When Ghana's President John Mahama began speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, few would have predicted the King of Pop making an appearance.

However, Mr Mahama felt Michael Jackson's lyrics - taken from the 1991 hit Heal the World - were the perfect words to open a speech which touched on disease, the economy and increasing international tensions.
"Michael Jackson sang, 'heal the world.. make the world a better place for you and for me... and the entire human race'," Mr Mahama told assembled world leaders in New York.
"What happened to that enthusiasm?" he wondered.
While unusual, it transpires that Mr Mahama - who proudly told delegates he was born the same year as "one of the greatest artistes that ever lived" - is not the only politician to be inspired by the words of a musician.
Here are five others who used their favourite recording artists in order to make their points:
Among the things former UK Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron will be remembered for is his penchant for The Smiths, which he reminded us of during one of his final appearances in parliament.
"As someone about to enter the political graveyard perhaps I could misquote my favourite man and say 'let's meet at the cemetery gates'!" he joked - slightly different from the actual lyric, which is "So I meet you at the cemetery gates".
It is not the first time his love of the band has made an appearance in parliament.
Back in 2010, he and Labour MP Kerry McCarthy traded song names across the floor,
The Smiths, however, have let the world know they are not a fan of his.
"I do forbid him to like it. He shouldn't like us because we're not his kind of people," guitarist Johnny Marr told the Today programme in 2013, echoing similar statements made by lead singer Morrissey.
Former UK Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan quoted Waiting at the Church, an old dance hall song, in 1978 to quash speculation of a general election that year.
"Remember what happened to Marie Lloyd," the prime minister told the Trades Union Congress.
"She fixed the day and the date, and she told us what happened. As far as I remember it went like this: 'There was I, waiting at the church.' Perhaps you recall how it went on.
"'All at once he sent me round a note. Here's the very note. This is what he wrote: Can't get away to marry you today, my wife won't let me.' Now let me just make clear that I have promised nobody that I shall be at the altar in October. Nobody at all."
Unfortunately for Callaghan, the song was not only not performed by Marie Lloyd, but he lost the election to Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is fond of quoting The Snake - a 60s soul song by the late civil rights activist Oscar Brown Jr - when making a point about welcoming refugees to America.
The song tells the story of a woman caring for a serpent after taking pity on him, and ends with her getting bitten by his poisonous fangs.
The final two lines - the snake's response to the doomed woman's last question of "why" - go: "Oh shut up silly woman, said the reptile with a grin.
"You knew damn well I was a snake before you let me in."
The song's use has been met with horror - both by people on social media, disgusted with the comparison of refugees to snakes, and by Oscar Brown's family.
The singer's daughter Maggie Brown told the Chicago Tribune: "If dad were alive, he would've ripped (Trump) with a great poem in rebuttal. Not only a poem and a song, but an essay and everything else."
In Australia, Labor senator Sam Dastyari quoted American superstar Taylor Swift in parliament as he made a point about the state of his opponents.
He read out the lyrics to Swift's song Blank Space, saying it "really is a modern soliloquy on the Liberal party".
"Saw you there and I thought oh my God, look at that face. You look like my next mistake," he began.
"New money, suit and tie. I can read you like a magazine. Ain't it funny, rumours fly. And I know you heard about me," he deadpanned.
"So it's gonna be forever, or it's gonna go down in flames. You can never tell me when it's over, if the high was worth the pain."
Outgoing US President Barack Obama did not even need to say the actual lyric in one of his speeches ahead of his 2008 election - the Democrat managed to encapsulate an entire Jay-Z song in just one movement.
"When you are running for the presidency, then you got to expect [criticism], and you just kind of got to let it...' Obama told an adoring crowd, letting the sentence hang in the air before brushing dirt off his shoulder - a nod to Jay-Z's hit Dirt Off Your Shoulders.
But unlike Trump and Cameron, the use was welcomed by the hip hop star.
"He's tuned into the culture which is fantastic," Jay-Z told BBC Newsbeat at the time. "I feel like Frank Sinatra back in the day when Frank Sinatra was mingling with the Kennedys."


A blind adventurer from County Down who was left paralysed after a fall from a second-floor window while staying with friends is suing them for damages.

Mark Pollock suffered a serious spinal injury, broken bones and internal injuries in a 25-foot fall from a house in Henley in Berkshire in July 2010.
The 39-year-old, originally from Holywood, became the first blind person to trek to the South Pole in 2009.
But the accident left him confined to a wheelchair and dependent on care.
A "freak combination of circumstances" led to Mr Pollock falling from the window of the house belonging to Enda and Madeline Cahill, the High Court in London has heard.
Earlier in the case, he told the court he was probably "on his way to the bathroom and was disorientated and tripped out the window".
He is blaming Mr and Mrs Cahill, saying the window should not have been left open.
Mr Pollock lost his sight in 1998 at the age of 22 but went on to win bronze and silver medals for rowing at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
He had also taken part in extreme marathons and completed the 1,400-mile Round Ireland Yacht Race 10 days before the accident.
Although it was uncertain who opened the window, Mr Pollock's barrister had said that "on the balance of probability" it was one of the Cahills.
But the Cahills, of Woodview, Remenham Lane in Henley, deny the accident was their fault in any way.
Mr Pollock had been offered a bed in the ground-floor conservatory but opted to share a second floor room with another guest.
Mrs Cahill had said: "I was constantly going through in my mind if there was anything I could have done to prevent the accident."
Martin Murphy, who shared the bedroom with Mr Pollock, had told the court: "We were two men sharing a room in hot weather, so I am sure we would have opened the window."
A barrister for the Cahills asked the judge to bring a "large injection of common sense" to bear and dismiss Mr Pollock's claim.
An "extensive use of hindsight" was required to reach the conclusion that Cahills were to blame and the accident should have been prevented.
Mr Pollock's barrister told the court an "open window at that height, without warning, constituted a trap".
"He was snared by that trap and he sustained his injuries," he said.
"This is a very simple case. It is common ground that the defendants owed Mr Pollock a duty of care."
"Should a blind man have been left in a room with the windows of the property open when he had not been walked through the room, when he had not been given any warning?" he asked.
Mr Pollock had not taken court action against his friends "lightly", his barrister said.
As the case closed, the court heard that Mr Pollock was limiting his claim to the amount that could be recovered under the Cahills' household insurance.
He has done so with the intention of ensuring the couple do not have to pay out themselves, the court heard.
The judge has reserved his decision on the case until a later date.


A woman who was injured after a fire tore through the crowds at an amusement park in Taiwan has died, officials say.

Doctors decided - with family support - to turn off the life support ventilator of 20-year-old Lee Pei-yu on Monday.
She suffered second-degree burns over 90% of her body and is the first fatality from the disaster. About 500 people were injured in the blaze.
Saturday's fire started when coloured powder sprayed from the stage onto the audience near Taipei suddenly ignited.
At least 200 people remain in hospital in a critical condition, including the woman's 12-year-old brother. Eight patients are reported by local media to have life-threatening injuries. More than 1,000 people were near the stage at the time.
It is thought that the coloured, flammable powder - used to create a party atmosphere - was sprayed into the crowd and then set alight either by cigarette embers, a lighter, or electrical sparks, officials say.
Amateur video footage showed young revellers dancing in front of a stage and cheering as clouds of green and yellow powder covered them.
But the party atmosphere descended into terror when the powder abruptly burst into flames engulfing them in an inferno as they ran screaming for their lives.
The organisers have been questioned about the disaster and the authorities have banned the use of coloured powder at events while its safety is assessed. The water park itself remains closed.
"It's still not clear what happened, but there were a number of people smoking and the weather was warm," New Taipei City news department head Lin Chieh-yu was quoted by the AP news agency as saying.
Temperatures around greater Taipei topped 36C (96.8 F) before the party.
The seller who provided the powder told AP that the buyer was warned about the risk of fire.
Police say that party organiser Lu Chung-chi and two technicians were arrested but released on bail. They have been ordered not to leave the island and are likely to face charges of professional neglect and public endangerment.
The Taiwan News website said Mr Lu had apologised for what had happened and pledged to take responsibility for it.
The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei says that video shot by a eyewitness at the scene showed the crowd immersed in the thick powder with no time to escape.
"We saw a lot of people whose skin had been seriously burned. It was just like hell," a witness said.
The incident occurred at about 20:30 (12:30 GMT) on Saturday.


It is rather a stretch, I would admit, from the future of the European Union, the fate of the UK government and the condition of Scotland.

