teachers have been writing to parents of pupils at secondary schools in Gwynedd and Anglesey explaining why no work experience will be offered this year.
"Unfortunately there were a very high number of locations that needed to be checked this year, and the necessary trained school staff were not available to carry out this work," said an official responding for both counties.
"This decision has already been taken by the other north Wales authorities and the majority of authorities across Wales."
In neighbouring Conwy, the picture is similar, where Year 10 pupils were being offered an alternative range of career activities.
The authority said it would also "support sixth formers where work placements are required to fulfil university entrance requirements".
Neil Foden, head of Ysgol Friars in Bangor, and also a national executive member for the NUT Wales union, said the decision had been "inevitable".
"There was talk of appointing two officers to verify work experience placements for Gwynedd schools. That cost was just too much for us," he said.
Parent Owain Evans has a Year 12 son at Ysgol David Hughes in Menai Bridge on Anglesey who was supposed to be going on a placement with a legal firm.
Mr Evans also hosts students himself at his architects' office.
"I think I'm really disappointed - for ourselves as employers and also for the children," he said.
"It is a way of connecting with industry - for employers this is our future, the young people coming to us."
The Welsh Government said strengthening links between schools and employers was "a priority".
A spokesman said Careers Wales was working to establish a new Education Business Exchange which will "support a national network of business education partnerships".
He added: "There are many ways schools can provide pupils with activity to help them in their understanding of, and improve competence in, the world of work, including employer talks, visits to industry and employer coaching and mentoring."


A teenager who crashed his father's £100,000 car into a house has been given a suspended sentence and had his pocket money stopped.

Harry Bishop, 19, from Birmingham made a "spur of the moment" decision to take the Audi R8 after a drunken night out, the city's crown court heard.
Unable to handle the car, he smashed it into an elderly couple's home, shifting part of the house off its foundations.
Bishop admitted aggravated vehicle taking and driving while drunk.
He also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and was given a two-and-a-half year driving ban.
Birmingham Crown Court heard he had been punished at home - having his pocket money stopped and being made to do "extra chores". He was also banned from a holiday abroad with friends.
The crash, on 2 May, happened just 100m from Bishop's home in Netherstone Grove in Sutton Coldfield.
The owners of the house he crashed into, Janet and Harold Perry, both in their 70s, have since spent £25,000 on rebuilding their porch.
Bishop was described to the court as "quiet, thoughtful and hard-working".
In mitigation, Naomi Gilchrist told the court he walked home after the crash to explain himself to his father.
Recorder Anthony Warner told Bishop he had shown "fantastically poor judgment" but that a prison sentence would have a "disastrous effect" on him.
He said: "I accept the impact of these proceedings on someone like you has been significant, and thus in itself has already brought to you a degree of punishment: the shame and disgrace of having to be brought to the crown court in public and face sentence for these offences."
Mr and Mrs Perry, who were uninjured but "shaken" said they felt "no ill-will" towards Bishop, who took them a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates days after the crash.
Mrs Perry said: "We don't wish the guy any harm, but if it was my son I'd have to say to him he needs to compensate in some way - not in money, but in deeds."


Barclays has confirmed that former JP Morgan banker James "Jes" Staley will be its new chief executive.

Mr Staley currently works for US hedge fund Blue Mountain Capital Management and will take over on 1 December.
Barclays' previous chief executive, Antony Jenkins, was fired in July after falling out with board members.
The appointment of Mr Staley is seen as answering investor criticism that the bank was losing its focus on investment banking.
Mr Staley will be paid £1.2m in salary, £396,000 in pension contributions and as much as £5.5m a year in bonuses, which will mostly be paid in shares. He will also receive £1.15m in shares per year that he will have to keep for five years before cashing in. That is a total of £8.2m for the year, if he is awarded the maximum bonus.
He will also receive shares in Barclays worth about £1.93m to replace shares in JPMorgan he will lose for leaving his former employer.
In a letter to staff, Mr Staley indicated he would focus on areas of investment banking that did not require as much capital - the buffer of reserves it keeps to protect it from unexpected losses. Analysts said this could include such areas as merger advice and trading in stocks.
In common with Bob Diamond, the last investment banker to run Barclays, Mr Staley sees Africa as an important market for the bank.
In his letter, he said: "Our business in Africa gives us exciting opportunities in fast growing economies. We will complete the necessary transformation and repositioning of the Investment Bank to a less capital intensive model. And we will support the growth of our world leading payments business in Barclaycard."
Announcing Mr Staley's appointment, Barclays chairman John McFarlane said: "[Jes Staley] understands corporate and investment banking well, the re-positioning of which is one of our major priorities.
"In Jes Staley we believe we have an executive with the appropriate leadership talent and wide-ranging experience to deliver shareholder value and to take the Group forward strategically."
James Staley, 59, is a former chief executive of JP Morgan Chase's investment bank. He spent more than 30 years of his career there before joining hedge fund BlueMountain Capital Management in 2013.
A longstanding lieutenant of JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, Mr Staley was at one point thought to be in line to take over as chief executive of the US bank.
Three years ago, US business news broadcaster CNBC reported that Mr Staley was, in fact, a finalist for the top job at Barclays in August 2012, - alongside his colleague Bill Winters. Both eventually lost out to insider Antony Jenkins.
In 2015, Mr Staley was elected to the board of Swiss bank UBS to serve on the bank's risk committee.


Serial entrepreneur Jacob de Geer was about to "get a real job" when he stumbled upon a gap in the market, and launched one of the most successful start-ups in his country's history.

"We'd just had our second child. I was at a place in life where I really felt like I could use some stability," says the 40-year-old Swede.
"You know, a nice fixed salary that would actually hit my account on a monthly basis, possibly a company car, and a pension would have been nice as well; some of the things that you never get if you run your own business."
This was back in 2010, and as the global financial crisis continued to engulf Sweden, Mr de Geer said it definitely didn't feel like the right time to launch a new business.
But it was in January of that year that his wife, a sunglasses importer, returned from a trade fair and complained that she'd lost out on business because she couldn't accept debit cards from her customers.
Mr de Geer says this was because, at the time, most sole traders and small firms couldn't afford the expensive mobile card processors available from banks.
"My wife said 'someone must have solved this for small businesses, so that it makes sense for us'," he remembers.
Except they hadn't, at least not in Europe. And Mr de Geer - who had previously set up and sold a number of media companies - was determined to do something about it.
The Stockholmer started to research the market, and discovered that there were some 20 million small businesses in Europe in need of an affordable solution.
Four months later, he joined forces with his friend Magnus Nilsson and founded iZettle.
The company's technology works by turning smartphones and tablets into credit and debit card processors, by linking them to a Â£35 card reader that connects via the headphone socket.
A customer simply puts his or her card into the trader's iZettle reader, enters their pin number, and the payment is made.
The product was quickly successful in Sweden, and is now used by thousands of traders in 12 countries, mostly across Europe, but also Mexico and Brazil.
Thee firm says it is continuing to grow so fast that 1,000 new customers sign up every day. And it has secured â‚¬140m ($157m; Â£120m) of investment.
Mr de Geer attributes part of the firm's early success in Sweden to a "tech savvy" population that loves to embrace new trends, gadgets and fashions.
"It's one of the reasons why Sweden is a common test bed for many international companies to test their products," he says.
"They know if it flies here it will probably fly in most other places as well."
Thanks in no small part to iZettle, Sweden is leading the race to become the world's first cashless society. In 2015 80% of all retail payments in the country were made by card, compared with around 52% in the UK and 45% in the US.
In addition to the sale of the card readers, iZettle makes its money by charging users a monthly fee, which is a percentage of the overall payments received. This ranges from 2.75% down to 1%, depending on how much money the trader makes.
iZettle says this remains significantly less than mainstream banks charge for their mobile card processing services.
Prof Niklas Arvidsson, from Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology, says there are a number of reasons for iZettle's success, including being at the right place at the right time.
"The timing was right. There was a need from a lot of merchants that wanted a solution like iZettle, that allowed them to take payments in situations where they had not been able to use card readers before."
Speaking about Mr de Geer, Prof Arvidsson adds: "He seems like a focused entrepreneur, and someone who has the ability to have an idea and bring it home."
As iZettle faces increasing competition from rivals, Mr de Geer is candid about the firm's challenges as he seeks to expand the business.
"We try things, we test them, we validate with data, and 99 out of 100 times we conclude that the change that we made to a service or a product was for the worse," he admits.
"Something that you thought would be so easy to do, or straightforward, it always turns out to be some sort of rollercoaster ride from hell, really. Most of the time it's fun, but there are days when you are really not that keen to go to work."
However the Swede says he can't imagine a life that didn't involve being 100% committed to his business.
"If you set up and start your own company, it's effectively a baby that you need to take care of," he says.
"Unless you take care of it and let it grow, nobody else is going to do it for you."
The son of a former banker, who later set up a fund management firm, before investing his savings in a farm, Mr de Geer accepts that his hardwired entrepreneurial spirit may, in part, be down to his father's influence.
But it was only after completing a masters at Stockholm School of Economics, that he says he became convinced that he wasn't cut out for a traditional graduate career.
Mr de Geer adds that working for a digital marketing agency owned by Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon in his 20s added further inspiration to become his own boss.
He says: "The joy of doing something on your own, and creating something, and being able to a certain extent to control how you work... I think that was really an eye-opener for me. I thought that was amazing."
But iZettle's chef executive says that these days most of his drive comes from being around his three children ("they see endless possibilities, no problems") and iZettle's growing global customer base of small business owners.
"There are so many struggling guys and girls out there who are working hard to make a living," he says.
"They make their coffee, and they make their sandwiches, and they sell them to people walking by their cafe, and then they go back in again the next morning. They are the true heroes."


