America tonight stands on the doorstep of greatness, or the precipice of doom.

Under a candidate this divisive, there's not much room for feeling anything in between, as the realisation dawns that Donald Trump now has a plausible shot at being America's next president.
There has never been a candidate for the White House quite like this. He came into the race something of a joke, he conducted his campaign in ways that sometimes seemed like a joke (remember the steaks) but he won the nomination with totally serious conviction, demolishing his large field of competitors.
One by one, the primary wins stacked up and the other candidates fell. It was extraordinary to watch. The man almost no-one in the American political world took seriously defied all the predictions.
How did he do it?
Trump tapped into something we all should have seen, but failed to. For years, working class Americans have suffered from low employment and stagnant wages. They've watched the spread of globalisation, immigration and free trade and they felt left behind.
The US economy appeared to boom, but their lives didn't reflect that triumph. They had got a bad deal. Add to that an America that seemed to have faltered on the global stage and a president congenitally averse to nationalistic chest-thumping and Donald Trump was a gift.
From the billionaire's New York penthouse, he somehow understood the concerns of less educated Americans, particularly less educated American men.
He appeared to have an intuitive understanding of their loves and hates. He even said at one point in this absurdly long campaign that he loved the poorly educated. He knew they felt shackled by political correctness, and he gave them freedom to rail against it.
He knew they were afraid that their country was changing around them, increasingly populated by people whose first language was Spanish not English. When he suggested that Mexico was sending rapists across the border, he vindicated those fears. When he proposed to ban all Muslims from America, he gave voice to the anti-Islamic sentiment that's simmered in the US since 9/11.
It has been a remarkable display of political instinct from a man who's never been in politics. His supporters are so devoted to him that he could do no wrong. When he said Vietnam torture victim and war vet Senator John McCain wasn't a war hero, his approval ratings went up.
When he suggested a female reporter posed a tough question because she was menstruating, his numbers improved again.
Mexico, Muslims, Lyin' Ted... they all just fuelled the Trump train. And they love him most because he doesn't sound like all the politicians who have promised much and delivered little.
And yet, at the risk of being churlish on the night Mr Trump celebrates a stunning victory, it is worth noting how he has also alienated millions of Americans in a way we have not seen here in modern history.
Never has a candidate for the presidency been this reviled and rejected by some members of their own party. There is a long list (literally, you can find it on the website of The Hill newspaper) of Republican politicians and strategists who have said they will never vote for Trump.
In private there are many more who have said they will vote for Hillary rather than Donald.
These are the people - and I have spoken to many of them - who say their party's candidate is a "bigot", "racist", "misogynist". They call him "crass", "rude", "a bully".
Some of these people may now fall in line with the party leadership, hold their nose and tick the Trump box, but they don't like him.
If you broaden the surveys out to all Americans, Trump breaks records with his unfavourability ratings.
Which is why two groups are cheering tonight, team Trump and team Clinton.
The Clinton campaign remains convinced that this is the perfect race for them. They see Trump's negatives and they believe he is the best candidate they could have hoped for as their Republican opponent.
Moreover, the demographics of America would suggest that whoever is the Democratic nominee stands an odds-on chance of winning the White House - there are just more Democratic than Republican voters in the country.
But this is a curious year, the political rule book has been shredded and Donald Trump hates losing almost more than he loves winning.
The Clinton camp would be wrong to get too confident too soon. If we have learned one thing in this crazy campaign, it is that predictions are foolish.
Call me a fool, but I'm prepared to make just one more - the Clinton-Trump match-up is going to be brutal.
You thought the last 24 hours was ugly. You haven't seen anything yet.


Heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury has been fined and banned after admitting driving at 90mph in southern Scotland.

He had previously admitted the charge by letter at Dumfries Justice of the Peace Court but failed to turn up after being ordered to appear personally.
That led to a warrant being issued for his arrest and a weekend in police custody.
He received a two-month driving ban and Â£400 fine for the offence committed near Carrutherstown in November.
His father and manager, John Fury, told the court he took the blame for his son's failure to appear on two previous occasions.
"There had been a change of address and, as his manager, I am responsible for dealing with matters like that and hadn't picked up his mail," he said.
When the case was originally called, Fury, whose address at that time was given as being in Heysham, sent in a letter admitting driving at 90mph on the A75 near Carrutherstown, between Dumfries and Annan.
He also admitted failing to comply with a solid white line marking.
The court had ordered his personal appearance because of the possibility of a disqualification..
His father pointed out that his address was now in Lancaster and, as his son sat in the dock, added: "He needs his driving licence because of the amount of travelling he has to do."
However, Justice John Bickett indicated that there were already 11 points on Fury's licence and banned and fined him.
As he left the court the boxer said he had been arrested on Friday night and spent the weekend in custody.
He said: "I have now experienced what it's like for a criminal â€¦ at the expense of the government."


Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 72, known as the "Iron Lady" by her supporters, has been named as one of three joint winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

The award comes six years after she became Africa's first elected female head of state following the end of Liberia's 14-year civil war.
It also comes just days before she stands for re-election, despite initially promising she would only seek one term.
While out campaigning, the diminutive grandmother figure is often dwarfed by her party officials and bodyguards but over a political career spanning almost 30 years she has earned her steely nickname.
She was imprisoned in the 1980s for criticising the military regime of Samuel Doe and then backed Charles Taylor's rebellion before falling out with him.
After beat her in the 1997 presidential election, she was charged with treason, prompting her to return to exile.
In 2009, Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that she be barred from holding public office for 30 years for her role in backing Mr Taylor, who is currently on trial for war crimes in The Hague.
She has ignored the ruling but has apologised for backing Mr Taylor.
One veteran of Liberia's political scene said Mrs Sirleaf's nickname comes from her iron will and determination.
"It would have been much easier for her to quit politics and sit at home like others have done but she has never given up," he said.
She won the 2005 election run-off even though she faced probably the best known Liberian - former football star George Weah.
Despite the popular appeal of her opponent, analysts say she won because of background as a development economist.
Mrs Sirleaf has held a string of international financial positions, from minister of finance in 1979 to Africa director at the United Nations Development Programme.
So many people felt she was well placed to rebuild Liberia's shattered economy.
Since becoming president, she has cancelled and renegotiated a $1bn contract with the world's largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, which has since started iron ore production in the north east.
Another $2.6bn iron ore concession agreement was entered into between the government and China Union, a consortium of Chinese companies.
But she says that her work has not finished, which is why she changed her mind and decided to seek re-election.
"When the plane hasn't landed yet, don't change the pilots," her posters say.
Some poor Liberians complain that their lives have not changed much since Mrs Sirleaf became president.
Many educated Liberians - and members of the old elite descended from freed American slaves - gave Mrs Sirleaf their backing in 2005.
While men continue to dominate life in rural areas of Liberia, in the cities, some women and some gender-sensitive men felt it was time the country had a female leader - after a succession of men had brought the country to ruins.
Mrs Sirleaf said she wanted to become president in order "to bring motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency" as a way of healing the wounds of war.
Throughout her campaign, she has said that if she won, it would encourage women across Africa to seek high political office.
She constantly stresses her commitment to the fight against corruption and after returning from exile, she served as head of the Governance Reform Commission set up as part of the deal to end Liberia's civil war in 2003.
She resigned that post to contest the presidency, criticising the transitional government's inability to fight corruption.
However, her opponents now make the same claims about her administration and even accused her allies of buying votes ahead of Tuesday's re-election - charges they strongly deny.
On her father's side she is descended from a traditional chief, while her mother's father was a German trader.
She was married aged 17 to James Sirleaf but they later divorced.
She is the mother of four sons and has six grandchildren.


Petr Pavlensky is a free man again after seven months behind bars.

The Russian artist was found guilty of criminal damage for his last project and issued a hefty fine by a Moscow court.
But emerging to cheers from his supporters on Wednesday, he was clearly undaunted by the verdict.
Pavlensky told the crowd that they are living in a society controlled through "uninterrupted terror", that surveillance in Russia is on the rise but that people's own fear is making them prisoners.
That was the stark message the artist wanted to send when he conceived "Threat" and selected the headquarters of Russia's powerful security service, the FSB, as his canvas - or target.
The FSB's own CCTV cameras captured the moment early one November morning when he doused a door in petrol and set it alight.
Pavlensky then stood motionless, fuel can in hand, as the flames rose behind him. Moments later, a police officer wrestled him to the ground.
So was it art, or just plain arson?
According to Pavlensky, everything from the fire onward was part of what he calls political art. He was transformed into a passive observer, while officials from police to prosecutors were drawn in to the action and exposed.
Artist found guilty of tyre-burning protest
Pushing the art of protest to new limits
Activist sets fire to Lubyanka door
Among those unwitting players were a prosecution expert who claimed that the FSB building was an object of cultural heritage because eminent cultural figures were held prisoner there during Stalin's repressions.
Pavlensky's lawyers called two Soviet-era dissidents in response.
"It truly is a unique monument," one of the former political prisoners agreed. "To the destruction of culture, and to Russian terror."
The artist was escorted in handcuffs to every hearing by police and locked in a metal cage in court. When he addressed journalists during a break and spoke of state terror, a police dog snarled and slavered before his cage, straining its leash.
So the half-a-million rouble (Â£5,400; $7,850) fine, plus a similar sum in damages, was a surprise.
One commentator in Vedemosti newspaper suggested that the Kremlin wanted to avoid a repeat of the 2011 Pussy Riot scandal, when three women were imprisoned for their anti-Putin punk performance in a Moscow church.
Pavlensky is friends with the group and his first "action" was to support them by sewing his lips together in a symbolic protest.
Since then he's nailed himself to Red Square by the scrotum, wrapped himself in barbed wire and leaped naked onto the wall of a psychiatric institute to lop off his earlobe.
Deliberately shocking, he has told me his work is designed to shake people out of what he calls their fear, apathy and indifference.
To some Russians the result is daring, to others disgusting. Pavlensky has been called mad before and now he's officially a criminal.
"They're trying to label me: to say this is how a criminal, or a sick mind, views those in power," Pavlensky told me, before being whisked away by friends and family.
"It's a fight for a label: criminal or mad? But I am an artist. I am doing political art," he insisted. "Nothing less, and nothing more."
And he has vowed to go on with that, despite his sentence.
Pavlensky's protest art is challenging and provocative. But it's difficult to ignore.