It is scarcely the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Which, if you remember from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was 42.
However, I invite you today - as I have been comparably invited - to consider the good people of Helensburgh and the delight they take in swimming.
Why, I hear you ask, not unreasonably? Because the fair burgh on the Clyde got five million quid in the 2016 UK Budget to spend on a pool.
And? And it wasn't part of the Barnett formula in any way. It was cash on the nail, for lanes and diving boards and the like.
This matters how? Because it proves, according to the UK government, that money may be allocated outwith Barnett - just as in the case of the Â£1bn going to Northern Ireland as part of the confidence and supply deal with the DUP.
Told you it was a stretch.
Still, let us give it a run (or, in the case of Helenburgh, let us take the plunge). Let us consider, dispassionately, as always, the competing arguments.
Firstly, the formula named after Joel Barnett does not generally draw comparisons between Scotland and the other devolved territories of the UK.
It predicates a sum spent upon government departments in England and applies two factors. The comparability factor - that is, the extent to which the English spending compares with demands placed upon a devolved administration.
And the population factor - a sum which calculates the relative numbers of citizens in England, Scotland etc.
So, strictly, the cash for NI does not, of itself, instantly demand Barnett comparability.
Then two other points. The Barnett formula is non-statutory. Its rules are by convention and agreement. Its rules are, ultimately, what the Treasury say they are.
And there has been formula bypass in the past. I refer my honourable friends to the topic of the Helensburgh swimming pool, no doubt to be a source of joy and delight to the residents of John Logie Baird's birthplace. Plus City Deals and substantial cash for NI in the past.
Good caveats all. Reasonable and arguable. Expect to hear them advanced in the coming days.
However, there is a wee snag here. It was not the opposition parties who insisted, initially, upon the application of the Barnett formula in relation to any putative DUP deal. It was the Secretary of State. For Scotland.
In advance of today's deal, David Mundell said there were rules about funding in the UK. Clear rules. And, he added, if the funding fell within the scope of Barnett then cash should come to Scotland too.
Indeed, he signalled that he would contest any deal which breached that position.
Pedants that they are, Mr Mundell's rivals now want to hold the Secretary of State to his word. They say he should join them - the Scottish and Welsh governments plus others - in demanding a wider distribution of cash.
The Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson says this is hypocrisy. That those critics know that formula bypass is feasible. That the deal is intended to ensure UK stability.
And the line from the Scotland Office? I suspect they have had better days. But they insist that the Secretary of State was simply demanding clarity: that he wanted an upfront deal, rather than anything in any way underhand.
It is implied further that he may now be able to wield influence to secure future advantage for Scotland with the Treasury, citing today's controversy.
Somehow, I cannot see Mr Mundell's critics buying that one. Carwyn Jones, the Welsh First Minister, calls the package "an outrageous straight bung". He dismisses talk that it compares with formula-bypassing expenditure such as city deals (or the Helensburgh poll which, unaccountably, he failed to mention).
And Nicola Sturgeon? She says it is a "grubby, shameless deal" which deprives Scotland of, potentially, around Â£2.9bn.
These critics say they do not remotely begrudge additional expenditure in Northern Ireland. They simply want comparability. And they question whether the cash would have been contemplated at all had Theresa May gained a majority in the Commons.
They think they know the answer to that one. And it is not 42.


New warning signs have been erected on a road in the Highlands in an effort to improve migrating female toads' chances of survival.

Hundreds of the amphibians laden with eggs cross the B869 Lochinver-Stoer road in Sutherland to reach lochs and lochans.
The toads are usually on the move for about three weeks from mid-March.
Highland Council countryside ranger Andy Summers has been helping Assynt Field Club put up the signs.
It is hoped the warnings will encourage motorists to safely avoid squashing the amphibians.


Boris Johnson has insisted the UK is not "turning its back" on Europe after its decision to vote to leave the EU.

The decision would not make the UK any less tolerant nor outward looking and would not reduce opportunities for young people, the ex-London mayor said.
The UK, he added, had a "glorious opportunity" to take control and "take the wind out of the sails" of those "playing politics" with immigration.
Mr Johnson has been installed as the bookies' favourite to succeed the PM.
The former Conservative mayor of London has been installed as favourite to take over as Conservative leader after Mr Cameron announced he would step down by October, but he declined to comment on the issue.
In a statement to the media in London - his first comments since the result of the referendum - he praised Mr Cameron's "extraordinary" leadership of the country over the past six years, describing him as a "brave and principled man".
He said he was saddened by the PM's choice to stand down later this summer, but respected his decision.
Mr Johnson, who was mayor of London from 2008 until May this year, sought to reassure people about the UK's future after the Brexit vote, saying "nothing would change over the short term" and there was "no haste" in triggering the legal process for exit talks.
Reaching out to those who voted for the UK to remain, particularly young people who are thought to have backed staying in, he said the UK would still have a strong voice in global affairs as an economic powerhouse and a compassionate and open-minded nation.
"To those who may be anxious, whether at home or abroad, this does not mean that the United Kingdom will be in any way less united, nor indeed does it mean that it will be any less European... that this decision involves pulling up a drawbridge  or some sort of isolationism - I think the opposite is true. We cannot turn our backs on Europe. We are part of Europe."
While the EU was a "noble ideal for its time" it "was no longer right for this country", he said.
"We can find our voice in the world again, a voice that is commensurate with the fifth-biggest economy on Earth," he said. "I believe we now have a glorious opportunity: we can pass our laws and set our taxes entirely according to the needs of the UK economy."
Earlier, as he left his home on Friday Mr Johnson was mobbed by reporters and booed by some members of the public in a sign of how fractious the campaign became.
The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said she understood Mr Johnson was unlikely to say anything about the leadership before Monday at the earliest.
Mr Johnson is currently not a member of the government although he has been attending meetings of David Cameron's political cabinet since the 2015 general election, at which he was re-elected to Parliament as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Laura Kuenssberg said the party's 1922 committee would set the rules and timetable for the contest.
When Mr Cameron was elected in 2005, a ballot of MPs took place to select the top two candidates, who then went into a run-off election in which all Conservative Party members had a vote.


A dog called Quasi Modo has been named the World's Ugliest Dog.

The 10-year-old, who's a crossbreed of a pit bull-Dutch shepherd mix, beat off competition from 20 others dogs to win the top prize.
Quasi Modo has a slight hunchback after being born with a spinal defect and was adopted by a vet in Florida, USA, after being abandoned at an animal shelter.
Take a look at these brilliant photos from the dog competition.


MI5 has secretly been collecting vast amounts of data about UK phone calls to search for terrorist connections.

The programme has been running for 10 years under a law described as "vague" by the government's terror watchdog.
It emerged as Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled a draft bill governing spying on communications by the authorities.
If it becomes law, the internet activity of everyone in Britain will be held for a year by service providers.
Police and intelligence officers will then be able to see the names of sites suspected criminals have visited, without a warrant.
Mrs May told MPs the proposed powers were needed to fight crime and terrorism but civil liberties campaigners warned it represented to a "breathtaking" attack on the internet security of everyone living in the UK.
The draft bill aims to give stronger legal cover to the activities of MI5, MI6 and the police and introduce judicial oversight of spying operations.
It confirmed that Britain's secret listening post GCHQ has been intercepting internet messages flowing through Britain in bulk, as revealed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, "to acquire the communications of terrorists and serious criminals that would not otherwise be available".
It also revealed that the UK security services have been allowed to collect large amounts of data on phone calls "to identify subjects of interest within the UK and overseas", provided they comply with certain safeguards, set out in a supporting document also published on Wednesday.
The draft bill aims to tighten up these safeguards and put the bulk collection of data on a firmer legal footing. Taken together with the other measures, the home secretary said the bill would give the security services a "licence to operate".
While GCHQ's programmes were exposed by Snowden, this one by MI5 remained secret.
And in a way that became increasingly awkward for the security service as the drive towards being more open about capabilities picked up pace in the wake of the report by David Anderson, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, earlier in the year.
There were hints about the capability in the speech by MI5 boss Andrew Parker the week before the draft Investigatory Powers Bill was published, when he talked about how "accessing data quickly, reliably and at scale is as fundamental to our workâ€¦..without communications data for example we could not have detected and disrupted numerous plots over the last decade."
He, like the home secretary, claimed that bulk communications data was used to "identify, at speed, links between the individuals plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange in 2010".
Now - along with other capabilities - the bulk data programme is out in the public and up for debate.
Read more from Gordon.
In her Commons statement, Mrs May referred to the 1984 Telecommunications Act, under which she said successive governments had allowed security services to access data from communications companies.
The data involved the bulk records of phone calls - not what was said but the fact that there was contact - with companies required to hand over domestic phone records.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the programme, which sources said was used to track terrorists and save lives, was "so secret that few even in MI5 knew about it, let alone the public".
The government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC, told the BBC the legislation used to authorise the collection was "so vague that anything could be done under it".
He added: "It wasn't illegal in the sense that it was outside the law, it was just that the law was so broad and the information was so slight that nobody knew it was happening".
Mr Anderson has called for a "comprehensive" new law governing surveillance, which the government has produced with the wide-ranging draft Investigatory Powers Bill.
The draft bill's measures include:
Mrs May told MPs the draft bill was a "significant departure" from previous plans, dubbed the "snoopers' charter" by critics, which were blocked by the Lib Dems, and will "provide some of the strongest protections and safeguards anywhere in the democratic world and an approach that sets new standards for openness, transparency and oversight".
The proposed legislation will be consulted on before a bill is formally introduced to Parliament in the New Year, Mrs May said. It will then have to pass votes in both houses of Parliament.
Labour's shadow home secretary Andy Burnham backed the draft bill, saying it was "neither a snoopers' charter nor a plan for mass surveillance".
Will UK spy bill expose porn habits?
Read more: 'Spying' powers explained
A new licence for spies and police?
The Commons reacts to spying bill


An image and short film has been encoded in DNA, using the units of inheritance as a medium for storing information.

Using a genome editing tool known as Crispr, US scientists inserted a gif - five frames of a horse galloping - into the DNA of bacteria.
Then the team sequenced the bacterial DNA to retrieve the gif and the image, verifying that the microbes had indeed incorporated the data as intended.
The results appear in Nature journal.
For their experiments, the team from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, used an image of a human hand and five frames of the horse Annie G captured in the late 19th Century by the British photography pioneer Eadweard Muybridge.
In order to insert this information into the genomes of bacteria, the researchers transferred the image and the movie onto nucleotides (building blocks of DNA), producing a code that related to the individual pixels of each image.
The researchers then employed the Crispr platform, in which two proteins are used to insert genetic code into the DNA of target cells - in this case, those of E.coli bacteria.
For the gif, sequences were delivered frame-by-frame over five days to the bacterial cells.
The data were spread across the genomes of multiple bacteria, rather than just one, explained co-author Seth Shipman, from Harvard University in Massachusetts.
"The information is not contained in a single cell, so each individual cell may only see certain bits or pieces of the movie. So what we had to do was reconstruct the whole movie from the different pieces," Dr  Shipman told the BBC.
"Maybe a single cell saw a few pixels from frame one and a few pixels from frame four... so we had to look at the relation of all those pieces of information in the genomes of these living cells and say: can we reconstruct the entire movie over time?"
To "read" the information back, the researchers sequenced the bacterial DNA and used custom computer code to unscramble the genetic information, which spits out the images.
The team was able to achieve 90% accuracy: "We were really happy with how it came out," Seth Shipman told me.
Eventually, the team wants to use the technique to create "molecular recorders".
Dr Shipman says these are cells that can "encode information about what's going on in the cell and what's going on in the cell environment by writing that information into their own genome".
This is why the researchers used images and a movie: images because they represent the kind of complex information the team would like to use in future, and movies because they have a timing component.
The timing component is important because it would be useful to track changes in a cell and its environment over time.
Follow Paul on Twitter.