Mae Prif Weinidog Cymru wedi rhybuddio y gallai "rhyfel masnach" ddatblygu rhwng gwledydd y Deyrnas Unedig oni bai bod rheolau newydd yn cael eu sefydlu ar ôl Brexit.

Dywedodd Carwyn Jones mai dyma'r math o bwnc fydd angen ei drafod fel rhan o gonfensiwn cyfansoddiadol y Blaid Lafur ynghylch dyfodol y DU.
Bydd aelodau blaenllaw'r blaid o bob rhan o Brydain, gan gynnwys y cyn-brif weinidog Gordon Brown, yn bresennol yn y lansiad yng Nghaerdydd ddiwedd mis Mawrth.
"Nid wonkery cyfansoddiadol yw hyn, rydyn ni'n ceisio gwneud pethau i weithio'n well ar gyfer pobl gyffredin," meddai Mr Jones.
Mewn cyfweliad â rhaglen Sunday Politics Wales BBC Cymru, dywedodd y gallai anallu i osod rheolau masnach ar draws y DU ar ôl i'r wlad adael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd "gostio swyddi, gallai gostio llawer o arian, byddai'n effeithio ar bobl gyffredin, ac mae angen ei ddatrys cyn gynted ag y bo modd".
"Ar hyn o bryd mae 'na reolau. Mae 'na reolau'r UE sy'n rheoli'r hyn y gallwn ac na allwn ei wneud,"meddai.
"Os nad oes unrhyw reolau, fe fyddai 'na anhrefn. Mae hynny'n beth drwg ar gyfer unrhyw farchnad sengl."
Ond wrth ymateb dywedodd arweinydd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig, Andrew RT Davies: "Dwi ddim yn deall pam ei fod e wedi dweud y gallai arwain at ryfel masnach.
"Pan wnes i edrych ar y setliad cyfansoddiadol y tro diwethaf, doedd masnach na diwydiant wedi ei ddatganoli, na hefyd trafodaethau rhyngwladol."
Dywedodd Mr Jones y byddai'r frwydr i gadw'r Deyrnas Unedig yn gyflawn "yn cael ei golli" oni bai bod llywodraeth y DU yn dechrau gwrando ar y gwledydd datganoledig.
"Yr hyn yr ydym wedi dweud yw bod meysydd sydd eisoes yn gyfrifoldeb i Gymru a'r Alban a Gogledd Iwerddon, dylai fod yna broses o wneud penderfyniadau ar y cyd... mae'n rhaid i ni weithio allan pa reolau fydd yn rhan o farchnad sengl fewnol y DU a phwy sy'n eu plismona," meddai.
"Does dim angen sefyllfa lle mae popeth yn cael ei reoli gan San Steffan.
"Gallwn rannu grym yn y DU, gallwn barhau i fod yn sefydlog, gallwn barhau gyda'r Undeb, ond mae angen i lywodraeth y DU sylweddoli hynny nawr neu bydd y frwydr yn cael ei golli."
Galwodd y prif weinidog am gonfensiwn cyfansoddiadol ar gyfer y DU gyfan bum mlynedd yn ôl.
Bydd y ffigyrau amlwg o bob rhan o Brydain, gan gynnwys y cyn-brif weinidog Gordon Brown, yn bresennol yn y lansiad yng Nghaerdydd ar ddiwedd mis Mawrth.
"Ro'n ni ymhell ar y blaen gyda hyn. Fe wnaethon ni gydnabod amser maith yn ôl yr heriau fyddai'n wynebu'r DU," ychwanegodd Mr Jones.
"Mae hyn yn nwylo Whitehall. Mater i Whitehall a yw'n gwrando'n ddigon astud er mwyn cadw'r DU yn gyflawn."
Yn dilyn galwadau Prif Weinidog yr Alban, Nicola Sturgeon i gynnal ail refferendwm annibyniaeth yr Alban, dywedodd Carwyn Jones y byddai'n "drasiedi i Gymru os byddai'r Alban yn gadael" y DU.
"Mae'r Alban yn wrth-gydbwysedd defnyddiol yn y DU. Nawr, fe wnes i rybuddio cyn y refferendwm Brexit fod gan Brexit y potensial i rwygo'r DU a dyna sydd wedi digwydd.
"Mae yna ffyrdd o sicrhau bod y DU yn aros gyda'i gilydd ond mae angen i lywodraeth y DU ddechrau gwrando nawr."
Mae Plaid Cymru wedi beirniadu cyhoeddiad y prif weinidog, gan ychwanegu bod angen confensiwn cyfansoddiadol ei hun ar Gymru.
Dywedodd Adam Price, llefarydd economi'r blaid: "Dyna'r math o arweinyddiaeth y dylem fod yn gweld gan brif weinidog Cymru, yn arwain sgwrs genedlaethol yn ystod y cyfnod ansicr yma pan ry'n ni'n mynd i adael un Undeb, yr Undeb Ewropeaidd, ac mae'n edrych fel pe bai ni'n mynd i adael un arall yn yr ystyr bod y DU yn dod i ben, o bosibl ymhen dwy flynedd.
"Ac eto ble mae'r weledigaeth ar gyfer beth mae hyn yn ei olygu i Gymru? Dyna'r confensiwn y dylem fod yn ei chael a fyddai'n cynnwys y pleidiau oll, ar draws Cymru gyfan, pob rhan o gymdeithas, gan ofyn ble rydym am gymryd ein cenedl?
"Yn hytrach na'r Blaid Lafur yn siarad â'i hun, pam nad yw'n siarad â'r gweddill ohonom?"
Dywedodd arweinydd grŵp UKIP yn y Cynulliad, Neil Hamilton ei fod yn credu y byddai Brexit yn arwain at "mwy o bwerau" i'r sefydliadau datganoledig, tra bod arweinydd y Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymreig, Mark Williams wedi croesawu'r confensiwn.
Bydd Sunday Politics Wales yn cael ei darlledu ar BBC One Cymru ddydd Sul, 19 Mawrth am 11:00.