Nearly one million people have visited the Kelpies sculptures in Falkirk in the year since they opened to the public.

Andy Scott's towering horse heads were unveiled on 21 April last year, and have proved a popular visitor attraction.
Bosses at the Helix Park, which the statues are part of, expect to welcome their one millionth visitor this month.
Mr Scott said they had created an "almost tangible sense of civic pride".
The 30m (98ft) high sculptures were unveiled with a light and pyrotechnic show one year ago.
Up to 50,000 people have taken part in guided tours of the Kelpies, and they have won a number of design awards as well as being named "Scotland's national treasure" by the National Lottery.
Artist Mr Scott said the public's response had been "very rewarding".
He said: "I am particularly pleased as it demonstrates the regenerative effect iconic public art can have, and it seems to have created an almost tangible sense of civic pride in the local area.
"Isn't it fantastic that in their first year almost a million people have come to the Helix to see the sculptures?
"It's a tremendous reward for me as the artist, and for all the many experts and specialists from across the UK who were involved in their creation, to see them receive so many visitors and be awarded so many accolades."
The launch of the Kelpies coincided with the opening of the John Muir Way, a 134-mile coast-to-coast trail through Falkirk and central Scotland named after the Scottish naturalist who was born on 21 April.
The Helix, a 350-hectare, Â£43m parkland project between Falkirk and Grangemouth, is operated by the Falkirk Community Trust.
General manager Neil Brown said the Kelpies had had a "fantastic year".
He said: "We have welcomed visitors from across the globe on guided tours to The Kelpies and once our visitor centre opens in October of this year, the site will be set to be more successful.
"But equally important is the repeat visits by the local Falkirk community who have really taken the Kelpies to their heart and have become very proud of this new facility."
To mark the one-year anniversary, a parade of local schoolchildren walked a section of the John Muir Way up to the Kelpies alongside a pair of Clydesdale horses, Duke and Dan, which were used as life models by Mr Scott.


Durham missed out on reaching the knockout stages of the One-Day Cup after losing to Lancashire.

Dane Vilas hit 108 from 88 balls for Lancashire, while opener Alex Davies contributed 50 as the visitors made 304-8 from their 50 overs.
Durham, needing to win to progress from the North Group, lost two early wickets as they started their reply.
Michael Richardson made 58, but Kyle Jarvis took 3-42 to keep the hosts to 276-9 and secure the win by 28 runs.
Lancashire's own hopes of earning one of the top three places had ended when Nottinghamshire's game at Northamptonshire was washed out.
Victory for the Red Rose county meant they finished fourth in the North Group, one place ahead of Durham in fifth.


A young girl shot in the head in East Sussex remains gravely ill in hospital.

Police said the child, who is thought to have been shot by her father who was found dead at the scene in Northiam, is seven years old.
Ch Supt Neil Honnor said a firearm had been recovered, but would not confirm the relationship between the girl and the man.
The body of the man was found in a car parked outside a house in the Spring Hill area of the village.
Prayers have been said at the injured girl's school, Beckley Church of England Primary in Beckley near Rye.
The area around the scene has been cordoned off since the shooting, which happened at about 16:00 BST on Thursday.
Ch Supt Honnor said officers had identified "the perpetrator of the offence".
"This does not appear to be an incident that's necessarily related to Northiam other than the fact that it happened there.
"We believe this is a domestic-related incident," he said.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Beckley CE Primary said: "We have received confirmation that the child who was shot is a pupil at our school.
"This is a dreadfully sad and shocking incident and the whole school community are praying for her and her family."
The girl is being treated at King's College Hospital in London.


In our series of letters from African journalists, Joseph Warungu leaves the hubbub of Nairobi to finally make his maiden visit to Sierra Leone's capital, where he finds people determined to overcome their history of civil war and Ebola.

I am in Freetown and I feel truly free.
Free from the pressures and pretensions of life in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, where the struggles of the middle class are over who drives the latest model of which car, and who lives in the poshest neighbourhood.
In Nairobi, many people, especially the young, are obsessed with the nauseating celebrity culture, whose lifestyle glitters so much it can blind you.
Landing from the heights of Nairobi's razzle-dazzle, Freetown humbles you.
First, if your heart was in your mouth as the aeroplane shook and trembled in the rainy season, then your heart will be in your hand on the ground as you take the ferry from Lungi International Airport, to Freetown.
You can tell who is a foreigner by the strained look in their faces, as the small ferry dances and slices across the waves.
I have been waiting to get to Sierra Leone for the last 20 years. I reported on the country since the early 1990s, from the safety of London.
I played my favourite Sierra Leonean music on the BBC Network Africa breakfast show, but never made it to Freetown. So when an opportunity arose, to come and train young journalists at the Africa Young Voices TV station, I seized it with both hands and feet!
Alighting from the ferry at Freetown, you can immediately tell the state of unemployment in the country, by the vast number of baggage handlers employed by the ferry companies.
The drive through the streets immediately brings home the effects of more than a decade of civil war, and the tragedy that was Ebola.
The city is overcrowded, with lots of informal settlements, and the infrastructure is bursting at the seams.
There is a serious problem of waste management. The current government, which has put a lot of effort into infrastructure projects and stabilising the economy, has its work cut out.
The people of Freetown are desperate to be free from the threats of disease.
Joseph Warungu:
"As soon as we began to talk politics, my spirit was brought crashing down"
But it is in my interactions with people that lift my spirits. They do not call it "Sweet Salone" for no reason.
The people here are warm, friendly and generous. And whether it is as a result of trying to forget the pain of the past or not, it is clear they love to have a good time.
Everywhere you go, you will find clubs and social places where people gather to set themselves free from the struggles of the week through great music, dance, food and laughter.
So I have had more than my fair share of Jollof rice and cassava leaves. For an east African, the pepper in the food is on the side of plenty-oh, and so a glass of water is always at hand - much to the amusement of my hosts.
I run a national mentorship programme for young journalists in Kenya in the form of a TV programme called Top Story. So I became completely at home when I eventually began to train the young Sierra Leonean journalists and broadcasters.
Their hunger for knowledge and skills and enthusiasm sent me on a high. But as soon as we began to talk politics, my spirit was brought crashing down.
Like my own country and many others in Africa, corruption is a big threat to the people.
Like Kenya, here too society is divided into the two rival sides that will be seeking office in the next election. And the issues are exactly the same - a high cost of living, unemployment and demands for better governance.
After my first week here, I was ready to explore some of the key towns whose names have been on my lips as a broadcast journalist in the last 20 years - Bo, Makeni, Kabala, Kenema and Koiduâ€¦
Then I will perhaps be ready to re-engage with the rat-race of life and the paralysing traffic of Nairobi.
More from Joseph Warungu:
Kenyans beg for mercy
Should degrees be necessary for leaders?
What to look out for in Africa during 2017
How to stop exam cheats
Party time in Kenya


John Hastings and Usman Arshad led a Durham fightback against Sussex on day two with a ninth-wicket stand of 116.

The pair helped the hosts recover from 222-8, after they lost three wickets in five balls, to post 339 all out - a first-innings advantage of four runs.
Hastings was the last man out for 72 off 86 balls, while Ajmal Shahzad and Ollie Robinson took four wickets each.
Sussex then reached 115-3 at the close, a lead of 111, with Matt Machan 25 not out and Chris Rushworth claiming 2-51.
Resuming on 103-2, paceman Shahzad soon removed nightwatchman Rushworth, before Scott Borthwick (23) and Michael Richardson (37) steadied things with a partnership of 46, despite both being struck on the helmet.
After both fell having made starts, Durham then lost a cluster of wickets without adding a run.
Shahzad (4-72) dismissed Calum MacLeod (22) and Paul Mustard for nought before Paul Collingwood edged Robinson (4-71), who scored a debut century on the opening day, to slip at the start of the next over as Durham collapsed from 222-5 to 222-8.
With Sussex looking like gaining a sizeable first-innings lead, Australian Hastings and Arshad took the attack to the bowlers as they raced to their hundred partnership in just 80 minutes off 121 balls.
However, the ever reliable Steve Magoffin returned to dismiss Arshad (35) and fellow countryman Hastings in consecutive overs.
Sussex captain Ed Joyce and Chris Nash then shared an opening stand of 55 before Joyce was trapped lbw by Rushworth for 30 and Nash edged the same bowler behind shortly after.
In-form Scotland batsman Machan took his average for the season to more than 85 as he remained unbeaten at stumps.
Durham's John Hastings:
"The first session tomorrow is massive for both sides. Big stands down the order in both first innings showed that you can score runs when the ball gets a bit softer.
"So for us it's crucial that we take wickets while the ball is still fairly hard in the next 20 overs.
"We wouldn't want to chase more than 250 in the fourth innings."


Train passengers across England are to be hit by further action by striking union members.