Returning top-scorer Martyn Waghorn has played himself into Scottish Cup final contention after finally making his comeback from injury with Rangers.

The 28-goal striker spent 11 weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury.
But he managed to play an hour after starting in a 2-2 draw with St Mirren in the Championship title winners' final league game.
Manager Mark Warburton said: "He has a chance of starting. He has worked hard and looked really fit."
Waghorn has been sidelined since picking up a knee injury in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Kilmarnock on 16 February.
"He looked as if he hadn't been away," said Warburton. "There was no rustiness to speak of on a difficult surface and I thought he was very good.
"He has made a good case for selection.
"It is all credit to him and the physios for the work that has been done.
"He has come back, is fit, hungry, sharp and you can see that he wants to play."
Cup final opponents Hibernian finished third behind Rangers and Falkirk in the Championship and could have played three gruelling promotion play-off ties by the time the teams meet at Hampden on 21 May.
Rangers have arranged an 11 May closed-doors friendly with Tottenham Hotspur to help keep them match fit before then and Warburton plans to give Waghorn another chance then to increase his sharpness.
The draw in Paisley means Rangers have failed to win in four outings since beating Celtic in the cup semi-final, but Warburton was not concerned about their dip in form.
"I was delighted with the second half," he said. "The pitch was dry and difficult for both teams, but the lads were brave on the ball, we had runners, created chances and hit the woodwork.
"It's just a shame the 92nd-minute equaliser dampened things a bit.
"That was the reaction I wanted after the Livingston game. We had lots of good things."
Meanwhile, Warburton played down being linked with Everton should the English Premier League club dispense with manager Roberto Martinez.
"Who is it this time?" he joked. "It will be Barcelona and Real Madrid next."


Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick shot a 68 to share the British Masters lead with Kiradech Aphibarnrat at Woburn.

Thailand's Aphibarnrat, twice a winner this year, moved a shot ahead after a 40-foot breaking birdie putt at 14.
But Fitzpatrick, 21, who has led since day one as he seeks a first European title, picked up his fourth birdie at 15 to join the Thai at 12 under.
England's Luke Donald, now 66th in the world rankings, carded six birdies in nine holes in a 65 and is four adrift.
Another former world number one, Lee Westwood, is two shots further back after a 67, with 16 players within five strokes of the lead.
Donald, 37, who has not won since November 2013, said: "I've put myself in a good position. I'd love to shoot another round like this and if I did I think that might be good enough."
Welshman Bradley Dredge, seeking his first European Tour title since 2006, withdrew shortly before the start of the round because of a viral infection.
The 42-year-old, who lost his tour card in 2012 but regained it after finishing 81st on the Race to Dubai last year, had been only two shots off the lead.


Scientists have developed a robotic bee that can fly and swim under water.

19 October 2015 Last updated at 12:06 BST
Researchers at Harvard University have created the miniature bot after studying the movements of both bees and puffins.
It is hoped the robots, which are slightly larger than a real bee, will eventually be able to help real insects in the wild, or be used for help monitor what humans are doing.
Watch this report to find out more about the robobee.


Well, if you are a fan of India's Tamil cinema superstar, Rajinikanth, you might.
Take, for example, Smitha Sarma Ranganathan, who will board a special flight organised by budget carrier Air Asia along with 180 other fans on 15 July, the day Rajinikanth's new film Kabali releases.
She will pay a return fare of 7,860 rupees ($116; Â£79) to fly from Bangalore to Chennai to watch the "first day, first show" of the film at a Chennai theatre, pick up movie merchandise and return home after lunch.
"The raw passion of a Rajini movie is something you can feel only in Chennai," says Ms Ranganathan, a 36-year-old brand communication specialist.
The special flight carrying Rajinikanth fans to watch his latest film has caused a buzz in the Tamil film industry.
"But it would make more sense if they could do something Rajini specific. Like having breakfast with him or watching Kabali with the star. The flight idea is basically whipping up Rajini hysteria and making you a part of it," says Suresh Babu, who produced an earlier film featuring the star.
Chennai is home to India's thriving Tamil film industry - and Rajinikanth has been its reigning superstar for as long as one can remember.
In a career spanning four decades, the 65-year-old actor has starred in over 170 films, most of them in Tamil language.
One of Asia's highest paid actors, Rajinikanth is considered one of the most bankable stars in India: even before its release, Kabali, a gangster drama, has raked in some $30m (Â£20m) in film rights sales. It will also be dubbed in Telugu, Hindi and Malay.
Rajinikanth enjoys a fan following that cuts across generations and even continents. His 1995 comedy drama Muthu was dubbed in Japanese and became a hit in the country.
Ms Ranganathan's first brush with Rajinikanth was in 1999 when she saw his Padayappa at a small theatre in Tirunelveli town.
"People threw coins on the screen, when Rajinikanth hit the screen for the first time. I was shocked to see that kind of a reaction to a hero," she recalls.
Borrowing DVDs from friends, she devoured all Rajinikanth's movies, starting from his black and white films in the 1970s.
"In fact, when I was in labour in 2003 for my son, I de-stressed by watching three back-to-back Rajinikanth comedies - Arunachalam, Muthu and Guru Sishyan," she chuckles.
In Chennai, Rajinikanth's fans celebrate the day his movie releases like a major festival.
His films get grand openings, and usually perform well at the box office. When they don't do well - like Baba in 2002 and Lingaa in 2014 - Rajinikanth compensates distributors by paying them out of his pocket.
There is a great deal of anticipation for Kabali where the actor is playing an ageing don. The Kabali teaser has been viewed more than 22 million times so far.
"What is Rajinikanth without gimmicks?" asks film critic L Ravichander.
Before entering the film industry, Rajinikanth - whose real name is Sivaji Rao Gaekwad - worked as a conductor on Bangalore's bus number 10A in the early 1970s.
Suresh Babu suggests that for the significant number of Rajini fans in Bangalore, it may be a good idea to run special buses transporting Rajinikanth fans to theatres screening Kabali.
"Imagine travelling in 10A, with the conductor of the bus dressed up as Rajinikanth and ranting the punch line of the movie - Kabali vandutaan da [Kabali has arrived]."
TS Sudhir is an independent Hyderabad-based journalist


Paris St-Germain saw their title party fall flat as the Ligue 1 champions lost 2-0 to second-placed Monaco to suffer a first home league loss since May 2014.

A week after securing a fourth straight title, PSG were beaten for only the second time in the league this season.
Vagner Love swept Monaco in front from Thomas Lemar's 65th-minute cross.
David Luiz then pulled back Fabinho to concede a penalty which the Brazilian coolly chipped home as Monaco won after three successive draws.
PSG were guilty of a handful of bad misses as they lacked their usual intensity on what should have been a night of celebration at the Parc des Princes.
Top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic could have scored a hat-trick, while substitute Jean Kevin-Augustin also steered wide from close range late on.
The visitors moved within 22 points of PSG but more importantly went six points clear of fourth-placed Lyon as they look to secure Champions League qualification.
The top three clubs in France gain a place in the Champions League with the top two going straight into the group stage.


The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach will not attend any of the Paralympics, says the Games' governing body.

Bach had already said he would miss Wednesday's opening ceremony in Rio to attend a funeral.
The International Paralympic Committee "does not see it as a snub", according to director of media Craig Spence.
The opening ceremony starts at 22:15 BST and the Paralympics run for a further 10 days until 18 September.
Find out how to get into disability sport with our special guide.
Bach had cancelled attending the opening ceremony at the Maracana to remain in Germany for the funeral of his friend Walter Scheel, the former West German foreign minister and deputy chancellor, who died last month aged 97.
And officials said Bach was now unable to reschedule other commitments and will not to travel to Brazil after the funeral.
"We fully understand that he cannot reschedule other longstanding engagements to attend the Games here at a later date," said Spence.
"The fact that he can't come is unfortunately a fact of life and shows how busy these presidents and officials are."
The last time an IOC president failed to attend a Paralympics was in 2010, when Jacques Rogge missed all of the Winter Games in Vancouver.


A large lion's mane jellyfish has been filmed by a snorkeler at Isle Martin in the Summer Isles in the north west Highlands.

Noel Hawkins, of the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Living Seas project, took his footage late last week.
Lion's mane are one of the world's largest known species of jellyfish and "pack a fairly sore sting", said the trust.
The one filmed by Mr Hawkins was about 4.5m (15ft) in length.
The snorkeler said: "Although nasty to the touch, they are quite graceful to see."
The jellyfish can be often seen off Scotland's coast.


Pink champagne in hand, Alex Salmond has been enjoying himself recently, doing what seems to come naturally; winding up Westminster.

