The death of the Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, would be a serious blow for the insurgent group.

It would not automatically mean the end of fighting in Afghanistan, but it would open a new chapter in the history of the group, which is facing a crisis of leadership.
A number of traditional high ranking Taliban militants with potential to lead the group and keep it united have either died of natural causes or were killed over the past 15 years.
If his death is confirmed, who might take over? A faction within the Taliban would like Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the eldest son of Taliban founder and spiritual head Mullah Omar, to take over.
His son is believed to be about 27 years old and was appointed by Mullah Mansour in April 2016 as military commander of 15 out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, and is a member of the group's powerful decision-making body, the Leadership Council.
Other leading figures might favour Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a founding member of the Taliban and Mullah Omar's former deputy, who has been held by Pakistan since 2010.
Afghan spy agency confirm Taliban leader's death
Profile: Mullah Akhtar Mansour
The emergence of a new contender is also possible, but reaching a consensus would be a daunting task.
The role of powerful commanders, including the Taliban's top military commander, Abdul Qayum Zakir, and Sirajuddin Haqqani - one of Mullah Mansour's two deputies and head of the Haqqani militant network - is also crucial in the election of the new leader.
It is possible that Mullah Mansour's successor might adopt a more radical approach, in fighting, war tactics and peace talks with the Afghan government.
The Taliban's splinter group, which emerged in opposition to Mullah Mansour's leadership, would likely be reconciled by a new leader. Of course, it depends who that is.
It is also likely, however, that Mullah Mansour's death would lead to a further fragmentation of the Taliban.
As a founding member of the Taliban who ran the insurgency as Mullah Omar's deputy for at least three years, Mullah Mansour had both the experience and a certain degree of legitimacy to lead the group.
Mullah Mansour was known as a moderate figure and prone to a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict. But his time at the top was hit by several unexpected developments.
He challenged the legitimacy of the so-called Islamic State group (IS) and declared an all-out war against it. The Taliban's opposition to IS has been instrumental in preventing the group establish itself in Afghanistan.
It was also under Mullah Mansour's leadership that the Taliban expanded their territorial control throughout the country. They now hold more territory than in any year since 2001.
In September 2015, the Afghan Taliban even managed to briefly capture Kunduz - the first provincial capital it had seized since their regime was ousted by US-led forces in late 2001, and the most important victory in that time.
But Mullah Mansour also saw the emergence of a splinter Taliban group which resulted, for the first time in the Taliban's history, in internal fighting.
The reports of his death come at a time when he had largely managed to establish his authority and heal the rifts within the group.
The Taliban insurgency has shown its resilience over the past 15 years. But their biggest challenge now is finding a leader who could not only lead but inspire and unite the rank and file.
While the US officials said it was "likely" that Mullah Mansour was killed, the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said categorically on Sunday that he was killed.
This is not the first time that the death of Mullah Mansour has been reported. In December 2015, claims about his injury and even death in a shooting incident near the Pakistani city of Quetta turned out to be wrong.
Several Taliban sources have denied the assassination of their leader in Saturday's drone strike. But it is now up to the US and the Taliban to prove their claim and counter-claim.
The area targeted by the drone is known for Taliban activity, drug trafficking and smuggling of goods. It is close to Afghanistan's southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces and lies on the main road between Quetta and Taftan, on the Pakistan-Iran border.
Over the past 15 years, the US has carried out hundreds of drone strikes in Pakistan, mainly in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) resulting in the killing of several high ranking militants.
But this was the first known drone attack in Balochistan province, where the Taliban's main leadership council, the Quetta Shura, has reportedly been based.


Veteran US congressman Chaka Fattah has been convicted of multiple frauds which prosecutors said were aimed at enriching himself and preserving his political career.

Fattah, 59, was found guilty on 23 counts including racketeering, fraud and money laundering.
His lawyers said the schemes were run without his knowledge by two political consultants who had pleaded guilty.
Fattah, from the Democratic Party, will be sentenced on 4 October.
The 59-year-old, who has represented West Philadelphia in Congress for two decades, is one of the most senior black lawmakers in Congress.
In one case, he is said to have used cash raised for an election campaign to pay off some of his son's student debt.
Prosecutors also said he disguised a lobbyist's bribe as payment for a car he never sold.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has said the charges against Fattah were "deeply saddening".
Four of his associates were also charged, prosecutors said.
Fattah's son, Chaka Fattah Jr, is already serving a five-year term in an overlapping fraud case related to loans associated with a business he ran.


A waxwork of Coronation Street's Ken Barlow at Madame Tussauds in Blackpool has been removed over fears of it being damaged, a spokesman has said.

William Roache, the actor who plays the ITV soap character, is facing two charges of rape of a girl aged 15 in Lancashire between April and July 1967.
A Madame Tussauds spokesman said it has been removed because of "inappropriate behaviour" by some visitors.
ITV is yet to comment on what is described as a "temporary" move.
Madame Tussauds said it "never comments or moralises on the character or specific activities of those figures we include".
A statement said: "Our figures are chosen because we, and our visitors, believe that they have made a significant impact/contribution to the world around them or in their chosen field - good or bad - or they earn their place through visitor demand, as in this case.
"We make no judgements on recent events, which are in any case far from clear, but over recent days we have received a number of comments relating to the continued inclusion of the figure, but even more importantly witnessed some unacceptable behaviour from a very small number of visitors."
It continued: "We have therefore decided to temporarily remove the figure from display, and we will review this decision in the light of future events."
The spokesman would not expand on what the "inappropriate behaviour" was or on whether the waxwork had been damaged.
The Coronation Street set in the attraction on the Promenade features a number of characters from the soap, which was formerly Louis Tussaud's Waxworks before reopening in 2011.


A man is in a serious condition after two men were taken to hospital in Leeds when scaffolding collapsed at a building site.

One of the men fell from a height and another was rescued from the top of the scaffolding in Harewood Street at 08:05 BST, according to the fire service.
Det Insp Andy Welbourn, of West Yorkshire Police, said the man that fell had "serious injuries".
The Health and Safety Executive was aware of the incident, he added.
Harewood Street is part of the site of the Victoria Gate development that is to include a John Lewis store along with 30 other shops and an 800-space multi-storey car park.
The development is due to open in 2016.


Belfast could lose one of its four parliamentary constituencies under new Boundary Commission proposals.

The number of seats in Northern Ireland would fall from 18 to 17, in what is being seen as an extensive redrawing of Northern Ireland's electoral map.
Outside Belfast, five constituencies would disappear and six new ones would be created.
The plans, which will go out for consultation, have had a mixed reaction from the political parties.
The proposals are part of a UK-wide process aimed at reducing the overall size of the House of Commons from 650 to 600 MPs.
The main changes proposed for Northern Ireland are:
The DUP said the proposals were a "first draft" of a process that would not conclude until late 2018.
"As we know from all previous boundary revisions, there are always major changes as the process plays out," said a spokesman.
The changes are drastic.
Every constituency is changed, in some cases changed utterly, as Yeats might have put it.
For the assembly, these changes will be very disruptive - not so much in terms of overall party balance, which should still end up proportional thanks to the electoral system, but in terms of the links between MLAs and their voters.
Read more analysis here: Changes will cause more dismay than delight
Sinn FÃ©in MLA Alex Maskey said the party had concerns about using the December 2015 electoral register as the basis for the re-drawing rather than census data.
"There are further concerns regarding what impact a Westminster-led Boundary Commission will have on assembly representation with a possibility of a reduction of constituencies to sixteen or less," he added.
UUP chairman Lord Empey said the proposals had "brought many surprises".
"The commission's own guidelines make clear that new proposals should respect geographical considerations, any local ties which could be broken and the existing shape of the 18 constituency boundaries.
"In the proposals as currently presented, Lisburn and Ballymena both lie at the periphery of their constituencies and cut off from their natural hinterlands - while the 10 major constituency alterations bear little resemblance to what went before."
The Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland is an independent public body responsible for reviewing Parliamentary constituency boundaries. There are separate commissions for England, Scotland and Wales.
Under the proposals, first outlined in 2011, England will have its number of seats reduced from 533 to 501; Wales from 40 to 29; and Scotland from 59 to 53.


South Yorkshire Police's handling of child sexual exploitation (CSE) was "inadequate" and the force "regularly missed" opportunities to tackle the problem, a report has found.