British athletes will be asked to sign an agreement that will ban them from competing for GB if they are found guilty of a serious doping offence.

"If you want to be selected, one of the things you have to do is sign," said UK Athletics boss Ed Warner.
He wants the agreement in place for the 2016 World Indoor Championships, taking place in Portland, Oregon in March.
He told British MPs such an agreement "has never been tested" in court but said UKA was talking to its lawyers.
Warner also called for Russia to be prevented from sending an athletics team to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The country was banned from international athletics competition following an independent World Anti-Doping Agency report that alleged widespread doping by Russian athletes.
Warner believes the "state-organised" scandal has been so serious that Russia should not be allowed to send athletes to Brazil.
Former British world champion sprinter John Regis told BBC Radio 5 live: "I would have found it very easy to sign for the simple reason that I know that I'm a clean athlete. I would have just read it, said yeah that makes a lot of sense a put my signature down the bottom."
According to Warner, speaking at a Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday, Doha's bids for the 2017 and 2019 World Championships have been referred to the IAAF ethics commission.
However, he refused to reveal the names of the IAAF figures who had told him of rumours of brown envelopes full of cash being handed out just before the vote for the 2017 World Championships, which London won.
Warner said: "I have had a number of discussions with the IAAF and they have told me the 2017 and 2019 bids by Doha have been referred to their ethics commission."
Asked if IAAF president Lord Coe was one of those who had told him of the rumours, Warner replied: "It could have been any number of people."
Coe was a senior member of London's bid team before succeeding Lamine Diack as IAAF president in August last year.
Leaked emails from Diack's son, Papa Massata Diack, have revealed he appeared to request $5m from Doha while it was bidding against London.
Papa Massata Diack is wanted on corruption charges by Interpol,
French prosecutors are also looking into the awarding of all world championships from 2009 to 2022 as part of their IAAF corruption inquiry.
The Qatari athletics federation has always denied any wrongdoing.


Former cabinet minister Michael Gove has admitted making "mistakes" during the Conservative leadership election.

He initially backed fellow pro-Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, before announcing that he would himself stand.
He told BBC Radio 4's The World At One he should have "paused and reflected before backing Mr Johnson" or stuck with him after making the decision.
Mr Gove called Mr Johnson "phenomenally talented" and said Theresa May was the right choice as party leader and PM.
The former justice secretary and education secretary campaigned against his long-term friend, former Prime Minister David Cameron, in supporting the Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum campaign.
He told The World at One they had not spoken for "some time" since, following reports that they are no longer on amicable terms.
In his first broadcast interview since leaving the cabinet when Mrs May became prime minister, Mr Gove - now a backbench MP - said he would "happily" return to frontline politics if asked.
During the leadership election, held in the fraught atmosphere following the UK's vote to leave the EU, Mr Gove initially said he was supporting Mr Johnson. He then changed his mind and decided to run himself, publicly questioning Mr Johnson's ability to do the job.
He said, with hindsight, he should have pronounced an "alternative view, rather than passing any commentary or judgement on Boris".
After Mrs May entered Downing Street, Mr Johnson entered the cabinet as foreign secretary, while Mr Gove remains on the Conservative back benches.
He said: "I think he's been a success as foreign secretary. He's had some criticism from some on the way he's handled Russia, Syria and so on. I think he's been right."
Mr Gove said those who accused Mr Johnson of backing the Leave campaign to further his own career were wrong, adding: "He decided to do what he thought was right for the country."
They had both found it difficult to tell Mr Cameron they were going to campaign against him over Brexit, he added.
Mr Gove also said that with hindsight Mrs May was "the right leader at the right time" and that "if the chance came to serve again" in the cabinet, he would "happily say yes".
But he was "very happy" on the back benches and would be standing again at the next election as MP for Surrey Heath, which he has represented since 2005.


A former footballer who was sexually abused by a coach when he was a junior player has said it "wrecked" his life.

Andy Woodward - who played for Bury and Sheffield United - was abused while at Crewe Alexandra from the age of 11-15.
His abuser, Barry Bennell, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 1998 after admitting sexual offences against six boys.
Mr Woodward spoke out after waiving anonymity offered to sex abuse victims.
The 43-year-old told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme the abuse had a "catastrophic" impact on his life.
He struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts in the years following Bennell's conviction and suffered severe panic attacks - including during a match for Bury in which he had to be substituted.
Mr Woodward - who explained it had taken "30 years" to speak openly about the abuse - said he suffered a lack of support from Crewe Alexandra when the abuse was first revealed.
"With regards to the sport - there was nothing, it was brushed under the carpet," he said.
"It's in the mentality of football that nothing comes out."
The former defender said he "tried to put it in a box and focus on football, because that was all I'd ever dreamed of".
A spokesperson for Crewe Alexandra said the club did not wish to comment.
Barry Bennell, who worked as a football scout and coach at Crewe Alexandra in the 1980s and 90s, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 1998 after admitting 23 specimen charges of sexual offences against six boys, aged nine to 15.
Bennell scouted Mr Woodward, then aged 11, while he was playing for Stockport Boys.
Mr Woodward said that within "three or four weeks" Bennell invited him to stay over at his home.
He was abused over a four-year period and said Bennell threatened him "in a way that [his dream of playing football professionally] was going to be taken from me".
"It was that control, that all I wanted to do was be a footballer."
Mr Woodward believes the nine-year sentence did not do "justice", although at the time of the conviction he said he felt "safer" knowing Bennell was in prison.
Mr Woodward retired from football in 2002.
After years of therapy he believes he is now "coming through the other side".
Mr Woodward said he wished to raise awareness of his ordeal as he believed there were "further victims" of Bennell who were yet to speak.
He said he was aware of one other former footballer who had come forward since he first spoke to the press.
The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.


It sounded like something out of a B-grade movie: a prison inmate had tied sheets together and swung them over a prison wall to make good his escape.

But it's a true story.
Stephen Jamieson, a maximum security prisoner at Goulburn Correctional Centre in New South Wales, made his daring escape during broad daylight on Tuesday, dressed in his regular prison greens.
The 28-year-old, who was serving 12 years in prison for armed robbery, is now back in custody after 20 police officers and a dog squad searched the local area for him.
Jamieson joins a small pantheon of Australian prisoners who have tried their hand at the Great Escape with varying degrees of success.
Perhaps the most daring was in 1999, when Lucy Dudko hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in the exercise yard at Sydney's Silverwater prison to pluck her lover, armed robber John Killick, to freedom.
The two went on the run only to be caught snoozing by authorities in a Sydney caravan park six weeks later.
Jailed separately, they kept in contact, exchanging 4,500 letters over six years. But their love finally died when Dudko rediscovered her Christian faith in 2005.
A more violent but shorter-lived break-out occurred in 1993 when prison guard Heather Parker smuggled explosives into the Melbourne Remand Centre for her lover, armed robber Peter Gibb.
Gibb and fellow inmate Archie Butterly blew their way out of the jail and escaped in a getaway car, and then a stolen motorcycle before being picked up by Parker in another car.
The trio headed for the bush in central Victoria where they were eventually caught after six days on the run, with Butterly dying in a police shoot-out.
Cupid also seems to have been involved in the story of convicted bank robber, Brenden James Abbott.
In 1989, Abbott and fellow inmate Aaron Reynolds escaped over the walls of West Australia's Fremantle Prison wearing guards' uniforms they had made themselves.
Abbott stayed on the run for five-and-a-half years and media reported he sent a series of photos of himself "on holiday" to detectives, earning him the nickname the Postcard Bandit.
In a second escape, from a Queensland jail in 1997, a girlfriend smuggled in wire, which Abbott and four accomplices used to cut their way out.
Using a high-powered rifle, an associate on the outside disabled a vehicle being driven by guards as Abbott and several other inmates escaped the prison grounds. He was captured six months later.
Australia's history of daring escapes goes back to convict times.
English convict William Buckley, transported to what is now Victoria for stealing a bolt of cloth, ran off in 1803 when he learnt he might be sent to a more notorious colony in Tasmania.
For the next 32 years, he lived with the Wathaurung Indigenous people until he re-appeared at a white settlers' camp.
After his story became known, he was granted a pardon.
Other stories of escape are more grizzly.
Alexander Pearce was an Irish convict transported to Tasmania for theft in 1819.
He escaped with seven other convicts, one of whom had an axe.
After 15 days, hunger drove the group to kill and eat one of their comrades. Three of the men bolted in fear, one died from a snake bite and Pearce ended up the last man standing, having dined on several of his companions.
He remained on the hoof for 113 days before being retaken, confessing several times and escaping again with fellow convict Thomas Cox. When the law caught up with him, parts of Cox's body were found in his pockets and he confessed to killing him.
Pearce was tried and executed for the murder of Cox, with the Hobart Town Gazette noting Pearce did not look like someone who had "banqueted on human flesh".