Why does the Scottish National Party and its former leader matter? Because, if the general election polls are right, in six weeks time the SNP could hold the balance of power in the House of Commons.
If neither Labour nor the Conservatives win a majority, one of them would need votes from smaller parties to govern - and the pollsters suggest the SNP could be the biggest of those smaller parties, perhaps with about 50 MPs.
This week Mr Salmond, who hopes to be among that number, launched a thousand newspaper columns written by observers apparently astonished and horrified at his statements of the obvious.
Shock! SNP MPs would not vote for a Tory Queen's Speech, said Mr Salmond. Did anyone think they would?
Horror! They would try to influence a Labour chancellor's budget. Did anyone think they wouldn't?
Mr Salmond's appearance on the Andrew Marr show was described by Conservative defence minister Anna Soubry as "one of the scariest" she had heard for a very long time.
"The audacity is astonishing," she told the man himself as they cosied up on the studio sofa, adding waspishly: "There was a wonderful debate in Scotland. You lost it."
Ms Soubry was echoing sentiments which have abounded for weeks now.
Reheating the most incendiary phrase in British politics Allan Massie in the Mail on Sunday foresaw the River Thames foaming with blood.
"The English bulldog has woken from a long sleep, and is beginning to snarl," he warned.
For Max Hastings, in the Daily Mail: "A historic tragedy beckons for the UK... the backlash in the south will prove bitter indeed."
So who benefits from all this?
As it happens, the rhetoric might suit both the SNP and the Tories, at least in the short-term, in their battles against a mutual enemy: Labour.
North of the border the SNP are trying to portray themselves as the party that stands up for Scotland and its interests against the pitiless Tories.
To the south, the Tories want to present themselves as the defenders of England and its interests against the socialist hordes, kilted or otherwise.
This clash of two nationalisms is disheartening for the significant chunk of Scotland which viewed last year's debate about independence as distracting and divisive rather than energising and exciting.
In particular it's bad news for the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson who took to the pages of the London Evening Standard to say so.
"The SNP is not Scotland and Scotland is not the SNP," she warned, describing nationalist tactics as "cheap, dirty politics" designed to "stoke division" and "annoy the rest of the country into pushing Scotland towards the exit".
Unfortunately for her, Tory strategists in London appear to have chosen to throw fuel on to the fire, taking the opportunity to paint the Labour leader Ed Miliband as weak and the SNP as power-crazed.
Mr Salmond, said a Tory party spokesman, was plotting to "sabotage the democratic will of the British people in order to make Ed Miliband prime minister".
Robin McAlpine, director of the Common Weal think tank, part of the wider independence movement but not affiliated to the SNP, says such outrage is absurd.
He says: "If England as a nation wants to be an electoral unit of their own then they have to have a campaign of independence. If England wants to be independent of Britain, then start leafleting, start marching, and have your campaign."
The Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy is scathing about the approach of both his rivals.
"Alex Salmond loves the sound of his own voice," he says. "It's only surprising the Tories are giving him a megaphone to amplify that voice."
"The fact is that the Tories can't win in Scotland so they need someone else to defeat the Labour Party for them."
Mr Murphy insists voters north of the border will see through this attempt to "divide and rule".
For her part, the leader of the SNP, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, denies that she has sent Mr Salmond southwards to stir up dissent. Nor, she says, is he doing so off his own bat.
"That is not the objective of the SNP in this election," she insists.
"We're not there to prod anybody or get a rise out of anybody.
"We're there to seek to stand up for Scotland to get better policies coming out of the House of Commons."
To satisfy its burgeoning membership - now said to be above 100,000 - the SNP will need those policies to be radical, says Mr McAlpine.
Otherwise "they're going to shed those members," he says.
This move to the left has "already started," Mr McAlpine argues, with an economic document from the Scottish government giving "greater economic equality the same weight as economic growth".
It is "a big step," he says.
Mr McAlpine also defends Mr Salmond against the charge of provoking the English.
"I don't think he's driving a wedge between Scotland and England," he says.
"He's driving a wedge between the politics Scotland believes in, a progressive social-democratic politics, and a politics that he doesn't believe in, the vicious anti-immigrant, anti-welfare politics which seems to be quite strong in the south of England."
Whether that is the case, and whatever the motivations of both the SNP and the Conservatives, there are big risks ahead.
If the Tories get it wrong they could put the union they support in peril. The SNP faces the opposite problem. In particular, three potential scenarios could be tricky for the party:
None of these options looks particularly attractive for the nationalists, especially when you consider that the SNP is still tainted in the eyes of some Scots for voting 36 years ago today against the Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in a confidence motion.
Mr Callaghan lost by one vote and the era of Margaret Thatcher followed, to the horror of many people in Scotland.
Now, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon clearly think they could cause a lot of mischief before a crunch point like this was reached, amending bills here and there and squeezing out concessions.
In the meantime Ms Sturgeon's message can be summed up as: you wanted us to stay in the union, so now we want to have a say in it.
The trouble is everybody knows that staying in the union is not the SNP's principal aim.
Why would stable and secure governance of the United Kingdom be a priority for a party which doesn't believe the UK should even exist?
Any politician thinking of quaffing champagne at this stage cannot know whether they will end up raising a toast or weeping into their glass.


Liverpool will visit Russia after being drawn in the same group as Rubin Kazan, while Tottenham must go to Azerbaijan to face Qarabag in the Europa League.

The Reds also face Bordeaux from France and FC Sion of Switzerland.
As well as Qarabag, Tottenham must play Belgian side Anderlecht and Monaco from the French league.
Celtic, who missed out on a place in the Champions League group stage, meet Dutch giants Ajax, Turkey's Fenerbahce and Norwegian outfit Molde.
Each team will play six games in the group stage, with the first match day taking place on 17 September.
Group A: Ajax, Celtic, Fenerbahce, Molde
Group B: Rubin Kazan, Liverpool, Bordeaux, FC Sion
Group C: Borussia Dortmund, Paok Thessaloniki, Krasnodar, Gabala
Group D; Napoli, Club Brugge, Legia Warsaw, Midtjyllland
Group E: Villarreal, Viktoria Plzen, Rapid Vienna, Dinamo Minsk
Group F: Marseille, Braga, Slovan Liberec, Groningen
Group G: Dnipropetrovsk, Lazio, St-Etienne, Rosenborg
Group H: Sporting Lisbon, Besiktas, Lokomotiv Moscow, Skenderbeu
Group I: Basel, Fiorentina, Lech Poznan, Belenenses
Group J: Tottenham, Anderlecht, Monaco, Qarabag
Group K: Schalke, Apoel Nicosia, Sparta Prague, Asteras Tripolis
Group L: Athletic Bilbao, AZ Alkmaar, Augsburg, Partizan Belgrade
Rubin Kazan: Finished fifth in the Russian Premier League last season. They started this season's competition in the qualifying rounds, defeating Sturm Graz of Austria and FK Rabotnicki of Macedonia. The distance from Liverpool to Kazan is 2,500 miles.
Bordeaux: Uefa Cup runners-up in 1995-96, Bordeaux finished sixth in France's top-flight last season. Manager Willy Sagnol, 38, won the Champions League with Bayern Munich as a defender.
FC Sion: Last season's Swiss Cup winners. Manager Didier Tholot had a loan spell at Walsall as a player in 1998.
Anderlecht: Finished third in the Belgium's top flight last season. The two clubs met in the Uefa Cup final in 1984, when Spurs won on penalties after the two-legged final ended 2-2 on aggregate.
Monaco: Finished third in the French League last season. Their squad includes midfielder Mario Pasalic, on loan from Chelsea, and former Chelsea defender and three-time Premier League winner Ricardo Carvalho.
Qarabag: Winners of the Azerbaijan Premier Division last season, they play their home games in Baku, the country's capital. Most of their squad is home grown, although there are a number of Brazilian players at the club. One of them is forward Reynaldo, whose former sides include Anderlecht. The distance from Tottenham to Baku is 2,900 miles.
Ajax: Four-time champions of Europe and Dutch league runners-up last season. Their squad includes former Everton and Fulham defender John Heitinga. Manager Frank de Boer had a spell at Rangers as a player.
Fenerbahce: Runners-up in Turkey's top-flight last season. Their squad includes a couple of former Manchester United players in the shape of forward Robin van Persie and winger Nani.
Molde: This is the first time the Norwegian club has competed in the group stages of the Europa League since 2012-13. Their squad includes former Manchester United youth midfielder Etzaz Hussain, 22, and United States international winger Josh Gatt. Defender Vegard Forren was on Southampton's books before joining Molde in 2013.


Work is to start on Scotland's first and only world and Olympic-standard BMX track after councillors in Glasgow agreed nearly £333,000 of funding.

The new centre will be built in Knightswood on redundant red braes football pitches.
The city's executive committee also agreed almost £617,000 to extend mountain bike trails and facilities at Cathkin Braes Country Park.
Both locations will be venues for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.
The new centre at Knightswood Recreation Ground will be the new home of the Western Titans BMX Club.
Riders of all ages and abilities will have a main track, while advanced riders will make use of eight and five metre start ramps.
There will also be a track for learners, and the tracks will be floodlit.
Plans include changing rooms, a meeting room, a car park and an access road from Archerhill Road.
Other funding for the centre is coming from the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, sportscotland and a partnership between HSBC bank and British Cycling.
Additional cash for the Cathkin Braes facility is coming from Glasgow City Council, sportscotland and LandTrust.
Work there will see the track brought up to international standards for the European Championships.
A new start-finish will be located closer to the local community in Castlemilk, with trails adapted to allow riders of all abilities to use them.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said the funding was good news for local communities.
He said: "This funding will add to Glasgow's outstanding collection of sporting facilities, with these two fantastic venues open for the people of Glasgow and our visitors to use, and capable of hosting local, national and international events.
"There will be fantastic opportunities for local communities to take part in the development of cycling in Glasgow."