The force "seriously under-resourced" its early work and several attempts to alert senior officers to the issue fell on "deaf ears", it says.
It does however say the force has since made "considerable progress".
South Yorkshire Police said tackling CSE was an "absolute priority".
Analysis and reaction to the Drew Report's findings - and other news from Sheffield and South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire Police 'did not care', says abuse victim
The Drew Review in numbers
The report, by Professor John Drew who is a former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, was commissioned by South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings and covers the period from 1997 to 2016.
It was commissioned in the wake of the Jay Report, which found at least 1,400 girls were abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Prof Drew's 107-page report makes 11 recommendations, including implementing a standardised procedure for investigating CSE and ensuring that intelligence is handled promptly and appropriately.
"My overall judgement is that the police response to safeguarding children and young people from child sexual exploitation in the past was inadequate, especially in Rotherham.
"Some, but only some, of this failure can be linked to the lack of awareness, nationwide, of child sexual exploitation in the early 2000s.
"Opportunities to explore the prevalence of sexual exploitation in more detail regularly presented themselves and were regularly missed."
The report found "serious failings of policing in Rotherham" and said that while improvements were made from 2007 onwards "significant failures" continued to occur.
In Sheffield, it found officers worked in an "under-resourced vacuum" and requests for further resources and attempts to explain the situation were ignored.
Prof Drew said senior officers working at the time had told him they were "not aware" of the requests.
"A generous interpretation of this situation would be to say that the senior command lacked professional curiosity and were focused instead on other areas of police performance."
Michael Buchanan, BBC Social Affairs Correspondent
This report gives us a damning insight into why South Yorkshire Police failed repeatedly to act on the intelligence pouring into force.
The callous attitude that senior officers displayed towards the young victims is extraordinary.
Faced with allegations that children were being drugged, raped, abused and trafficked, they decided to do nothing.
What today's report describes as "a lack of professional curiosity" was more simply put to me by one former officer as "they ignored it."
The police - probably many members of the public - would like to move on from the failures of the past. But despite all the reports and reviews that have taken place since 2013, not a single officer has been held to account.
That is mainly due to the glacial pace of the IPCC investigation. Yes, there are numerous complaints against dozens of officers, so it's complicated.
But there is no sign of a conclusion to their inquiries and as this report highlights, that lack of resolution continues to undermine public confidence in the force.
He says the "distorting impact" of national priorities on targeting crimes such as burglary, robbery, and theft from vehicles meant it was "well nigh impossible for local police forces to attach importance to other emerging crimes".
However, he said that South Yorkshire Police's response to safeguarding children and young people from CSE was now "adequate".
The force was now "led by individuals who were determined to learn from the past" and that "significant additional resources" had been allocated to "catching up from a previously poor position".
The report also found the force now "understood and acted on previous criticisms and recommendations" though its Action Plan for combating CSE could be "further improved".
Prof Drew also uses his report to criticise the "slow pace" of the Independent Police Complaints Commission's investigations into disciplinary matters which, he said, are not due to be completed before 2017 "at the earliest".
"I cannot emphasise too strongly the harmful impact that this is having on victims and survivors, on police officers and staff, and on public confidence in policing," he said.
The force's Chief Constable David Crompton said: "Since the Jay report we've heavily focused our resources on this issue and charged 124 people with offences related to child sexual exploitation.
"We note the report's recommendations and accept that there is more to be done. Alongside the Police and Crime Commissioner, our partner agencies and forces across the country we will identify best practise and continue our commitment to protect children from sexual exploitation and harm."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed it has 55 ongoing investigations linked to at least 66 officers in South Yorkshire and their handling of CSE in Rotherham. It has also revealed it has received more than 100 allegations linked to officers who have not yet been identified.
A spokesperson for the IPCC last month said it was "committed to ensuring the allegations are investigated sensitively and thoroughly".
In response to Prof Drew's comments, the IPCC said it would be analysing the report "to see if it identifies any matters that we are not already aware of and which may require investigation."
The IPCC said it had a team of 21 investigative staff were now working on Rotherham-related cases. A newly-appointed Director of Major Investigations would ensure the resources allocated to these inquiries remained under review, it added.


DR Congo have called up former France youth internationals Remi Mulumba and Jires Kembo-Ekoko for next month's 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Central African Republic.

Kembo-Ekoko, a striker with UAE side Al Nasr, and Lorient midfielder Mulumba are in line for their first cap.
Both had previously rejected a number of call-ups to the national team.
Chancel Mbemba of Newcastle United and Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie are also in the 26-man squad.
But there is no place for Dieumerci Mbokani, who is at loggerheads with Dynamo Kiev over his desire to quit the Ukrainian club after being heavily linked with a move to the English Premier League.
The Leopards will also be without their captain and Norwich midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu, who is recuperating after breaking a metatarsal bone in his foot early this month.
DR Congo will face a tricky game on 6 September in Bangui as CAR seek redemption following a 4-0 crushing defeat by Group B leaders Angola in their opening 2017 Nations qualifier in June.
Firmin Mubele Ndombe and Joel Kimuaki Mpela scored a goal each as DR Congo made their home advantage tell by beating a stubborn Madagascar side 2-1 on the opening day of qualifying round.
The two-time African Champions beat hosts Equatorial Guinea 4-2 on penalties to finish third at the 2015 Nations Cup.
DR Congo squad:
Goalkeepers: Joel Kiassumbua (FC Wohlen, Switzerland), Nicaise Kudimbana (Royal Antwerp, Belgium), Parfait Mandanda (Charleroi, Belgium)
Defenders: Issama Mpeko and Joel Kimwaki (TP Mazembe) Chris Mavinga (Troyes, France), Cédric Mongongu (Eskisehirspor, Turkey), Fabrice Nsakala (Anderlecht, Belgium), Gabriel Zakuani (Peterborough, England), Christopher Oualembo (Academica Coimbra, Portugal), Bobo Ugenda (Kabuscorp, Angola)
Midfielders: Chancel Mbemba (Newcastle United, England), Cedric Makiadi (Werder Bremen, Germany), Neeskens Kebano (Charleroi, Belgium), Jordan Nkololo (Caen, France), Remi Mulumba (Lorient, France), Paul-José Mpoku (Chievo Verona, Italy), Wilson Kamavuaka (Sturm Graz, Austria)
Forwards: Cédric Bakambu (Villarreal, Spain), Yannick Bolasie (Crystal Palace, England), Jeremy Bokila (Guangzhou, China), Junior Kabananga (FC Astana, Kazakhstan), Firmin Mubele (Al Ahli SC, Qatar) Jires Kembo-Ekoko (Al Nasr, UAE), Cedric Mabwati (Columbus Crew, USA), Jordan Botaka (Excelsior Rotterdam,Netherlands).


An abstract sculpture in Poole created by artist Sir Anthony Caro has re-opened following conservation work.

'Sea Music' was given to the town by the sculptor in 1991, but had suffered from salt corrosion from the sea.
The 11m (35ft) high steel sculpture, featuring three viewing platforms, aimed to "bring together the cascading waves and the sails of boats".
Poole Museum was awarded Â£44,600 in lottery funding to conserve the landmark on Poole Quay.
In accordance with Caro's wishes before he died in 2013 of a heart attack at the age of 89, the supporting structure of the viewing platforms has been painted silver.
The project has also seen an exhibition of his Concerto Series at Poole Museum.


A Nepal court has sentenced three former soldiers to 20 years in jail for killing a teenage girl during the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

Maina Sunuwar, 15, was tortured and killed in an army base in 2004 in a case that came to symbolise the horror of wartime abuse.
It is the first time troops have been convicted over the 1995-2006 conflict.
The three men were not present in court and rights groups fear they may not serve their sentences.
"I'm glad the court has understood our plight. But our fight is not over. I'm worried the decision might be limited to paper. The state must implement the court's decision," Maina's mother Devi Sunuwar told AFP news agency.
The three soldiers - Amit Pun, Sunil Adhikari and Boby Khatri - had been convicted by a court martial in 2005 which jailed them for six months and issued them with fines for negligence and not disposing of Maina's body correctly.
Pun and Adhikari resigned from the army after the court martial and Khatri, their commander at the time, retired after missing out on promotion in 2009.
The court in Kavre acquitted a fourth soldier of higher rank, Niranjan Basnet, saying he had only been involved in Maina's arrest and not her killing.
"We're happy at the conviction.  But we don't want to see any institution protecting criminals.  They are now convicted criminals.  The army should respect the decision of the court and hand them over to the courts as per the law," Mandira Sharma from the Advocacy Forum, an NGO that brought the case before the court, told the BBC.
Maina was arrested at her home in Kharelthok village in central Nepal and then interrogated for suspected links to Maoist rebels by soldiers who were looking for her mother.
She was subjected to water torture and electrocution before being killed.
The Nepali army has not commented on the verdicts, which can be challenged in higher courts.
More than 17,000 people were killed during the civil war, which ended with a peace deal between the Maoist insurgents and government forces.
Both sides are accused of human rights abuses but rights groups say little has been done to hold perpetrators to account and many of those accused continue to hold high-ranking government and military positions.
This is only the second conviction ever for crimes during the civil war.
In 2014, five former Maoist rebels were jailed for two years for torturing and killing a journalist, a sentence that was criticised for being too lenient.
Police have not yet carried out a Supreme Court order to arrest a Maoist leader for a conflict-era murder.
The army and the former rebels say conflict-era cases should be investigated by a truth and reconciliation commission formed in 2015 instead of being settled through the regular courts.
The commission has collected more than 58,000 complaints from conflict victims. But BBC Nepali's Phanindra Dahal says feuding between members, a lack of political support and the absence of clear legal provisions mean it has made little headway.


Diego Costa says Chelsea are demanding a fee Atletico Madrid "can't get near" for the Spain striker to complete his desired move back to his former club.

Costa, 28, remains in his native Brazil after being sent a text in June by boss Antonio Conte telling him he would not be part of the squad this year.
The Blues signed Costa from Atletico for a reported £32m in July 2014.
"When I came to Chelsea they paid a lot less compared to what's being offered to them," Costa told ESPN Brasil.
He added that if Atletico do not make a "big effort" to sign him then he "can't keep on wanting" to play for Diego Simeone's side.
"I know that this [big effort] will happen, but if it's to pay the amount that Chelsea want it won't be possible," he said.
More to follow.