A 76-year-old is returning to study for the first time in 30 years after embarking on a retail apprenticeship.

Grandmother-of-five Doreen Bindley will be studying English and maths as part of a course normally taken by school-leavers.
The Co-op worker from Desborough, Northamptonshire, is three months into the Government-backed retail customer services assistant apprenticeship.
She said without challenges "you might as well sit down in a chair and die".
Mrs Bindley, who enjoys quizzes and computer games, said she last studied "about 30 years ago" when she took her O-levels.
She has worked at the Gladstone Street Co-op for 17 years and was persuaded to take the course by fellow workers.
"I never thought I'd be doing something like this at my age, but I'm so glad that I listened to my colleagues who said 'go for it'," she said.
She said the idea of being tested again had been "quite daunting" but had so far found the apprenticeship, aimed at anyone 16 and older, "easy".
"When you get older you get more experience and you can do things a lot easier," she said.
The Central England Co-operative Society's Alison Cooper said Mrs Bindley was "really enjoying the new challenges".
She said: "Doreen's age is not really anything to do with it. She has got a good skill set and this was a chance to refresh those skills."
Julian Jones, managing director of Adaptive Business Support, which works alongside the Central England Co-operative Society to support the apprentice programme, said Mrs Bindley proved apprenticeships were for everyone.
"Occasionally inspiration emerges from the most unlikely places," he said.


Staying in the EU can be the "patriotic course for Britain", former M&S boss Lord Rose said as he launched the campaign for the UK to remain a member.

Lord Rose, Britain Stronger in Europe chairman, said leaving was "not worth the risk" and said Britain was "surely bigger" than "walking away".
The EU referendum is due to be held before the end of 2017.
A rival, Eurosceptic, campaign launched on Friday with the message "vote leave, take control".
One of its supporters, Conservative MP Steve Baker, told BBC Radio 5Live leaving the EU was "the safer choice" as it would allow the UK to "take back power".
And Mayor of London Boris Johnson, speaking in Japan, said the price of leaving the EU was "lower than it's ever been" and repeatedly refused to rule out spearheading the "Out" campaign.
The Britain Stronger in Europe board includes former chief of the general staff Sir Peter Wall, West Ham United vice-chairwoman Baroness Brady and television presenter June Sarpong.
In or out? The arguments for and against
A guide to the EU referendum
What do big businesses say on the issue?
EU referendum: What will happen when?
What Britain wants from Europe
Speaking at the event in London, Lord Rose dismissed the idea that there was a "patriotic" case for leaving the EU.
"To claim that the patriotic course for Britain is to retreat, withdraw and become inward-looking is to misunderstand who we are as a nation," he said.
"I will not allow anyone to tell me I'm any less British because I believe in the strongest possible Britain for business, for our security and our society."
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said this theme was a tacit acknowledgement that the rival campaign had "seized the patriotic label".
Britain Stronger in Europe are keen to avoid parallels with the Scottish independence referendum, when the No campaign was branded "project fear" by opponents.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Mike Rake, BT chairman, said the "In" campaign was "not trying to scare people" but said businesses had a "duty, an obligation and a right" to set out the effect on investment of a UK exit.
Former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair are supporting the campaign, alongside Labour MP Chuka Umunna, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Conservative MP Damian Green.
Who are the groups campaigning to leave the EU?
Vote Leave comprises a cross-party group of MPs and peers from the Conservatives and Labour, and UKIP's only MP Douglas Carswell.
It is being run by Taxpayers' Alliance campaign group founder Matthew Elliot, who organised the successful 'No2AV' campaign in the referendum on Westminster's voting system, and Dominic Cummings, a former special adviser to Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove.
It has the backing of three existing Eurosceptic groups: Conservatives for Britain; Labour Leave and Business for Britain, and is being funded by party donors.
Leave.EU was formerly called The Know and rebranded when an amended referendum question was proposed. Founded by UKIP donor Arron Banks, it has been described by UKIP leader Nigel Farage as an "umbrella group" of anti-EU campaigners.
It describes itself as "Britain's fastest-growing grassroots organisation" and claims to have gained 175,000 members since The Know was launched in August.
Lord Rose, who was announced on Friday as the chairman of the campaign to stay in the EU, cited CBI estimates that the benefits of trade, investment, jobs and lower prices meant membership to the EU was worth £3,000 per year on average to every UK household.
He said: "When you consider that our annual contribution is equivalent to £340 per household, our contribution to the EU is an investment on which British families get a 10-to-one return."
The Conservative peer says the EU has to change but that to leave it would be too risky. He added, in an interview with BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, that he wanted to put the positive case for EU membership because those in favour of leaving the EU had launched their campaigns.
In pre-released extracts Lord Rose had been due to call supporters of leaving the EU "quitters", but he did not use that word when he delivered his speech.
"They have no idea whether we would be able to access Europe's free trade area, or what the price of admission would be," he said.
"They cannot guarantee that jobs would be safe and prices wouldn't rise.
"They cannot explain how we could stop free movement and simultaneously keep our access to the world's largest duty free market."
UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who is backing another campaign called Leave.EU, said the launch of the "In" campaign was "lacklustre, tired, dull, out of date and making a series of fallacious arguments that are not likely, frankly, to impress anybody".
The Electoral Commission has yet to designate the official campaigns on either side of the EU debate.
The chosen groups will benefit from increased spending limits of £7m during the campaign period, campaign broadcasts, and a free mailout to households.
They all get access to public meeting rooms and to the electoral register, and are entitled to public grants of up to £600,000.
The Electoral Commission has recommended voters in the election are asked whether the UK should "remain in" or "leave" the EU, rather than being asked to answer a "yes or no" question.
The government has tabled an amendment to the bill.


Hundreds of surfers have paid tribute to slain Australians Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman by paddling out off their home break, south of Perth.

The two 33-year-olds were last seen alive on the night of 20 November in the Mexican town of Topolobampo.
Their bodies were later found in a burnt-out camper van in north-western Sinaloa state.
They were planning to travel to the city of Guadalajara when they disappeared.
Mexican police have arrested three men in connection with their murder.
Police officials said the three confessed to killing the two surfers when they fought back during an attempted robbery.
Large swathes of Sinaloa are under the control of a drug cartel of the same name.


Sales of supermarkets' premium own-label brands are booming as shoppers decide to treat themselves.