Arriva Rail North staff will walk out for three days from Saturday, while Merseyrail staff will strike on 8, 10 and 23 July.
Southern workers also plan to walk out on 10 July.
The RMT union is in dispute with the companies over driver-only-operated trains, which it says would be unsafe and lead to widespread job losses.
General secretary Mick Cash said: "We have already been inundated with concerns that de-staffing trains will increase the risk of anti-social behaviour."
Sharon Keith, regional director at Northern, said: "We are doing everything we can to keep our customers on the move during the three days of industrial action affecting our network."
Northern said it expected to run more than 40% of its timetable and it would have additional rail replacement buses.
However, all services are expected to be extremely busy and travellers should allow extra time for travel, the company said.
On Saturday and Monday, most services are to run between 7:00 and 19:00 BST with many routes winding down from late afternoon. On Sunday most services will operate between 09:00 and 17:00.
Merseyrail trains are to run from 07:00 to 19:00 but some stations will be closed. There will be no trains running on Ellesmere Port, Hunts Cross and Kirkby lines.
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director, said customers were urged to check before travelling.
He added: "The team has put together the best possible timetable that we can to provide a limited train service on both strike days."
The strike on the 23 July coincides with the final day of The Open golf championship at Royal Birkdale although the tournament's website says a Merseyrail service to get people to and from the venue is planned.
According to Southern the industrial action on 10 July is "not expected to have any further affect on services".
An ASLEF union driver overtime ban continues.


The chief executive of the Co-op Bank, Niall Booker, will see some glimmers of hope in today's results.

The bank's capital position (the strength of its balance sheet) is improving and operational costs are down 13%.
Although losses are still significant, they are lower than expected as the bank off-loads underperforming mortgages to investors who are desperately searching for yield in an ultra-low interest rate world.
Those investors are snapping up riskier self-certified and interest only mortgage packages in the belief they will enjoy higher returns in the long run as the economy improves and incomes rise.
The Co-op's Â£1.5bn Optimum package of residential mortgages repackaged and sold off in May was the latest example of shovelling high-risk assets out of the door.
And the fewer high-risk assets a bank has, the better the capital position.
For borrowers and savers, one figure in the small print worth keeping an eye on is the net interest margin (NIM).
For the Co-op Bank. it is up 0.12% overall and 0.24% in the core bank, figures that will be welcomed by investors as they are comparable to an increase in a company's gross profit margin.
At its most basic - and this is true across banking - the net interest margin is the difference between the interest rate paid on deposits and the interest rate charged to borrowers, in the main mortgage holders. The wider it is the more money a bank makes.
Co-op's is still a relatively modest 1.32%. That compares with Lloyds, which is expected to hit 2.6% by the end of the year.
Generally, mortgages are a more profitable line of business for banks compared with savings products.
And the mortgage market is brutally competitive at the moment, as the major banks battle for home buyers' custom.
So interest rates charged to borrowers are under intense pressure to remain as low as possible.
Which could be bad news for savers, if a bank wants to keep that margin improvement.
Of course, this is all a balancing act. Depositors are important for a bank's capital position - so irritate them at your peril.
Certainly, Mr Booker will be pleased that the Co-op has arrested the fall in current account holders.
In the same period last year, Co-op lost over 60,000 customers. That figure has now dropped to 2,250 as the terrible publicity surrounding the bank has abated.
One stark figure to end on. Co-op has revealed that the number of branch transactions fell by 28% in the first half of the year.
It is already in the process of closing a large number of its high street branches, the number falling from 227 to 165. It is likely there will be more closures to come.


The NHS in the North East and Cumbria could be £1bn over budget by 2021 if nothing is done to reduce spending, analysis by the BBC has revealed.

Health bosses are looking at efficiency savings such as downgrading one or two accident and emergency units.
Other areas being reviewed include; acute medicine and surgery, maternity, orthopaedics, and paediatric services.
Campaigners have expressed concern and are planning a protest over what they claim are plans to cut services.
Analysis by the BBC Sunday Politics North East and Cumbria programme of draft plans and other documents has found the NHS will outspend its allocated budget by well over £1bn if savings are not made and the way services are delivered is not changed.
"Sustainability and transformation plans" have been drawn up for individual regions, or health "footprints", and include the possibility of downgrading one, or both, of the A&E units at Darlington Memorial Hospital and North Tees Hospital in Stockton.
Campaigners are planning a march between hospitals in County Durham and Teesside. They will set off from the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, and finish at Darlington Memorial Hospital a week later.
Jo Land, one of the campaigners, said: "All services in our NHS footprint area, which is the area that we're walking, are under threat."
Those behind the plans- a combination of clinical commissioning groups and health trusts across County Durham and Teesside - said they were being drawn up by senior doctors and surgeons locally.
It said in a statement: "They are looking at general practice, mental health, providing more care in the community, and improving prevention as well as treatment.
"Other aspects of A&E, including urgent care, paediatric assessment and frail elderly assessment could still take place locally.
"No decisions have been made about which services may move as part of this work, but we will be sharing further details of plans later in the Autumn."


Northern Ireland's justice minister has said he is going to consult on changing abortion laws to allow women carrying babies with fatal foetal abnormalities to have a termination.

Other grounds, such as abortion in rape or incest cases, are also expected to be covered.
David Ford said he hoped to put out a consultation document for the "potential for change" by next Easter.
He said he anticipated it would only apply to a narrow range of cases.
Fatal foetal abnormality is currently not a ground for abortion under Northern Ireland law.
Mr Ford told BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show he would review the legislation after two women told their stories earlier this year.
Both women discovered their babies had anencephaly, a severe brain abnormality, and would not survive outside the womb.
Sarah Ewart contacted the BBC's Nolan Show in October to highlight her experience.
She travelled to England for a termination after discovering her baby would not survive outside the womb.
Another woman, Laura, who was pregnant with twins, also got in touch with the programme to say she was facing the same situation.
"What we have to do is carry out a consultation on the potential for change," said Mr Ford.
"Long before I became minister for justice, long before I met Sarah Ewart, I have said that there are clearly some very difficult cases in Northern Ireland which are not covered by the law as it applies in Northern Ireland.
"Now this is not talking about a wholesale introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act as applies across the water, it is simply saying that in a very narrow range of cases, I do believe we do need to consider whether it should be lawful to have an abortion in those circumstances where there is no chance of the foetus being delivered and having a viable life."
Mr Ford said he had had discussions with a number of people in recent weeks, including representatives from the four major churches.
"I believe that there is certainly an understanding amongst many people that we do need to consider the issue and consider it seriously. We'll have to see as a result of the consultation what then is possible in terms of legislation for Northern Ireland, if that is the wish."
After her story aired on the Nolan Show, Mr Ford met one of the women.
"It's impossible to have a conversation with Sarah, her husband, and her mother, without being deeply impressed by what they went through, the turmoil for loving parents expecting a happy birth and then given that devastating news and clearly at that sense, obviously she had a personal effect on me," he said.
The laws covering abortion in Northern Ireland are the 1861 Offences against the Person Act, and the Criminal Justice Act 1945.
Terminations are only permitted to save a woman's life, or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.
Mr Ford said he would consider whether the law needed to be widened to include victims of rape or incest.
"It's clearly a slightly wider area than just the issue of fatal foetal abnormality," he said.
"I know there are some, including some who don't want to see a drastic widening of abortion legislation in Northern Ireland, who do believe we need to consider that as well."
Last year, official figures confirmed that at least 40 terminations a year are carried out on these grounds.
More than 1,000 women a year who do not fit in these categories travel from Northern Ireland each year to have an abortion in other parts of the UK.
In England, Wales and Scotland access to abortion is covered by the 1967 Abortion Act. That permits terminations up to 24 weeks of pregnancy on grounds that include risk to the physical or mental health of the woman or existing children in the family, and abnormalities that could lead to a child being "seriously handicapped".
It is also allowed over 24 weeks if a woman's life or health is at serious risk, and for serious disabilities.
The DUP said the 1967 act allowed "the delivery of abortion on demand" and it was fundamentally opposed to it.
"We want to see as few abortions as possible take place in Northern Ireland," said a party spokesman.
He added: "We should always remember that behind the statistics and arguments lies the lives of fathers, mothers and unborn children. Everyone should approach this issue with sensitivity and compassion."
Sinn FÃ©in said it was not in favour of the extension of the 1967 Act.
"We will participate in the consultation process, as it is important that there is as much consensus as possible across society built on this issue," a party spokesperson said.
"I'm sure all of the other parties, and wider society in general, will do likewise."
The SDLP also said it was opposed to the extension of the act and "felt immense sympathy and compassion" for any woman who experienced fatal foetal abnormality.
Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said he personally would back change although "it was a matter of conscience for his party generally".


"I don't want a job because I'm a woman, I want it because I'm the best person for the job."