A protester who threw marbles at MPs in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Steven Abberley, from south London, threw glass marbles at a security screen and swore at politicians, calling them liars, a court heard.
He told Westminster Magistrates' Court he felt his life was "wasting away".
Judge Quentin Purdy said his "antics" were an inappropriate way to express his political views.
He told 28-year-old Abberley: "Anyone who chooses to disrupt [proceedings] causes those attending anxiety and distress.
"It causes people to feel they cannot go to that place. That's not the way it should be."
Prosecutor Mavis Ramkissoon told the court Abberley apologised to fellow spectators in the House before shouting abuse at MPs in October last year.
The court heard he caused Â£2,416 of damage.
Abberley, from Sutton, admitted using threatening words and behaviour, and was handed a 12-week suspended sentence.
He was also given a four-week suspended term for drawing graffiti which read "the enemy within" on a wall at the Palace of Westminster.
During the hearing, Abberley said he accepted full responsibility for his actions.
He told the judge: "I feel like my life is wasting away where I'm living. There's nothing happening for me."
Abberley was also ordered to pay Â£500 towards the damage and an additional Â£80 victim surcharge.


Police Scotland are to consider a report on the CIA's treatment of al-Qaeda suspects as part of its probe into rendition flights.

The US Senate report said that the CIA carried out "brutal" interrogations in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the US,
Police began an investigation in 2013 into the CIA's use of Scottish airports for the transfer of suspects.
The probe followed research by Kent and Kingston universities that suggested Aberdeen, Inverness and Wick were used.
The use of Prestwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh as a stop-off on journeys, often linking the US and Middle East, had previously been identified by the two universities.
The CIA has defended its actions in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US and in a statement insisted the interrogations had helped save lives.
The name rendition flights comes from the agency's Rendition, Detention and Interrogation programme that took place from 2002-07.
The Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC has instructed Police Scotland to consider the US Senate report.
He said: "The use of torture cannot be condoned. It is against international law and contrary to the common law of Scotland.
"I have instructed Police Scotland to consider the information published in the US Senate report as part of the ongoing police investigation into rendition flights into Scotland."
The SNP called for the UK government to "come clean" on whether US intelligence flights through Scottish airports were related to extraordinary rendition.
SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson said: "The new revelations made in the US Senate's report are appalling - those who are responsible for human rights abuses must be swiftly brought to justice.
"Almost a decade ago I published a report detailing a significant number of US intelligence flights that were made through Scottish airports. At the time Labour's senior politicians denied any UK involvement in rendition flights. We know now they lied.
"In light of the shocking report by the US Senate the UK government must give immediate answers on whether these intelligence flights involved rendition and what knowledge the UK Government had of the practices detailed in the report."
Prime Minister David Cameron has said questions about the interrogation of terror suspects have been "dealt with from the British perspective".
Mr Cameron said British agents had been given new guidance on how to behave.
The senate report said the CIA had justified its techniques with "inaccurate claims of their effectiveness", including citing foiled terror plots against the UK.
The programme involved the secret detention and transfer of terror suspects to other countries for interrogation and torture.
Researchers at the universities of Kent and Kingston studied thousands of flights suspected of being involved.
In 2013, they concluded that five potential rendition flights landed at Wick, a further five at Inverness and three at Aberdeen.
One aircraft which landed at Wick in 2004 was "logged flying to secret prison and torture destinations", the researchers said.
It cannot be established if the planes had prisoners on board, only that the aircraft were linked to rendition flights in the past.


Liverpool's Festival Gardens site has been bought by Liverpool City Council for "high-quality housing" and "cultural" events.

In a statement, the council said it hopes to create a "world-class cultural destination" on the riverside location.
Under the plans, approximately 28 acres would be used for housing, with 66 acres protected as open space which could be used for cultural activities.
The site was the original home of the International Garden Festival in 1984.
Planning permission for 1,308 apartments and 66 town houses was granted after a 2008 public inquiry which has also seen the restoration of the Chinese and Japanese gardens, the lake and the creation of new woodland walks.
Negotiations have been completed with property investment and development company Langtree to buy the land, the statement added.
Liverpool's Mayor Joe Anderson revealed in March he wants to use the land to create a new open space for the public which could also host music, theatre and public art events.
"This is a significant moment in the future of the Festival Gardens site and brings a bright new cultural future considerably closer to reality," he added.
The council said it hoped the area could be a "vibrant outdoor classroom" for local children as well as a place where Culture Liverpool, Liverpool Biennial and Tate Liverpool work together to make the area a cultural attraction.
Stephen Barnes, Development Director at Langtree, said: "We always recognised the strategic importance of this site to the future of the city and are pleased to be handing it on in a considerably better condition than we found it in 2005."
Mairead Smyth, BBC Radio Merseyside political reporter
The legacy of the five-month Garden Festival, held in 1984, was meant to be a unique riverside parkland gifted to the city and "available for all to share".
The area has much to offer; sitting on the edge of the River Mersey with good transport links to the city centre. It's been derelict for almost 20 years when Pleasure Island amusement park closed. Now the council says it wants to build a "destination park and high quality housing" on half of the site. But there are restrictions because the land is a former dump.
I met Mayor Anderson on the site and, although he wouldn't disclose how much it cost, he is confident the city will get a good return. His vision is clear - he wants an outdoor venue for cultural offerings - something Liverpool is well used to hosting - along with high quality houses that will contribute to the council's coffers through council tax revenue.
But will the idea of buying a home in a riverside concert park put purchasers off? Mayor Anderson says they will "get the balance right" when the plans are being drawn up.


Cork City dashed Dundalk's hopes of a double as Sean Maguire struck in the final minute of extra-time to clinch a 1-0 victory in the FAI Cup final.

Dundalk were targeting a second straight league and cup double in a repeat of last year's decider at the Aviva Stadium.
Maguire's shot took a defection off Dundalk defender Brian Gartland before hitting the bottom corner.
Dundalk's season continues in the Europa League group stage.
Stephen Kenny's side secured a third successive Premier Division title last month after a 2-1 win over Bohemians.
Dundalk beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-0 in September to become the first Irish team to earn a European group stage victory.


Almost 23,000 children in Northern Ireland have been offered a pre-school nursery education place from September, funded by the Department of Education.

It means that 99.9% of parents who applied on behalf of their children have secured a funded nursery place, with just 16 applicants still waiting.
In April, the BBC reported that almost 800 applicants were waiting to find out if they had been successful.
The new education minister, Peter Weir, said he was "delighted" by the update.
"The department and the Education Authority have worked hard to meet demand for pre-school places, including approving or funding additional places across both voluntary and statutory settings," the minister said.
"Pre-school places remain available across Northern Ireland and the Education Authority will continue to work with those parents who have been unsuccessful in securing a pre-school place."
Letters on the outcome of the second stage of the application process were issued to parents on Friday.
Demand for funded pre-school places has risen in recent years and there are a number of criteria to help schools decide which children to admit.
Legislation requires providers to give preference to children from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds, whose parents are in receipt of Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance.
Further criteria can include whether a child has had a sibling at the school, or how far away they live from the building.


Odds-on favourite Midterm, ridden by Ryan Moore for trainer Sir Michael Stoute, won the Classic Trial at Sandown on Friday afternoon.

The 8-11 shot defeated 12-1 chance Algometer by one and a half lengths with the other four rivals well beaten.
Midterm is a son of 2001 Derby winner Galileo and Group One victor Midday.
After the Sandown win, Midterm's odds for the Derby at Epsom in June were cut by some bookmakers from 8-1 to 6-1 second favourite.
The 4-1 market leader is US Army Ranger.
In the 1980s, the trial was won by subsequent Derby winners Shergar and Shahrastani, although the last runner to triumph at Epsom was 1997 Sandown runner-up Benny The Dip.
You can check out the latest racing results on the BBC Sport website.


The idea that just one person should be entitled to determine the policy of his or her political party is a strange one, for no leader of a democratic party was ever chosen because he or she was believed to have a monopoly of wisdom.