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to 4 December show a 13% sales rise for the products, despite sluggish growth overall for food retailers.
Sales of Morrisons' The Best range are up 35%, Asda's Extra Special products have increased sales by 15%, while Aldi's Specially Selected is up 10%.
Kantar expects premium private label sales to rise further this Christmas.
Fraser McKevitt, head of Kantar's retail and consumer insight, said 88% of consumers now bought items from premium own-label ranges.
"In the past 12 weeks, 6.3% of own-label purchases were from premium lines such as Tesco Finest and Sainsbury's Taste the Difference - well ahead of the 5.7% recorded last year," he said.
Aldi was the only retailer to record double-digit sales growth overall, with a 10% rise compared with the same period last year. It also increased its market share to 6.2%.
It was followed by Iceland, which posted an 8.6% jump in sales.
In the latest 12-week period, Tesco increased its market share from 28% to 28.3%, while Sainsbury's fell from 16.7% to 16.5% and Asda slipped from 16.2% to 15.3%.
Mr McKevitt said that shoppers were yet to feel any effect of inflation picking up, with a typical basket of everyday groceries 0.1% cheaper than this time last year.
However, some categories are on the rise, with fresh fish jumping 5.3%, chilled ready meals 2.3% more expensive, and beer up 2.1%.
Prices were still falling overall, and shoppers were spending less on items on special offer than they did this time last year.
"Some 36.9% of spending was on offers during the past 12 weeks, down from nearly 40% in the 12 weeks to December 2015," Mr McKevitt said.
"Promotional activity has dipped across all five of the biggest retailers, reflecting ongoing efforts to simplify shopping and offer more of an everyday low pricing model, which relies far less heavily on promotions."


Striker Dwight Gayle says his second Newcastle United hat-trick this season was made more significant by the team's return to the top of the Championship.

Gayle, 26, followed up September's Norwich treble with another against Birmingham as the Magpies climbed above Brighton, who went top by beating Leeds on Friday night.
It took his personal tally to 16 and also ended a three-game winless run.
"It's important to get back to winning ways," Gayle told BBC Newcastle.
"I set myself a target of 20 at the start of the season.
"Scoring is the best thing for me to help the team pick up three points and to go back up to the top of the table is great for us."
Newcastle's attacking threat was exemplified by the running of Gayle and the quality of Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie, particularly from wide areas.
The quartet of goals took Newcastle's total for the season to 41, the highest in the division and third highest overall behind Scunthorpe and Doncaster throughout the top four leagues.
"Playing with the quality we've got it can come from anywhere," Gayle continued.
"It's fantastic to play up front being supplied by the players behind me."
Manager Rafael Benitez has been rewarded for the decision to pay £10m for Gayle, who arrived in the summer from Crystal Palace.
"Dwight is a clever player, if the team plays well he will have chances and score goals," Benitez added. "I'm very pleased for him and the team."


David Cameron has been urged by four former foreign secretaries to challenge the Russian government on a number of issues during his visit to Moscow.

They want President Dmitry Medvedev to be confronted over a perceived failure to protect business against corruption.
In a Sunday Times letter, they also call for the PM to raise the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
The call is from Labour's Margaret Beckett, David Miliband, Jack Straw and Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind.
The letter says hundreds of thousands of Russian businessmen are detained in jails after falling victim to corruption sanctioned by the authorities.
They refer to these people as "victims of an increasingly potent mix of corruption and lawlessness".
In their letter, the former foreign secretaries state: "The dangers of this corruption do not stop at Russia's borders and Alexander Litvinenko's murder shows the consequences of such lawlessness hitting British shores.
"In this regard the prime minister has both a domestic and international duty to tackle this issue head on during his visit."
Mr Cameron is flying to Moscow on Sunday in an attempt to improve relations with Mr Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Strained relations
He will be the first UK prime minister to visit the Russian capital since Tony Blair six years ago.
Whitehall officials recently revealed that no UK minister or diplomat has spoken directly with Mr Putin for four years.
The BBC's James Landale said the prime minister was expected to see Mr Putin but a formal meeting had not been confirmed.
Relations between the UK and Russia have been strained since the murder of Mr Litvinenko, an ex-Russian security official who had been living in the UK.
Litvinenko killing suspect speaks out
Mr Litvinenko - an outspoken Kremlin critic - was fatally poisoned. His death led to both the UK and Russia expelling diplomats.
The 43-year-old was found to have been poisoned with radioactive polonium-210.
Moscow has refused a long-standing request from the UK to extradite the prime suspect in the case, Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB officer who is now a member of the Russian Parliament and has always denied involvement.
In an interview with the BBC earlier this week, Mr Lugovoi suggested a third country should be brought in to re-investigate the murder in an attempt to break the diplomatic deadlock, and suggested MI6 - and even Mr Litvinenko himself - had been behind the killing.
There have also been tensions over Russia's attempts to shut down the British Council's offices in Moscow.
The UK government's refusal to co-operate and share intelligence since the scandal has harmed counter-terrorism efforts, according to Alexander Yakovenko, Moscow's ambassador in London.
Mr Cameron will travel with a group of businessmen, including Bob Dudley, chief executive of BP, whose Moscow office was raided by special forces last week.


There are numerous reports from around the world that various Microsoft services are suffering faults.

The firm said it was looking into them.
Outlook users, including those with Hotmail addresses, are reporting issues on social media and sites including Down Detector - with some saying their services are now returning.
On the Xbox Live platform there is a message saying that Microsoft is aware of sign-in issues and is "working to resolve" them.
Microsoft Outlook has tweeted on its official account that the issue has now been fixed.
"Great news! An update has been rolled out. Our servers are now up and running," it said in response to a customer at around 1545 GMT.
It suggests trying to log in again.


The US unemployment rate dipped to 5.9% in September, a six-year low, official figures have shown.

The rate fell from 6.1% in August and is the lowest recorded since July 2008.
US Labor Department also said that employers added 248,000 jobs last month, and the job growth figures for August and July were revised upwards.
The jobs figures are seen as a significant gauge of the health of the economy and there has been much debate over when US interest rates will rise.
The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates close to zero since the financial crisis in 2008.
US markets cheered the news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising over 100 points.
The US dollar was pushed higher as expectations rose that interest rates would go up sooner than previously predicted.
"The most important item in this report is the drop in the unemployment rate below 6%. (Fed Chair Janet) Yellen has said there is only so much slack if the unemployment rate falls below 6%," said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.
The Federal Reserve's stimulus programme, known as "quantitative easing", is due to end this month. Its aim was to keep long-term interest rates low using the purchase of bonds, and thus to boost spending.
The Federal Reserve has indicated it will raise short term interest rates if the economy continues to grow. Janet Yellen has given no firm date for the rise, but the Fed has said the move will come a "considerable time" after the stimulus programme ends.
"This (jobless) number will continue to support the notion that the economy is growing," said Paul Nolte at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago, "and it isn't so strong that the Fed will raise rates anytime soon".
The Labor Department said 69,000 more jobs were created in July and August than previously estimated. It also said nearly 100,000 jobseekers stopped looking for work in September.
The largest rise in employment was in professional and business services, including management and legal services, which saw an increase of 81,000 jobs in September.
The retail sector added 35,000 jobs compared with the previous month. Employment in the health care, construction and leisure and hospitality sectors also continued to increase.


Ray McKinnon has resigned as manager of Raith Rovers with immediate effect, the club has confirmed.

McKinnon, 45, held talks with former club Dundee United about their managerial vacancy earlier this week.
Mixu Paatelainen left United on 4 May after their relegation from the Premiership had been confirmed.
Raith missed out on promotion to the top flight via the play-offs and McKinnon had a year left to run on his contract at Stark's Park.
The Kirkcaldy club said on their website: "The search for a new manager has already begun."
And chief executive Eric Drysdale said: "Everyone at the club is naturally very disappointed that Ray has reached this decision, and we certainly did everything in our power, and then more, to try to retain his services but he leaves Raith Rovers with thanks and best wishes for the future.
"Ray has built a terrific squad of players with tremendous team spirit, and that will be his legacy."
McKinnon, who had two spells as a player at both United and Raith, joined Rovers as manager last year after three years in charge of Brechin City.
He led Raith to the Premiership play-off quarter-final but they lost 2-1 on aggregate to Hibernian.
United were bottom of the Premiership for most of the season, with Paatelainen replacing Jackie McNamara as manager in October.
Defeat by city rivals Dundee on 2 May ensured United would finish at the foot of the table and start next season in the Championship.