That is the verdict of Englishwoman Laura Harvey, who will be the only female coach in charge of a National Women's Soccer team when the 2017 season kicks off in the United States on Saturday.
At 36, Harvey is in to her fifth season in charge of Seattle Reign, who begin their season against Sky Blue FC in arguably the most competitive women's league in the world.
Yet she is possibly best known in the UK for her time in charge of Arsenal Ladies. Harvey, from Warwickshire, guided the club to three consecutive English league titles, one FA Cup and two Continental Cups.
So how does it feel to be the sole survivor in a competition that had three of its eight teams coached by women when it started in 2013?
Watch: 'I want a job for my ability - not gender'
"I honestly don't think about it until people bring it up to me," Harvey told BBC World Service. "Whether that is because I was raised in a male-dominated world, I don't know. I do feel pride, 100% I do.
"People ask me if I am a role model. I don't think I am, but when I sit down and talk about it I can understand why people might look at me that way. That is an added responsibility that I should take on."
Harvey left Arsenal to take up the role with the Seattle Reign in 2013. Since that inaugural season they have twice won the NWSL Shield for finishing top of the league, while attendances have doubled, but Harvey says had she not been pushed, she wouldn't have even got the job.
"I didn't put my name in the hat, someone called me and asked me if I was I wanted it," she explained.
"I don't think I would have applied for it, if it was an application process. I probably didn't believe at the time that I was the best person for the job."
Harvey has signed a contract extension until 2020 and is such a part of the country's football set-up she has been helping to coach the USA's Under-23s.
Harvey says there are "loads of reasons" for the dearth of women coaches in the league, but thinks men are more likely to chance their arm when it comes to appointments.
"I think the main reason is that a female is more likely to apply for a job and put themselves out there when they believe they are the right person for it, whereas a male might take the risk a little bit more and just put their name in the hat and see how it goes," she said.
"I think sometimes female coaches don't want to put themselves out there to be shot down - because women's football at this level is relatively new, I don't think the cut and thrust of applying for jobs, being let down and the process around it is something we are all comfortable with, but that is a barrier we have to pass."
At the age of 22, Harvey's hopes of a career as a professional footballer were ended as she ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee playing for Birmingham City Ladies. She quickly turned to coaching at the club, influenced from an early age by her father, who was a youth coach at Coventry.
"I think that any female coach who is willing to put themselves out there and really give it a shot will be given the opportunity in this league. I really believe that.
"There is no female coach that I know who wants a job just because it is something that has been put in place to ensure that they get it."
Harvey's first season in the NWSL was a steep learning curve. She lost nine of her first 10 games in charge. But the club's owners, Bill and Teresa Predmore, stood by their coach and their support was rewarded. Harvey is one of only three coaches remaining from that debut season.
Harvey doubts any breakthrough for women is imminent in her own country.
"Do I think it is going to happen in the Premier League in my lifetime? No, I don't," she said.
"It doesn't really bother me - if someone is willing to take a risk on a female and truly believes that they are the right person for the job then I would like to think it can happen.
"Back home in England, though, the media are ruthless - you only have to look at Bob Bradley at Swansea for that. The moment that he said something that wasn't quite what people wanted him to say, that was it, it was game over.
"There is just not that barrier here in America as much. There is still a barrier, but it is one I think can be broken down a lot earlier than at home."
Despite the fact the NWSL has struggled to employ women in high-profile coaching jobs, Harvey remains optimistic there is a route for the best female coaches to move into the men's game.
"I actually think if it is going happen, it will happen here before it happens in England. The US is more open-minded towards the women's game. I think the TV ratings show that.
"The level at which the US national team is held in regard compared to the men gives everyone a chance. I think that the MLS could be the place that you see a female coach. I really believe that.
"I am not saying it can't happen at home in England, but if it did, it would happen in the Conference or League Two."
Laura Harvey was speaking to the BBC World Service as part of the BBC's From Elite to Grassroots women's football series.
The BBC's Women's Footballer of the Year award 2017 is being launched on Sunday, 30 April with five nominees up for the public vote. You will be able to vote for your winner at bbc.com/women's football. Voting closes on Monday, 15 May.


A woman who "trolled" Madeleine McCann's family on Twitter killed herself days after she was challenged by reporters, an inquest concluded.

Brenda Leyland, 63, from Leicestershire, was found dead after she was confronted by Martin Brunt from Sky News over the abuse.
Mr Brunt told the inquest in Leicester he had been "devastated" by her death.
Coroner Catherine Mason concluded she had killed herself and called for sales of helium to be regulated.
The inquest heard that divorcee Mrs Leyland, of Burton Overy, posted 400 tweets about the McCann family between November 2013 and September 2014.
Madeleine went missing while on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
Mr Brunt told the inquest he and a cameraman confronted Mrs Leyland after Sky News obtained a dossier of alleged Twitter "trolls" handed to police.
She initially told him she was "entitled" to send the messages, later inviting him into her home for an interview.
He told the hearing he kept her informed of his plans - which included picturing but not naming her - because he was aware it could have an impact.
Asked by the coroner if there was anything which indicated a concern for her life, Mr Brunt said: "No, but when I asked her how she was, she said 'oh I have thought about ending it all but I am feeling better - I have had a drink and spoken to my son'".
He said he thought her comments were a throwaway remark and had no idea about her history of depression or a previous attempt at suicide.
She was found dead in a Leicester hotel after an overdose on 4 October.
"I was devastated, I still am and the enormity of what's happened will always be with me," Mr Brunt added.
The court also heard evidence from her son Ben, who said he believed the confrontation had been the final straw.
In a statement, he said he believed she was "completely destroyed" by what had occurred.
He said he heard "panic and fear" in her voice when he spoke to her after the Sky interview.
A Sky News spokesman said the news team had followed its editorial guidelines "in a responsible manner", adding the story was "firmly in the public interest".
"Brenda Leyland's tragic death highlights the unforeseeable human impact that the stories we pursue can have, and Sky News would like to extend its sincere condolences to her family," the Sky statement said.
None of the messages sent by Mrs Leyland were directed personally at the McCanns, who have "no significant presence" on social media.


The actor who played Kano in the series Mortal Kombat: Legacy has died.

Darren Shahlavi was 42 years old.
His agent confirmed to Variety that he had died in his sleep and was found by his roommate.
Darren's younger sister Malouse wrote on Twitter: "Don't know how to express the emotions I'm feeling right now. Last night I found out my dearest brother had past (sic) away, he was a true inspiration to so many people including myself."
The actor began martial arts training in England as a child, before moving to Hong Kong and becoming a stunt man.
He moved to Hollywood after being cast as the villain in kung fu film Tai Chi Chuan.
As well as the Mortal Kombat series, Darren Shahlavi featured alongside Eddie Murphy in I-Spy and The Final Cut with Robin Williams.
More recently he had worked on DC Comics-inspired show Arrow.
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Warrenpoint Town could move off the foot of the table for the first time this season with victory over Carrick Rangers at Seaview on Friday night.

A seven-game unbeaten run, which ended with a 1-0 loss at Dungannon on Monday, has helped Warrenpoint close to within a point of their opponents.
Carrick have two games in hand but Warrenpoint manager Barry Gray hopes they can put the pressure on.
"Psychologically it would be massive if we could go ahead of them," said Gray.
"Games in hand are one thing, but I'd rather have points on the board and even if we could get off the bottom of the table for a week or two, or a game or two, it would give everyone a massive lift."
Warrenpoint defender Liam Bagnall is available after a two-game suspension to face Carrick, who were 1-0 winners over Crumlin Star in Monday's Irish Cup sixth round tie.
Despite seeing their unbeaten streak come to an end with a 1-0 defeat to Dungannon Swifts, Gray is happy with how his team played.
"It wasn't a setback because we performed quite well," he said.


A shop assistant needed hospital treatment after he was injured in a robbery at a store in Stonehaven.

Three youths, armed with a knife, took alcohol and cigarettes in the incident at Best One in the town's Kings Road at about 18:30 on Thursday.
Police said the 33-year-old man was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment to a laceration on his arm.
His attackers are said to be aged between 14 and 19, and wore dark clothes and hoods.
Officers have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.


Ongoing issues about the workload linked to the new school qualifications in Scotland are expected to be discussed later.

All three teaching unions are now taking some form of industrial action over their concerns about the new courses.
Problems highlighted include the level of bureaucracy and increased workload.
These are likely to be among the topics raised at a regular meeting involving unions, education chiefs and others.
The group brings together a full range of stakeholders including the Scottish government, the exams body the SQA, senior figures in education such as directors of education from local authorities, all three unions and the council umbrella body Cosla.
But finding a solution which fully addresses the concerns of unions and leads to an end to industrial action will be a challenge.
School qualifications have been through a three-year shake-up.
Standard Grades and Intermediates were scrapped, National 4 and 5 qualifications were introduced and Highers and Advanced Highers were revamped.
Although the shake-up is now complete - and this year's S4 students will be the fourth set of pupils to study for N4s and N5s - some teachers and unions have serious practical worries.
Their concerns are about how the new courses are working out in practice - not the qualifications themselves or the underlying aims of the changes.
One issue concerns ongoing assessments - unit assessments - in the National 5 and Higher courses.
Members of the largest union - the EIS - are now taking part in a partial work-to-rule over their concerns. Teachers are not taking part in work linked to developing the new qualifications unless they are contractually obliged to.
However the work-to-rule should have no direct impact on learners and the union stresses it does not cover other additional activities teachers do such as sports clubs and school trips.
The EIS has argued that there is unnecessary duplication between the assessments and the exams.
The union said it wanted to see an acceptable timetable for a significant reduction in unit assessments and the workload associated with them.
There are also worries linked to the National 4s. In some schools and council areas, N5 candidates routinely have to complete a special unit so they still receive a N4 award if they fail their course.
Some argue this is a waste of time for both the candidates and teachers unless the teacher believes there is a genuine chance of the individual candidate failing.
The SSTA is likely to hold a ballot soon on taking similar action - an unofficial ballot recently suggested overwhelming support.
The NASUWT has also been taking action.
The qualifications agency the SQA said it had spoken extensively to a wide range of people in education including teachers, candidates and managers to gather evidence about how the new qualifications were going.
This had informed discussion at the Ministerial Group on Assessment and new National Qualifications.
A spokesman said this had identified that there were several factors which contributed to the workload for both teachers and students which could have had a direct impact on both the delivery of courses and assessment.
One included how well prepared candidates were to start studying for them by the end of third year - work towards the qualifications starts in S4.
Others include the importance of schools and colleges allowing sufficient time for teaching, learning and assessment of the courses and ensuring candidates were studying for the appropriate level of qualification - there is evidence some had not been.
The SQA said it had already introduced some measures - but other measures were the responsibility of others, for instance schools or councils.
A spokesman added: "We are confident that the measures SQA has put in place will alleviate workload concerns arising from assessment, re-assessment and the recording of evidence while, at the same time, maintaining the standards and credibility of our qualifications."
SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson said changes to qualifications that had been suggested by the SQA would not reduce teacher workload.
He added: "Most of our members' concerns relate to the administration and bureaucracy generated by SQA rather than respecting teacher judgements and normal assessment procedures.
"The inspectorate are looking at local authorities to see what instructions are being  given to schools to reduce workload but that will not necessarily reduce the SQA workload issues.
"The inspectorate will probably find examples of good advice but the difficulty will be see if it is being implemented in schools. SSTA members have said that the local authorities and the Inspectorate often add further work rather than reduce any."
The organisation that represents most councils, Cosla, argued many of the things teachers were concerned about were the responsibility of the SQA.
A Cosla spokesman said:  "We are concerned about teacher's workload and that is why we are attending the meeting and we have signed up to actions to address bureaucracy and workload as part of the 2015/17 pay deal.
"The main issue of contention from the teacher unions relates to workload associated with assessment required by SQA. Councils are not directly responsible, however that aside Cosla is working with the SQA and Scottish government in a bid to find a solution for all."
In his first speech as education secretary in May, John Swinney said he would ensure actions identified by a report by the Assessment and National Qualifications Working Group to reduce teacher workload would be delivered.
These actions would include removing unnecessary duplication in assessment tasks; expanding the support available for teachers at subject-specific level and reviewing the Quality Assurance approach for national qualifications.
Mr Swinney also said the chief inspector of education in Scotland would write to schools immediately with clear guidance on national expectations on qualifications and assessment that will further reduce unnecessary workload on teachers.