Yet the assumption that the party leader should have the last word on everything has almost imperceptibly gained currency in British politics during recent decades.
It is a notion especially at odds with the traditions of the Labour Party, in which, historically, the shadow cabinet (when the party was in opposition), the parliamentary party (PLP), and the party in the country (through its elected representatives on the National Executive Committee) shared the task of policy-making.
The annual party conference (until the New Labour era) also had a policy-making role, although what happened in between party conferences was always more important.
The influence of each of these components in relation to the others varied over time, but the shadow cabinet, and especially its most senior members, generally wielded the greatest day-to-day power.
While the party leader had more influence than any other individual in the top leadership team, he could not dictate policy.
The most respected of all Labour leaders, Clement Attlee, who led the party for 20 years, was a prime minister (1945-51) who let individual ministers make their own decisions, subject to getting cabinet agreement for the most important issues of principle.
That government contained people of very diverse views - from Ernest Bevin and Herbert Morrison on the right wing of the party to Aneurin Bevan on the left (although their support for very high levels of income tax to fund public spending and for extensive public ownership would put even the Labour "moderates" of 1945-51 to the left of the policies espoused today by Mr Corbyn.)
When commentators speak of Attlee "creating the National Health Service", they are projecting the contemporary cult of the leader on to a man who would not have dreamt of making any such claim.
The minister responsible for ushering in the NHS was Bevan, to whom Attlee gave full credit while stressing that the cabinet collectively "share the blame or the credit for every action of the government".
Accommodating himself also to policies pressed on him by backbench Labour MPs, Attlee acknowledged that "other people may perhaps be wiser than oneself".
Extensive use of the first-person singular was not a feature of Labour Party leaders' speeches prior to Tony Blair's election, but it was a practice continued by both of his immediate successors, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.
Mr Corbyn has, however, broken with that.
He has broken also with the idea that party policy emanates from the leader.
That was most notably espoused by Mr Blair, who wrote that even if people disagreed with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, they "sympathised with the fact that the leader had to take the decision".
Mr Corbyn has made no pretence to be "an all-seeing, all-knowing leader".
He must recognise that he cannot dictate policy but can try to persuade the shadow cabinet and the parliamentary party that some of his policy preferences have merit.
In the short term, he can cite his intra-party electoral triumph as constituting a mandate for greater radicalism.
But there is a tension between his earlier rejection of top-down policy-making and his claim to Laura Kuenssberg on Wednesday that he will have the final say.
On the evidence so far, Mr Corbyn is closer in leadership style to Attlee than to Mr Blair.
Attlee, however, had several huge advantages over Mr Corbyn, especially by the time he became prime minister.
By then, he had already been for five years a linchpin of the wartime coalition government and, from 1942, the official deputy prime minister to Winston Churchill.
As Labour's landslide victory in 1945 indicated, the egalitarian and public-service oriented policies of the party were in tune with a large swath of the electorate.
Moreover, although the PLP included Labour rebels on the left and a smaller number on the right, as a whole it respected Attlee and was supportive of him.
Attlee saw himself, and was seen, as a party loyalist and as a centrist within the Labour Party.
He was able to head a government which, collectively, moved the centre of the political spectrum in Britain leftwards and, in many respects, set the political agenda for a generation.
Mr Corbyn has assumed the Labour leadership in a different climate of opinion.
In political experience and parliamentary support, his position is vastly inferior to Attlee's.
So far as the parliamentary party goes, he starts with less support than that enjoyed by any Labour leader subsequent to Attlee.
While Mr Corbyn's views on economic policy may be close to Attlee's, that now places him on the left of the party, not its centre.
A collegial and inclusive style of party leadership may come naturally to him, but he really has no other option.
He will also have to learn a great deal on the job to have any hope of leading the Labour Party into the next general election.
Archie Brown is the author of The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age (Vintage paperback, 2015).


With cash strapped and resources tight, emergency services are trying to cut nonsense 999 calls - but how do they stop some callers wasting their time?

Inappropriate calls to 999 in recent years have ranged from a man who called police to complain about a prostitute's looks to a woman who wanted to know if the green part of a potato was poisonous.
In many cases, most people would see it as common sense that calls like those should not be made to a phone number dedicated to emergencies.
A recent example, however, shows it is not all black and white.
On 5 July, a 15-year-old girl became trapped in a cat flap. She had returned home in the early hours of the morning without her house keys and so tried to squeeze herself through - but got stuck.
She called West Midlands Fire Service to ask them to free her.
The service has been charging for non-emergency calls for the past two years because it says its increasingly-stretched resources must be focused on savings lives, and not being called out to things such as lock-outs.
But this ill-fated flap foray did not see the girl charged as the service's fire control decided, if there had been a fire while she was still stuck, her life would have been at risk.
So where do emergency services draw the line?
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said it would consider a charge for call-outs in which there was "some element of culpability, rather than a mishap".
A spokesperson explained: "If a lorry shed its load because it was poorly strapped on, we would exact a charge from a haulier on the grounds it used resources at public expense and it was avoidable.
"It depends on the detail of the incident if we charge or not. There's variation nationally on this."
The emergency services often release details of time-wasting calls they receive in a bid to urge people to think twice before calling 999.
Police Scotland was among a number of forces to do so when the 101 non-emergency number was launched. One caller rang 999 to complain he had been given a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant.
Other forces to have taken a similar approach include the West Midlands, which revealed one recording of a woman complaining about the sprinkles on her ice cream cone. Greater Manchester Police also revealed "silly prank calls" including reports of marmalade theft and a chicken walking down a road.
As a result of the publicity in the West Midlands, calls to 101 grew by more than 2,000 a day and those to 999 fell by nearly 500, the force said.
The Metropolitan Police - the largest UK police force - also ran a similar campaign last December. It said it had received 2,060 fewer misuse or hoax calls in the first six months of this year than the 28,872 such calls it received in the same period last year as a result.
Some of the calls are made by the same people, ringing 999 over and over again.
Det Supt Gurdip Singh, from the Met's command and control, said: "The most frequent nuisance callers are looked at each day, with officers focusing on the top 10 in each London borough and making prosecutions where appropriate.
"Operators are trained to recognise misuse and hoax calls. They are also trained to recognise where callers may suffer from mental health or vulnerability issues.
"Where mental health issues are the catalyst, work is undertaken with the local Safer Neighbourhood Teams and other relevant partner agencies to provide help for the individual and deter them from constantly calling police."
Social psychology professor Michael Moore said well-trained listeners, such as operators in 999 call centres, often know how to pick up the signs of deliberate timewasters.
"There might be someone who is making these calls intentionally to harass emergency services because they want to clog the lines or whatever," he said.
"Well-trained listeners are trained to differentiate these things - what needs to be taken seriously and what should be set aside."
He said there could be a range of reasons for people deciding to call 999 to waste time.
"There's a touch of anti-establishment attitude to making fake or hoax calls," said Prof Moore.
"It may even be a bored person or someone who has done it as a dare to impress a friend.
"The callers might also suffer from psychopathology - some 5% of the population is depressive for example and every second person has some kind of neurosis."
The West Midlands Ambulance Service said callers with complex mental disorders accounted for the vast majority of its frequent callers in the past financial year.
Rob Cole, head of clinical practice at the service, said: "We were managing 232 frequent callers in the past 12 months - genuinely vexatious fewer than 10 - most with complex issues that simply need managing by different approaches.
"Several hundred are calling more than 10 times per month.
"We are now getting involvement from many agencies whether within or outside of the safeguarding area."
For those few callers who make repeated bogus calls, the service says it will pursue prosecutions, as well as "acceptable behaviour agreements" - which normally precede anti-social behaviour orders.
Among those prosecuted was Anil Gautan, 28, from Church Road in Bradmore, Wolverhampton, who was jailed for 12 weeks in February after he plagued the 111 medical helpline with 5,000 bogus calls between August and November last year, claiming to be ill.
Mr Cole said: "We have had a handful of prosecutions and there are approximately 20 agreements in existence."
The Welsh Ambulance Service put together a list of the top 10 frequent callers in each of the seven local health boards it covers, in a bid to reduce demand by involving other agencies.
That exercise flagged up more than 50 calls in 2013 from one address in Cardiff and Vale at which an alcohol dependent patient had recurrent falls.
The man was given an urgent hospital appointment with a consultant, which led to rehabilitation, and has since made no calls to the service.
Richard Lee, head of clinical services for the services and a paramedic, said: "That was a real win for everyone.
"Once a frequent caller is on our radar, we can work with their GP to agree an individual treatment plan."
He said the same thinking was being applied to frequent callers with mental health disorders, involving other agencies.
"We're the ambulance service, we're not great at providing complex, mental health interventions," he said.
"We are trying to change things so we have a better offering for mental health patients but also have ambulances free for people who have a serious road accident, heart attack or stroke."
There is still concern that people dialling 999 for minor conditions - including colds and toothache - are putting the lives of genuine emergency patients at risk.
But emergency services hope public education initiatives, such as the NHS's Choose Well campaign and the release of examples of inappropriate calls, will help underline the message - 999 is for emergencies.


The 17,000-tonne drilling rig Transocean Winner, which ran aground on a Lewis beach in a storm on Monday, is the latest in list of large or unusual structures to be washed up on Scotland's islands.

The objects that have either come ashore or brought close to isles in stormy weather have included lost pieces of military hardware and massive containers and even a boat carrying an empty coffin.
In 2009, a Canadian author was reunited with a message in a bottle following its 2,000-mile, five month-long journey across the Atlantic.
Ross Traverse had expected the bottle to wash up somewhere along the coast from his home in Torbay, Newfoundland.
However, it was found by two RSPB Scotland workers during a beach clean on Oronsay in the Inner Hebrides.
Mr Traverse travelled by plane, train, ferry and small boat to reach the isle to collect his message and bottle.
Four years ago, a Scots fisherman set a new Guinness World Record after finding a message in a bottle 98 years after it was released.
Andrew Leaper's discovery east of Shetland beat the previous record for the longest time a bottle had been adrift at sea by more than five years.
The drift bottle - containing a postcard which promised a reward of six pence to the finder - was released in June 1914 by Captain CH Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation.
It was in a batch of 1,890 scientific research bottles which were specially designed to sink to help map the currents of the seas around Scotland when they were returned. About 300 of them have been found.
"Today's shout had an air of transatlantic mystery," said the RNLI following an unusual discovery in July 2013.
Tobermory lifeboat crew found what appeared to be a US Coastguard-certified craft with bullet holes in it off Muck in the Small Isles.
The RNLI said the upturned 14ft aluminium dinghy appeared to have been in the water for some time.
Just days earlier, the same Isle of Mull-based crew also recovered a large red object that resembled targets towed out to sea and used by the military.
The west coast of Scotland is used as a training area during the twice yearly UK-led Nato exercise Joint Warrior, and the red target was thought to be connected to that exercise.
In October 2015, another military target drone was found washed up on at the beach at Baleshare on North Uist.
The coastguard said it was a Mirach 100/5. This type of drone is used by armed forces worldwide to train on weapons systems.
It was cordoned off before later being removed. The find came just days after the finish of a staging of Exercise Joint Warrior.
In 2007, a giant metal container appeared on a beach on the Western Isles.
It turned out that the 15m-long tank, similar to those used to ferment beer, was one of six lost overboard from a ship close to the south western approaches to the English Channel.
After being adrift at sea for three weeks, the container was found by a dog walker on Poll na Crann - known as Stinky Bay - on Benbecula.
The following year the crew of a yacht with an empty coffin strapped to the deck had to be rescued by a lifeboat crew after losing their way near the Western Isles.
RNLI volunteers from Barra were called out after the craft got lost on its passage from America to Norway.
The coffin was bound for a bar in Norway's capital, Oslo.