A house which helped inspire the Peter Pan story has secured the £5.3m needed to allow its conversion to a national centre for children's literature.

Author JM Barrie played in the gardens of Moat Brae in Dumfries as a child.
At one point it was facing demolition but finance has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Creative Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway Council.
It means work can now start on the literature and storytelling centre which should open in two years' time.
The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust (PPMBT), which is behind the scheme, hopes it can attract 40,000 visitors a year, contributing £1.3m to the local economy.
It should create a dozen new jobs with about another 20 created indirectly by the extra visitor spending.
Joanna Lumley, PPMBT patron, said: "This is tremendous news for Dumfries and a lovely gift to young people everywhere.
"Moat Brae inspired JM Barrie to write one of the best-loved children's stories of all time.
"We hope it will give new generations of young people the courage and confidence they need to lead creative lives.
"It's an awfully big adventure, and this is just the start."
Dame Barbara Kelly, who chairs the trust, said it was "wonderful" that the building had been saved and now had a "new future as a major visitor attraction and a community asset at the heart of Dumfries".
"The transformation of the house and gardens will make an invaluable contribution to the town's social and economic regeneration," she said.
"It will also provide brand new opportunities for children and families for fun and discovery."
Born in Kirriemuir in Angus, Barrie moved to Dumfries in 1873 at the age of 13 and credited the "enchanted land" at Moat Brae as helping to inspire the Peter Pan story.
The works on the property will help to create:
Its Neverland Discovery Garden will have Peter Pan and Neverland-themed interactive features including:
Development director Cathy Agnew said it was "great" to be able to make the funding announcement.
"I think JM Barrie would love to know that the town, the house and the garden which so inspired him will now inspire hundreds of thousands of others," she said.
"As one of the world's most successful playwrights, he really understood the importance of igniting young people's creative imagination and so do we."
Dumfries and Galloway Council leader Ronnie Nicholson said the local authority was "delighted" to be a partner in the project.
"Children from Dumfries and Galloway, and beyond, will have a wonderful place to learn and play, attracting visitors to our region," he said.
Lucy Casot, head of the HLF in Scotland, said she looked forward to seeing the transformation of the site while Philip Deverell of Creative Scotland said it was great to see fundraising progress so well.
Further fundraising will now take place so the trust can develop a series of other features and projects at the site.


If you're a skateboarding fan or even if you just have a head for heights, you need to check out this video.

12 April 2016 Last updated at 09:02 BST
Three skateboarders turned the temporarily dry slides of a hotel's water park into their playground.
For a couple of days a year the Atlantis Water Park in Dubai, in the Middle East, gets closed down for maintenance work.
This park houses some of the largest water rides in the world.
The plug was pulled on the Zoomerango and Aquaconda rides, which are currently the largest water rides on Earth.
Thousands of litres of water were drained so Jan Hoffmann, Alex Sorgente and Milton Martinez made the most of the dry surroundings.
They flipped, spun and slid their way through the monster rides.
Even though they made it look easy only the best riders could take part because it was so dangerous.
Pictures from Red Bull Media House.


The £40,000 Artes Mundi contemporary art prize has been won by a filmmaker inspired by migration and religious persecution over four centuries.

John Akomfrah was chosen for his "substantial body of outstanding work" over a number of years, including his latest video installation Auto Da Fé.
The international prize was awarded in Cardiff, where an exhibition of the six shortlisted artists is being held.
London-based Akomfrah said he was "absolutely touched" by the award.
The Ghanaian-born filmmaker is founder of the Black Audio Film Collective, whose work has involved use of archive film, newsreel and still photos.
The winning video installation, which lasts 40 minutes over two screens at National Museum Wales, was inspired while he was teaching in Barbados in 2009.
Akomfrah, 59, saw a cemetery containing 17th Century graves of Sephardic Jewish refugees who had fled Brazil.
"I was asking 'how did they get here?'" he said.
Themes of migration and global politics dominated the shortlist for the seventh biannual prize.
Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams, whose giant video installation imagined a futuristic city built on the slopes of Cadair Idris, won The Derek Williams Trust Purchase Award.
Williams' entry, Tyrrau Mawr, will now be added to National Museum Wales' permanent collection.
Karen Mackinnon, Artes Mundi director said: "The judges felt that all the shortlisted artists showed outstanding work.
"However the prize is awarded not just for the work in the exhibition but for the continued excellence of their practice over the past eight years.
"The Artes Mundi 7 Prize was awarded for Akomfrah's presentation of Auto Da Fé and for a substantial body of outstanding work dealing with issues of migration, racism and religious persecution. To speak of these things in this particular moment feels more important than ever."
The filmmaker came to prominence in the mid 1980s for his award-winning documentary for Channel Four, Handsworth Songs, made in the aftermath of riots in that district of Birmingham.
As well as films examining black British identity and the migrant experience in the UK, Akomfrah has directed documentaries on Louis Armstrong and Martin Luther King. He received the OBE in 2008.
What the critics said:
"Some might say the video is too glossy - moving away from [Akomfrah's] his more gritty presentations in the past- but the beauty of the film encourages the viewer to linger and take in the poignant message". Karen Wright in The Independent.
"There is a dramatically diverse range in this year's shortlist for Artes Mundi 7, a prize that is quietly stealing into Turner territory". Louisa Buck, Daily Telegraph
"Williams really deserves to win, not because he is Welsh, but because his is the most consummately successful and engaging work here. It really stays with me". Adrian Searle writing in The Guardian
"Although the exhibition is firmly rooted in Wales, selected artists not only represent a broad range of national identities, but are also united by their works' concern with what Artes Mundi's director Karen MacKinnon describes as 'global issues'". Gabrielle Schwarz - Apollo
Akomfrah said after receiving the prize: "I am absolutely touched by this and enormously grateful for the chance it offers to finally finish off something I have been planning for over a decade.
"Over the years, Artes Mundi has chosen some very brilliant artists for this award; all were important artists doing challenging and engaged work and to join that group is a huge honour and responsibility."
Chair of judges Oliver Basciano paid tribute to his "exquisite cinematic language in films".
"Over his long career, Akomfrah's practice underlines how art has the unique ability to reflect on and shape the human condition, in alignment with fundamental principles of Artes Mundi," he said.
The exhibition runs at National Museum Wales and Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff until 26 February.


Ryan Christie is confident his long-term future lies with Celtic, despite a second loan move to Aberdeen.

The 22-year-old, who spent the latter half of last term on loan at the Dons, returned this summer as part of the deal that took Jonny Hayes to Celtic.
"They didn't want to sell me, they weren't interested in that, they wanted to put me back out on loan instead, which was positive to me," he said.
"It comes across that they still think I have a chance to break in there."
Christie signed a four-year deal with Celtic when he joined them from Inverness Caley Thistle in the summer of 2015.
He spent the first half of the 2015-16 season on loan at the Highlanders and, following his deal with the Dons last season, is looking forward to spending the whole of the 2017-18 campaign at Pittodrie.
And he says he feels no pressure to prove anything to Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
"It's more about proving to myself," added Christie, who hit seven goals in 15 games for the Dons last season. "I enjoyed playing and scoring last season. I wouldn't say I have anything to prove but I need to keep my consistency high.
"It's a very big season for me, the onus is on me to step up and continue some good form. If I keep my consistency up over the full season, I'll hopefully be in a better place come next season."
Aberdeen have finished as league runners-up to Celtic for three years running but the club have lost key players in Hayes, Niall McGinn and Ash Taylor.
Manager Derek McInnes chose to remain at Pittodrie after holding talks with Sunderland and he has been busy reshaping his squad with several new signings and the promise of more to come.
"It will be difficult," added Christie. "Everyone thinks Aberdeen might fall away but the mood in the camp, the positivity, we know that we have more than enough strength to replicate last season certainly."
The Dons kick off their campaign at home to Siroki Brijeg in Europa League qualifying next Thursday.
Rangers and St Johnstone lost their first round ties but Christie believes Aberdeen can get the better of their Bosnian opponents over two legs.
"We want to make a big impact in Europe as well," he said.
"Everybody in Scotland wants every Scottish team go as far as they can so it is unfortunate to see the others go out."