Brendan Rodgers has urged players struggling with an addiction to gambling to talk about their problems.

The Celtic manager was speaking in the wake of Burnley midfielder Joey Barton being banned from playing for 18 months for placing 1,260 bets on matches.
"I think what is key for players, and staff, is to lift the burden and speak about it," said Rodgers.
"For men, it can be deemed a weakness to talk about it. It's not, it's anything but."
The Scottish Football Supporters Association suggests the sport may need to "adjust its moral compass" in relation to betting, with gambling companies sponsoring the Scottish football leagues, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup, some senior clubs and the main stand at Hampden.
Rodgers said he had encountered "a number of incidents" with players with gambling problems.
"If there are problems with it with players, which I've come across, it's trying to help and educate them that there's a better way," said the Northern Irishman.
"If you lift the burden and speak about it, you'll find there are a lot of people who can help you find the solutions to it, which will help you and your family."
The Celtic manager believes, however, that a player's relationship with gambling is down to "personal responsibility".
"You have a choice," he said. "You don't have to do it. No-one's asking anyone to go and gamble. If you choose to do that, then there's a consequence."
Rodgers acknowledged that there are benefits to the game through the betting companies who "support football", adding that the businesses "provide money and do a good service somewhere along the line".


An animal charity is calling for the licensing of air guns after a cat in West Lothian was left injured after being shot three times.

The animal had been shot twice in the shoulder and once in its left back leg, which vets had to amputate.
The charity said the one-year-old cat was "incredibly lucky" to survive.
Last year the Scottish government held a consultation on licensing air weapons, but a majority of responders opposed the plan.
One-year-old Teenie was found injured by her owner Sarah Nisbett in NiddryView, Winchburgh, at about 16:30 on Friday 14 March and taken to the Scottish SPCA.
Mrs Nisbett said the cat was now having to learn how to walk again.
"The gun that was used must have some power because the pellet actually went through her back leg, that's why it was so badly damaged," she said.
"She's now learning how to hop around the house, it's terrible.
"The fact that it was three shots is crazy. We live in a housing estate and there are lots of kids. That just makes it worse because any of them could have been hit in the crossfire."
She added: "There's some sick people out there, hopefully somebody will know who's done this and let the police or the Scottish SPCA know."
Scottish SPCA Ch Supt Mike Flynn said: "Teenie's owners are understandably very upset and keen for us to find the callous person responsible to ensure no more cats come to harm.
"This is an alarming incident which only highlights why the Scottish government should implement the licensing of airguns as a matter of urgency."
He added: "The new licensing regime should ensure that only those with a lawful reason are allowed to possess such a dangerous weapon. It will also help the police trace anyone using an air gun irresponsibly."
Last year the Scottish government launched a consultation on licensing air weapons, with a large majority of those who responded opposing the plan.
Under the proposed scheme, anyone wanting to own an air gun would need to demonstrate they had a legitimate reason for doing so.
A total of 87% of respondents rejected the idea - with some describing it as "draconian" and "heavy-handed". A small number of people felt ministers were not going far enough.
The Scottish SPCA urged anyone with information about the incident to contact them.


Durham all-rounder Adam Hickey will have surgery to repair the fracture of his right collarbone suffered trying to take a catch in Sunday's T20 Blast defeat by Lancashire Lightning.

The 20-year-old had to leave the field during the Lancashire innings and was sent to hospital for an X-ray.
Hickey made his first-class debut for Durham last season and has played four T20 games in 2017.
He has also played for England at under-19 level.
No timescale has been given by the club as to his absence and recovery.


Pakistan has hanged the former police bodyguard who shot dead Punjab's governor over his opposition to blasphemy laws, officials say.

Mumtaz Qadri killed Salman Taseer in Islamabad in 2011, in a murder that shocked the country.
Qadri was hailed as a hero by some Islamist groups, and thousands of hard-line activists protested to show their support for him at the time.
After news of his execution, crowds again took to the streets in protest.
Security forces have been put on high alert and a heavy police presence, including riot police, are in place in the area around Qadri's home in Islamabad, AFP news agency reports.
His funeral will be held on Tuesday at Liaquat Bagh park in nearby Rawalpindi, where large numbers of mourners are expected.
Prison officials said Qadri was executed at 04:30 local time (23:30 GMT) at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad.
What are Pakistan's blasphemy laws?
Qadri, who had trained as an elite police commando and was assigned to Taseer as his bodyguard, shot the politician at an Islamabad market in January 2011. He was sentenced to death later that year.
He claimed it was his religious duty to kill the minister, who was an outspoken critic of Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws and supported liberal reforms.
Analysis: M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad
Mumtaz Qadri's hanging has come as a surprise to many who thought such a move could spark a severe backlash from the religious lobby.
The hanging comes amid two recent developments that have already incensed religious groups.
In January, the Punjab government banned preaching in educational institutions by Tablighi Jamaat, a proselytising and revivalist movement. And earlier this month it enacted a law that provides for a helpline for women to report abuses by their husbands and others.
Amid this atmosphere, the move to hang Qadri indicates a growing confidence of the government in taming the street power of religious groups, which the military has long been accused of using to control politicians at home and fight its proxy wars abroad.
One reason may be the fact that most hard-line groups adhere to the Deobandi school and would be loath to lionise Qadri, an adherent of the rival Barelvi sect. But a more important reason seems to be the military's new-found willingness to curb militant groups that have a domestic agenda.
Pakistan has seen Islamist groups grow in influence in recent years and several high profile blasphemy cases.
Qadri was lauded by religious conservatives, and in his first court appearance was showered with rose petals by supporters. He never expressed any regret for the killing. His brother appeared to reassert that when he told the AFP news agency about his final meeting with Qadri.
"I have no regrets," Malik Abid told AFP. "We started crying, but he hugged us and chanted 'God is great,'" he added.
In May, just months after Taseer was gunned down, Pakistan's Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the cabinet's only Christian, was shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car.
That August, Salman Taseer's son, Shahbaz Taseer, was abducted in Lahore. His whereabouts are still unclear.
Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan and critics argue that blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores and unfairly target minorities.
Read more: Death of a liberal


Theresa May's attempt to reform corporate pay and governance faces more challenges from business leaders.

A report by the Big Innovation Centre rejects holding annual binding votes on pay and the publishing of pay ratios between chief executives and workers.
The two ideas were among the prime minister's suggestions to address public unease about executive pay.
This week, Mrs May was forced to reject claims she had watered down plans to put worker representatives on boards.
The prime minister set out her intention to strengthen corporate governance when she came to power in the summer. But some proposals have drawn criticism.
Friday's BIC report - whose contributors include Kingfisher non-executive director Clare Chapman - argues that action on pay is certainly needed to change executive behaviour and "to rebuild trust".
But the report says that binding votes and pay ratios are the wrong way to do it, and would damage efforts to motivate and retain chief executives.
"Pay ratios do not lend themselves to valid comparisons between companies, even within the same industry," the report says. "Pay ratios may lead to pay being decoupled from performance."
And on the issue of binding votes, the report says: "Theresa May, in a speech prior to becoming Prime Minister, indicated that there should be binding votes on executive pay. This has been interpreted by some as annual binding votes on pay outcomes, and policy proposals have been prepared by at least one Member of Parliament on this basis."
The report argues that annual binding votes would be a "disproportionate response... and would be likely to have many negative unintended consequences".
However, it says that if a company's pay policy receives less than 75% support from shareholders in two consecutive years, that vote should be binding. Currently, votes on executive pay are held every three years.
"It is less than 5% of companies that lose advisory votes," Ms Chapman told the BBC. "In the past year it was about 3% and so it is not a widespread market failure that we're trying to address here, it is ensuring that shareholders have got power to take actions where there are companies that are doing things that are not in the long term interests of shareholders.
"And so that's where I do think that the use of binding votes should be where advisory votes are lost," she added.
The BIC is backed by leading companies, academics and consultancy firms. Contributors to its research include Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, Prof Alex Edmans, a corporate governance expert at London Business School, and Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy.
Given the leading names behind the report, its recommendations will be seen as a powerful contribution to the growing debate on corporate governance reforms.
The recommendations include measures for "simpler pay structures". Instead of traditional performance-related pay and cash bonuses, the report calls for more use of share awards stretching over 5-7 years.
There should also be more transparency in how pay is set and more consultation with employees to explain how and why the remuneration is set, the report says.


South Sudan has accused Sudan of launching further bombing raids on its territory and against its forces.