Somerset County Council has defended its decision to pay nearly £1,000 a day for a temporary employee.

Sue Rogers has been appointed interim deputy director of education, a new role which is costing the council £864 per day plus daily expenses of £100.
Julian Wooster, director of children's services, said: "My view is children can't wait - hence why we have a very capable interim who has joined us."
He added that a permanent person should be in the post by Christmas.
In March, the council's children's services department was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted with its report, describing a "corporate failure" to keep children safe.
The new role has been created, according to Mr Wooster, so he can concentrate on urgent improvements needed in social services.
"It's a role most authorities have and the person carrying out the interim role has been doing that role in another local authority," he said.
"I don't generally believe that interims are sustainable and members have made it very clear to me they don't expect this person to be in role for that long."
He added that the £964 a day cost, also included agency fees and relocation expenses.
"We don't pay any annual leave and we don't pay any sick leave for this role or any pension," he said.
"It's also a short term contract and I'm very confident that we can recruit in September to enrol on a permanent basis."


India cruised past Bangladesh to set up a mouthwatering Champions Trophy final against fierce rivals Pakistan.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Bangladesh looked likely to post a big total at Edgbaston, but from 154-2 they lost both Tamim Iqbal (70) and Mushfiqur Rahim (61) to Kedar Jadhav, and could only muster 264-7.
India were in complete control throughout the chase - Rohit Sharma made an unbeaten 123 and Virat Kohli 96 not out as a nine-wicket win was sealed with almost 10 overs to spare.
Sunday's final is at The Oval, where India will attempt to retain the crown they won in 2013.
It is likely to be a raucous, vibrant and colourful occasion and will hopefully produce a contest to match after two one-sided semi-finals - this and Pakistan's defeat of England on Wednesday.
India-Pakistan tussles - the most-watched in cricket and amongst the highest audiences for all world sport - have been limited to major tournaments for more than four years.
Political tensions mean they have not played a Test match since 2007 or a bilateral series since 2012-13. All recent meetings have either been in International Cricket Council competitions or the Asia Cup.
Though they faced each other in the 2007 World Twenty20 final, which India won, they have never contested a global 50-over decider.
India will start as favourites, especially after they trounced Pakistan in their opening game of the tournament.  However, Pakistan have steadily improved and were brilliant in dumping out highly fancied hosts England.
On a pacy, true Edgbaston surface, Bangladesh - in their first global semi-final - were well placed for a score that would test India when Tamim and Mushfiqur were compiling a third-wicket stand of 123.
Tamim, bowled off a Hardik Pandya no-ball on 16, had only 12 off 35 balls but accelerated against the same bowler and Ravichandran Ashwin, while Mushfiqur busily accumulated with deft touches and nudges off the pads.
As India were beginning to run short of options, they turned to the slingy part-time off-spin of Jadhav, a man with just six previous ODI wickets. Tamim played an awful slog to be bowled and Mushfiqur hit a full toss straight to mid-wicket, surrendering the initiative.
The excellent Jasprit Bumrah led India's death bowling, the Bangladesh total belatedly boosted by Mashrafe Mortaza's 25-ball 30 not out.
If the suspicion was that Bangladesh were short of a competitive total, it was confirmed by the way that Rohit and opening partner Shikhar Dhawan set about the chase.
Dhawan, the tournament's leading run-scorer, belted the ball square of the wicket on both sides in a 34-ball 46. His charge was only ended by an awful slice to point off Mashrafe.
Rohit was measured throughout, cutting, pulling and driving his way to an 11th ODI century that was completed with a hook for six off left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman.
He shared an unbroken 178 with captain Kohli, who played an array of trademark cover drives as he passed 8,000 ODI runs.
It was barely a contest, but still entertainment that was lapped up by the India fans in a crowd of 24,340 - a record for an ODI at Edgbaston.
India batsman Rohit Sharma, who made an unbeaten 123: "It was a great knock, especially when it comes on a winning note. It's always memorable to win the game and score a hundred. The last few games I was trying to get a big one and I was quite determined today."
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza: "We could have scored 300 or 320 but once they got our two set batsman out that was a big setback for us.
"We have some experienced players now and hopefully next time we will come strongly. You have to be stronger mentally in these type of games but otherwise we did well."
Former England batter Ebony Rainford-Brent on BBC Test Match Special: "It was too easy today for India, but Bangladesh have done themselves and their country proud in this tournament.
"A lot of people predicted India would be in the final. For me, the batting [is strong], they've got the death bowlers - they're so well rounded at the moment."


Two lovers who beat a man to death and dumped his body in a ravine near a disused tunnel have been jailed.

Shiraz Bashir, 42, and Leonie Mason, 24, attacked Craig Preston in a lay-by in Rotherham before discarding his body by the Woodhead Tunnels in August
The couple, who were convicted of murder, were sentenced to a minimum of 22 and 19 years respectively.
Three teenage boys who joined in the attack were given sentences between three and four years.
More stories from Yorkshire
The teenagers, two aged 15 and one aged 16, were convicted of manslaughter after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court.
During the trial it emerged that Mason had been in a relationship with both 34-year-old Mr Preston, a low level drug dealer, and pizza delivery driver Bashir at the time of the attack.
However, the jury heard she and Bashir saw Mr Preston as an "annoyance"  and "wanted him out of the way" so hatched a plot to kill him.
The couple recruited the three teenagers, one of whom was just 14 at the time, and lured Mr Preston to the lay-by in Town Lane where he was tied up and then kicked, punched and stamped on by all five defendants.
He was then forced into the boot of a car before being dumped on moorland in Derbyshire, where he was discovered the following day by dog walkers.
His trousers and underpants had been pulled down before he was pushed into the ravine by Mason and Bashir.
A photo of his badly beaten body contorted in the boot of the car was later recovered from Bashir's phone.
The judge, Mr Justice Males, said Bashir, who he described as the "driving force" in the killing "hated Mr Preston so much that he saw that photo as a kind of trophy".
Jailing the five defendants, he said: "Craig Preston did not have much of a life. What little he had revolved around his abuse of class A drugs and his fixation with Leonie Mason.
"Nevertheless he was a human being who did not deserve this painful and degrading death."
Addressing the boys - two aged 15 and one aged 16 - he said: "The effect of these sentences is that each of you will serve what to you will be a significant period of detention but you will be released on licence before transfer to an adult prison is required.
"They also give you the prospect of rehabilitation. Your future is in your own hands.
"You have been involved in a terrible event but there is no reason why you should not in time be able to live useful and productive lives."
Mason and Bashir, both of Holme Park Court, Huddersfield, were convicted of murder after a trial.
The three boys, who who cannot be named because of their ages, were found guilty of manslaughter.
An application by the media to have reporting restrictions banning the identification of the teenagers lifted was rejected by the judge.


In a landmark battle between man and artificial intelligence (AI), the world champion of the game Go was narrowly defeated by his computer opponent.

9 March 2016 Last updated at 09:12 GMT
Google's DeepMind AlphaGo program beat South Korea's Lee Se-dol in the first of a series of games in Seoul.
Read the full story: Google AI beats Go master in first game


A man has been jailed for smuggling drugs, a knife and a McMuffin sandwich into Wormwood Scrubs prison.

CCTV footage showed him outside the jail tying the goods to a fishing line that was pulled into a cell.
Karl Jensen, 27 and his girlfriend, Lisa Mary Hutchinson, 26, both of Ladbroke Grove, were sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday.
Jensen was jailed for two and a half years and Hutchinson received a 12-month community order.
Jensen pleaded guilty to seven charges including conspiracy to supply a class A drug and three counts of conveying an article into prison.
Hutchinson admitted allowing her home to be used for the supply of class A and class B drugs.
Met officers were alerted when prison staff spotted Jensen and Hutchinson in Artillery Lane near the prison on in October last year.
Staff watched on CCTV as Jensen tied a bag to a fishing line and it was hauled up into the prison.
The bag, which was found inside the cell, contained a five-inch blade, a Smartwatch, a mobile phone, cannabis and cocaine.
Other smuggled goods included a McDonald's McMuffin, a plastic Kinder Surprise egg containing five Sim cards, a bottle of vodka and USB chargers.
Det Con Andy Griffin said the combination of items "could have been deadly."
There have been no further arrests in connection with the smuggling.


Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped by a record amount, the British Social Attitudes Survey suggests.