A 60-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman on the Isle of Wight has been released without charge.

The woman, aged 45, was found in a "seriously ill" state at a property in The Avenue, Gurnard, shortly after 16:10 GMT on Thursday.
Hampshire Police said the death was no longer being treated as suspicious.
A spokesman said a post-mortem examination had taken place but the cause of death was yet to be established.
Police said officers would remain at the property throughout Saturday concluding an examination and search of the scene.
The force said it was not looking for anybody else in connection the death.


Twitter has agreed a deal to broadcast Thursday night NFL games online across the world for free.

Twitter was bidding against a number of companies, including Verizon, Yahoo and Amazon, to win the rights. Facebook dropped out of the bidding last week.
"Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
The NFL signed a multi-year partnership with Twitter last year to deliver daily video and other content to fans.
Television viewers will still be able to watch live games and highlights packages under existing partnerships with traditional broadcasters.
In the UK, the NFL signed a five-year deal with Sky last year, while the BBC has a two-year deal to show international series games in London and the Super Bowl, as well as a weekly highlights show and digital clips.
As part of the the NFL's new agreement with Twitter, the social media platform will stream live video of 10 Thursday games to its 800 million users.
The deal also includes in-game highlights and pre-game Periscope broadcasts from players and teams.
"There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games," said Goodell.
"People watch NFL games with Twitter today," said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
Last season, the NFL carried out a live streaming trial of a regular-season NFL game with Yahoo.


Nearly 10 million working days are lost each year for adults aged 25-64 due to back pain - and around 80% of us will suffer from back pain at some point in our lives.

The financial cost to the UK economy is estimated to be around Â£12bn per year, plus there are huge personal and emotional costs.
In BBC One's Doctor in the House I help 42-year-old Mark, who works in retail. A former athlete, Mark has suffered from back pain for over 20 years and this has caused him significant problems.
Most cases of back pain are self-limiting and probably go within a few weeks. Mark was different.
He had chronic back pain and this had lasted for years. He has had to take time off from work, which has impacted his family's financial situation, and he's even had to stay in hospital because his pain has been so severe.
It is always important to rule out specific causes such as cancer, infections and fractures, so seek advice from a medical professional if you're concerned.
Thankfully, the vast majority of back pain cases have no sinister cause and are called non-specific, and there are a wide variety of therapies that can be useful.
The National Institute for health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines encourage sufferers to continue with normal activities as much as possible. Unfortunately for Mark, this was not possible.
He used to do mixed martial arts classes every week with his son, Kiki, but had to give this up because of his pain. This was upsetting for them both.
After spending time with Mark, I identified some key areas that I felt were playing a role in his back pain - mechanical, psychological and biochemical. My treatment plan involved tackling them all.
Movement specialist
I first examined Mark's feet and noticed they were not symmetrical - this is like a building with a wonky foundation.  I knew that this was likely to be a contributing factor to Mark's back pain so I took him to see a movement specialist.
He looked at Mark's full history. Mark had an injury to his right knee and had broken his leg when he was five years old.  Both these factors may have contributed to Mark's back pain.
The therapist assessed Mark's movement patterns and identified muscles that were not working as efficiently as they should. He also assessed Mark's stability and flexibility. He identified a reduced range of motion in his right leg and overuse of his left.
He recommended a series of movements for Mark to perform several times per week. These were personalised for Mark.
He said: "Just by speaking to a movement specialist and them looking at the way I walked, they could tell that it was my left side that was overcompensating for my right.
"Doctors and specialists I'd seen in the past hadn't recognised this, and it was only Dr Chatterjee's completely different approach that flagged this as one of the possible reasons for my back pain.
"Seeing the movement specialist has definitely helped and what I've realised from this process is that there are other ways of improving your health and any conditions you have, if you know how."
Tai Chi
In addition, Mark suffered from huge amounts of stress. Financial worries, concerns over employment and resultant insomnia meant that Mark was carrying a lot of stress around with him. Stress can modify our perception of pain through its action on the brain.
To combat Mark's stress, I taught him various ways in which he could actively de-stress, such as making time for himself, listening to music and meditation.
In addition, I sent him to try Tai Chi. Mark already had a love of martial arts so I felt it would be an activity he'd enjoy. Tai Chi is a low impact form of exercise known as a "moving meditation" and combines slow, purposeful movements with controlled breathing.
Vitamin D
Mark had very low levels of Vitamin D, which is an important nutrient for bone health. Our main source is from the action of sunlight on our skin although we can get some from foods such as oily fish and eggs. Many of us struggle to get enough from food and require supplementation.
People with dark skin are at higher risk of being low in Vitamin D. Mark felt a reduction in pain once I corrected his Vitamin D levels. I have many patients who have seen similar improvements.
A combination approach
The 2016 NICE guidance on the management of back pain recognises that a combination of approaches may be necessary to treat back pain - exercise, psychological therapies as well as manipulative therapy.
In my 15 years of clinical experience, I have found that different patients have different triggers. Therefore, it stands to reason that the success of a treatment regime may vary from person to person.
I used a combination of approaches with Mark. Within a few weeks he was back doing mixed martial arts classes with his son. Two months later, he was riding his bike and using a cross trainer for 30-minutes every day.
The bane of back pain
The key to managing back pain is to understand what the causes are for you. I  suffered with back pain for 10 years and tried many different therapies that would give me short term relief.
It was only when I saw movement specialist, Gary Ward (who featured in Doctor in the House series 1), that my pain went away for good. He helped me to re-train my movement patterns.
Here are some simple tips that may help you with your back pain.
1. Get up regularly from your desk
Set an alarm once every hour to remind you to get up and move around. Perhaps try a standing desk, a different chair or even a Swiss ball.
2. Prioritise active relaxation
This could be meditation, yoga, or simply going for a walk.
3. Find a regular form of activity that you enjoy
You are much more likely to engage with an activity long term if you enjoy it. I suggested Tai Chi to Mark because he loved martial arts.
4. Try and be as active as possible
Don't underestimate the benefits of regular walking.
Watch the full episode of Doctor in the House
Monday, 21:00 BST on BBC One.


New Zealand's parliament has legalised same-sex marriage, the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so.

Lawmakers approved the bill, amending the 1955 marriage act, despite opposition from Christian lobby groups.
The bill was passed with a wide majority, with 77 votes in favour and 44 against.
Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated outside parliament after the bill was passed, calling it a milestone for equality.
People watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers immediately broke into song, singing the New Zealand love song "Pokarekare Ana", AP news agency reported.
Some opinion polls have suggested that about two-thirds of New Zealanders support the reform, although others polls suggest the public are more divided.
Parliamentarians were allowed a conscience vote, and, crucially, the reform had the backing of both the Prime Minister John Key and leader of the opposition David Shearer, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney reports.
Celebrations have been held in pubs and clubs in the capital Wellington, our correspondent adds.
Same-sex civil unions have been legal in New Zealand since 2005.
"In our society, the meaning of marriage is universal - it's a declaration of love and commitment to a special person," Labour MP Louisa Wall, who introduced the legislation, said.
"Nothing could make me more proud to be a New Zealander than passing this bill," she added.
Drag artist Jake Andrew said he learned of the news at a club in Hamilton.
"We cheered, yelled, cried and sang - it was just amazing," he told the BBC.
"I am so happy, not only because I can now marry the person I love, but because New Zealand has moved a step further towards gay and lesbian people becoming completely equal with the rest of our society."
Tania Bermudez and Sonja Fry, a same-sex couple, said the bill was about human rights.
"It means that we can actually call each other wife," Ms Fry said.
However, Conservative Party leader Colin Craig said there were many people who disagreed with the bill.
"We're seeing the politicians make a decision tonight that the people of this country wouldn't make," he said.
Bob McCoskrie, founder of the lobby group Family First, said the bill undermined the traditional concept of marriage.
"Historically and culturally, marriage is about man and a woman, and it shouldn't be touched," he said.
New Zealand becomes the 13th country to legalise same-sex marriage.
Other countries include the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Argentina and Uruguay.
French and British lawmakers have also voted in favour of legislation allowing gay marriage, although the bills have not yet been passed into law.
No other country in the Asia-Pacific region allows gay marriage.
Australian members of parliament overwhelmingly voted against a bill that would have legalised same-sex marriages in September. However, some states allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
China does not allow gay marriage. However, transsexuals who have undergone surgery are able to marry someone of the opposite sex, provided their new gender is verified by the local public security authorities.