A man has been jailed for life over the murder of a man 14 years ago whose body has never been found.

Mark Searle, 36, from St Leonards-on-Sea, was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to kidnap and perverting the course of justice at Lewes Crown Court.
His victim, Jason Martin-Smith, 28, of Camberley in Surrey, was abducted in Hastings, East Sussex, in August 2001.
Searle, of Chambers Road, will serve a minimum of 29 years.
The murder is believed to be linked to the killing of 27-year-old Jimmy Millen who was shot outside his Hastings home by two men on a motorbike in 2001.
Mr Martin-Smith was an acquaintance of Mr Millen.
Det Ch Insp Paul Rymarz said it was during the investigation into Mr Millen's murder that information relating to the murder of Mr Martin-Smith came to light.
His body was never found, but officers established he was dismembered in a lock-up.
After the hearing, Mr Rymarz said: "Our thoughts are with his family who have waited a long time for this result."
Another defendant, Steve McNicol, 42, of Whitefriars Road in Hastings, was earlier convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and jailed for four-and-a-half years.
He was also accused of murder but the charge was discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service at the start of the trial.


After shattering her kneecap in training, figure skater Penny Coomes was told she would never compete again.

Nine months and two operations later she is now targeting a third Winter Olympics with partner Nick Buckland.
"I fell and smashed my kneecap into eight pieces and a lot of people said it was a career-ending injury," Coomes told BBC Sport.
"Now I'm just filled with hope that my dream is within reach. I'm going to get there and I feel I've earned it."
It was during a routine lift at their training base in Michigan in June that Coomes suffered the injury - just three months after they had enjoyed their best ever result at the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston.
"One minute we were laughing and joking; the next I was on the floor screaming in agony," remembered Coomes.
The diminutive 27 year-old was justified in asking herself 'why me again?'. She and Buckland have had their fair share of injury and illness problems. Concussions, broken noses, and heart problems are just some of the issues they've had to deal with over the last few years.
Within a few days of her knee injury Coomes was on a flight back to the UK for surgery to wire her kneecap back together.
After four months of convalescence and rehabilitation, Coomes and Buckland were back on the ice but, although she was able to train, she was still in pain afterwards.
"As I picked up my training to get ready for the European Championships this year I started to be in more pain," she said.
"When I came off the ice I could hardly walk," she said. "I wasn't sleeping for seven months as I had this deep ache in my knee.
"I was miserable and for a long time I sort of lost myself and fell out of love with ice skating and couldn't even talk about it."
The wires that were keeping her kneecap together were irritating her patella tendon and had to be removed in a second operation in January.
"When I woke up afterwards I cried because I didn't have any pain anymore," said Coomes.
There were more tears of a different nature on 15 March when she returned to the ice for the first time since her second surgery.
"I just feel like I've got my legs back. I feel so happy now," she said.
"A lot of people had written me off and I wasn't having any of that.
"I've fallen in love with skating again and I've taken from this injury that I am a strong person.
"I've worked so hard to achieve my dream and I feel a I can do anything in life now.
"I've still got a lot of work to do but I think Nick and I will come back with a bang."
This week's World Championships may have come too soon for Coomes and Buckland but they will have the chance to qualify for the Winter Olympics in an event in Oberstdorf in September.
Hoping to take their chance this week for Great Britain in Helsinki are Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji in the pairs event and Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson in the ice dance.
In the men's singles, Graham Newberry and Phillip Harris will take to the ice, while Natasha McKay and Karly Robertson will compete on the women's side.


The origins of plants may go back hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, according to fossil evidence.

Ancient rocks from India suggest plants resembling red algae lived 1.6 billion years ago in what was then shallow sea.
The discovery may overturn ideas of when relatively advanced life evolved, say scientists in Sweden.
They identified parts of chloroplasts, structures within plant cells involved in photosynthesis.
The earliest signs of life on Earth are at least 3.5 billion years old.
The first single-celled microscopic life forms evolved into larger multi-cellular eukaryotic organisms (made up of cells containing a nucleus and other structures within a membrane).
Therese Sallstedt of the Swedish Museum of Natural History discovered some of the fossils. She described them as "the oldest fossil plants that we know of on Earth in the form of 1.6 billion year old red algae".
"They show us that advanced life in the form of eukaryotes (like plants, fungi and us humans/animals) have a much deeper history on Earth than what we previously have thought," she told BBC News.
The scientists found thread-like fossils and more complex "fleshy" colonies in sedimentary rock from central India. Both have characteristics of modern red algae, a type of seaweed.
Co-researcher Prof Stefan Bengtson of the Swedish Museum of Natural History added: "You cannot be 100% sure about material this ancient, as there is no DNA remaining, but the characters agree quite well with the morphology and structure of red algae."
The oldest known red algae before the present discovery date back 1.2 billion years. The Indian fossils are 400 million years older, suggesting that the early branches of the tree of life began much earlier than previously thought.
Claims of ancient life are always controversial. Without DNA evidence, confirmation must rest on whether more fossils can be found.
There is also debate over whether red algae belong in the plant kingdom or in a class of their own.
Modern red algae is perhaps best known for two commercial products - gelatinous texturing agents used in making ice cream - and nori - the seaweed used to wrap sushi.
The research is published in the journal, PLOS Biology.
Follow Helen on Twitter.


During my career, men's and women's track cycling has always been equal.

During Women's Sport Week 2016, BBC Sport will have a special column each day by a notable woman in sport. Four-time Olympic cycling champion Laura Kenny (nee Trott) explains how women's road racing lags behind in the equality stakes and how changing her diet helped her win gold at Rio 2016.
We get equal prize money and there are equal events. At the London Olympics in 2012, it was the first time both the men's and the women's track schedules were exactly the same and we had the same television air time.
But on the road the situation is a lot different, and it's here progress still needs to be made.
My older sister Emma was a pro cyclist but it was difficult for her to make money as a road rider, especially as she was a domestique (a support rider) and not a lead rider.
The sport's world governing body, the UCI, has rules for minimum wages for men - a Pro Tour rider, for example, is guaranteed at least £30,000 a year.
In women's cycling there is no minimum wage and Emma didn't get paid thousands like her male counterparts did. She did it because she loved it.
It wasn't about the money for her. She loved the lifestyle, she loved living in Belgium and travelling around with the girls.
But there came a point where she wasn't actually enjoying it anymore so she moved on and away from it and is now a personal trainer and cycling coach in New Zealand.
Women's road cycling needs more television exposure and it is starting to go in the right direction.
It is great you can watch the road races at the Olympics and World Championships on television. The Grand Tours are also helping to grow women's cycling too with the Tour de France, for example, showcasing a one-day women's stage. But there is still lots to do.
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I often get asked how I got into my sport. It was because my mum Glenda chose cycling as a way of losing weight. She lost eight stone in a year and a half, by cycling and doing spin classes.
I was eight years old when I had my first taste of a velodrome. It was an outdoor one at Welwyn Garden City and my sister and I just loved it from the beginning.
Having Emma in the cycling world was great. She's two and a half years older but I always wanted to beat her. That's siblings for you. It didn't matter if we were on scooters going up and down my nan's street, or whether we were out on our bikes, we were always competitive.
With her being that little bit older, it really did help. In terms of the cycling world, it meant I always competed at levels higher than my age category. I felt that really pushed me on.
I love my long hair. My mum always used to make me have a bob growing up so the minute I was old enough to decide, I grew my hair and I'm never going to cut it off again!
The plaits started when we got fancy new helmets in 2012. The only problem was I couldn't fit all my hair in. So I French-plaited it and pinned it to my head and I've been doing it ever since.
Now it's my little routine before racing. It makes me feel relaxed.
I'm really superstitious in that I have to wear a lucky bracelet - in fact I have to wear lucky everything. So doing my - and also the team's - hair is part of that pre-race routine.
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I still feel like the Laura who woke up and rode her bike when she was eight years old because she loved it.
It's weird when people see me as this huge idol as it almost doesn't feel like anything I could have possibly ever done.
After winning again in Rio, [husband and six-time Olympic champion cyclist] Jason and I were saying: "We can't believe we've done this." It just didn't seem like something we could achieve. It was insane.
But I know the importance of girls having role models and finding the sport or exercise that makes you happy.
I used to hate football and basketball at school. Nobody wanted me on their team unless it was my best friend who picked me out of kindness. I would just stand at the side, thinking "don't even pass me the ball".
But I loved cycling. It gave me confidence and created who I am today.
I never really thought about what I ate and diet wasn't a huge part of my life when I became an Olympic champion in 2012.
I would do a gym session and not realise I wasn't having the right amount of protein afterwards or I'd go on a road ride and I wouldn't have had any carbohydrates before it, I'd just have some chocolate.
But at the World Championships in 2013, I won a silver medal in the omnium and it happened three years in a row and I didn't want another silver medal with Rio on the horizon.
In 2015 we looked at what I could change - was there something in my training programme that I could change?
We decided it was my diet and I enlisted a nutritionist's help and I started to eat a lot more healthily.
I like to keep it as natural as possible, and I'm allergic to most things anyway. Milk is key for me and was important throughout the Olympic process. I have a pint after training and another before bed. I've performed better on my bike as a result and I feel better in myself as well and I honestly never thought I would.
But I still eat chocolate - I can't give that up.
Since Rio, Jason and I have been invited to a number of events. We've been on the Jonathan Ross Show - oh, and we got married!
But one of the most interesting invites has to be going to Elton John's for lunch.
It was unbelievable. We walked into his dining room and it was incredible. It was a surreal moment because he's a legend. I couldn't believe it.
He was lovely. He introduced himself and, honestly, he was so normal. I felt like his accent was quite similar to mine, but a way posher version of me!
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Laura Kenny was talking to BBC Sport's Anna Thompson.