The poll indicates satisfaction fell from 70% to 58% last year - the largest annual drop since it started in 1983.
The King's Fund think tank sponsored the NHS questions put to more than 1,000 people and said their answers appeared to be a comment on reforms and spending squeezes and not care quality.
The government said the survey contradicted its poll among patients.
The survey formed part of the wider British Social Attitudes Survey, which covers a whole host of policy areas.
When asked what they think of their care, most patients are grateful for their treatment and give the NHS a thumbs up.
This is illustrated by the results of the latest annual patients survey, which reveals nine in 10 would rate their care as good, very good or excellent.
Understandably, ministers have highlighted that research to suggest that all is rosy in the health service.
But that does not mean that the findings of the British Social Attitudes Survey are not important.
They are in effect an emotional stock-take of what the public thinks the present and future holds for the health service.
The NHS - like the rest of the public sector - is facing a tough challenge.
Rising demands and a squeeze on finances means the pressure is on - and this drop in satisfaction suggests the public are worried.
The 1,096 respondents to the health questions were asked "how satisfied or dissatisfied"  they were with the way in which the National Health Service was run.
The King's Fund released the findings on the NHS as it has taken on responsibility for funding that element of the research after the government pulled out last year.
Prof John Appleby, chief economist at the King's Fund, said the poll was important because it had tracked satisfaction over such a long period of time.
"It is not surprising this has happened when the NHS is facing a well-publicised spending squeeze.
"Nevertheless, it is something of a shock that it has fallen so significantly.
"This will be a concern to the government given it appears to be closely linked with the debate on its NHS reforms."
The King's Fund said it had reached that conclusion because performance measures, such as waiting times and hospital infection rates, remained low.
When the figures are broken down in more detail they show similar patterns.
Satisfaction fell among supporters of all three main political parties - although unsurprisingly if dropped most among Labour voters.
The falls were similar when England was compared with Scotland and Wales combined.
While the NHS reforms apply only to England, the King's Fund suggested there could be some "leakage" into the public consciousness elsewhere.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the survey results "clearly reflect David Cameron's disastrous decision to reorganise the NHS at a time of financial distress. Patients are beginning to see the signs of a service in distress."
He said A&E waiting times over winter, reports of patients on trolleys in corridors, redundancies, and "reports of services being restricted" were "leading people to feel worried about the future of the NHS".
And Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, added: "These results give us a sharp indication that the public have become worried and confused about what is going on with the NHS."
But Health Minister Simon Burns said the findings contradicted the government's own research which showed satisfaction rates remained high.
In particular, he highlighted the annual patient survey which showed that 92% of patients said their experience was good, very good or excellent.
"The British Social Attitudes Survey targets the general public rather than targeting people that have actually used the NHS, so responses are influenced by other factors.
"By its nature it is not as accurate a picture as the data from patients."


Britain's George Groves will have to rebuild again after losing a third world title challenge, this time against WBC super-middleweight champion Badou Jack in Las Vegas.

Groves was floored in the first round but recovered well, making the fight about even at the halfway stage.
But Sweden's Jack landed the more solid blows in the latter stages of the bout and was awarded a split decision.
Groves was knocked out twice by fellow Briton Carl Froch, in 2013 and 2014.
Groves, 27, stormed from the ring after the verdict was announced but while the fight was close, he was always unlikely to sneak a decision against one of Floyd Mayweather's stable-mates in Las Vegas.
In addition, while the official punch statistics revealed that Groves threw 215 more punches than Jack, Jack landed with 56 more.
"I thought I won the fight decisively," said Groves. "I thought I controlled the fight with my jab and that I was in control throughout."
Groves, who has lost three of his last five fights, was controversially stopped in the ninth round of his first fight against Froch before being knocked out in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley last summer.
At the MGM Grand, on the undercard of Mayweather's supposed final fight against American Andre Berto, the scorecards were as unsympathetic, reading 116-111, 115-112 and 113-114 in Jack's favour.
The Londoner's latest defeat scuppered a proposed unification match against arch rival James DeGale, the IBF champion, at Wembley Stadium next summer.
The 31-year-old Jack, who was making the first defence of the title he won from American Anthony Dirrell in April, took his record to 20 wins, one defeat and one draw as a professional.
Groves started in positive fashion and appeared to be winning the opening round until an overhand right staggered him and a second sent him to the canvas.
Having popped straight back up, the Englishman received a mandatory eight count while on unsteady legs but managed to make it to the bell.
Groves looked to have made a full recovery by the start of the second, a round he probably shaded, but Jack did the better work in the third, his jab particularly effective.
Groves probably edged the fourth courtesy of his jab but was still unable to establish his right hand, as the champion continued to look unruffled.
The challenger did land with some right hands in the fifth and Groves also outworked Jack in the sixth, making the fight extremely close at the halfway stage.
Perhaps mindful of Groves's reputation for tiring down the stretch, Jack upped his work-rate in the seventh. And by the end of the eighth, Jack's seconds were telling their man that Groves was "done".
While their assessment proved to be a miscalculation, Groves looked even more weary in the ninth as Jack continued to soften him up with some hurtful body shots.
Groves looked very weary by the end of the 10th, Jack having winded him on the bell with a right to the solar plexus.
The challenger fought back gamely in the 11th and also had some success in a wild final round, but Jack was never in serious trouble and probably deserved his victory.


Rapper Kanye West has revealed he would have opted for Donald Trump in the US presidential election if he had voted.

"I told you I didn't vote," he told an audience in San Jose, California. "But I didn't tell you... if I would've voted, I would've voted on Trump."
Angry fans responded by booing the singer and throwing items on stage.
West said he had "loved the debates" between Trump and rival Hillary Clinton and that his "approach was absolutely genius because it... worked".
See BBC Music Live for video footage
The performer also asked for people to "stop focusing on racism", saying: "This world is racist, okay. Let's stop being distracted to focus on that as much. We are in a racist country - period."
But he said his preference did not mean he was any less supportive of women's rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.
"That don't mean I don't believe in these things because that is the guy I would've voted for," he can be heard saying in footage uploaded on social media.
West was performing on Thursday as part of his Saint Pablo tour. His next concert will be held in Sacramento, also in California, on Saturday.
At last year's MTV Music Video Awards, the 39-year-old performer announced that he planned to run for president in 2020.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


Northern Ireland's Mark Allen held his nerve to beat world number one Mark Selby 6-5 in the China Championship quarter-finals in Guangzhou.

The Antrim player hit breaks of 114, 100 and 131 on his way to taking a 5-2 lead over the world champion.
Selby fought back to level, but Allen compiled a decisive 60 break in the final frame to overcome the Englishman.
Allen, who is ranked 10th, will now face four-time world champion John Higgins in the semi-finals.
Allen progressed to the last-eight stage thanks to a 6-4 victory over Ricky Walden in the first round.


Ofcom says it will not investigate Sky News over Kay Burley's interview with the head of Alton Towers, despite almost 2,000 complaints.

People were upset at the journalist's approach while speaking to Nick Varney about an accident on the park's Smiler ride that left 16 people injured.
Many felt her questions - about park safety and the extent of the victims' injuries - were too aggressive.
A 17-year-old had her leg amputated following the crash.
Four other passengers were seriously injured when a carriage full of passengers on the 14-loop roller coaster collided with an empty one.
The incident, on 2 June, resulted in the Staffordshire theme park closing for six days.
In her interview, broadcast three days after the accident, Burley pressed Varney - the chief executive of Merlin Entertainment - to reveal whether a report one of the victims had lost a leg was true.
"We are deeply sorry for the accident that happened," he said.
Burley replied: "I'm sure they are not interested in your sympathy at this stage. They went to have a fantastic day and they have potentially lost a limb. You won't tell us if they have or not."
He responded: "With all due respect, to be telling you stuff like thatâ€¦ That is absolutely personal information to those individuals and their families."
A petition to have Burley sacked over the incident has now gained more than 50,000 signatures.
Ofcom received 1,816 complaints over the interview but said: "We have carefully assessed whether this interview exceeded generally accepted standards.
"In our view, the interviewee was able to respond fully to the questions and put his position across. As a result, we have not taken the matter forward for investigation."
Responding to complaints immediately after the broadcast, Burley tweeted: "For those concerned I was hard on Alton Towers boss, he'll get over it. Not sure those on his ride will be so quick to recover ."


A gang of men who conspired to supply cocaine across a city have been jailed.

They were detained during raids in Brighton and Hove last June, when cash, cocaine and vehicles worth several hundred thousand pounds were seized.
Leader Mevlan Dema was arrested after police stopped him his BMW in West Street, Brighton, in which they found cocaine, Hove Crown Court heard.
Eight out of the nine men - all Albanian - were in the UK illegally, the BBC understands.
Illegal alcohol in licensed premises associated with the group was also seized.
Police officers working with Immigration, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), council licensing teams, trading standards and environmental health found the alcohol in a range of premises including a pub, two kebab shops, three cafÃ© bars and an off-licence.
All nine men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and were sentenced over two hearings, the first on 22 March and the second earlier.
Dema also pleaded guilty to two charges of money laundering.
Det Ch Insp Steve Boniface, of Sussex Police, said: "This was a long running operation to disrupt this Albanian organised crime group who were supplying significant quantities of cocaine within the city.
"We will now be applying to the court to seize their assets and any profits they have made from their criminality.
"The majority of Albanians working and living in the city are contributing to the community and economy in a positive way."


Parents who take children on holiday in term time have "nothing to fear", a man at the centre of a legal battle says.