England have lacked their traditional "bulldog spirit" since winning the 2003 World Cup, says Japan boss Eddie Jones.

Jones, whose side can still qualify for the last eight of this year's tournament, added that he would discuss the England role if it was available.
"There are definitely issues in the English game," Jones, who was Australia coach when England beat them in the final 12 years ago, told BBC Sport.
"England teams usually have a strong set-piece, a strong defence."
Jones' Japan side caused the shock of the World Cup so far when they beat two-time champions South Africa in their opening match of the tournament.
His appointment as head coach of South African Super Rugby side Stormers was confirmed shortly after he humbled the Springboks - but he says he would consider an approach from the Rugby Football Union if it decides to replace current England head coach Stuart Lancaster.
"You speak to anyone," the Australian said.
"I have not indicated that I want to coach England or desire the job, but certainly if the RFU came knocking at the door I would chat to them."
On England's struggles, he added: "Clive Woodward's side in 2003 was built around a very strong set-piece and defence.
"Over the six years Woodward had them, they built a very good all-round attacking game. That is the basis for every successful international team."
Jones also believes captain Chris Robshaw does not justify his place in the number seven shirt.
"I just don't think that Robshaw is an open-side flanker, he is more a six and a half," he said.
"If you can't find a proper open-side flanker that is playing in England - which seems to be the case - then there has to be some sort of structural problem."
Leicester coach and former England hooker Richard Cockerill agrees that something needs to change in the wake of a World Cup campaign that ended in the Pool stages after defeats to Wales and Australia.
"Clearly the one thing you can't do is nothing, because it's not worked for whatever reason," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"I've seen it at Leicester myself. Last year we had trouble in getting the message across, so I made changes.
"There were people who left the club who were my friends and who I had worked with for a long time.
"Sometimes you have to make tough professional calls."


A new run has been launched in Liverpool in memory of 96 football fans who died in the Hillsborough disaster.

Organiser Dom Williams wanted to set up a "legacy event" and hopes the 5K, which takes place on 19 April, will become an annual community fundraiser.
Supporters lost their lives in a crush at the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final in 1989.
Hillsborough Family Support Group Chairwoman Margaret Aspinall said it was a "wonderful way" to remember them.
Mr Williams said he was "extremely moved" by the mosaic tribute at Anfield and "wanted to do something to help".
The 96 5K, which has been organised with BTR Liverpool, starts and finishes at Stanley Park.
Money raised will be donated to Liverpool FC Foundation and Everton in the Community.
Mr Williams has also organised a Hillsborough-Anfield run since 2011.


In the phone of David Kennedy, rugby coach at Bangor College, Ireland's new inside centre is saved simply as 'Shoots McCloskey'.

"Well, we previously called him 'babyface', because of his boyish features as a youngster but, once he hit lower sixth, he just shot up!" recalls Kennedy.  "His physical demeanour completely changed. That's where 'Shoots' comes from."
Centre Stuart McCloskey is now the same weight and height as back row Stephen Ferris was when he first started playing for Ulster.
"He's not just about power and strength. Stuart is creative," says Kennedy.
"And that reflects what he was like at school. In modern rugby that creativity is beaten out of players, it can be seen as a weakness, too dangerous, too loose."
The rise of McCloskey was not unexpected in the corridors of Bangor Grammar.
For three years, he played for the college firsts, not as a centre but at fly-half.
Then, while still at school, he appeared for the Dungannon senior side in the Ulster League.
"We have these conversations all the time in the staff room - who will make it?  It genuinely isn't a surprise.
"Stuart always had it.  I firmly believe his career is only starting. I believe he can go further."
In the Ireland camp this week, coach Joe Schmidt recalled the first time McCloskey grabbed his attention:  "When I first saw him squaring up and carrying ball and getting behind a defensive line."
McCloskey's Ulster and now Ireland team-mate Andrew Trimble adds: "He's got confidence, but it's the right kind of confidence.
"I can't wait to see him play on Saturday night."
And, of course, as McCloskey's old teacher can verify, there's a great buzz around the Bangor school for the former pupil.
"Stuart is a guy that the students here all feel they know. We're all very proud.  He's a role model for our students."
There's very little the teacher can do now except, like the rest of the rugby world, sit back and watch his old pupil 'Shoots' do his thing.
Twitter: @thomasniblock


A loggerhead turtle that washed up on a County Donegal beach and was being looked after at an aquarium in Portaferry, County Down, has died.

Staff at the Exploris aquarium said that despite their attempts to save it, the turtle, which had hypothermia, died during the night.
It landed on Irish shores after being blown off course from the Gulf Stream into the colder North Atlantic.
Aquarium staff named it Columba.
Tanya Singleton, who works at Exploris said they knew it would be a battle to save the turtle. Staff tried to raise its core temperature, and treated it with antibiotics.
"He was still spending long, long periods being very inactive and very lethargic so we were quite concerned that there were underlying problems there that we just didn't know about."
Colulmba will now be taken for a post-mortem to discover what caused his death.


Crewe Alexandra captain Ryan Lowe is unhappy he was not spoken to by anyone at the League Two club about their managerial change.

After the club's decision to sack Steve Davis following Saturday's 3-0 loss at Mansfield, ex-Alex skipper Dave Artell was invited to step up as manager from his job within Crewe's academy.
"Obviously, Dave's been given the nod," Lowe told BBC Radio Stoke.
"I hope he does well and we'll have to now see where this takes us."
But after one of his former clubs Bury made an approach in December for 38-year-old Lowe to return to Gigg Lane as player-coach, the Liverpudlian admitted to surprise at being left out of the loop at Gresty Road.
"In all honesty, I'm a bit disappointed no-one rang me," he said. "With me being the club captain, and with the situation that materialised six weeks ago with Bury.
"I've played with Dave a couple of times, at Chester and Shrewsbury, and we get on a like a house on fire. But that's football. I'm always there to lean on, whoever it may be.
"I've had a bit of stick myself by sticking by him (Steve Davis), but I'll always stick by the manager, whoever it is."
Former Alex player Artell, who rejoined the club's backroom staff in 2014, takes over an out-of-sorts club who have won just twice in 21 games.
"The fact is we haven't been good enough throughout the season," said Lowe. "Early on, we were okay for the first two months. But then we packed in a bit and we haven't done as well as we should have.
"And some of the players have to look at themselves and take a bit of responsibility."
Crewe have extended Chelsea winger Alex Kiwomya's loan until the end of the season.
The 20-year-old nephew of former Arsenal and Ipswich Town striker Chris Kiwomya was due to end his existing loan spell on 9 January.
But Chelsea have agreed to allow Kiwomya, who has scored seven goals in 25 appearances, to see the season out at Gresty Road.