Syria's "cessation of hostilities" is making a difference - whatever the arguments about early violations, the level of violence across the country has fallen - and with this fragile modicum of progress, the United States and Russia find themselves in harness after years in which Syria was a forum for their rivalry.

"My worry is that it is the Russians making the weather," says Lieutenant General Sir Simon Mayall, senior Middle East adviser at the UK Ministry of Defence until last autumn.
"It was in their gift to offer a ceasefire on behalf of the Assad regime. That slightly worries me in a part of the world where the Americans have been the guarantors and the people who make the weather."
Following on from the Munich agreement of earlier this month, Russia and the US have become co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group working parties dealing with the implementation of humanitarian supplies, as well as the deal under which President Bashar al-Assad's forces and groups of the "non-terrorist opposition" are meant to stop shooting at each other.
Both powers have worked hard to deliver this deal, and both now have a vested interest in its success.
"They are co-owners, insofar as the Russians respect the political process, and do apply pressure on Assad to stop bombing and take the process seriously," says Karin von Hippel, until recently a senior State Department official dealing with US strategy against the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, and now director general of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank.
Washington regards rapid progress towards political talks between the Assad government and the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), an umbrella group of his opponents, as essential.
But privately officials are nervous, both about Russian attempts to brand any group that has ever co-operated with militant elements like IS or the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front as "terrorist" and, therefore, ineligible to take part in, or make any significant move towards moving President Assad off the political stage.
As the US has pressed ahead with its Russian partners, the whispering has started in London or Paris about how John Kerry, US Secretary of State, has allowed himself to align with a Russian plan to keep Mr Assad in power indefinitely.
The US has conceded publicly that the Syrian leader can stay "for now", and it's clear also that they have used considerable pressure to compel their allies to go along with the Munich agreement.
In the run up to Munich, both Syrian opposition and European sources were saying that Mr Kerry had threatened the HNC with a complete aid cut-off unless they went along with the peace process.
As Syrian government and allied forces, backed by Russian airpower, advanced north of Aleppo early in February, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia looked set to intervene in defence of rebel groups they have been supporting.
On 11 February, for example, Saudi MoD spokesman Brigadier Ahmed al-Assiri, said his country had taken a "final" and "irreversible" decision to send ground troops to Syria in order combat the so-called Islamic State. Turkish forces, meanwhile, were shelling Syrian Kurdish groups, and were accused by Russia of preparing to invade their southern neighbour.
This mid-February crisis, which could have put Russian forces supporting President Assad on a collision course with those of Nato-member Turkey or seen a ground push into eastern Syria by the Saudis passed, thanks to US pressure on its allies.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Brigadier al-Assiri said: "If there is any consensus around ground troops in Syria, we will be in the front line."
Instead of sending ground troops, Saudi Arabia has, for the moment, contented itself with deploying a handful of jets to Turkey to carry out strikes on IS.
The degree to which the fight against IS remains apart from, or linked to, the wider question of peace in Syria is one of the many factors complicating the present picture.
Some in Washington have argued that advancing on the militant group's de-facto capital, Raqqa, is a higher US national security interest than the removal of Mr Assad.
The Munich agreement, which effectively buys quiet with many of Syria's opposition groups, so that the US and Russia can focus their strike power on IS and the Nusra Front, fits neatly with such thinking.
"Assad has managed to make it a binary confrontation between the state and 'the terrorists'," says Lt Gen Mayall.
So what happens if the political process stalls or President Assad's forces are found to be breaking the truce regularly?
Russia's UN envoy has suggested that pressure would be brought to bear on the Syrian leader. But speaking to senators in Washington last week, Mr Kerry referred to "Plan B" options. "It may be too late to keep it as a whole Syria," he suggested, raising the spectre of partition.
Many in the Syrian opposition argue that the US really has no leverage over Assad and that his government could be quite happy with partition.
Mark Urban is diplomatic and defence editor for BBC Newsnight. You can read more on his blog and follow him on Twitter


Chris Froome heads into the Vuelta a Espana looking to create more history by becoming the first British winner of the three-week race.

The four-time Tour de France winner made his breakthrough when finishing second in 2011's race to equal the then-best finish by a British rider in a Grand Tour.
Will he go one better this year and become the third man to complete the Tour-Vuelta double in the same year - and first since the Spanish race was switched from early to late in the season 22 years ago?
Froome goes into the race as favourite but with six of the top 10 from this year's Tour and the likes of five-time Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali and Britain's Adam Yates in the mix, the Vuelta promises to be as tough as they come.
The race starts in Nimes in France on Saturday, 19 August and concludes in Madrid on Sunday, 10 September.
The youngest of the three annual Grand Tours, the Vuelta, like its cousins the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, is a three-week race made up of 21 stages, raced over 23 days.
Prior to 1995 the race took place earlier in the season but often clashed with other major races so was switched to after May's Giro and July's Tour.
It was first raced in 1935, and aside from pauses for the Spanish Civil War and World War II, it has been contested continuously since 1955.
The 72nd edition of the race is starting outside of Spain for just the third time after Lisbon, Portugal in 1997 and Assen, Netherlands in 2009.
It is often an unpredictable race with riders racing who have suffered injuries or health problems earlier in the season, or those trying to rescue a failed season, while riders like Froome are trying to maintain their form from the Tour de France.
The route is notoriously mountainous, as evidenced by this year's race, which features nine summit finishes.
"It's vicious," is Froome's take on it, while 2015 champion Fabio Aru says it will be the "usual horrendous race" and the "toughest stage race of the 2017 season".
The summit finishes are spread evenly across the three weeks with a mix of short, sharp climbs such as stage five's 3.5km ascent of Ermita Santa Lucia. It features gradients of 20%, while stage 15 finishes at an altitude of 2,510m in Sierra Nevada. The penultimate stage pits the riders against the infamous Alto de Angliru, where Sky lost the 2011 Vuelta when Froome waited for team leader Bradley Wiggins as Juan Jose Cobo launched a race-winning attack.
An opening team time trial in Nimes should not be long enough to create any significant time gaps between those chasing the overall victory but crucial seconds will be won and lost.
Race organisers will hope the 40km individual time trial on stage 16 will help balance out the climbs but it could just serve to strengthen Froome's grip on the title.
Sprinter-friendly stages are few, although those that make it to the finale are rewarded with a chance of glory in Madrid.
In a nutshell, he can climb with the best in the race and is a better time-trial rider. He has finished runner-up on three occasions and goes into the race saying he has "unfinished business".
The 32-year-old also has arguably the strongest nine-man squad to help keep him out of trouble on flatter stages and set the pace on the tougher ascents. And, given his excellent form in the third and final week of July's Tour de France, Froome appears to have tailored his season to perfection, allowing him to also peak for the Vuelta.
On the eve of the race, he said: "The plan was to have a lighter first part of the season and I think that's worked. I certainly feel fresher. But whether that's reflected in the racing we'll have to wait and see."
Froome's rivals know they need to attack on ascents and descents in the mountains in the hope of picking up enough seconds to neutralise the time they will expect to lose in the 40km individual time trial.
And that stage 16 is one that Froome has earmarked. "The time trial is one day I'm looking forward to, a lot of time can be won or lost there," he said. "And of course stage 20 to the Angliru is a massive stage."
Romain Bardet - the AG2R La Mondiale rider was the big hope for a first French Tour winner since 1985 in July, but he knows he needs to up his time trialling skills if he is to finally win a Grand Tour.
He lost almost two minutes to Froome over a 22km course in Marseille in July. Bardet, who is riding in his first Vuelta, said: "My ambitions will be different than in the Tour de France but surrounded by a strong team, I hope to make an impact on stages that suit me."
Fabio Aru - the Italian won this race in 2015 and will love the steep climbs. However, he too lost significant time to Froome in the Tour's time trial and is wary of the Vuelta's team test on day one. He said: "I think I've recovered well after the Tour and have a good team with me.
We've got to limit the damage in the opening team time trail and be ready for the wind on Sunday. The nine uphill finishes means we'll be flat out all the time. It'll be good to watch, with time gaps each time."
Vincenzo Nibali - the Italian is one of six riders to have won all three Grand Tours and will be relatively fresh having missed the Tour after finishing third in the Giro.
Froome has picked out the Bahrain-Merida rider as his main threat. However, his team is not as strong as Sky's and he too will need to attack in the mountains because he is an inferior time trialler. He said: "I'm feeling pretty good. We'll find out how good along the road, day by day. I did a good block of training in the Dolomites that gave me the answers [about my form] that I was looking for."
Alberto Contador - the 34-year-old winner of eight Grand Tours is calling time on his career after the Vuelta but insists it won't be a lap of honour round his home country.
The three-time Vuelta winner said: "I have always given my maximum as a rider and I will do that now. This Vuelta is special, and I want to enjoy it. I feel lucky that I can be here, it's a really good place to say goodbye. So I want to see how the legs are feeling, see what kind of form my rivals have, but I have come with the idea of fighting to win and to enjoy it, too."
Aside from Froome, the Yates twins Adam and Simon provide the biggest hope of a podium finish for a British rider. The Orica-Scott pair are racing together in a Grand Tour for the first time since since the 2015 Tour de France and are part of a three-pronged attack for the Australian-based team.
Adam finished ninth at the Giro d'Italia in May and has a best Grand Tour finish of fourth at last year's Tour de France, when he also became the first Briton to win the young rider classification. Simon won that category in this year's race, finishing seventh overall, his best in a three-week race.
Both are competing in a second Grand Tour in the same year for the first time but Adam is buoyant about their chances, particularly because they also have renowned climber Esteban Chaves in their squad.
"If we can get on the podium, that'd be great, whether it's me, or Simon or Esteban," he told Cycling News.
"Esteban is another card we can play, especially in the third week. How many teams have three guys that can potentially be top 10, or even, depending on how much everybody else is going, top five?"
Simon is hopeful his body will "react in a positive way" after "keeping things ticking over" since finishing the Tour in July.
"We'll know in the early tough stages how I'm going," he added. "It depends on how my legs are. But as a team, either way, we're going to do quite well."
Ian Stannard is the only other Briton in Team Sky's squad and he will be tasked with helping keep Froome safe and in contention on the flatter sections.
The two other Britons in the race both ride for Irish team Aqua Blue Sport. Adam Blythe, the 2016 national road race champion will be looking to win sprint stages, while Mark Christian, who was seventh in the Tour de Yorkshire, is taking on his first Grand Tour.
No rider has won all three Grand Tours in the same year, although Belgian legend Eddy Merckx did win four on the trot, the last two in 1972 and the first two in 1973.
Only Frenchmen Bernard Hinault (1978) and Jacques Anquetil (1963) have won the Vuelta and Tour in the same year and they achieved that at a time when the Spanish race preceded the French one.
In 1995 the Vuelta was switched to post-Tour and since then only four riders have finished in the top three in both races in the same year. Froome came closest to completing the double last year when he won the Tour and finished runner-up in the Vuelta.
The Giro-Tour double has been achieved most often, with Merckx doing it three of the 12 times, while the Giro-Vuelta double has been done three times.
Merckx (1973) and Italy's Giovanni Battaglin (1981) remarkably won both when they were raced with just a few days separating each Tour. Spain's Alberto Contador (2008) is the only victorious rider since the Vuelta was moved to late summer.
Red - the leader of the general classification. Worn by the rider with the lowest accumulated time
Green - the leader of the points classification. It rewards consistently high finishes and is worn by the rider who has picked up most points in sprint finishes and intermediate sprints
Blue and white polka dot - the leader of the King of the Mountains classification. It rewards consistently high finishes over categorised climbs and is worn by the rider who has picked up most points.
White - the combined jersey and one that is unique across the Grand Tours. Worn by the rider with the best combined results across the general classification, points and King of the Mountains competitions.