The governor of Unity state says several people were killed in its capital Bentiu when a plane dropped  bombs on a market.
South Sudan also says its troops came under air attack in the oil-producing Heglig region which they have seized.
Sudan's ambassador to the UK, Abdullahi Al Azreg, said Sudan did not target civilians.
He insisted Khartoum had bombed military camps used by northern rebels supported by South Sudan.
"These people are occupying our land. Everybody is witnessing what they are doing. They have killed the civilians, they are doing very bad things. We will target the rebels as long as they are occupying our land," he told the BBC.
South Sudan said earlier on Saturday that it had repulsed an offensive on its positions near Heglig.
By James CopnallBBC News, Khartoum
The events of the last week are a reversal of the expected order of things. Sudan has struggled militarily, despite its greater resources.
Its troops lost the Heglig oilfield - one of its biggest sources of revenue - and so far have not been able to take it back. The Sudanese forces' one great advantage - air power - has not tipped the balance in their favour.
Sudanese political experts say the army's morale is low, and it is overstretched, as it has to fight South Sudan as well as several rebel movements who are co-ordinating together.
But - perhaps to its surprise - Sudan is winning the diplomatic war. The African Union said South Sudan's occupation of Heglig was "illegal and unacceptable".
Perhaps in reaction to these kind of statements, South Sudan then said it would withdraw its troops if UN peacekeepers were deployed to Heglig. This seems unlikely, and South Sudan simply hasn't been able to convince the world it's in the right.
So for the moment South Sudan is in the unusual position of winning the fighting - and losing the war of perceptions.
Vice-President Riek Machar said the ground fighting took place on Friday 30km (18 miles) north of Heglig.
South Sudan seized the oil field on Tuesday, sparking international condemnation and fears of a wider war with its northern neighbour.
South Sudan entered the oil field in response to what it said were attacks from north of the border.
Sudan's leaders are furious after its southern neighbour took over the Heglig oilfield, which is internationally accepted as Sudanese territory.
The African Union has demanded an unconditional withdrawal.
The South seceded nine months ago in a deal that ended decades of civil war, but there remain a number of major disputes, including oil.
Sudan's army confirmed on Friday it was launching attacks to retake Heglig after the Khartoum government vowed to react with "all means" against the offensive by South Sudanese forces.
And Sudanese army spokesman Col Sawarmi Khalid said on Saturday Heglig region was "100%" under their control.
"We are now inside Heglig and we can talk about a few kilometres separating us from the Heglig oilfield."
But Mr Machar told the BBC his country's soldiers had now pushed Sudanese troops back to Karasana, north of Heglig.
South Sudanese Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters on Saturday: "They tried to attack our positions north of Heglig last night but it was contained. Heglig is [still] under our control."
South Sudan's military spokesman, Col Philip Aguer, told Agence France-Presse two Sudanese tanks had been destroyed.
There is no independent confirmation of the South's claims.
The BBC's James Copnall, in Khartoum, says it seems likely there will be further battles and what started out as a border skirmish now seems perilously close to becoming an all-out war.
Heglig is vital because it accounts for about half of Sudan's 115,000 barrel-a-day oil output and the fighting has stopped production there.
The African Union's Peace and Security Council has called the occupation of Heglig "illegal and unacceptable", but also condemned Sudan for carrying out aerial bombardments of South Sudan.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council called for an "immediate" ceasefire and expressed "deep and growing alarm at the escalating conflict".


A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman died from serious head injuries in Manchester.

Police and paramedics were called to a house on Culcheth Lane, Newton Heath, at 00:45 BST on Sunday amid reports of an assault.
A woman, 38, was found with head injuries and she died shortly after.
The arrested man, 48, is in custody being questioned by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
A post-mortem examination is due to take place later. The woman has not yet been identified.


The House of Lords should not delay or alter the Brexit Bill, a former senior Parliamentary official has said.

Last week MPs voted by a majority of four to one, and without amendment, to give the Prime Minister the power to invoke Article 50 and begin the process of Britain leaving the EU.
Peers are due to discuss the bill on Monday.
Lord Lisvane told the Sunday Supplement programme they would be "extremely ill advised" to go against the will of MPs.
He said: "If the elected house has decided not to do so [amend the bill]. Then the unelected house, would not, should not and could not do so."
Lord Lisvane, who is from Cardiff, said the Brexit Bill debate in the Commons had achieved what it should do by an exposure of the issues with ministers having to defend their position.
However, Lord Lisvane - who as Sir Robert Rogers served as clerk to the House of Commons from 2011-2014 - said peers might take the opportunity to ask MPs to "think again" on the position of EU nationals resident in the UK.
Dozens of peers are expected to speak for and against the UK government's plans in the two-day debate.
Theresa May wants to trigger the formal Brexit talks with the EU by the end of March.


Former Uefa president Michel Platini has accused Fifa counterpart Sepp Blatter of being determined to make him "his last scalp".

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Both men were banned from football for eight years - later reduced to six by Fifa's appeals committee - in December 2015 after Blatter, 81, authorised a £1.3m "disloyal payment" to Platini.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport then cut Platini's ban to four years.
Platini told French paper Le Monde that Blatter "tried to save his own skin".
The 61-year-old added: "Blatter does not defend anyone else, he never defended me. He's the most selfish person I have seen in my life.
"He's the biggest egoist I've ever seen. He thought he would grow old, finish, die and be buried in Fifa. It was his wish.
"He always said I would be his last scalp. I know he was fixated on me, to the end."
Platini and Blatter were found guilty of breaches surrounding the £1.3m payment made in 2011 for what they said was was consultancy work between 1998 and 2002.
The men said they had a "gentleman's agreement" on when the balance was to be settled and deny any wrongdoing.
The Fifa ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an "abusive execution" of their positions.
Speaking at a news conference in December 2015 before his ban from football Blatter said he was "really sorry" that he was "a punching ball" and that he had become tainted in the eyes of humanity.


University tuition fees are an "unsustainable Ponzi scheme" and should be radically reformed, Theresa May's former chief of staff has said.

Writing in the Telegraph, Nick Timothy likened the fees system in England to the well-known investment scam.
Former Labour education minister Lord Adonis backed the call, saying the "current system of fees and loans is unlikely to survive for long".
But the government said abolishing fees would be "catastrophic" for funding.
Mr Timothy's intervention comes as students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive their A-level results. The number of university places allocated so far has dropped.
Boys help A-level grades edge upwards
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University tuition fees rise to £9,250
Tony Blair's Labour government was the first to introduce fees for university students in 1998. Before that, the cost had been met by the student's home local authority, which also provided means-tested grants which students could top up with loans to help meet living costs.
The upper fees limit rose to £3,000 in 2004, before the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government approved an increase in the ceiling to £9,000 in 2010. Fees in England now stand at £9,250 for those studying in 2017-18.
Students from Scotland can claim grants to cover fees charged by Scottish institutions, while grants reduce the level of fees in Wales and Northern Ireland, as a result of the policies of those nations' devolved governments.
"Tuition fees were supposed to make university funding fairer for the taxpayer, but more than three quarters of graduates will never pay back their debts," Mr Timothy wrote in his Telegraph article.
"We have created an unsustainable and ultimately pointless Ponzi scheme, and young people know it.
"With average debts of £50,000, graduates in England are the most indebted in the developed world."
Named after Italian fraudster Charles Ponzi, a Ponzi scheme promises high returns for investors but in fact generates those returns using money from new investors. Eventually, there is not enough money to go round and the scheme collapses. They are sometimes known as "pyramid schemes".
Mr Timothy, who resigned as a Number 10 adviser following the 2017 election result, backed "a single financial entitlement" which a student could spend on any kind of tertiary education, including technical courses which "were often cheaper".
He argued that successive governments had assumed, wrongly, that an increase in university graduates would boost economic growth, but instead technical qualifications were more likely to boost productivity.
Labour peer Lord Adonis, who was an adviser to Tony Blair at the time of the 2004 reforms, argued that it should be possible to return fees to a level of £3,000 or to achieve "outright abolition".
He wrote in the Times: "The Labour Party is committed to outright abolition; for the Tories, Damian Green, the de facto deputy prime minister, has called for a 'debate', while universities minister Jo Johnson floats a 'review'.
"It feels like Margaret Thatcher's infamous poll tax a few months before its abolition."
However, universities minister Jo Johnson defended the system, telling Prospect magazine: "The English system works."
He wrote: "Young people from the poorest areas are now 43% more likely to go to university than in 2009/10, and 52% more likely to attend a high tariff institution.
"Our universities now enjoy 25% more funding per student per degree than seven years ago. And the system is fair on taxpayers: a university degree boosts lifetime income by between £170,000 and £250,000.
"Students pay on average roughly 65% of the cost through fees, while the taxpayer shoulders around 35%, through teaching grants and loan subsidies, and a much higher share if we add £6bn of annual investment in research. This is an equitable split."
In its election manifesto, Labour promised to scrap university tuition fees in England but there was no mention of writing off unpaid student debt.


Just 74 days after Norwich City's Championship play-off final victory at Wembley, the 2015-16 Football League season begins on Friday, when Brighton host Nottingham Forest.