Jon Platt, from the Isle of Wight, was taken to court after refusing to pay a £120 fine for taking his six-year-old daughter to Florida in April, but the case was thrown out by magistrates.
Mr Platt argued the law only requires children to attend school regularly.
Isle of Wight Council said it was following government guidance and was reviewing the outcome of the case.
Mr Platt took his daughter out of school to go to Florida with 15 other members of their family, despite an absence request being rejected by the school.
"I cannot allow a local education authority to tell me what is right for my kids - I know what is best for my kids," he said.
He insisted his children got "great value and great experiences" from the trip, with "no detrimental impact whatsoever" on their education.
Having refused to pay a £120 penalty, at a magistrates' court earlier this week, he had successfully argued Section 444 of the Education Act required parents ensured their children attended school "regularly", and did not put restrictions on taking them on holidays in term time.
His daughter had a 93.8% attendance rate the previous academic year.
"There is no complex loophole - parents have nothing to fear from LEAs ... if your children have attended school regularly," he said.
"LEAs are trying to use the legislation intended to stop truancy to stop parents taking their kids on holiday."
In a statement, the council said it took legal action based on "appropriate legislation, Department for Education regulations and guidance".
A DfE spokesperson said: "Head teachers have the discretion to grant term time holiday in exceptional circumstances, as they always have.
"But it is a myth that missing school even for a short time is harmless to a child's education."


DR Congo's main opposition leader has died in Brussels aged 84, reports say.

Etienne Tshisekedi, one of the country's most important advocates of democracy, was a prominent opponent of successive Congolese leaders.
The party he helped found in 1982, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress party (UDPS), said he had travelled to Belgium last week for medical checks.
He was due to head a transitional council under a deal for President Joseph Kabila to step down this year.
Mr Tshisekedi served as a minister under autocratic ruler Mobutu Sese Seko in the country then known as Zaire before helping to set up the UDPS.
During the 1990s he was named prime minister four times but did not remain in the position after clashing with Mobutu, who was eventually forced out in 1997.
His activism meant he remained popular but in recent years he had been suffering ill health.


A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been dismissed for failing to respond to a fatal attack in which a man was stabbed more than 200 times.

Sgt Kirsten Treasure, who worked in Croydon, ignored an initial call for assistance to the stabbing on 24 April 2014, a misconduct hearing was told.
Andrew Else, 52,  died after the attack in Selsdon Park Road in Croydon.
Sgt Treasure was also overheard making racist and homophobic remarks on 15 occasions, the hearing was told.
She also allegedly lied about the events when interviewed by police, the hearing was told.
Mr Else was stabbed more than 200 times by Ephraim Norman, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He admitted manslaughter in February 2015 and was ordered to be detained indefinitely in a secure hospital.
Mr Else's mother-in-law Carol Scott, 74, said: "We are so glad Kirsten Treasure has been dismissed. She was a horrendous person and we don't need police officers like this in the force.
"I don't know how my daughter has coped with it all. I dropped her off for the hearing and she had to listen to the reports of her husband being stabbed again, it was like having him die again on her.
"While he was being stabbed he asked the man who was doing it, 'why are you doing this to me?'
"We think perhaps if the police had got there quicker Andrew would have been saved.
"We don't blame the police officers, we blame Kirsten Treasure who was in charge of them. I am so angry with her. She was a nasty piece of work and called them horrible names."
The misconduct hearing on Friday was told Sgt Treasure used racist and homophobic language on three occasions between 30 December 2013 and 13 April 2014, as well as on 12 other occasions on unspecified dates.
It was further alleged in May 2014 she had refused permission for an officer to investigate a shoplifting incident.
The following month she was accused of asking an officer to provide her with the names of colleagues who had complained about her behaviour. She was also accused of pressurising an officer not to give evidence against her.
Ch Supt Matt Gardner, from the Directorate of Professional Standards, said: "The catalogue of misconduct by this officer is truly shocking."
He said she had "abandoned her sworn oath" to protect the people of London and "had no regard for the victim, Andrew Else".
He said her "appalling" language and behaviour had no place in the Met Police service and was the "polar opposite" of what a police officer should be.
She has been dismissed without notice.


Inter Milan came from behind to beat Juventus in an exciting derby d'Italia.

Stephan Lichtsteiner gave the visitors the lead after the break when he tapped home a low cross from Alex Sandro.
However, Mauro Icardi equalised for the hosts just two minutes later with a header from a corner.
Substitute Ivan Perisic headed Inter in front after fine work from Icardi, and Juve - with Gonzalo Higuain on from the bench - could not find an equaliser, despite Ever Banega's late red card.
The result was only Juve's second Serie A defeat since they lost 1-0 to Sassuolo on 28 October, 2015.
The loss means the champions slip to second, behind Napoli, while Inter move up to sixth.
Frank de Boer only replaced Roberto Mancini in the summer but there were rumours that defeat on Sunday could have seen the Dutchman removed from his position as Inter boss.
The Nerazzurri were embarrassed 2-0 at home by Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the Europa League on Thursday, a result that prompted the former Ajax boss to apologise to fans and claim his side "lost their heads".
His position looked even more precarious when Switzerland international Lichtsteiner gave Juve an undeserved lead with 65 minutes on the clock.
However, Icardi powered home a fine header for his fourth league goal of the season and then showed great composure to pick out Perisic with a cross with the outside of his foot after rounding goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
It was a generally disappointing performance by the Turin side, champions in each of the past five seasons.
They had a great chance to take the lead in the first half when Sami Khedira headed straight at Samir Handanovic from six yards.
Higuain, the £75.3m summer signing from Napoli, was brought on with the scores at 1-1 but the Argentine's only chance saw him glance a header narrowly off target from a Sandro cross.
Inter forward Banega was sent off in the final minute for picking up a second booking but despite piling men forward Juve could not find a leveller in injury time.
Match ends, Inter Milan 2, Juventus 1.
Second Half ends, Inter Milan 2, Juventus 1.
Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) is shown the yellow card.
Attempt missed. Paulo Dybala (Juventus) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
Alex Sandro (Juventus) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Antonio Candreva (Inter Milan).
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Sami Khedira (Juventus) because of an injury.
Delay in match Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) because of an injury.
Foul by Sami Khedira (Juventus).
Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt blocked. Paulo Dybala (Juventus) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Alex Sandro with a cross.
Second yellow card to Éver Banega (Inter Milan) for a bad foul.
Foul by Éver Banega (Inter Milan).
Alex Sandro (Juventus) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Offside, Juventus. Miralem Pjanic tries a through ball, but Alex Sandro is caught offside.
Corner,  Inter Milan. Conceded by Leonardo Bonucci.
Attempt blocked. Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Éver Banega.
Éver Banega (Inter Milan) is shown the yellow card.
Attempt missed. Miralem Pjanic (Juventus) right footed shot from outside the box is too high from a direct free kick.
Foul by Felipe Melo (Inter Milan).
Miralem Pjanic (Juventus) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Alex Sandro with a cross.
Substitution, Juventus. Marko Pjaca replaces Giorgio Chiellini.
Attempt saved. Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by João Mário.
Substitution, Inter Milan. Senna Miangue replaces Davide Santon.
Goal!  Inter Milan 2, Juventus 1. Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Mauro Icardi.
Davide Santon (Inter Milan) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Paulo Dybala (Juventus).
Substitution, Inter Milan. Felipe Melo replaces Gary Medel because of an injury.
Substitution, Juventus. Gonzalo Higuaín replaces Mario Mandzukic.
Antonio Candreva (Inter Milan) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus).
Hand ball by Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus).
Substitution, Inter Milan. Ivan Perisic replaces Éder.
Goal!  Inter Milan 1, Juventus 1. Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Éver Banega with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Inter Milan. Conceded by Leonardo Bonucci.
Goal!  Inter Milan 0, Juventus 1. Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Alex Sandro with a cross.
Foul by João Mário (Inter Milan).
Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus) wins a free kick in the attacking half.


Five cats have died from antifreeze poisoning on or near the same street in the space of two weeks, the RSPCA has said.

The charity said tests confirmed all of the cats near Victor Avenue, in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, had ingested the toxic substance.
In the most recent case, seven-month-old Meereen died on Monday.
An RSPCA spokesman said it was unclear whether the poisonings were accidental or deliberate.
Updates on this story and more from Leicestershire
Three other cats in the area have died in the last seven days, while another cat died two weeks ago.
Meereen's "devastated" owner, Adria Pearce, said the cat came home on Friday evening and "seemed to be shivering a little".
"I haven't been able to stop crying since she died," she said.
"We found her behind the sofa, where she was foaming from the mouth and trying to be sick."
Meereen was taken to the vets - where it was confirmed she had consumed antifreeze - and died three days later.
RSPCA inspector, Andy Bostock, is appealing for everyone in the area to ensure pesticides and chemicals were stored safely.
"We are very concerned," he said.
"It is the time of year where people use antifreeze in their cars, so if you do, please make sure there are no leaks and any spills are cleaned up properly."


A bid to challenge a murder conviction that inspired the classic crime thriller Get Carter has been rejected by the High Court.