India has inaugurated a 9.15km (5.68-mile) bridge over the Lohit river, easily its longest ever, which connects the disputed state of Arunachal Pradesh with the north-eastern state of Assam.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, and refers to it as "southern Tibet".
Beijing recently strongly objected to India's decision to allow Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to visit the state and has also protested against the development of military infrastructure there.
But India has defended its right to do so.
"With China getting more and more aggressive, it is time we strengthened our physical infrastructure to defend our territory," India's junior Home Minister Khiren Rijiju, a native of Arunachal Pradesh, told journalists.
Mr Rijiju had earlier said that "Arunachal Pradesh is part of India and that reality will not change, regardless of who likes it or not".
Construction of the Dhola Sadiya bridge began in 2011.
"It was real tough work, a major engineering challenge, and the speed was slightly affected by some compensation issues," said an official from Navayuga Engineering, the company which constructed the bridge.
However, it was completed on schedule.
Apart from the bridge, India is constructing a two-lane trans-Arunachal highway, upgrading a World War Two vintage road and undertaking a further four projects to widen roads.
Another project, to upgrade a chain of advance landing grounds for heavy lift transport aircraft, has also moved at some speed. This is expected to improve India's strategic airlift capabilities.
"We need infrastructure to move up troops and supplies if we have to fight the Chinese and this bridge is a great thing," retired Major General Gaganjit Singh, who has commanded a division in the state, told the BBC.
"India did not develop physical infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh for two decades after the 1962 war as many stupidly believed the Chinese would use the roads if they attacked again. But now we are on the right track."
India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also stressed the importance of developing physical infrastructure in the state, as part of efforts to defend a long border with China.
"We want peace, but peace with honour. We need to be capable of deterring anyone who may think we are weak," Mr Singh told members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force that guards parts of the frontier with China.
His remarks followed Beijing's strident protests against the "development of military infrastructure in a disputed province".
India has already raised two mountain divisions and is going ahead with raising a strike corps to beef up its defences against China.
"But troop strength is useless if we don't have the roads and bridges to move them fast when we are threatened. Moving them with heavy equipment quickly to the battlefront holds the key to victory," Major General Singh said.
A military engineer told the BBC that the Dhola-Sadiya bridge was capable of supporting 60-ton battle tanks.
Locals are also excited about the opening.
"It was unimaginable that this crossing could be bridged at a point where six rivers meet, all flowing into the mighty Brahmaputra," Gunjan Saharia, a resident, told the BBC.
"I promise this will not just be a military thing, it will help develop the economy of remote regions of Assam and Arunachal, and it will attract tourists in large numbers," Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said.
The bridge will also reduce travel time by as much as eight hours for communities on either side of the river.
"It will be great for us, as much as it will be great for the army," Dimbeswar Gogoi of Sadiya told the BBC.


Vodafone has reported an annual loss of 6.1bn euros (Â£5.2bn), due partly to a big write-down in the value of its Indian business.

The mobile phone giant, which operates in 26 countries, wrote down the value of its Indian unit by 3.7bn euros after a major price war broke out last year.
Vodafone also admitted it had suffered a disappointing year in the UK.
Chief executive Vittorio Colao said a Â£4.6m fine from Ofcom was "the worst moment" for the firm and its customers.
The fine was imposed due to "serious breaches" of consumer protection rules, which led to customers losing money.
The problems were caused by errors linked to the company's move to a new billing system.
Mr Colao said on Tuesday: "The operational issues are essentially resolved. I don't call it rock bottom.
"The worst moment was six months ago. Six to nine months ago we were receiving twice the number of complaints. I was personally receiving complaints."
In the past 12 months, Vodafone lost 300,000 UK customers, with 17.9 million remaining, although its broadband business grew to 216,000 households.
But Mr Colao insisted that customer services had undergone major changes.
The company has hired 2,100 new workers to help reduce customer service call answering times to 14 seconds, and it revealed complaints have fallen by 1.1 million since November 2015 - a 40% drop.
Vodafone also said that it had abandoned plans to sponsor the London Stadium, home to West Ham United.
It had been linked with a Â£20m deal for six years, according to the Times, but this broke down and will not go ahead.
Despite Vodafone reporting the hefty loss, its shares rose 3.7% to 219p as investors appeared impressed with the company's forecasts.
Mr Colao said earnings were expected to grow, thanks to average revenues from contract customers stabilising.
Cash flow is ahead of analysts' expectations, although organic service revenues growth slowed to 1.5% in the final quarter of the year from 2.1% in the third.
The UK was one of the operator's worst performing markets last year, with revenues dropping 17% and profits down 31% due to the weak pound.
By comparison, its Italian business was the best performing in Europe, with revenues rising 2.6% and profits up 10.6%.
On Brexit, Mr Colao said he had no plans to follow other multinational UK-based businesses in moving some operations overseas.
He added: "Brexit for us does not have a big impact. If, as a consequence of Brexit, business slows down then our customers will not be in a good shape.
"It depends on the negotiations, but I'm an optimist and as long as leaders are pragmatic. It makes no sense for anyone not to get a good deal."


US President Donald Trump has announced he will formally nominate NFL tycoon Woody Johnson to be US ambassador to the UK.

The billionaire philanthropist and heir of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical giant, who is 70, has known Mr Trump for many years.
However, Mr Johnson, a major Republican fundraiser, originally backed Trump rival Jeb Bush in Republican primaries.
He will require Senate confirmation before he can take up the post.
Mr Trump first raised the idea of nominating him in January, on the eve of his inauguration.
The post of Ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James is viewed as a plum diplomatic appointment, traditionally given to only the most prolific donors or best-connected political insiders.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman welcomed the nomination, Reuters news agency reports.
"We are looking forward to working with the new US ambassador once that is confirmed," she said.
"His close personal relationship with the president shows the commitment of the administration to the special relationship between our two countries."
The people around Donald Trump
Although he's probably best known as the owner of the long-suffering New York Jets team in the  National Football League, Mr Johnson is quite familiar in conservative circles, having contributed millions of dollars to Republican causes.
Like many big-money donors, Mr Johnson was an early supporter of Governor Jeb Bush's presidential campaign and was once cited by Donald Trump as an example of how the former Florida governor was in the thrall of big-money interests. Mr Trump even fired off a tweet mocking the Jets' lack of success.
The heir to the pharmaceutical and consumer products company Johnson & Johnson threw his support behind Mr Trump when it was clear he would be the party's nominee, however. He then served as a loyal fundraiser and adviser during the general election campaign.