That is the first of 1,671 fixtures to be played across the second, third and fourth tiers this term, and we've picked out some of the key stories to follow over the next 10 months.
Fifteen Football League clubs have appointed new full-time managers since the end of the 2014-15 season.
Some, such as Crawley's Mark Yates or Chesterfield's Dean Saunders, are old hands. Others, such as Marinus Dijkhuizen at Brentford and Carlos Carvalhal at Sheffield Wednesday, will be experiencing English football for the first time.
Former England striker Teddy Sheringham was Stevenage's choice to replace Graham Westley, who left the League Two club in May following their play-off semi-final defeat by Southend.
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Vastly experienced and highly decorated as a player, the 49-year-old is starting his managerial career in the quiet surroundings of leafy Hertfordshire.
When ex-Manchester United players decide to have a crack at management, questions about their legendary former boss are almost inevitable.
But Sheringham told BBC Three Counties Radio: "I can't try to be Sir Alex Ferguson.
"You only do what you've been taught. I've played for some fantastic managers. I'll take out the best bits of them and use them in my own manner."
Another new manager - apologies, head coach - to be appointed during the summer is Paul Clement.
Derby County looked almost certain to be promoted to the Premier League under Steve McClaren last term but, in one of the closest Championship promotion battles for years, they plummeted down the table and finished eighth.
Clement, 43, had assisted Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid before returning to England.
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"I'm willing to work at this level," he told BBC East Midlands Today. "I believe the club's got great potential. I want to work in the Premier League and I want to do it with Derby."
And, while his talent pool at Derby may not quite be of the calibre of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, Clement has been allowed freedom in the transfer market as the Rams look to recover from last season's late collapse.
The club broke their transfer record to sign Hull winger Thomas Ince, while Andreas Weimann, Jason Shackell, Darren Bent, Alex Pearce and Chris Baird have also been added to the squad.
After such an expensive recruitment drive, Derby are unsurprisingly among the favourites to win the Championship.
Another Championship club expecting to be in this season's promotion battle are Middlesbrough.
They exceeded the expectations of many to reach the play-off final last season, only to succumb to a tame defeat by Norwich at Wembley.
Far from feeling downbeat about their narrow failure, Boro have made arguably the most eye-catching Football League signing of the summer.
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Teesside native Stewart Downing turned down regular Premier League football to return to the club where his career started, joining from West Ham United for a fee that could rise to £5.5m.
And there is only one objective for the 31-year-old winger - finishing in the top two.
"This is a Premier League club and that's where it should be," Downing told BBC Look North. "If this was a team fighting relegation or in mid-table, it wouldn't be good for me to come back.
"They were very unlucky last season not to get promoted, and the manager's said if he can keep the squad together and add with the players he's looking to bring in, we'll be going for automatic promotion."
In a division that can be so difficult to predict, who would be surprised if Queens Park Rangers were to challenge for promotion this season?
Because, let's face it, there's never a dull moment at Loftus Road.
Charlie Austin apart, they endured a torrid 2014-15 season in the Premier League, summed up by the 6-0 drubbing at Manchester City in May that confirmed their relegation.
"The meek way QPR tumbled out of the Premier League last season suggested that a long, hard rebuilding job was required," says BBC London 94.9 reporter Nick Godwin.
"After see-sawing between divisions in recent years, QPR need a period of stability and continuity.
"Last time they were in this position, two years ago, Harry Redknapp relied on experience and Austin's goals to get them back up. It just about worked.
"This time, Chris Ramsey doesn't have the same resources at his disposal and the signings so far have been modest.
"It looks as though Austin will be sold before the transfer window shuts and that could free up resources for further signings, but the club's attitude so far seems to be one of restrained realism."
As if a 4-0 home win over Manchester United in the League Cup wasn't excitement enough, MK Dons earned promotion to the Championship for the first time last season, pipping Preston to second spot on the final day.
Clubs going up from League One have performed well in recent seasons. Norwich (2009-2011) and Southampton (2010-2012) won back-to-back promotions.
Just last season, Brentford got to the play-offs, Wolves narrowly missed out on a top-six place and Bournemouth - in their second year in the second tier - won the title.
Can MK Dons follow that upward trend? Well, manager Karl Robinson has one of the smallest budgets in the division and has warned supporters not to expect too much from his team.
"People are likening us to Wolves and Bournemouth - we're not in the same hemisphere as these teams," Robinson told BBC Three Counties Radio. "We can't do what these teams have done.
"We're going into a Championship with a different way of doing it, but we'll do it our way. Our way is a way our fans know, and hopefully the football club can again turn one or two heads."
While MK Dons are experiencing new highs, Wigan Athletic find themselves down in League One just two years after winning the FA Cup.
Paul Rowley, who covers the Latics for BBC Radio Manchester, says: "This time 12 months ago, Uwe Rosler was contemplating bouncing back to the Premier League.
"But Rosler was gone within three months, Malky Mackay didn't last much longer, and chairman Dave Whelan stepped down after arguably the worst season in the club's history.
"When Whelan took charge of his hometown club in 1995, he said he wanted to see Wigan in the Premier League in 10 years. Most people laughed, but he achieved the task with bells on.
"A generation later, the mantle has been passed to his grandson David Sharpe - the youngest chairman in British football at the age of 24 - and Gary Caldwell, the Football League's youngest manager at 33.
"The task will be hard. None of the Wembley heroes remain. They've made 14 new signings but the wage bill has been slashed and attendances are expected to fall.
"However, with Premier League parachute payments still due for the next two years, the Latics will be better off than most at this level.
"And Sharpe has inherited the Whelan swagger. He told supporters during pre-season: 'I don't just want to win this league - I want to smash it and get 100 points'.
"Fighting talk, but is it realistic? Just remember, they didn't believe Dave Whelan 20 years ago and look what happened..."
If you thought Wigan have had a year to forget, you obviously haven't heard the tale of woe from Blackpool.
Protests against the club's owners were frequent and culminated with a pitch invasion that forced their final match of the season against Huddersfield to be abandoned.
Fifty different players represented the Seasiders in the Championship. They equalled the lowest-ever points tally in the second tier and were relegated with six matches remaining.
BBC Radio Lancashire's Phil Cunliffe recalls: "This time last year, Blackpool were only able to name four subs for their opening fixture at Nottingham Forest. Manager Jose Riga's transfer plans lay in ruins.
"In contrast, new manager Neil McDonald has worked briskly, and kept a low profile, to recruit a completely new squad.
"It's hard to gauge if players such as Brad Potts, Colin Doyle and Jack Redshaw can halt the club's decline.
"But, just like his predecessor Lee Clark - another Wallsend-born former Newcastle midfielder - McDonald is strong-willed and determined to do well.
"When Clark succeeded Riga last October, he inherited a team that was resigned to losing every week. McDonald doesn't have that same problem and providing he can fulfil his aim of instilling a winning mentality, the Seasiders could do better than many people are predicting."
It's a manager's favourite threat: 'You're playing for your futures.' Well for Yeovil Town's players that has proved to be the case - with 15 new faces arriving at Huish Park during the summer.
"The last few games left a bitter taste in my mouth and it did cost a few people their jobs," Yeovil boss Paul Sturrock said of the club's relegation to League Two. "They showed a bad attitude and I couldn't stand for that."
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So how has Sturrock bonded his merry band of new signings? The answer - darts and dominoes.
The former Scotland international told BBC Points West: "When you sign 15 new players for the season, they don't know each other's names so it's quite important that they bond for team spirit.
"We took them to Columba for two or three days in a hotel there. We went to a charity night in my local pub and played darts and dominoes against the locals."
As well as trips to the pub, Sturrock has also turned the away dressing room into a games room, where his new arrivals have been getting to know each other.
"I'm working very hard on that side of it as it's important they want to play for each other as well as the club," added Sturrock. "Very few have played together before. Only five players were left at the club but it's been a whirlwind."
Listen to live Football League commentaries on BBC Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra and BBC local radio throughout the season.
In addition, BBC Sport will be providing live text commentaries of selected Football League matches and written reports of every game in the Championship, League One and League Two.


A 52-year-old teacher who admitted having sex with his 17-year-old drama student has been jailed for 12 months.

Simon Parsons, who taught drama, pleaded guilty in November to five counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
His trial at Bristol Crown Court heard Parsons admitted exploiting the pupil and accepted the relationship was "amoral and inappropriate".
The court heard he fathered a child with her after she left the school.
Parsons, of Uley Road, Dursley, Gloucestershire, taught for more than 30 years at Castle School in Thornbury.
During the trial, a statement from his wife was read out which said: "He is not a monster, he is a gentle man who made a massive mistake."
Parsons had sex with the pupil over a period of five years but his wife "bore" the affair and he returned to his family after the girl ended the relationship in her early 20s, the court heard.
The girl's family urged her to tell the police in a bid to protect other pupils.
Prosecuting, James Ward said: "This relationship began in a way normal relationships do.
"The sex was consensual but illegal because teachers cannot have sex with schoolchildren.
"She acknowledges that she had a crush on the defendant and she thought that it maybe was her fault that it happened."
In a statement, the girl said: "I felt grossed out at one point and then I thought 'Oh well, he fancies me'."
Representing Parsons, David Scutt said his client was a "committed teacher".
Parsons was arrested in April 2014, years after the relationship ended.
"He accepts the relationship was amoral and inappropriate. He had her trust as a teacher, he breached it," said Mr Scutt.
"He is able to recognise that he was exploiting a young female pupil. He put his needs in front of those of his family."
He said Parsons' career had gone and he "had lost his self-esteem and feels constantly humiliated".
The girl's mother, who cannot be identified, said she was "angry" it was allowed to happen.
"The school hadn't been the safe haven it should have been," she said.
She said she went to tell the head teacher her daughter had had a child by the teacher, because she was "concerned for other students".
"The school did nothing. That man was allowed to continue teaching for another three years," she added.
Following the sentencing, the school sent a letter to parents saying it took the safety of its students "very seriously".
In it head teacher Peter Smart and chairman of governors Chris White-Horne said the school was "not aware that an inappropriate relationship existed" when the girl was a student at the school.
"Abuse of the position of trust between teacher and student is completely unacceptable and we unreservedly condemn Mr Parsons' actions," the statement said.


Hull City have reappointed Tony Pennock as first-team coach.

Pennock, who had been managing Welsh Premier League side Aberystwyth Town, left the Tigers in January when Mike Phelan was sacked.
He will now assist new boss Leonid Slutsky after the Russian was appointed as Marco Silva's replacement.
Hull have also appointed former Wales U21 goalkeeper Pat Mountain as their goalkeeper coach. Mountain has spent the past nine years with Wolves.
"I'm delighted but a little bit shocked too. It's been a bit of a whirlwind few days but I couldn't be happier to be back," Pennock told the club website.