Michael Luvaglio, served 12 years in jail for the killing Angus Sibbet in a suspected gangland execution in 1967.
Luvaglio, who has always maintained his innocence, had asked for the decision not to re-hear the case in the Court of Appeal to be reviewed.
Mr Justice Langstaff said the bid had "no realistic prospect" of succeeding.
Luvaglio, who is now nearly 80 and living in west London, said: "I am innocent and don't deserve to die as a legally convicted murderer."
His lawyers argued fresh evidence pointing to the convictions being unsafe had been rejected irrationally or unreasonably by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Mr Sibbett was found dead in the back seat of his Jaguar under Pesspool Bridge, South Hetton, County Durham, with three gunshot wounds in January 1967.
Luvaglio and co-accused Dennis Stafford were both found guilty of shooting Mr Sibbett, who collected cash from fruit machines in Newcastle.
The case became known as the "one-armed bandit murder" and was the foundation for Ted Lewis' novel Jack's Return Home - later made into the 1971 Michael Caine classic Get Carter.
Since the murder several court appeals have been accompanied by books questioning Stafford and Luvaglio's guilt.
The case has also been the subject of TV shows and questions asked in the Commons.


Tax is set to rise as a share of the UK's income to its highest level since 1986, according to a think tank.

Higher income from taxes and relatively low growth will combine to create this effect, according to the the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Austerity will continue into the 2020s, after Chancellor Philip Hammond's decision to scrap a target of balancing the nation's books, it said.
The Treasury said it was committed to repairing Britain's finances.
Forecasts by Oxford Economics, which contributed to the report, estimate the UK economy will grow by 1.6% in 2017.
In 2018, growth in gross domestic product will slow to 1.3%, Oxford Economics said. Growth is expected to be dulled as a result of inflation prompted by the decline of the value of the pound after the EU referendum.
While a weaker pound is likely to improve the performance of manufacturers and exporters, higher costs for consumers will more than erase this gain, said the report.
Ahmed: Public finances and the shadow of Osborne
"Though the UK economy has continued to achieve solid growth, it has been almost entirely reliant on the consumer," said Andrew Goodwin, lead UK Economist at Oxford Economics and co-author of part of the report.
"With spending power set to come under significant pressure from higher inflation and the welfare squeeze, the consumer will not be able to keep contributing more than its fair share. Exports should be a bright spot, but overall a slowdown in GDP growth appears likely."
The UK's economy could be 3% smaller by 2030 than if Britain had voted Remain, according to forecasts in the IFS's annual Green Budget.
This annual analysis, ahead of next month's Budget, says spending on health, social care and benefits for sick or disabled people represents a particular risk to the public finances because it accounts for almost one third of government expenditure.
The report confirms that the period between 2009 and 2014 saw the slowest rate of growth in health spending in England since the mid-1950s.
And it argues that health budgets by the end of this decade will be over a billion pounds less than what is needed to cope with England's growing and ageing population, regardless of what are likely to be significant rises in demand for NHS care.
In a statement, the Treasury said: "The government is committed to repairing the public finances and living within our means so that we can build an economy that works for all.
"That has required some difficult decisions on spending, but we are determined to deliver efficient public services which provide maximum value for every pound of taxpayers' money."
Spending on public services dropped by 10% since 2010, the report said, after adjusting the figures for inflation.
To meet his target of eliminating the deficit during the next parliament, which is from 2020 to 2025, Mr Hammond will probably have to find a further Â£34bn in tax rises and spending cuts, extending austerity.
The report said Â£17bn of tax rises could be needed to contribute to closing the gap for government between outgoings and income.


Everton have signed Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin for a fee rising to £24m.

Schneiderlin, 27, has signed a four-and-a-half-year contract to link up again with Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, whom he played for at Southampton.
The France international played 47 times for the Red Devils following his £25m move from the Saints in July 2015.
Schneiderlin, who moves for an initial £20m, said he was "hungry as ever and ready to eat football again".
He has made eight appearances since Jose Mourinho was appointed United boss in the summer, but has only played for 11 minutes in the Premier League.
Schneiderlin's last appearance for the club came in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal in November.
He said: "Everton is a big club in the history of English football. I have always loved the atmosphere in the stadium. I can't wait to play and to represent this great club.
"There is a manager in place here that I know and he can get the best out of me. I know his style and how he likes to play football. He was very good with me from the start and I enjoyed playing football under him."
Koeman demanded the club make signings this month after their FA Cup third-round defeat by Leicester.
The Toffees have already signed 19-year-old forward Ademola Lookman from Charlton for £11m and agreed a £10.4m fee with Standard Liege for Algeria forward Ishak Belfodil.
Midfielder Tom Cleverley has left to join fellow Premier League side Watford on loan for the rest of the season, with an option to buy.
Former Republic of Ireland captain Andy Townsend
Morgan Schneiderlin has struggled to adapt and stamp his personality on anything at Old Trafford. But he gets across the ground well, he can tackle and he gets up and down the pitch.
At his best he's a typical Premier League central midfield player. Everton are buying someone who you know has been able to produce the goods in the Premier League from his time at Southampton. He's not a gamble.


A Birmingham school has paid tribute to a nine-year-old boy who died after suffering a suspected allergic reaction at the premises.

Al Hijrah School in Bordesley Green, said it "had been left in great shock" by the boy's sudden death on Friday.
A school statement said the boy, who has not been named, "was a very popular member of the class and will be missed by everyone who knew him."
A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out soon.
Pupils at the school were being offered counselling.
For more Birmingham stories
West Midlands Police said it was working with the school and city council to establish the circumstances surrounding the death.
The boy collapsed at the school on Friday afternoon from a suspected allergic reaction and died at Heartlands Hospital, a force spokesman said.
Al Hijrah School, an Islamic school for pupils aged four to 16, said its "thoughts and prayers" were with the pupil's family.


The Curiosity rover is making good progress towards its first major science destination on Mars.

The vehicle has now driven 289m (950ft) since its landing on the Red Planet some six weeks ago.
It has perhaps another 200m still left to cover to get to a location dubbed Glenelg, where researchers expect to find an interesting juxtaposition of three types of geological terrain.
But before it goes any further, the rover will study a dark rock.
Measuring about 25cm in height and 40cm at the base, it is not expected to have major science value.
Rather, the rock provides an opportunity for the robot to use three of its survey instruments in tandem for the first time.
The rock has been named "Jake Matijevic" in honour of a Curiosity engineer who tragically died shortly after the vehicle touched down in Mars' Gale Crater on 6 August (GMT).
The rover will zap the rock from a distance with its ChemCam laser and examine it up close with its X-ray spectrometer, known as APXS.  The latter device is held on the end of the rover's robotic arm; the laser is mounted on its mast.
The investigation will give a good idea of the atoms present in the Matijevic rock and its likely mineralogical composition - although the Curiosity science team fully expects to "discover" another ubiquitous lump of Martian basalt (a volcanic rock).
"It's a cool looking rock with almost pure pyramidal geometry," said Prof John Grotzinger, the mission's lead scientist.  Such a shape was not uncommon, he explained, and probably reflected wind erosion processes.
"Our general consensus view is that these are pieces of impact ejecta from an impact somewhere else, maybe outside of Gale Crater, that throws a rock on to the plains, and it just goes on to sit here for a long period of time. It weathers more slowly than the stuff that's around it. So, that means it's probably a harder rock."
Source: BBC Science
Watch Mariner find giant volcanoes on Mars
Could the Red Planet support human life?
The point of the upcoming exercise is to demonstrate the procedure for selecting targets of higher importance - rocks that in future could have significantly more scientific interest and which might require a sample to be drilled and delivered to two sophisticated analysis labs inside the rover's body.
In a briefing with journalists on Wednesday, the US space agency (Nasa) also released pictures taken by the rover of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos passing in front of the sun.
These transits are relatively rare - twice per Martian year, which is once every Earth year - but are of great interest to scientists trying to understand the internal make-up of the Red Planet.
"[The moons] have tidal forces that they exert on Mars; they change Mars' shape ever so slightly," explained Curiosity researcher Mark Lemmon from Texas A&M University, College Station.
"That in turn changes the moons' orbits - Phobos is slowing down, Deimos is speeding up (like our Moon is). This is something that is happening very slowly over time.
"And with the transits, we can measure their orbits very precisely and figure out how fast they're doing this.  The reason that's interesting is because it constrains Mars' interior structure.  We can't go inside Mars but we can use these transits to tell how much Mars deforms when the moons go by."
Curiosity has now spent 43 sols (Martian days) on the planet.  Much of that time has been spent commissioning the rover's systems and instruments.
The vehicle was sent to Mars to try to understand whether past environments at its landing location in Gale Crater could ever have supported microbial life.
That question will more properly be addressed when it gets to the base of the big mountain (Mount Sharp) that dominates the centre of the 150km-wide equatorial depression.
Sediments at the lower reaches of the peak appear from satellite pictures to have been laid down in the presence of abundant water.
Curiosity will establish whether that is so, but it is unlikely to begin this particular investigation for many months.
The mountain target lies several km to the south-west of its current location, and the desire to see the interesting rocks at Glenelg is actually taking the vehicle in the opposite direction to Mount Sharp.
The science team is in no hurry, however.  Curiosity is equipped with a nuclear battery and has ample power to complete its prime two-year mission.  Further funding from Nasa could yet see this project drive and drive deep into the decade.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


A woman has died after her car left the road and hit a tree in Powys on Wednesday night.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the incident happened on the A483 between Llanbister and Llanbadarn Fynydd.
Police, paramedics and fire crews were called to the scene at about 22:00 BST.
The road was closed for several hours for accident investigation work.