A member of the consortium hoping to buy Coventry City has urged its current owners to name their price, after a third offer was rejected.

Businessman Richard Overson, a Sky Blues fan, backed the latest bid led by former City vice-chairman Gary Hoffman.
The club's owners, Sisu, had described the group's two previous offers as "derisory" and insisted there had been no discussions between the two parties.
"We just need Sisu to tell us what they want for this club," Overson, 49, said.
Fans have campaigned for Sisu, now in their 10th year as club owners, to sell the relegated League One club, who will be playing in English football's fourth tier for the first time in 58 years next season.
In April, the London-based hedge fund revealed they had turned down two bids and would not enter into talks over a sale.
Coventry supporter Hoffman, whose name was chanted by City fans during the club's final home game of the season, made his third unsuccessful approach last week.
Multi-millionaire Overson, who only joined the consortium after the first two offers were rebuffed, told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: "I just thought I'd reach out to the consortium to say I'm prepared to come and help.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"We've made the [latest] bid. That's come back unsuccessful.
"We need Sisu to tell us exactly what they want and I think at the moment they're not.
"I'm doing it to get us away from Sisu but that's just the start of it really. I think once we are away from Sisu then we will need the majority of City fans to come and join us.
"I have a nine-year-old son who is a supporter of Coventry. The football club is part of the community."
Sisu boss Joy Seppala issued a public apology to Sky Blues fans following their relegation, saying the ownership took responsibility for the club's position.
She added: "This summer will be one of change and reform. Our plan and aim has to be promotion next season, a return to League One and then upwards from there."


A giant cake has been made in the shape of a Land Rover by an award-winning amateur baker from the West Midlands.

Lara Clarke, from Brownhills, has previously made near-life-sized cakes of Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and Jennifer Lawrence.
Her latest creation, baked to celebrate the Defender model, fed 2,000 people at an event at the factory in Solihull on Monday.
The half-scale replica weighed 600kg and featured working headlights.
Comprising 32 sponge cakes, 50kg (110 lbs) of butter cream, 20kg (44 lbs) of ganache and 50kg icing, it took her 150 hours to produce.
Ms Clarke said the bake was so heavy it had to be delivered by fork lift truck.
"We arrived by van and everyone was coming round to have a look," she said.
"They couldn't believe it was a cake. There was plenty to go round and everyone on the factory floor got a piece."
It was baked to celebrate the two millionth Defender rolling off the production line - the figure includes its predecessors the Series I, II and III models.
Ms Clarke said it started after she tagged JLR in a tweet about a small Land Rover birthday cake.
"They got in touch and asked if I could make a cake in the shape of an engine to mark the opening of their new engine plant.
"A woman then asked me if I could make a Land Rover cake.
"It was originally meant to be quite small, but I asked them if they wanted something that would really impress people."
Ms Clarke said she was getting married in October, a week before the Cake International competition at Birmingham's NEC.
Rather than enter this year, she said she planned to bake "the best wedding cake that's ever been seen".


Hampshire, needing to beat Durham to be sure of Division One survival, were frustrated by rain and off-spinner Ryan Pringle on day three at Southampton.

No play was possible before lunch but Durham's gritty lower order added 119 to their overnight 242-7 to finish on 361, trailing by 50 on first innings.
Hampshire's second innings started well but they quickly slumped to 108-6, with Pringle taking 5-64.
The hosts closed on 176-7, leading by 226, ahead of a crucial final day.
A win would guarantee Hampshire's place in Division One next season, at the expense of the loser of Warwickshire's game with Lancashire at Edgbaston - while a draw would be enough for Hampshire if Lancashire were to win, as they would be level on points with Warwickshire with the same number of wins, but the Bears would go down by virtue of having lost more games.
However, with Lancashire struggling at 28-3 chasing an unlikely 347 to win, Hampshire may have to gamble on Friday against Durham, who are safe in mid-table.
Having lost the morning session to the weather, Hampshire were keen to wrap up Durham's first innings quickly, but Brydon Carse (46) and Graham Onions (38) shared partnerships of 79 and 86 respectively with Michael Richardson to take the visitors beyond 350.
Richardson agonisingly finished on 99 not out as last man Chris Rushworth fell without scoring.
Hampshire then reached 50 within the first 10 overs of their second innings, but lost six wickets for 58 runs either side of tea.
Liam Dawson (39) and Lewis McManus (41 not out) added 57 for the seventh wicket to steady the innings, before Dawson fell to Scott Borthwick four overs before the close.
Hampshire director of cricket Giles White told BBC Radio Solent:
"We need to bat tomorrow, see how many we can set. Hopefully we can bat for an hour and see where we are and I think it makes for an interesting game.
"The wicket's consistently spun throughout the game, if you build pressure and get wickets, it can be difficult when coming in.
"Hopefully we can put Durham under pressure chasing a score and see where it leads.
"It is offering a fair amount of spin, so going into the last day of the game, it's an interesting place to be."


Torquay United player-boss Kevin Nicholson blamed his side's "sketch show" defending for their National League defeat by Guiseley on Saturday.

The Gulls have only one win from their past 10 games, a run which has seen them fall into the relegation zone.
"Not for the first time they've absolutely killed themselves and absolutely killed me," Nicholson said.
"If it wasn't my team, if it wasn't my club, I'd probably find those goals quite amusing they were that bad."
Torquay led before Guiseley went down to 10 men but conceded twice in the last 30 minutes.
They were also ahead in their previous game at Sutton, but went on to lose despite their opponents playing most of the match with a defender in goal.
The Devon side had their takeover by Gaming International ratified by the National League on 28 February.
"It's not even schoolboy stuff, it's calamity stuff - it's the stuff of sketch shows rather than a football pitch," Nicholson told BBC Radio Devon.
"It's probably going to take a little while to get over that one to be totally honest. I usually bounce back pretty quickly, but I'm going to have to lick my wounds a little bit."
Writing on his Facebook page after the match, Nicholson hinted his position may be in doubt.
He said: "Who knows what the future holds, but if I get the honour to be in charge of this team again next week then I know that a win will most likely get us out of the bottom four."


Budget airline Norwegian has announced three new direct routes from Edinburgh to the east coast of the United States.

From this summer, the airline will fly to the greater New York, Boston and New England areas.
The flights will serve smaller US airports which carry lower landing charges.
Norwegian said this would allow the airline to offer some "truly affordable" fares.
From 15 June, Norwegian will launch a daily service to Stewart International Airport in New York state, about 90 minutes away from New York City.
On the following day, the airline will start operating four flights a week to Providence, Rhode Island.
And on 17 June, it will run three flights a week to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.
The transatlantic routes will be served by the new Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
Norwegian already flies from Edinburgh to six destinations - Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Barcelona, Tenerife and Malaga.
Norwegian chief executive Bjorn Kjos said: "The cost of transatlantic travel has been too high for too long, so by connecting Scotland with smaller US airports, we can offer some truly affordable fares, allowing as many people as possible to fly.
Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said: "These new, low-cost direct services between Scotland's capital city and the east coast of America are a real game-changer - making travel between these two parts of the world easier than ever before and opening up possibilities to more business and leisure passengers than ever before."


China has imposed a one-year ban on the import of ivory, amid criticism that demand among Chinese consumers is fuelling poaching in Africa.

The announcement was made by the State Forestry Administration, with officials saying they hoped it would be a first step towards protecting wild elephants.
Conservationists have warned the animal could be wiped out in parts of Africa in the next few years.
China is the world's largest importer of smuggled tusks.
However, the government says it has stepped up efforts to target illegal trading, which has been fuelled by a desire for ivory from an increasingly affluent population.
It is hoped the temporary ban on imports, which came into effect on Thursday, will help reduce demand for African tusks.
According to state media, a government official said China would evaluate the effect on elephant protection before taking further, more effective steps.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) banned the ivory trade in 1989, but China is allowed to trade domestically and has around 150 licensed shops.
Six years ago, the government was also given permission to import one consignment of more than 60 tonnes of ivory from Africa.
Conservationists say this has fuelled demand and has led to an underground trade, with criminal gangs slaughtering elephants for Asian markets.
Earlier this month, broadcaster David Attenborough was one of several signatories of an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The letter called on the country's leader to outlaw the buying and selling of ivory completely and to provide Chinese citizens with information on the issue.


Although the assembly has wound down with almost clockwork-like inevitability, it should not be forgotten that the breakdown of Stormont wasn't pre-determined.