Nicola Sturgeon said she would look into giving Northern Ireland women access to NHS abortions in Scotland without facing prohibitive costs.

Abortions are illegal in Northern Ireland except for cases where the woman's health is at risk.
That has led to women travelling to Great Britain seeking terminations.
But anti-abortion group Precious Life said allowing NI women to access NHS terminations would "run roughshod over the law and the democratic process".
The issue was raised by Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, who said NI women should have access to the service without facing huge costs.
During First Minister's Questions at Holyrood on Thursday afternoon, Mr Harvie said: "Many women in Northern Ireland find themselves left with no option but to travel elsewhere in the UK to access legal and safe abortion.
"The time and the stress that this costs them is bad enough but there are also significant financial barriers, with some organisations supporting these women estimating that at the low end it costs them at least Â£400 and in many other cases more than Â£2,000.
"Does the First Minister agree that the NHS in Scotland should be exploring what can be done to ensure that these women are able to access abortion in Scotland, if that's where they chose to travel to, without facing these kind of unacceptable financial barriers?"
He said abortion should be treated as part of normal healthcare and not "stigmatised".
Ms Sturgeon said she believed that no woman "should ever be stigmatised" for having an abortion.
She added that abortion should not be seen in isolation and was a fundamental part of healthcare.
Ms Sturgeon told the chamber: "I am happy to explore that with the NHS. To explore both what the situation would be right now in terms of accessing safe and legal abortion for women from Northern Ireland within NHS Scotland and whether there's any improvements that are able to be made.
"I believe, like Patrick Harvie, that women should have the right to choose, within the limits that we currently set down in law, and I believe that right should be defended.
"And when a woman, any woman, does opt to have an abortion, and let's stress that is never, ever an easy decision for any woman, then abortion should be available in a safe and legal way."
In a statement, Precious Life's director Bernadette Smyth said abortion was a "criminal offence" in Northern Ireland which "exists to protect both mothers and their unborn children".
"To make provisions for women to access free abortions in Scotland would be to run roughshod over the law and the democratic process in Northern Ireland," Ms Smyth added.
"This will not go unchallenged. There will be a public outcry."
Women from Northern Ireland are not legally entitled to free abortions on the NHS in England following a High Court ruling in 2014, which is being challenged in a legal action at the UK Supreme Court.


The Mexican border is a line that sends an electric charge through the US presidential campaign.

Donald Trump has fixed on immigration as one of the causes of the tide of anger on which his campaign has risen.
If it's not the threat to American jobs from an influx of cheap skilled labour, it's the steady flow from Mexico, much of it illegal, that he says is unsustainable.
Hence his famous promise to build a 2000-mile wall, which has come to define his campaign.
He is right that this nation of immigrants struggles with the question, and his proposed "solution" has now turned it into a dividing line that will help to shape the autumn campaign.
There is a sour whiff in America of the European immigration debate: never before has it been used so deliberately to raise the political temperature.
Mr Trump knew what he was doing, and it has worked.
Donald Trump wants to deport every single illegal immigrant - could he?
Trump's foreign policy: So crazy it just might work?
Trump's immigration plan savaged by rivals
Why Mexicans are troubled by Donald Trump
But visit the border in southern California - where they say it is the busiest international crossing point in the world - and you witness the complexities, not the simplicities.
I stood looking through the fence with border agent Chris Harris, and he told me: "There's no silver bullet. No easy answer. A wall won't solve it."
I spent a few hours with him on his stretch of the border, about 20 miles south of San Diego.
He is an interesting witness - a Republican voter, who has worked all his life in law enforcement (he was a narcotics detective and then a prison officer in New York), the union representative for the border guards, who spends every day with his colleagues on the stretch of border running due east from the Pacific shore.
When he arrived nearly 20 years ago, the border seemed hopelessly porous, with untold thousands of illegal immigrants crossing easily, slipping through the undergrowth, mounting elaborate deceptions to occupy the guards and bring whole parties over, squeezing through tunnels. That has changed.
Chris Harris still reckons that 5,000 (and probably more) get through each year on the short six-mile stretch where we're walking - but compared with the past, that is a trickle.
Across the rough terrain, roads have been built for patrols, navigable canyons blocked, and two fences built.
They are dotted with repairs where illegal immigrants have cut through, and we handled one of the metal ladders designed to be hooked over the top and get a few people over in a few seconds in the dark.
It is a cat-and-mouse game, constant and dangerous. And where many of the crossings in the past were by individuals desperate to find work, much of the traffic is now controlled by violent people-smuggling cartels who are running a big, nasty business.
The drama on the border can easily be used to make it sound like a simple problem of law enforcement, and right and wrong.
But there are problems apart from the fact that the agents believe a wall, however high, wouldn't be the answer.
Officially, there are more than 11 million "undocumented" (ie illegal) immigrants in the US, although the real figure is thought to be much higher.
Source: Pew Research Center
Many have been there for years, working and raising families.
Those families have gone to school and college and are in the workforce, and there is a third and fourth generation.
What to do?
Mr Trump says send them home.
But many senior Republicans - John McCain and Mitt Romney, the two most recent presidential candidates, are obvious examples - want to find "a pathway for citizenship" for these people, because they want to be Americans.
It is that view that Donald Trump challenges, arguing the populist case.
But awkwardly for him, huge numbers of business through the southern states don't like the "send them back" message, for the simple reason that cheap labour, legal or not, keeps them going.
And Peter Nunez, a former federal prosecutor in California, who shares Mr Trump's view that immigration flows - legal and illegal - have to be stemmed, acknowledges that truth.
There is another salient political fact: the Latino population that is registered to vote leans strongly to the Democrats.
Mr Nunez says there are future votes for them from mass immigration.
Meanwhile, the "undocumented" continue to work - you can see some of them on a dozen intersections each day in San Diego, selling themselves as day labourers - and don't go to the authorities to start the process of legal registration because they fear they would be sent home to Mexico.
The Mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer, is one Republican who preaches consensus.
He says he wants to build a bridge and not a wall, and meets his civic counterpart in Tijuana, Mexico, every few weeks.
It is not a border, he says, but a region where both sides have common interests.
It is no surprise that he hasn't been involved in the Trump campaign.
Voters, like the parties, are split on immigration, and Donald Trump has made sure that in this election these divisions are going to be as painful as he can make them.


A 43-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a woman was injured during a five-hour stand-off with police in Lancashire.

Armed police and specialist officers were called to a flat in Alexandra Road, Blackpool at about 15:20 GMT following reports a man had a weapon.
A woman was taken to hospital with a minor head injury.
The man left the flat voluntarily and is being held in custody for questioning.
A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said: "Specialist officers negotiated with a 43-year old-man in a flat for around five hours before he voluntarily left the flat.
"A weapon has been recovered."
A cordon had been placed on either side of Alexandra Road while negotiations took place.
Neighbours reported a heavy police presence, saying the road was cordoned off but that some residents were later escorted back to their homes.
Ann-Marie Farren, from Alexandra Road, said: "I was driving home from work and saw dozens of police cars."


Sports Minister Tracey Crouch has promised to deliver a new strategy for sport "as a matter of urgency" following a decline in participation.

According to Sport England, swimming is the most badly affected, even though it is the country's most popular sport.
More than 2.5 million people swim weekly - down 144,200 in six months.
The statistics, covering October 2014 to March 2015, show 15.5 million people took part in sport once a week, every week - a drop of 222,000 in six months.
Crouch, who became Sports Minister after last month's General Election, said: "It's not the return we expect to see for a large investment of public money.
"A significant amount of public funding has been invested in sport in the last decade, but the results simply aren't good enough."
Sport England chief executive Jennie Price admitted: "These are really disappointing results.
The Active People Survey began in 2005 and results are published every six months. Click here to view the full report.
There are increases for running, tennis and basketball.
The number of people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds playing sport has increased by 37,600 in the past six months to 2.9 million.
The other significant drop was in the keep fit and gym sector. A fall of 153,000 was the first dip since Sport England started counting.
The number of disabled people playing sport is also down 37,300 overall, in large measure due to the decline in swimming and gym.
The number of 16 to 25-year-olds playing sport has remained stable at 3.8 million per week.
Some popular disabled sports, such as football, tennis and running, have seen positive increases.
The gender gap has also reduced slightly, with 6.86 million women playing sport once a week compared to 9.15 million men.
Amateur Swimming Association chief executive Adam Paker told BBC Radio 5 live: "We have to understand what is turning the consumer off and why it's turning that person off. Access to pools certainly is a factor.
"There has been a drop-off in the number of pools we've got in this country. We also have an old stock of pools. Almost 45% of our pools were built before the 1980s so there is an aging stock of pools.
"There are some fantastic pools before that time but they cost a lot of money to maintain and to keep at the level people expect these days."
"It's about taking a fresh look at things, not doing the same old things and expect new results," added Paker. "We've appointed a new head of strategy from Song Playstation who will bring a commercial end to this and see it very much as a marketing job.
"It is about changing consumer's behaviour. And the key to that is taking the costumer minded approach and really looking at the numbers."
"It's a question of us understanding the data and swimmers as consumers," said Paker. "What are they looking for?
"Then it's working with our industry partners with pool operators, leisure operators, and local authorities with government to create the pool experiences that might make people return to the water."


The home and lifestyle firm Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is being sold for $353m (£223m) to a clothes brand management firm, Sequential Brands.