Banbridge added the Irish Hockey League title to their Irish Cup triumph as a 6-1 win over Railway Union saw them pip Three Rock Rovers on goal difference.

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Three Rock's 9-1 rout of relegated Instonians wasn't enough to deprive Banbridge of the title with the Down club having a three-goal advantage.
Fraser Mills and Matthew Bell both hit two goals for Banbridge with Ross Beattie and Eugene Magee also scoring.
Banbridge will aim to complete a men's treble in next weekend's play-offs.
The double winners will face Monkstown in the semi-finals at the Three Rock Rovers-hosted competition next weekend with the hosts playing Lisnagarvey in Saturday's other last-four encounter.
Either Cookstown or Annadale will replace relegated Instonians in next season's IHL after reaching Sunday's promotion play-off final in Dublin.
In the semi-finals, a second half Mark Crooks goal gave Cookstown a 1-0 win over Leinster champions Corinthian.
Annadale then defeated Munster side Bandon 5-0 with two goals from Peter Caruth and one each from Craig Getty, Matthew Crookshanks and Ben Wallace.
So Cookstown will face Annadale in Sunday's final, with the winners promoted automatically and the losers having a second bite at the cherry in a play-off with UCD to decide the final spot in next season's national league.
Lurgan Ladies are also trying to get into the IHL, in their case via a round-robin promotion play-off series.
They've started well with two wins out of two to go top of the table overnight.
Lurgan began with a 3-0 win over Connacht side Greenfields, two of the goals coming from Chloe McCann after Tara McIlwaine had broken the deadlock.
In their second game of the day, Lurgan defeated Trinity 3-2 with Sarah McClure hit a first-half hat-trick.
On Sunday, Lurgan are in action against UCC and Old Alex, needing to finish top to qualify for the IHL while second place would secure them a play-off with Belfast Harlequins.


New Zealand will field an unchanged side as they seek to win their first World Cup in 24 years.

The All Blacks are hot favourites to beat France in Sunday's final at Eden Park, but coach Graham Henry insisted that his team do not see it that way.
"Picking the same side that played so well against Australia wasn't a difficult decision," said Henry.
"We're not sure who's going to turn up. We have to prepare as if they're the best in the world."
The only change to the All Blacks 22 sees flanker Adam Thomson, who has recovered from an ankle knock, replace Victor Vito on the bench.
The excitement in New Zealand - already at fever pitch after the 20-6 defeat of the Wallabies in last Sunday's semi-final - has cranked up another notch in the last few days as the country's biggest sporting event in almost quarter of a century draws closer.
You don't deserve that title unless you earn it, but I think they're good enough
"We haven't this experienced before - it's finals football," added Henry.
"This is our 12th Test in 14 weeks, and I don't think that's ever happened before. It's been pretty manic, and constant rugby takes its toll on your body and mind.
"The word is that France have prepared well and that they're enjoying the underdogs tag, using it as ammunition. You [the media] are doing a good job for them.
"We think they're a very good rugby team with some outstanding players, and it's going to be very difficult.
"The French forward pack is as good as we've played in the competition. Their loose forwards are outstanding and they have backs who can bite you."
Scrum-half Piri Weepu, one of the stars of New Zealand's march to the final, admitted that the tension had built now that, in the words of his team-mate Israel Dagg, the final is "just two more sleeps" away.
"When you're a little kid in the back yard you're always pretending that you're playing for your country, scoring the winning try and kicking the winning penalty," said Weepu.
"If you take it too seriously you'll already have played the game in your head at the start of the week. You need to have a clear head on Sunday, because the more relaxed a state you are in the better game you play.
"I have never really experienced anything as big as this before. You can't wait to wake up on game day - you can feel buzz in the air and the excitement around town. You can feel the energy when you go down for breakfast and see the excitement on the faces of the boys."
The final is likely to be Henry's last game in charge of the All Blacks. Four years ago he was at the helm for the shock quarter-final loss to France, but he has cut a relaxed figure this month.
Asked what a World Cup win would mean to him, he said: "Peace. Internal peace. My mum's still alive - she's 95 now - and she'll be delighted when it finishes, because she thinks I'm under pressure. She doesn't understand I don't do much.
"My wife will be rejoicing. When you're close to people doing the job but not involved yourself, it can be a very difficult situation to be in.
"The people who are close to you will feel big relief when this World Cup is over. I have got two boys and a daughter and they were in Cardiff in 2007. They arrived on the Friday night before the finals [knock-out stages] and 24 hours later it was all over.  The meeting of that group of people on the Sunday morning was a very emotional time.
"I am just hoping we can get together on Sunday night and things might be a bit different."
Henry added: "I might be tired, but the body's not sore. I've been with a lot of these guys for a long time - they have been the leading team in world, but they've never been world champions, and it would be marvellous to have that title.
"You don't deserve that title unless you earn it, but I think we're good enough."
New Zealand: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Richard Kahui, Aaron Cruden, Piri Weepu; Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Owen Franks, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw (capt), Kieran Read.
Replacements: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Adam Thomson, Andy Ellis, Stephen Donald, Sonny Bill Williams.


Lady Gaga is leading the pitch invasion at Sunday's Super Bowl, where she'll perform the all-important half-time show.

With a television audience of 110 million, it's one of the biggest platforms in the world - and Gaga has been putting in the hours to ensure her set is suitably spectacular.
"We were [rehearsing] in the tent for about a week and a half, then we had to move to bigger studios in Hollywood where we are working on the rest of the show," she told Houston radio station Mix 96.5.
"And then we will send that equipment to Houston where we will finish rehearsals. Fans can expect a performance that spans my career so far."
She has a high standard to live up to - notably Prince's show in 2007, which took place in the middle of a Miami thunderstorm and is widely accepted as the greatest performance in the event's history, if not Prince's career.
Here are some of the other most memorable - and surprising - moments from the last 30 years.
Super Bowl performers get a very strict 12-minute time limit, so most performers cram their set with as much music as possible.
Not Michael Jackson.
After shooting onto the stage at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, he stood completely still, staring at the world for a full 90 seconds. Ninety.
It was a master class in ratcheting expectation to a fever pitch. And the screams when he launched into Jam (not one of his best songs) proved he knew what he was doing.
Brilliantly, Jackson staged this entire performance while wearing a jacket it looked like he'd borrowed from Muammar Gaddafi.
Beat that, Gaga.
Baby, he was born to run... and slide on his knees... and crotch slam a TV camera.
In his autobiography, The Boss explains the incident like this: "Too much adrenalin, a late drop, too much speed, here I come, Mikeâ€¦ BOOM!
"And I'm onto his camera, the lens implanted into my chest with one leg off the stage. I use his camera to push myself back up andâ€¦ BLAM! BORN TO RUN!"
It led to the memorable headline: "America Attacked by Bruce Springsteen's crotch" - but it didn't stop the star delivering one of the most powerful and energetic Super Bowl shows in recent history. Even if they were fined for over-running by 40 seconds.
Coldplay were the headline act at last year's Super Bowl in Santa Clara - but someone forgot to tell Beyonce.
She only performed one song, Formation, underscoring its message of black pride and power with back-up dancers dressed in leather body suits and black berets reminiscent of the Black Panthers movement.
Some of her dancers were even pictured holding up a sign declaring "Justice 4 Mario Woods" - a 26-year-old black man who was shot dead by armed police in San Francisco two months earlier.
The performance heralded the arrival of her unapologetically political album, Lemonade, later in the year.
You can't out-diva Diana, something she was determined to prove when she strode onto the pitch in Tempe, Arizona, for Super Bowl XXX.
She raced through 10 songs and four costume changes in 12 minutes, then jumped into a helicopter and fled the stadium. Which is one way to beat the post-game traffic.
For the first few decades, the Super Bowl half-time performance featured marching bands, drill teams and Disney's mouseketeers.
1987's show was altogether more bizarre.
A magician named "Elvis Presto" burst out of a jukebox, before performing a series of conjuring tricks, aided by 2,000 part-time dancers, 102 custom Harley Davidson motorcycles and some of rock's biggest classics.
At the culmination of the show, the "Prince of Prestidigitation" performed an interactive magic trick ("pick a card, concentrate real hard") while viewers at home watched through 3D glasses.
It was cheesier than a wheel of brie - and prompted the NFL to adopt a more modern approach.
She arrived on a mechanical tiger, and departed on a shooting star - but Katy Perry couldn't compete with the infamous "left shark".
He was one of two foam-suited dancers flanking Katy while she performed Teenage Dream. While the one on the right was forgettable, the left shark flailed around in a desperate attempt to remember his dance moves.
It quickly became a viral sensation, spawning a whole range of merchandise from the ever-savvy pop star.
And when the half-time show was nominated for an Emmy, Katy made sure to thank her faithful friend.
Poor old Janet Jackson. She was at the end of a triumphant, hit-laden medley when Justin Timberlake ripped the front off her bodice, revealing a heavily-bejewelled superboob.
Few ever believed that the "wardrobe malfunction" was indeed a malfunction - but if you look at the photographs taken immediately after the event, Jackson appears mortified (notably, these were not the pictures printed by the press).
Nonetheless, America went apoplectic. The Federal Complaints Commission reportedly got more than 200,000 complaints, while Janet was blacklisted by MTV and radio. Her career never fully recovered.
But there is a bright side to this story. A PayPal employee called Jawed Karim missed the half-time show and grew frustrated that he couldn't watch the incident online.
In response, he and his friends Steve Chen and Chad Hurley began coding a website where people could upload their own content. That site would end up being YouTube.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


A building in Ballater was evacuated after an unexploded device was found.

Police were called to the town's Braichlie Road and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit called out.
Police Scotland later said it turned out to be a deactivated device from WW2 which had "no explosive capability" and was removed.
Insp Megan Heathershaw of Police Scotland said: "There was no threat to the public at any stage."