Despite their differences over Brexit and the legacy of the Troubles, the DUP and Sinn Féin maintained remarkable discipline after first the UUP, then the SDLP decided to leave the executive.
Until mid-December, the two parties' joint approach also extended to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal.
When a BBC Spotlight investigation into the RHI affair stirred widespread public concern, both parties appeared to be making progress behind the scenes in arranging some kind of an investigation. This would have supplemented the Public Accounts Committee which had been taking evidence on the scandal since September.
But after former DUP minister Jonathan Bell broke ranks on a Nolan TV special on 15 December those attempts to manage the crisis within the walls of Stormont Castle broke down.
Then came the disastrous assembly sitting of 19 December, when the DUP decided to override Sinn Féin's concerns, pressing ahead with an Arlene Foster statement against Martin McGuinness's express wishes.
On the day, Sinn Féin's warning of "grave consequences" looked like the party might just be crying wolf. But in reality the die was cast, as republican grassroots anger grew.
The former Northern Ireland Secretary Lord Hain reckons Arlene Foster's handling of the fall-out from the scandal has been a "textbook case of how not to manage a crisis". Certainly the DUP has appeared to be caught napping by the speed with which this affair developed - offering concessions, expressions of regret or offers of inquiries too late to appease its critics.
The heating scandal has ignited the election, but will the battle ahead be a referendum on the RHI scandal as the Stormont opposition wants?
For different reasons, both the DUP and Sinn Féin are keen on widening the battleground.
The DUP is framing the contest as an attempt to "take Arlene Foster down" and to push through investigations which would put soldiers and police officers in the dock over controversial Troubles killings.
Sinn Féin say it's all about the DUP's arrogance and the failure of both the DUP and the UK government to deliver on commitments in relation to the former jail at Maze/Long Kesh, the treatment of the Irish language and the logjam over the legacy of the troubles.
Over and above these policy matters, it look likely that any fresh talks on the other side of the election will have to consider potential structural changes at Stormont.
Should the mandatory coalition, whereby all the major parties have a right to be in government, be abandoned in favour of a more conventional voluntary coalition? Should weighted majority voting be introduced?
Should Northern Ireland have two joint first ministers rather than a first and deputy first?
Should there be radical changes to the petition of concern system which has led to frequent cross-community vetoes?  In the light of Brexit, are the cross-border institutions created under the Good Friday Agreement in need of reform?
All this looks like the stuff of talks which will last far longer than the three weeks the law allows to form a new executive after the March election.
Whilst the major parties may talk about all this and more, expect their critics to use the campaign ahead to remind voters what brought Stormont down.
It seems hard to imagine that the DUP and Sinn Féin won't emerge again as the main players. But we won't know until the votes are counted exactly what impact the negative publicity generated by the heating scandal has had on public opinion and party allegiance.
Could a shift in opinion, for example, endanger the DUP's power to veto measures without requiring the assistance of other parties, for which 30 MLAs are required?
That point might be rendered academic if there is no Stormont assembly in which to wield a petition of concern.
Nevertheless the public can have their say in this election, even if it is only to determine the relative weights the parties will be able to throw around in the potentially protracted negotiations coming up.


Newsround has been on the hunt for golden eagles.

7 July 2017 Last updated at 13:00 BST
You can find out whether or not Whitney was able to spot any by watching our special report here.
But what if you'd like to go to find some for yourself?
Dave from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has these tips for any keen bird watchers.


About a third of cancer cases in the UK could be prevented if people ate healthily, exercised more and cut down on alcohol, figures indicate.

Data from the World Cancer Research Fund suggests that 20,000 cases of breast cancer and about 19,000 cases of bowel cancer could be stopped each year with small changes in lifestyle.
In 2013, there were more than 351,000 new cases of cancer in the UK.
The WCRF said 84,000 could have been prevented.
Head of research Dr Rachel Thompson said simple changes to diet and lifestyle could make "a huge difference" in the battle against cancer.
"Even minor adjustments, like 10 to 15 extra minutes of physical activity each day, cutting down on alcohol, or limiting your intake of high calorie foods and sugary drinks, will help decrease your cancer risk," she said.
She said that after cutting out smoking, being a healthy body weight was the most important thing people could do to cut their risk of getting cancer.
"There is strong evidence that being overweight or obese increases the risk of 10 cancers," she said.
The link between a healthy lifestyle and the risk of developing cancer is well known, and this new data looks at preventable cases in 13 of the UK's most common cancers.
For example, among men, 9% of cases of advanced prostate cancer could be prevented every year if men were not overweight or obese.
Lung cancer cases could be cut by 15,000 (33%) by getting people to stop smoking.
And 38% of breast cancer cases could be prevented, particularly in postmenopausal women, by increasing physical exercise and reducing body fat.
The WCRF also said that 2,200 cases of kidney cancer and 1,400 cases of pancreatic cancer could be prevented if people adopted a healthier lifestyle.
Prof Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at Public Health England, said the UK was currently behind on cancer survival rates compared with other European countries.
He said one major factor was that cancer prevention was not in the public consciousness.
"The link between tobacco and cancer is widely known and readily accepted by the public, but many are not yet fully convinced that healthy eating, regular exercise and not drinking alcohol, can lower your cancer risk."


Police are investigating after footage of 16 fox cubs held in a barn near to hunt kennels emerged.

The video was filmed in a barn near to the Middleton Hunt Kennels in Malton, North Yorkshire, by the League Against Cruel Sports, which alleges that the cubs were being raised to be hunted.
Fox hunting with dogs was made illegal in 2004.
The Middleton Hunt said it was confident that no-one connected with the hunt had committed any offence.
The footage, given to the BBC, showed the dark interior of a barn, located some 200m (660ft) from the hunt kennels.
A number of fox cubs, aged six to eight weeks, were shying away from the light of the camera.
Several were hiding in a milk churn and others were crouching in a drainpipe.
The images were filmed over two consecutive nights.
Campaigners alerted North Yorkshire Police, who raided the barn on 31 May and took away the cubs.
The police said there were 16 cubs from at least four different vixens.
There is also daytime footage.
The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) claims it shows a man with connections to the local hunt at the barn where the cubs were kept.
Dr Toni Shephard, from the LACS, said: "This footage shows 16 fox cubs being kept in a barn without any sign of a vixen or parents.
"We believe that they're being kept to ensure that there are plenty of foxes to hunt this coming season when they go out.
"We think that this practice is widespread and this demonstrates that hunting is nothing to do with fox control or wildlife management, but that it's just a cruel sport that people take part in purely for pleasure."
The young cubs appeared to have access to food and water.
It is not against the law simply to hold some wild animals (if they are not a protected species), but the reason for keeping the cubs in the barn is unclear.
Hunting wild mammals - including foxes - with dogs was banned by the Hunting Act in 2004.
When hunts meet, riders follow fake scent trails, known as 'drag hunting.'
However, opponents claim that the law is regularly broken and foxes are still killed.
The masters from the Middleton Hunt referred the BBC to the Countryside Alliance, which said the barn entered by police was not owned by the Middleton Hunt and was not part of its lease.
"The Middleton Hunt has assisted the police with their inquiries, and is confident that no-one employed by or associated with the hunt has committed any offence," it said in a statement.
"The hunt would take any claim to the contrary extremely seriously.
"The Middleton Hunt has been advised against making any further statement."
The Birdsall Estate, which owns the land, said both areas - the barn and the kennels - are on a long-term lease and they do not have any day-to-day involvement in tenanted areas of the estate.
The allegations are likely to enrage those on both sides of the debate.
Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake, said: "We don't know exactly what has happened, but I have never heard of this kind of incident before, so we need to find out what has happened. Actions like this would not be supported by the hunting community."
And he added: "We want a sensible discussion.
"I respect views on both sides of the argument. This is about what's lawful.
"Everybody should abide by and obey the laws, so it should be framed in a sensible way, looking at all the different issues and all the different arguments."
The cubs are now in a sanctuary in Liverpool. They will eventually be released into the wild.


(Closed): Stocks on Wall Street fell on Tuesday as the uncertainty surrounding the UK's vote to leave the EU continued to unsettle investors.

US markets were closed on Monday for the Independence Day holiday.
The Dow Jones fell 108.75 points to 17840.62. The S&P 500 index slid 14.40  points to 2088.55, while the Nasdaq dropped 39.67 points to 4822.90.
Oil prices fell by 4%. The price of a barrel of Brent crude dropped to $48.10 and US crude fell to $46.76.
Shares in Southwestern Energy fell over 10% and Chesapeake Energy lost 6.3%.
Bank stocks continued the downward trend that started after the Brexit vote, with JP Morgan Chase sliding 2.8% and Goldman Sachs losing 2.6%
"Brexit is a friction on economic activity and that's bad for banks," said Brian Battle, director of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners.
Among the winners was online gaming company Zynga, which climbed 3.9%.
Netflix shares climbed 1.3% after it announced a deal with cable and internet provider Comcast to make Netflix services available through Comcast's set-top boxes.
Comcast shares were down 0.4%.


The Bishop of Clogher has made a special appeal for information about one of the so-called Disappeared.