Martha Stewart, who founded the firm in 1997, remains a key shareholder and chief creative officer.
She said the merger would "further the growth and expansion" of the brand.
Sales have been falling in the company for the past few years and its image suffered after Ms Stewart was jailed for five months.
The prison sentence was for an insider trading scandal.
"This is a transformational merger for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia," Martha Stewart said.
"This merger is positioned to further the growth and expansion of the unique Martha home and lifestyle brand."
Shares in the firm were down 12%, having surged last week when reports of the deal first emerged.
Martha Stewart Living makes more than half of its revenue from its publishing magazines, such as Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings. It also sells home improvement products sold in department stores such as Home Depot and Macy's.
Sequential Brands include Justin Timberlake's William Rast, Avia sports clothing and Linens 'n Things.


Reflecting on his own school days in the poem, 'The Big Room', John Hewitt once wrote: "Teacher's pet was a title none could claim."

But now his life's work, and that of Seamus Heaney, is helping to inspire future primary school poetry champions.
Children from four schools have unveiled colourful new public art dedicated to the poets in the centre of Ballymoney, County Antrim.
Seamus Heaney's brother, Hugh Heaney, attended the unveiling.
The works were created by pupils from Balnamore Primary School, Landhead Primary School, Cloughmills Primary School and Our Lady of Lourdes.
Mr Heaney said he wished his brother could have been at the display to see the children's creations.
"He'll be four years dead this year, but he's still alive so he is, and will be," he said.
"Seamus would have loved it. He would have been here in the middle of everybody like the rest of us, enjoying it and going for a cup of tea."
Many of the young artists involved were learning about Heaney and Hewitt for the first time.
The man behind the project is artist Ross Wilson, who was a friend of Seamus Heaney.
"He probably would have been slightly embarrassed but would have liked it," Mr Wilson said of the poet.
"Seamus was a great poet, a Nobel prize winner, a man of letters but in many ways, a shy and humble man.
"But he had a great ability and talent that will last for generations - that's his legacy and these artworks are part of that legacy as well."


A driver will stand trial next month accused of causing the death of a woman by careless driving.

Roddy Graham, 27, of Denholm, was charged with the offence after an accident on the A698 near the village.
He pleaded not guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court and a trial date was fixed for 23 May.
Kirsty Parker, 34, also from Denholm, died at the scene of the incident on 11 February last year.


Glamorgan claimed a home tie in the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast in bizarre circumstances as rain saved them from defeat against Sussex.

Sussex made the most of bowling first on a used pitch as they skittled a Glamorgan for 101 in a 14-overs game.
The home side had reached 30-1 when the rain arrived after one ball of the fifth over - five deliveries before a result could have been calculated.
No more play was possible and the match was abandoned.
Winning the toss was crucial for home captain Luke Wright and after an eccentric first 10-ball over from Mills, Glamorgan turned in a woeful batting performance with 26 extras the main contributor.
Garton, who had not previously taken a T20 wicket, made the most of difficult conditions, claiming four wickets, while Matt Machan took five catches including a superb boundary effort to dismiss Aneurin Donald.
Last pair Michael Hogan and Shaun Tait scrambled the total into three figures before Chris Jordan finished the innings off.
The weather closed in after four overs of the Sussex reply, and although the umpires managed to get the players out for one further ball, a heavier downpour brought an end to the game, to Sussex's frustration.


The Canadian mother of a 15-year-old who killed herself after prolonged cyber bullying has appealed to Northern Ireland teenagers to stay safe online.

Carol Todd was speaking at an event in Newry, County Armagh, aimed at informing parents and children about the dangers of the internet.
Her daughter, Amanda, took her own life at her home in British Columbia.
Before her death in 2012, the teenager made a YouTube video describing the bullying she had suffered.
The experience led to her abusing drugs and alcohol. Eventually she began to self-harm.
Carol said that Amanda began posting music videos online when she was 12 years old.
"She was a good singer, and so people started liking her videos and saying what a great voice she had," she told the BBC.
"Then, she started having a conversation with a teenage boy. This grew into what I suppose you would call an internet crush.
"Eventually, this boy convinced her to lift her top. And she did.
"Unknown to her at the time, this person took a picture at the other end and began to threaten her - if she didn't do what he wanted, he would post the picture to her Facebook page."
The stranger knew everything about Amanda - her address, school, friends, and the names of her family members.
Eventually, he posted her semi-naked photo online.
Amanda was too embarrassed and afraid to tell her mother about the turmoil she was experiencing.
"In 2010, police arrived at my door," said Carol.
"I hadn't realised what was happening or that the photo had been published," she said.  She said her daughter was being bullied "online and offline".
To make matters worse, Carol learned that the other person was not a 16-year-old boy, but a 35-year-old man living in the Netherlands.
In the hope of ending the bullying and harassment, Carol moved her daughter to other Canadian schools, but her efforts to protect her daughter were fruitless.
"The internet travels everywhere," she said. "Before she moved schools, the children at the next school would know already about what happened."
Before she died, Amanda uploaded a video to YouTube describing years of bullying that, she said, drove her to drugs and alcohol.
In the nine-minute video she told her story with a set of handwritten notes.
The recording, described as "haunting", showed the former cheerleader going into detail about what happened to her.
Appealing to Northern Ireland parents to be aware of the dangers online, her mother said: "What I've learned in the last three and a half years is that what happened to my daughter is not an isolated case.
"If kids are going through these kind of things, they need to get support from friends, families, teachers and the police.
"We need to have the conversations with kids, to empower them."
A number of investigations took place following Amanda's death.
Chair of Newry, Mourne and Down Policing and Community Safety Partnership Mickey Larkin explained the purpose of the two-day event in Northern Ireland.
"Digital communication plays a large part in all of our lives and none more so than in the lives of young people," he said.
"New technology can be daunting and we are all guilty of ignoring things that we do not understand.
"However,  we think it is vital for the safety of our young people and also parents and educators to make ourselves familiar with the risks and opportunities that the online world brings."


The way sport is taught to girls in British schools needs a radical rethink, according to Olympic and World cycling champion Victoria Pendleton.

Recent statistics show girls leaving school are half as likely as boys are to be physically fit.
Pendleton believes this is because physical education (PE) lessons are not designed with girls in mind.
"The way sport is done at school is the stuff of nightmares for girls," said Pendleton.
"Take cross country runs, for example, we had to wear horrible, blue knickers and a polo shirt to do them. The smallest uniform for the coldest weather: what's that about?
"And I remember absolutely hating communal showers. I think every teenage girl does.
"This shouldn't be too hard to fix - a few shower curtains, a bit of space to get dressed, some mirrors and working hairdryers - and if it means getting more girls into the habit of sport it's got to be a good thing."
The 34-year-old was speaking at the launch of the Youth Sport Trust's latest initiative to tackle these lower levels of participation by girls in PE and sport, the Girls Active Camp at Loughborough University.
Funded by Sport England and run in partnership with Women in Sport, the three-day camp saw 165 girls aged 14-16 take part in a series of sports sessions and leadership workshops intended to turn them into champions for sport, as opposed to sports champions, within their schools.
The Girls Active Camp idea follows a pilot project that ran through 2014 in 20 schools around the country. The results were remarkable:
Pendleton says she was "lucky" to grow up in a sporty family and have a twin brother to compete against, but she knows her story is an exception to the usual tale of girls turning their backs on sport as they reach their teenage years.
The most recent Sport England participation figures revealed two million fewer women aged 14-40 take part in regular sport than men, a statistic that has led to the launch of its 'This Girl Can' campaign.
"Although women are most active when they're younger, that happens to be where the biggest gender divide exists," said Sport England's director of community sport Mike Diaper.
"It's where sporting habits are formed, in some cases for life. That's why it's so important girls get a great experience of PE and sport at school."
Pendleton agrees but believes there is no "one-size-fits-all policy" to encourage more girls into sport.
"Some girls and some schools like traditional sports like football, hockey and netball; but others might want to try something completely different like street dance or self-defence," the double Olympic champion said.
"The important thing is that we stop this silly idea that sport isn't for girls."


Maxime Biamou's first-half goal gave FA Cup giant-killers Sutton a deserved 1-0 victory against Boreham Wood at Gander Green Lane.

The hosts made a bright start with Craig Eastmond and Biamou both testing Grant Smith in the Wood goal.
Sutton finally broke the deadlock in the 31st minute when a long ball from Jamie Collins was headed on by Adam Coombes for Biamou to rifle home right-footed from 15 yards for his second goal in as many games.
Eastmond wasted a chance to double the lead four minutes later when he cleared the bar in a great position on the edge of the area.
Will Puddy, signed on a month's loan from Bristol Rovers following an injury to Ross Warner which meant striker Simon Downer had to go in goal on Saturday, rescued the hosts just before the break by making a great save - rushing out to deny Bruno Andrade.
Smith was much the busier of the two goalkeepers after the break and he did well to push efforts from Coombes and Roarie Deacon round the post.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Second Half ends, Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Mark Ricketts (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Jack Jebb (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Simon Downer (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Sutton United. Craig Dundas replaces Adam Coombes.
Substitution, Sutton United. Gomis replaces Maxime Biamou.
Maxime Biamou (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Boreham Wood. Angelo Balanta replaces Kenny Davis.
David Stephens (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Ben Nunn (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Second Half begins Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Substitution, Boreham Wood. Ben Nunn replaces Anthony Jeffrey.
First Half ends, Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0.
Kenny Davis (Boreham Wood) is shown the yellow card.
Goal!  Sutton United 1, Boreham Wood 0. Maxime Biamou (Sutton United).
Craig Eastmond (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Boreham Wood. Jason Williams replaces Morgan Ferrier.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.


Adam Gemili destroyed his French rival Christophe Lemaitre to win European 200m gold and confirm his status as one of his adopted sport's most exciting young talents.