Dr Liam MacDaid visited Monaghan on Wednesday night to ask anyone who knows where Columba McVeigh is buried to contact the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains.
The 19-year-old man, from Donaghmore in County Tyrone, was kidnapped in 1975.
The most recent search for his body at Bragan Bog, Emyvale, County Monaghan ended in failure in September 2013.
It was the sixth such search.
At a Mass in Carrickroe, near Emyvale, Dr MacDaid urged anyone who might have even a "small shred" of evidence about where Mr McVeigh was secretly buried to come forward to the commission and help end the burden the McVeigh family.
The Sacred Heart church is a few miles from Bragan mountain, where Mr McVeigh is believed to have been buried after being abducted and murdered by the IRA in November 1975.
Dr MacDaid told the congregation: "Columba's mother and father had to go to their grave not knowing where their son was buried.
"That is not an experience we want to inflict on any family."
The congregation included Columba's brother Oliver and sister Dympna Kerr, as well as other families of the disappeared.
"The ICLVR needs more information to narrow down the search area to find Columba, just as they were able to do at Oristown and find Brendan Megraw," said Oliver McVeigh.
"How can anyone with a shred of humanity about them leave us like this after 40 years knowing that they could end our suffering?"
One of the two commissioners, Frank Murray, a former secretary to the Irish government, attended the Mass along with forensic expert Geoff Knupfer, who has led some of the searches carried out by the commission.
Before the service, Mr Murray addressed the congregation. He stressed the independence and confidentiality offered by his office and said anyone who gave information to him was immune from prosecution.
The first search for Columba McVeigh began 14 years ago. There have been a number of searches at Bragan Bog.
Columba's mother, Vera McVeigh, campaigned tirelessly for the return of his body. She died in 2007, aged 82.
The Disappeared are those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the Troubles.
In 1999, the British and Irish governments established the commission in an effort to gain confidential information about the location of their bodies.
There are 16 people on the ICLVR list of the Disappeared. So far, nine bodies have been recovered. The remaining seven are Joe Lynskey; Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Capt. Robert Nairac, Brendan Megraw, Seamus Ruddy and Columba McVeigh.
The Provisional IRA admitted responsibility for 13 of the 16, while one was admitted by the INLA. No attribution has been given for the remaining two.
Prayers were also said and a candle was lit for Kieran McAree, the Emyvale man who is believed to have gone into the water in Lough Erne in Enniskillen and for whom the search has continued for five weeks.


A Manchester United fan from Sierra Leone whose dream trip to Old Trafford was ruined by Sunday's dummy bomb drama will attend the FA Cup final thanks to a campaign by supporters.

Moses Kamara was left in tears after making the 3,000 mile (4,800 km) trip, only for the game to be cancelled.
He had been invited by friends at the Manchester United Supporters Trust to watch the Premier League match.
Now the group has offered to fund an extended stay for Mr Kamara.
Members offered to pay for a later return flight home, so he can watch the Red Devils' rearranged clash with Bournemouth on Tuesday.
And they are arranging a ticket for Moses to watch the team's FA Cup final against Crystal Palace at Wembley next week.
The fan, who works in security, said "he cried a lot" when the match was cancelled.
"I was so disappointed and I cried right away and people come around me and hug me," he said.
"I come far away from Sierra Leone. I come to watch this match and it doesn't happen."
"This is my first time in real life to watch Manchester live and it doesn't happen."
An "urgent" inquiry has been demanded after a dummy bomb used in a security exercise resulted in the 15:00 BST kick-off match being postponed.
Fans were evacuated and a controlled explosion was carried out on the device, which police said was accidentally left at the 75,000 capacity stadium.
Ian Stirling, vice chairman of MUST, said: "When we heard the game was abandoned we had to tell Moses and the poor lad was distraught - being so close to the ground and not being able to go in, not knowing when he might get this chance again.
"He's still distraught at not getting in to Old Trafford. That was his dream. But we're trying to do the right thing for a friend."
Manchester United said it was refunding all tickets for Sunday's game and allowing ticket holders from both clubs to watch Tuesday's re-arranged game for free.


A large cannabis farm has been found following a house fire in Liverpool.

The plants were discovered after Mersey Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to a blaze at a terraced house on Oakfield Road, Anfield, at 09:30 GMT on Monday.
About 350 plants and equipment filled three rooms and the loft of the property, which is believed to have been uninhabited.
Merseyside Police said the fire may have been caused by a make-shift system of heating and lighting in the house.
Crews discovered the blaze on the landing area.
A search revealed electricity had been taken by bridging the meter in the property.
A utility company was called to make the house safe.
Police are trying to trace those responsible for the cannabis farm.
Sgt Angie Norstrom said cannabis farms are "a huge fire hazard due to the dangerous and illegal way that the electricity supply is tampered with".
"Criminal gangs use lots of small properties such as flats or terraced houses to spread their risk... putting those residents and business owners at risk," she added.
Signs of a cannabis farm include:


Hundreds of taxi drivers claim they could be put out of business by a bid to reduce pollution in Birmingham.

The government has said Birmingham must be among six English cities with a Clean Air Zone by 2020.
The council proposes licensed vehicles must meet EU standards on emissions by December to have licenses renewed.
The authority estimates 1,428 private hire cars and 530 hackney carriages would fail the test. Drivers say their livelihoods are being threatened.
The city's fleet is 4,200 private hire cars and 1,233 hackney carriages.
The penalty for not meeting standards is not being allowed in the city or being charged to enter.
Read more Birmingham and Black Country stories
Drivers say they can either pay £8,000 to convert cars to use liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or buy electric taxis costing around £40,000.
Raja Amin, from the RMT union, said the plans "jeopardised drivers' livelihoods" and drivers were being made "scapegoats" as there were no proposals to police emissions from other types of vehicle.
If it does not achieve the Clean Air Zone in time, the council estimates it could face a £60m fine.
All drivers wanting to renew licences by December 2017 will have to meet the Euro 4 standard for petrol driven cars or Euro 5 for diesel.
From December 2018, the council proposes to strengthen its policy so hackney carriages meet at least a so-called Euro 6 standard or private hire drivers use Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles.
The Department for Transport has allocated £500,000 to cover conversion costs for 63 hackney carriages.
Drivers can also apply for a grant of up to £7,500 towards a new taxi.
The council said: "The city has a very old fleet of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles so we need to look at how we can solve this issue to the benefit of all.
"We will do everything we can to shape the market for cleaner vehicles and assist drivers."
The other cities required to have a clean air zone are London, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton.


A blighted path in the Lake District which had become a bog has been repaired thanks to a mystery donation.

Fell walkers had to navigate across a 20m-wide quagmire to reach the top of Walla Crag above Keswick.
Now a mystery £10,000 donation has enabled the Lake District National Park Authority to fix the path to the 1,000ft (305m) summit.
Ranger Richard Fox said he was "not surprised" somebody wanted to put right a "troublesome blot" on the landscape.
Rangers used ancient techniques to fix the route - by rearranging the naturally occurring soils, in this case boulder clay deposited 10,000 years ago by retreating glaciers, the top soil became hard-wearing, leaving a natural dry route.
Mr Fox said: "The path at this point was 10 times wider than it needed to be, a really horrible area of ever-spreading wet bog which people had to plough through.
"This is a well-loved and much-used route, particularly for those living and staying in Keswick.
"I can imagine that someone who really loves the place wanted to make a real difference to all those who walk here by removing an unsightly and boggy obstacle."
Mr Fox said the work could not have been carried out without the "generosity" of the mystery donor.


A performer in the famous Cirque du Soleil has died after falling off a stage during a show in Las Vegas.

Paris-born Sarah Guyard-Guillot was performing in the Ka show at the MGM Grand.
The 31-year-old acrobat and mother of two was pronounced dead late on Saturday night in hospital after falling 50ft (15m) from the stage.
Her death is believed to be the first fatality during a live performance in the show's 30-year history.
Witness Dan Mosqueda told the Las Vegas Sun that Ms Guyard-Guillot was being hoisted up the side of the stage when it appeared that she slipped free of her safety wire and plummeted to an open pit below.
"Initially, a lot of people in the audience thought it was part of the [show]," he said.
"But you could hear screaming, then groaning, and we could hear a female artist crying from the stage."
The show was stopped and audience members told that refunds or vouchers to future shows would be offered. All performances of Ka have been cancelled until further notice.
Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte issued a statement on Sunday praising the performer, who has been with the original cast since 2006 and has worked as an acrobat for 20 years.
"I am heartbroken. I wish to extend my sincerest sympathies to the family. We are reminded with great humility and respect how extraordinary our artists are each and every night," he said.
The Ka show combines dance, acrobatics and performance art with pyrotechnics and complex aerial displays and is a resident show in Las Vegas.
Millions of people around the world go to see touring and resident Cirque du Soleil shows every year.


A change to the recipe of the classic drink Milo has caused outrage in New Zealand with many saying it now tastes "yuck" and "horrible".

Milo, a cocoa powder, is sold in about 40 countries and consists mainly of malted barley, milk powder, cocoa and sugar.
For more than 80 years it has been hugely popular in New Zealand, where it is usually had with hot milk.
Parent company Nestle said it had made some changes to the New Zealand formula to make Milo healthier for children, and more environmentally sustainable.
It said this had caused "a slight shift in flavour". But some Kiwis feel it is not so slight.
Taryn Ibell started a Facebook petition to "Change Milo back to the old recipe", which has built up more than 5,500 supporters in a week.
She told the BBC that she used Milo to wean her daughter, who was born premature, off being tube-fed. But now, she won't drink it.
"It's just yuck. It's gone from a nice chocolaty tasting drink into a very chemically tasting malt drink," said Ms Ibell.
Many people said they would not be purchasing the new recipe product and would look for a replacement.
Nestle said it had altered the vitamin mix in the formula in New Zealand adding vitamin D, B3, B6, B12 and taking out vitamin A, B1 and magnesium.
It has also switched to sustainably sourced palm oil and cocoa, and removed the added vanilla flavour "to make Milo as natural as possible".
"We know that people don't like change," Margaret Stuart, corporate and external relations manager for Nestle Oceania told the BBC. "There is no way we would change such an iconic product lightly."
But she says the decision was made based on "research into the nutritional needs of children", and that Nestle would not be changing the recipe back.
Taryn's daughter Addison was tube-fed for two years after she was born premature at only 26 weeks. Now three-years-old, Addison refuses to have the new Milo.
"It took lots of trial and error to get to this point but putting Milo into milk was the best way to get her to drink milk.
It meant she was getting calcium; she was thriving, she was putting on weight. She got better at eating because she started wanting to try more things.
The only other things she liked were bacon and M&Ms so Milo is a little healthier than that.
I've stockpiled the old formula- I've got six big cans - hopefully it will last me a couple of months. After that it's back to trial and error."
Ms Stuart says consumer testing was done by the company and while some people reacted negatively, some could not taste a difference or preferred the new formula.
The Australian formula was also changed to a different vitamin mix but Ms Stuart says the taste has not been affected.
Ms Ibell says the company should have given more of a warning to consumers so they would have had time to find an alternative.
She also claims she has been blocked from commenting and posting the link to her call-to-action Facebook page on the Milo - Australia and New Zealand Facebook page.
Ms Stuart says one person was blocked for "sending multiple repeat posts with external links" despite being warned twice not to.


The government contractor Atos Healthcare has said it will review all the correspondence it sends to people claiming sickness benefits.

The announcement follows a "mistaken comment" in a letter - seen by BBC News - to a claimant with depression.
Atos incorrectly told the claimant that assessors were not required to be specifically trained in mental health.
The private firm said it would ensure that its letters were "clear and easy to understand" in future.
Atos carried out nearly three quarters of a million face-to-face assessments last year on people claiming the new sickness benefit, Employment and Support Allowance.
One of the claimants, Claire Whitwell, from Stockton on Tees, prompted Atos's review.
Ms Whitwell has social anxiety disorder and depression, but was declared fit to work following a medical assessment last year. The decision was later overturned by an appeals tribunal.
In June, she was asked to attend another assessment to see whether her condition had changed.
Ms Whitwell said she had a panic attack, in part because she said the assessor did not know anything about depression, and complained to Atos over the incident earlier this month.
In the reply on 13 August, seen by BBC News, an Atos customer relations manager explained there was no requirement for assessors to be specifically trained in mental health.
However, an Atos spokeswoman has now said this comment was "mistaken", insisting that all assessors do have specific mental health training.
"We have improved the way we assess those with fluctuating and mental health conditions," the spokeswoman said.
"All our doctors, nurses and physiotherapists have received specific training in mental health and there are now mental function champions in place across our centres to offer.
But Ms Whitwell said Atos had made a terrible mistake and was now trying desperately to backtrack.
"The person who did my last two medicals was stated as a registered nurse. She clearly didn't have any mental health training," she said.
"The [Department for Work and Pensions] may as well have got a decision from a dentist."
Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said her case raised the broader issue of how people with mental illnesses are assessed.
He said: "Over a third of people apply for Employment and Support Allowance because they have mental health problems. We know that many are wrongly declared fit for work.
"We want the government to make sure that the health professionals assessing people with mental health problems have an appropriate level of mental health expertise."
In statements, the Department for Work and Pensions and Atos said they were working with disability groups to improve the medical tests, known as the Work Capability Assessment, and had recruited 60 "mental function champions" to give advice to the doctors and nurses carrying out the tests.


Super Bowl winner Nate Ebner has earned a place in Team USA's rugby sevens squad for the Rio Olympics this summer.

At 17, Ebner became the youngest player to play for the US rugby sevens team.
He was drafted into the NFL after university, joining the New England Patriots in 2012, and helped them win the Super Bowl three years later.
In March, the 27-year-old decided to take a leave of absence from American football to concentrate on gaining an Olympic place.
Ebner, who has just signed a new contract with the Patriots, will rejoin the NFL side after the conclusion of the Games on 11 August.
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The mother of a missing airman has expressed her gratitude after a fundraising target to help find her son was reached within weeks.

Corrie Mckeague, 23, vanished from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 24 September.
More than Â£51,000 has been raised to fund a private investigator. Donations have come from almost 5,000 people.
Nicola Urquhart told supporters: "Even in my darkest moments when I just want to crumble you all just keep giving me the strength to carry on fighting."
What do we know about Corrie Mckeague's disappearance?
Her son, a gunner at RAF Honington, was last seen at about 03:25 BST walking alone in the Suffolk market town.
He was seen walking into a dead-end loading bay area known at the "horseshoe" but not seen coming out again.
In response to Mrs Urquhart's frustrations with the police investigation, a crowdfunding site to hire a private investigator was set up on 6 December.
Mrs Urquhart, from Dunfermline, told donors: "You have given us the ability to get information that might just be that vital piece that brings Corrie home.
"We just could not have considered these opportunities without your amazing kindness."
A private investigator has not yet been hired.
Mrs Urquhart said if she does not hire one, the money would go to Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue which has been assisting the search effort.
Mrs Urquhart said she had halted her search for a private investigator after Suffolk Police agreed to investigate three men attempting to set fire to a vehicle on 25 September.
Police said the incident had been investigated and there was nothing to link it to Mr Mckeague's disappearance.
A second public search for Mr Mckeague will take place on 22 January. More than 60 volunteers joined in the first on 17 December.


Ex-youth football coach Barry Bennell, who is at the centre of a sex abuse scandal, has been taken to hospital after being found unconscious.

The convicted sex offender was found at an address in Knebworth Park, Stevenage on Friday, Thames Valley Police said.
The force said it was called to a "fear for welfare" incident and the 62-year-old was still in hospital.
Bennell was named last week by several former footballers who alleged they were abused as children.
Five police forces are now investigating claims of historical abuse.
Former Crewe player Andy Woodward was the first to speak out about the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of Bennell.
Former youth team players Chris Unsworth, Steve Walters and Jason Dunford later told BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme they had also been abused by the former Crewe Alexandra coach.
David White and Paul Stewart have also waived their anonymity to speak publicly about suffering abuse as youth players.
Who is Barry Bennell?
Abuse claims: What has happened so far?
How safe are children today from abuse in sport?
Bennell, who also worked for Manchester City, Stoke and junior teams in north-west England and the Midlands, was given a four-year sentence for raping a British boy on a football tour of Florida in 1994 and a nine-year sentence in 1998 for 23 offences against six boys in England.
He was jailed for a third time in 2015 after admitting abusing a boy at a 1980 football camp in Macclesfield.
Bennell was said to have moved out of his home in Milton Keynes when the new allegations came to light.
East of England Ambulance Service said it had received a report of an unconscious man in the Knebworth Park area and a crew attended at 22:50 GMT on Friday.
In an emotional interview on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, four ex-footballers appeared together to tell of their torment at the hands of Barry Bennell.
Andy Woodward wept as Steve Walters, Chris Unsworth and Jason Dunford recounted their abuse.
Mr Woodward, 43 - the first player to go public - said it happened while he was aged between 11 and 15 and at Crewe Alexandra's youth team but had been kept "locked away in the back of my head".
Mr Unsworth had been a youth player at Manchester City with Bennell before moving to Crewe with him when he was about 12 in the mid-1980s. He said he had stayed at Bennell's house several times and had "never told a soul" he had been raped.
He said he "thought he had to come forward... and help everybody", after seeing Mr Woodward had spoken out.
'I was raped up to 100 times'
Greater Manchester Police has launched an investigation into historical sexual abuse in the youth football system in the area. The force said it had received more than 10 calls connected to a number of clubs.
The Hampshire, Cheshire, Northumbria and Metropolitan police forces have all also opened investigations.
A dedicated NSPCC hotline - 0800 023 2642 - was set up after the abuse claims came to light.
The Football Association has confirmed it is investigating claims of sexual abuse in the sport. The FA said its internal review would look at what officials and clubs knew and when.
Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor says more than 20 former footballers have come forward regarding allegations of sexual abuse.
Taylor said at least "six or seven clubs" including Crewe, Manchester City, Blackpool, Leeds, Stoke and Newcastle were connected with "particular individuals".
Crewe Alexandra have begun their own independent review into the claims,
Blackpool released a statement saying the club was "yet to receive any information from the PFA or relevant authorities in relation to the ongoing investigations of historical abuse".
Leeds also said it had not been made aware of any allegations, but would "take any such complaints seriously and will cooperate fully with the PFA and the FA with any investigations".
Football's world governing body Fifa said in a statement: "We are aware of the allegations. Fifa considers the protection of children and young people as fundamental in football and we will monitor the situation closely."
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Damian Collins, the culture, media and sport committee chairman, told the BBC the FA review needed to establish if there was a cultural problem in the sport.


Six internet service providers (ISPs) in the Republic of Ireland have been told to block access to The Pirate Bay's file-sharing website.