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The 20-year-old Briton, who only took up full-time sprinting in 2012, matched his own personal best of 19.98 seconds despite cold, wet conditions and a headwind of 1.6 metres per second.
Lemaitre was left in his wake on the bend and could not dent that lead down the straight as Gemili won his first senior title and Britain's 100th gold in the championships' long history.
"I'm so happy," Gemili told BBC Sport. "To become European champion was a big target for me this year and to achieve it is amazing."
"Adam nailed that race. He matched his personal best but better as it was into a stiff breeze. It was just about getting out of the blocks well and being confident in all of his work.
"It was a strong bend and he put his foot down in the home straight. He's announced himself onto the world scene yet again."
With Martyn Rooney earlier ahead of team-mate Matt Hudson-Smith, Jodie Williams taking 200m silver and Laura Weightman's gutsy 1500m bronze, it added up to another mighty night for the British team in Zurich and kept them atop the medal table.
Gemili's performance was the pick as the kid who was playing football for Thurrock three years ago became the first Briton since Dougie Walker 16 years ago to take the European crown.
Since switching to track the south Londoner has won the world junior title, reached the semi-finals of London 2012 and won Commonwealth 100m silver.
This was his best yet, the accepted calculations used by athletics statisticians indicating that his run was worth a theoretical 19.90 seconds in still conditions and 19.82 with a tailwind to match that he was running into.
He ran a superb bend and held that form and speed into the final 80m as Lemaitre, champion four years ago, took silver in 20.15, with Serhiy Smelyk in bronze.
"It's really cold," Gemili added. "I don't know why the race is so late and the track was wet. It's really nice that I can come out and do it for the guys behind me.
"I used to think the only way I'd be able to hear the national anthem was with the England football team. It's a great feeling, it's the best feeling in the world."
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Williams produced her third personal best of the summer behind a sensational run from Dafne Schippers to overhaul France's Myriam Soumare for silver, with fellow 20-year-old Bianca Williams in fourth.
Schippers' brilliant 22.03 secs, the fastest time in the world this year and the fastest by a European in 19 years, belied her status as a heptathlete stepping down to the sprints for a year.
There was disappointment for 18-year-old world junior champion Dina Asher-Smith in her first major final, a hamstring injury forcing her to pull up halfway round the bend.
But Williams' medal - the first by a British woman in this event since Kathy Cook's 32 years ago, and the fastest time by a British woman since 1984 - confirmed this as the summer when her rich junior promise began to pay dividends.
She told BBC Sport: "I'm so happy. To come away with two silver medals at senior level - I couldn't ask for any more. I was trying to chase Dafne down but her time was crazy."
Weightman added European 1500m bronze to her Commonwealth silver with a brave run behind Sifan Hassan and Abeba Aregawi.
The Briton took the race on with 600m to go and then, when the two world-class athletes in the field went past her at the bell, held off the pursuing pack in the last few metres.


A charity that helps people affected by terrorism is to offer support at events marking the first anniversary of the Bataclan attack in France.

On 13 November 2015, three gunmen killed 90 people and injured hundreds at the Bataclan nightclub in Paris.
The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace will support survivors who have travelled back to the city.
There was a "long-term need" for this support, Terry O'Hara from the Warrington-based charity said.
The group, which operates the UK Survivors Assistance Network, said it would "be in and around the Bataclan providing support for any UK victims of terrorism that have attended and obviously being available for any others".
Mr O'Hara said memorials were important to help survivors come to terms with what they had witnessed.
"There's a long-term need - these people have become members of a club they didn't want to join and there's a feeling that these attacks are very rare but incredibly impacting on the people affected and psychological trauma is overwhelmingly the after-effect that people struggle to find help with," he said.
The foundation is named after two schoolboys killed when two IRA bombs exploded in Warrington on 20 March 1993.
Tim Parry was 12 and Johnathan Ball just three years old when they were killed by the blast in a busy shopping street the day before Mother's Day. More than 50 other people were injured.


US government infectious disease labs mishandled dangerous pathogens five times in the last decade, according to a health agency report.

This year alone, workers mishandled samples of anthrax and the highly-infectious H5N1 avian flu.
In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has closed the two labs involved.
The agency has also temporarily barred high-security labs from transporting dangerous pathogens.
There have been no reported infections from previous cases, and no-one potentially exposed to anthrax has shown signs of illness, CDC officials said.
"These events should never have happened," CDC Director Tom Frieden told reporters on Friday.
"I'm disappointed, and frankly I'm angry about it," he said, adding later he was "astonished that this could have happened here".
The incidents were listed in a report on a potential anthrax exposure in June, which occurred when researchers in a high-level biosecurity laboratory failed to follow proper procedures and did not deactivate the bacteria.
The samples were then moved to a lower-security lab in the agency's Atlanta campus.
"This is not the first time an event of this nature has occurred at CDC, nor the first time it occurred from the [bioterror response] laboratory," the report said.
The CDC only recently learned of a separate incident in May in which a sample of the avian flu was cross-contaminated with a highly pathogenic version of the virus and then shipped to an agriculture department laboratory.
The influenza lab and the bioterror response laboratory have been temporarily closed in response.
The other incidents reported by the CDC:
The revelations come just days after US officials announced long forgotten vials of smallpox left in a cardboard box had been discovered by a government scientist at a research centre near Washington.
The virus was located in six freeze-dried and sealed vials, according to the CDC.
On Friday, the CDC announced that at least two of the vials contained the live virus but that no infections had been reported as a result of the incident.
It is believed to be the first time unaccounted-for smallpox was been discovered in the US. The disease was officially declared eradicated in the 1980s.


German discount chains Lidl and Aldi have continued to grab market share from the big four supermarkets, which all reported a drop in sales, according to market data.

Market researchers Kantar Worldpanel said there was an overall growth of 0.3% in the 12 weeks to 14 August, boosted by the warm weather.
Lidl and Aldi recorded like-for-like sales growth of 12.2% and 10.4%.
Tesco had a sales drop of 0.4% compared with 2015, the slowest in six months.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: "Current trends suggest the retailer may return to growth this year, which would mark the end of a decline stretching back to March 2015."
Asda remained at the bottom, with sales down 5.5%. Last week, Asda reported its worst quarterly performance on record.
Sainsbury's saw sales fall 0.6% and Morrisons by 1.8%.
Market researcher Nielsen, which has published industry data in the 12 weeks up to 13 August, found similar trends.
It and Kantar noted that promotional sales had dropped, reflecting the big four supermarkets' move towards simpler pricing models and permanent price cuts.
Mike Watkins, Nielsen's UK head of retailer and business insight, said the big four supermarkets were simplifying "the overall customer offer in response to the growth of the discounters by lowering the level of promotions and reducing multi-buys, instead moving to permanent price cuts".
He added that the hot weather and success at Rio had helped boost overall supermarket sales.
"Brexit seems to have been replaced by an Olympic 'feel-good' factor among shoppers and there were more visits to buy food and drink in the last four weeks than this time last year."
Nielsen said the strongest category performances were in soft drinks, with mineral water sales up by 18.5%. This was followed by frozen foods driven by ice-cream sales.
Kantar said grocery price inflation remained negative, with a representative basket of goods 1.3% cheaper than it was last year.


Liam Craig has returned for a second stint with St Johnstone after his summer release by Hibernian.

The 28-year-old midfielder, who left Saints for Easter Road in 2013, has signed a one-year contract with the Perth club.
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright told his club website: "When a manager makes any signing he's pleased.
"But the thing about Liam is that I didn't want him to leave in the first place."
Craig first joined Saints in 2007 on loan from Falkirk but signed a pre-contract agreement to join Hibs shortly before Wright stepped up from his assistant role to take over from the departing Steve Lomas.
"His experience and knowledge of the club is vital and that came into my thinking," said Wright.
"He has a wealth of experience but is still a good age and he has shown in training and in the (friendly) game against Real Sociedad that he is as good as ever.
"Also, he chips in with goals from midfield and that is something any team needs."
Craig suffered relegation with Hibs and played 32 times for the Edinburgh side in the Scottish Championship last term.
He said: "It goes without saying that I'm delighted to come back.
"I have a lot of great memories from the last time and I want to play my part in creating new ones and helping the club continue its successes in recent years, particularly the last two.
"Sometimes you just get the 'right fit' and in the time I've been back training it's almost like I've never been away."


Cuban President Raul Castro has called for "civilised relations" with the United States, saying the two countries should respect their differences.

President Castro said the US should drop its demand for regime change on the communist-run island.
That would allow both sides to continue work on improving relations, he said.
Mr Castro's comments follow a public handshake with President Obama at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela in South Africa earlier this month.
In a rare public speech, Mr Castro said Cuban and American officials had met several times over the last year to discuss practical matters, such as immigration and the re-establishment of a postal service.
That shows that relations can be civilised, Mr Castro explained.
But he warned: "If we really want to make progress in bilateral relations, we have to  learn to respect each other's differences and get used to living peacefully with them. Otherwise, no. We are ready for another 55 years like the last."
The US broke off relations in 1961, two years after the revolution, and maintains an economic embargo against the island.
"We do not ask the United States to change its political and social system, nor do we agree to negotiate over ours," Mr Castro told legislators at the closing session of the parliament in the capital, Havana.
Relations between the two neighbours have shown signs of improvement of late, although some stumbling blocks to reconciliation remain, said the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Havana.
Raul Castro, 82, took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2006. Fidel had serious health problems and was never able to come back to power. Two years later, he resigned and transferred control permanently to Raul Castro.
He has since carried out a programme of economic reforms, which has helped efforts for relations with the US to be improved.
But critics say the pace of change has been too slow.
"The reform process in Cuba cannot be rushed or it will lead to failure," Mr Castro warned.
Among the most recent changes announced by Raul Castro is the end of restrictions on private individuals to buy new and second hand cars.
Anyone with enough money will be allowed to order the vehicles from a government dealer.
Until now, only those who were given a previous government authorisation were allowed to buy cars in Cuba.