The court order follows complaints from four music labels that the site was helping spread copyrighted content.
The ISPs have been given until mid-July to implement the ban. It is Ireland's first such move.
It follows similar restrictions placed on the site in the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Belgium.
The High Court order applies to Vodafone, Digiweb, UPC, Imagine, Telefonica O2 and Hutchison 3G.
A seventh ISP in the country, Eircom, has voluntarily banned The Pirate Bay since 2009.
EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner Music had alleged that as many as 200,000 people in Ireland made use of the site, causing them to lose about 20m euros (Â£17m) a year.
"The Irish Recorded Music Association is very pleased at the decision of the High Court, which blocks access by all ISPs to the notorious Pirate Bay website," the organisation's director general, Dick Doyle, told the BBC.
"It is estimated that 8% of all internet users in Ireland accessed the website on a monthly basis.
"The template from this decision will now be used to seek further orders blocking access to other websites and cyber-lockers predominately involved in making available infringing copyrights."
Ireland signed into law last year an EU regulation designed to make it easier for copyright owners to seek injunctions against ISPs and other intermediaries providing access to pirated materials.
When the UK imposed a similar ban in 2012, several proxy sites - which act as a middle man to retrieve blocked content - were created, allowing users to circumvent the restriction.
Music industry organisation the BPI was subsequently given the right to add the proxies to the list of sites the ISPs had to block, but it effectively set up a situation where as soon as one was taken down another was set up to take its place.
"I expect that the music labels have learned from the past experiences in other countries where the blockades are massively circumvented through proxy sites, and that they have requested these to be blocked in Ireland as well," said Torrentfreak's editor Ernesto Van Der Sar.
"But even when that's the case then there will always be workarounds. People can use a VPN [virtual private network] service for example, and there are still hundreds of proxy sites that are not covered.
"That said, it does become harder to access The Pirate Bay and that is the music label's ultimate goal."


Unacceptably short 15-minute home care visits to elderly and disabled people are still plaguing the care system in England, a report suggests.

Research by Unison found "distressing" cases of care being compromised after surveying councils and care workers.
Councils are not meant to schedule 15-minute visits for personal care, like help with washing, dressing or eating.
But the union said its findings showed many were still doing just that despite repeated calls for longer visits.
Ministers have been demanding councils which are in charge of care services stop using the so-called "flying visits".
And guidance issued last year by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said visits should last at least 30 minutes unless it was for a quick check-up as part of a wider package of care, such as calling in to make sure someone has taken medication.
Unison received responses to a Freedom of Information request from all 152 councils with responsibility for social care, just as the guidance was being introduced and received feedback from 1,100 care staff via an online survey.
Three-quarters of councils reported they used 15-minute visits although a third said they were for quick checks for justifiable reasons.
But Unison said it still suggested there were major problems, with three-quarters of care staff filling in the online survey complaining they did not have enough time to provide dignified care.
Half reported they had been asked to provide personal care for people they had never even met before with carers reporting they were left feeling "angry, ashamed and embarrassed" by the standard of care they could provide.
One carer said: "I had to visit a lady who is 102 years old for a shower, help her get dressed, make food, tidy her kitchen, give her medication and put her bins out in 20 minutes. It's humiliating as we haven't got time to have a chat."
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The government has argued it is investing in care services. It has created the Better Care Fund, worth Â£5.3bn this year, to ensure the NHS works more closely with councils on care.
Local authorities are also being given the power to increase council tax by 2% to invest in care.
But the Local Government Association has argued this does not make up for the wider cuts being made to councils, the costs of introducing the national living wage and the rising demand for support.
Councillor Izzi Seccombe, from the LGA, said: "Short visits are sadly just one of the many symptoms of a social care and support system that is under enormous financial pressure."


Deacon Blue are to headline the 10th Montrose Music Festival.

The Glasgow band, who released their debut album Raintown almost 30 years ago, were headliners at MoFest in 2009.
The festival has brought top musical acts to the town, including Bryan Adams and Status Quo.
In addition to the outdoor headline shows at East Links on 26 May, there will be about 200 bands performing at various venues in the town over the weekend.
The Beach Boys will bring the festival to an end on the Sunday night.
Deacon Blue lead singer Ricky Ross said the band were enjoying touring again and were looking forward to returning to MoFest.
"We're going to make it a big show and with a lot of favourites, old and new," he said.
"Don't expect to go home too early."
Singer Lorraine McIntosh, said: "We're really excited to be heading back to Montrose and being part of its special 10th anniversary celebrations.
"We promise a great show and hope to see lots of our fans there."
David Paton, chairman of the Montrose Music Festival, said Mofest 2017 would be a "special, memorable" weekend with something for everyone.
He said: "We hope that music lovers from across Scotland will come and join us for a weekend of great live music."


Virtual reality could be used to diagnose and treat visual vertigo, according to a team of Cardiff University psychologists.

People with the condition suffer from dizziness and nausea and often cite places with repetitive visual patterns, such as supermarkets, as the trigger.
A team of psychologists is working to develop virtual environments to help with diagnosis and rehabilitation.
The scientists believe the approach has "real potential".
Dr Georgina Powell, of the School of Psychology, said: "We don't know very much about what causes visual vertigo at the moment.
"There also are not many effective rehabilitation therapies available, so the aim of our project is to try and understand those two things."
She said vertigo can be extremely debilitating, adding: "It can mean that a patient can't leave their house because they feel so sick and nauseous every time they walk around in their visual environment.
"They can't work, they just can't function."
The team said one of the most striking observations they had made about sufferers was the variation between what sparks their symptoms.
"All the patients are very different and some environments might trigger symptoms for some patients whilst other environments might trigger symptoms for others," Dr Powell said.
"So by using virtual reality (VR) we can have vast flexibility over the different types of environments that we can show to patients and we can find out what their individual triggers might be and then tailor specific rehabilitation therapies."
Visual vertigo is often referred to as "supermarket syndrome" because large shops, with their cluttered shelves and repetitive aisles, can act as a catalyst to attacks.
"Other environments include walking by the side of a river, where you have motion one side of you but not on the other," Dr Powell said.
"Generally they can only handle so much of the virtual reality images at one time  - we have a bucket ready," She added.
"But we give them lots of breaks and lots of water and monitor how they are feeling."
Source: NHS UK
Often, people with visual vertigo develop vertigo after suffering damage or illness related to their vestibular system - the apparatus of the inner ear involved in balance and space orientation - such as an ear infection. It can also be related to migraines.
Prof Petroc Sumner, who is overseeing the project, said it can be "very difficult" to rehabilitate.
"There are new patients every month and also repeat patients. So, because it can't easily be fixed quickly, then the patients have to be seen multiple times  - that takes up a lot of NHS time."
He said the concept had "real potential", especially as virtual reality becomes cheaper.


Army reservists get, in some ways, the worst of both worlds.

As part-time soldiers they can fight - and die - alongside comrades from the regular Army.
But unlike regulars, when their tours of duty end they go straight back to civilian life.
"I was in the desert on the Thursday and was back to work by Sunday," said reservist Kevin Hurley, speaking about his return from Iraq in 2003.
All soldiers now get 24 hours of "decompression" after active service, but many reservists then return to their civilian jobs within days.
Regular soldiers go back to base in the UK, before usually being allowed on leave.
But Mr Hurley said it is civilian employment, not Army life, which poses the biggest problem for reservists.
He said many are overlooked for jobs or promotions because businesses do not want workers who can be called away on military service.
Mr Hurley, who has been a reservist for 43 years and is also Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner, said he had seen "many cases of discrimination" and had once been told openly he was refused a senior job because he was in the Territorial Army (TA).
"Businesses have to be forced not to discriminate against reservists in the same way they were forced not to discriminate against young women who could get pregnant," he said.
But as well as challenges, reservists' double lives bring many benefits.
Reece Hancock, who is serving in Afghanistan, called it a "bit of a break" from his job as a teacher.
"I think school teaching is quite tough and I think out here, with the climate and the work, it's about the same - apart from I don't have to write any reports here so it's a little bit easier," he said.
Many reservists bring special skills to the Army, and take others back to civilian life.
Captain Ted Evans, a doctor in the UK, has done two tours to Afghanistan and said he has gained "a huge amount" of experience and confidence at treating severely injured casualties.
Since 2003 there have been more than 25,000 reservist mobilisations to Iraq and Afghanistan, with 30 reservists killed.
And the role of reservists is set to increase.
The government has published a White Paper setting out plans to double the size of the TA, which is to be renamed the Army Reserve, from 15,000 in 2010 to 30,000 by 2018.
The regular Army is being cut from 102,000 to 82,000, and defence secretary Philip Hammond has said reservists will be an "integral part" of the new structure.
Mr Hurley warned that the Army would not be able to recruit enough reservists unless new employment protection was brought in, and Mr Hammond was believed to be considering anti-discrimination legislation.
But the White Paper does not include plans to make it illegal for firms to discriminate against reservists when hiring, though officials said this issue would be kept "under review".
The document also outlines a scheme to pay small firms - those with fewer than 250 staff - Â£500 a month for reservists away on deployment.
And Mr Hammond said more notice would be given to help companies prepare for staff being away.
Mike Cherry, national policy chairman for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said the organisation was "very supportive" of employers who hire reservists and said many FSB members do.
But a survey carried out in December and January showed 36% of 6,500 small businesses polled would not consider employing a reservist, and Mr Cherry said very small businesses "obviously can't commit to it".
David Norris, director of Essex-based renewable energy firm Envirosolar, said the company was actively recruiting reservists and had approached the local TA to invite applications.
He accepted that losing staff on military mobilisation was not ideal, but said the "discipline, organisation and commitment" of most reservists outweighed that risk.
Former soldier Sean Farrington, now UK managing director of software firm Qlik, said being a reservist was "character building and skills building", especially for younger people.
He said many employers are unaware of the "technical skills of the modern soldier", such as using communications technology and dealing with live data.
Mr Farrington also said being a reservist would teach people discipline, adding: "One of the challenges here is to get companies to realise the benefits."
Speaking about the quality of reservists Mr Farrington, an Army officer from 1981 to 1994, said there was still "some snobbery" from regulars towards them when he joined, but TA involvement in conflicts such as the first Gulf War had "changed the perception".
He said the use of reservists in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years showed they were "clearly not amateurs".
But Bryan Hunter, a former private in the Parachute Regiment, said the government was using reservists as a "cheap way of filling the ranks".
He said did not want to "knock" TA soldiers, but added: "Training for a few hours a week and a couple of longer spells during the year will only teach them basics."
The White Paper is the latest stage of a process which started with the 2010 defence review, and should bring the total number of UK military reservists to about 35,000, including almost 5,000 in the RAF and Royal Navy.


A driver in California has had a very lucky escape after his truck crashed off a road and fell 100m down a ravine, before starting a bush fire.

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16 August 2015 Last updated at 08:53 BST
An emergency rescue helicopter lifted him to safety from the storm drain he was sheltering in as flames burned all around him.
Pilots had to fly through thick smoke to swoop in and pick him up.
Captain Scott Dettorre, from Ventura County Fire, said: "What made this challenging was we had the brush fire going... Visually it was a challenge for these pilots to locate and get this patient out."


A Garda (Irish police) detective has been found guilty of harassing a state solicitor by sending her abusive letters and emails.

Eve Doherty, a Dublin-based sergeant, denied harassing Elizabeth Howlin between September 2011 and March 2013.
Over an 18-month period, letters and emails were sent to Ms Howlin's home, her place of work and to her GP.
The material, alleging Ms Howlin was corrupt, included A4 posters left around her housing estate
They falsely claimed that the solicitor was a political appointee.
At the time, Ms Howlin worked with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), where she was involved in deciding whether or not to direct prosecutions in criminal cases.
Letters and emails sent to her called her a "corrupt bitch", an "incompetent useless hobbit" and a "two faced bitch".
Some of the material contained false allegations naming neighbours of Ms Howlin as drug dealers and falsely claiming that Ms Howlin had interfered in their prosecution.
Ms Howlin said that she found the material very upsetting and distressing and an invasion of her privacy.
Sgt Doherty, 49, had denied being the author of any of the material, which included anonymous emails containing similar allegations.
However, a literary comparison by police between the emails and documents found in Sgt Doherty's home and work locker identified multiple examples of 60 common features such as grammatical errors.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Ms Howlin didn't know Sgt Doherty until the trial and that the accused was then in a relationship with the victim's ex-partner.
During the trial the jury heard that the first letter was sent in September 2011 to Ms Howlin's home.
It stated: "We are all watching every move you make".
A second letter was sent around November 2011 to Ms Howlin's boss, DPP Claire Loftus. The letter incorrectly stated that Ms Howlin was the niece of Brendan Howlin TD - she is actually a distant cousin.
Sgt Doherty denied making false statements in March 2012 claiming Ms Howlin was perverting the course of justice.
A jury acquitted her of these charges.
Sgt Doherty was remanded on continuing bail until 27 October for sentence.


Two leading international campaign groups claim the Australian government has a deliberate policy of ignoring abuse of asylum seekers.

Australia transports asylum seekers who arrive by boat to off-shore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International conducted extensive interviews on Nauru and said Australia had condoned severe abuse there.
Australia's government said it was not given a chance to address the claims.
In a report written after an incognito visit to Nauru last month, the organisations said Australia's actions seemed designed to discourage other migrants from attempting to get to Australia.
Interviews with 84 refugees and asylum seekers unearthed claims of rape and assault at the hand of Nauruan locals, inadequate medical care and cramped, uncomfortable living conditions.
The detention centre at Nauru is run by a company called Broadspectrum and medical services are provided by International Health and Medical Services. Both companies have a contract with the Australian government.
One woman quoted in the report said she had married a man 15 years her senior in order to feel safe on the island. Another said Nauruan men had driven her into the jungle with the intent of raping her.
Although most held on the island have been identified as genuine refugees and released into the community, many felt afraid to leave their accommodations, particularly at night, the report said.
The report also alleged that Nauruan police tended to downplay or ignore asylum seekers' reports of abuse.
It said prolonged detention in poor living conditions was causing both adults and children to experience severe anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
"The Australian government's persistent failure to address abuses committed under its authority on Nauru strongly suggests that they are adopted or condoned as a matter of policy," it said.
No documentary evidence backing up the assertion of a deliberate government policy was provided in the report.
The rights groups said Nauru had colluded in the abuse because Australia paid it large sums to house the camp.
A spokesperson for Australia's Immigration Department said it had not been shown the claims in advance and encouraged the report's authors to speak to the government before airing such allegations.
Nauru's government has been contacted for comment.


A police-led review into high death rates at the former Stafford Hospital has found there is not enough evidence to prosecute any individuals.

Staffordshire Police said material relating to the deaths of 214 patients between 2005 and 2009 was reviewed.
Deputy Constable Nicholas Baker said there were "no grounds" for a criminal investigation against any individual clinician or manager at the trust.
He said this did not detract from the "appalling care" many suffered.
For updates on this and other Staffordshire stories
The review was set up in 2013 and led by a panel which included the South Staffordshire Coroner and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr Baker said "a direct result of this work" had been two successful criminal prosecutions against Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. He said without the review it was "highly unlikely" the trust would have been prosecuted for the deaths of Ivy Bunn, Lillian Tucker and Gillian Astbury.
The now defunct trust was fined Â£500,000 last December for "basic" blunders linked to the deaths of the three elderly women, as well as the death of 89-year-old Patrick Daly in 2014.
Mr Baker said the review had involved an "extensive examination" of material relating to the 214 deaths.
"That there were no grounds to support individual criminal investigations does not detract from the appalling care that many patients suffered during the period of this review; patients and their families were badly let down by the trust, and some of its clinicians and their management," he said.
"We believe the improvements made to the way different agencies work together, the regulatory and reporting framework, and the systems in place to report deaths in healthcare settings to appropriate authorities has strengthened the system considerably since the original tragedy."
Stafford Hospital, which is now County Hospital, was at the centre of a Â£6m public inquiry into care failings. A new NHS trust was set up in 2014 to run the hospital and Royal Stoke University Hospital.


The year 2015 was the worst on record for free school failures, with five schools failing to open at a cost of £700,000 to the taxpayer.

Figures released by the Department for Education (DfE) show nearly £2m has been spent on free schools that have failed to open since the first ones were launched in England in 2011.
The free school scheme was introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010, the aim being to make it easier for charities, community groups and religious organisations to set up their own schools independently of their local authority, in an attempt to drive up education standards.
Trusts intending to set up a free school are entitled to a project development grant from the DfE to cover essential costs up to the point at which the school opens.
However, should a free school project be cancelled before opening, this funding cannot be reclaimed as long as it has been spent in line with DfE funding rules.
One that failed to open was Gateway Academy. Scheduled for opening in Brent, north-west London, in September 2015, it was due to educate 700 secondary school and sixth-form pupils. It folded after the free school trust failed to find a suitable site, costing the taxpayer more than £300,000. Of the 60 free schools planned to open in 2015, five failed to open.
Johnny Kyriacou, who was to be the head teacher of Gateway Academy, explained in a statement that this was due to rising land prices and competition against developers preventing a suitable site being found to accommodate the school.
A Department for Education spokesman said: "Our country needs more good school places for children. Free schools provide more options for parents so they can choose a place that really works for their child's talents and needs.
"We have a rigorous assessment and pre-opening process to help ensure that only the best projects are approved, and that only high-quality free schools open."
They added that 345 free schools had opened, "providing greater choice and more places in schools that are more likely than other state-funded schools to be judged outstanding".
The spokesman also said: "To maintain these high standards, schools open only when we are confident they are in a strong position to provide an excellent education to all pupils from day one. Costs are controlled very carefully to deliver value for money to the taxpayer".
Shadow education minister Angela Rayner told the BBC: "These new figures show that free schools have become a costly obsession of the government.
"Public money is being wasted on an ideological Tory obsession which is failing to deliver the good schools which all our children deserve. It's time Theresa May junked free schools, like she has junked forcing every school to become an academy."
Liberal Democrat education spokesman John Pugh said: "As the maintained sector heads for a funding crisis to squander money to little effect and waste such huge sums on schools that do not even open  borders on the criminally negligent."
A spokeswoman for the New Schools Network, which supports the opening of free schools, said: "Free schools remain the most cost effective way of meeting the demand for new school places, short of putting Portacabins in school playgrounds."