A man has been seriously injured when violence flared during a town's annual summer celebrations.

The incident happened around the time of the annual Guid Nychburris parade in Dumfries on Saturday.
A 21-year-old man suffered bruising to his face and a cut to his back in the attack in the Mill Green area at about 17:40.
Police said the incident involved two groups of youths, and two other people suffered minor injuries.
A statement said that a "large number" of people had been involved in the fracas.
Det Con Paul Steele said: "The town was very busy around this time with the Guid Nychburris celebrations in full swing.
"We want to hear from anyone who may have witnessed what was a serious disturbance on the Mill Green at this time involving up to eight to 10 youths, all of whom appeared to be in their mid-teens and were wearing casual sports type clothing."
Anyone with information has been asked to contact police.


National League side Aldershot Town have signed former Brighton forward Shamir Fenelon following his departure from Crawley Town.

The 21-year-old scored two goals in 33 appearances for the Reds last season, and had a spell on loan in National League South with Whitehawk.
"I need to get myself going again and get back to my best," he said.
"Our ambitions match each other and working with Gary Waddock is the best place for me to be, to rebuild myself."
Aldershot have not disclosed the length of Fenelon's deal at the EBB Stadium.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


The Pembrokeshire islands of Skomer and Skokholm are world renowned for their seabird colonies, but less is known about the people who give up their time to help run them.

The sister islands lie a few miles off the county's west coast and are both National Nature Reserves managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
They are open to visitors between April and September, with Skomer offering day and overnight visits, and Skokholm just overnight visits.
The latest count showed there were more than 22,000 puffins, 23,000 guillemots and 7,000 razorbills on Skomer, and together with Skokholm, there are an estimated 316,000 breeding pairs of Manx shearwaters - half of the world's total population.
The islands are also home to seals, dolphins, porpoises, rabbits, voles and birds of prey such as buzzards, peregrine falcons and owls.
The wildlife trust relies heavily on the work of volunteers to help manage the islands and monitor their wildlife.
It recruits about 150 weekly volunteers between April and October on Skomer. They work alongside four long-term volunteers who stay on the island for three months each.
There is a similar long term volunteering arrangement on Skokholm, and each year a work party of volunteers get the island ready for the visitor season.
Volunteer roles include seabird and seal monitoring, welcoming guests, giving talks, cleaning the visitor accommodation and general maintenance projects.
Some volunteers use the time to carry out their own research projects and write blogs.
Steve and Anna Sutcliffe first volunteered on Skokholm Island in 1979 and continue to be involved today.
Mr Sutcliffe, originally from Tenby, was a warden on Skomer from 1986 to 1994 and a director for the Princes Trust in Pembrokeshire before retiring six years ago.
Mrs Sutcliffe first came to Pembrokeshire from London in 1976 to teach in Dale Fort Field Centre and has stayed ever since.
She is a full-time ecologist and has led wildlife tours all over the world, including in the Antarctic.
The couple have organised a work party of volunteers on Skokholm since 2010 and they have been instrumental in re-opening the island to the public and reinstating its bird observatory status.
Mr Sutcliffe said the island "had been left to rot" and it needed a huge amount of work over the last few years.
He and Mrs Sutcliffe are currently on the island with a group of volunteers.
Asked what Skokholm meant to him, Mr Sutcliffe said: "Because it's fairly small (240 acres) it is easy to get to know.
"It's an attractive place and has some great wildlife.
"It offers us chances to do things most people don't get the opportunity to do.
"It also continues to cement our island passions - we have been to a lot of small islands."
Thomas Faulkner, 23, and Ruby Temple-Long, 21 are both long term volunteers on Skomer.
Mr Faulkner is an ecology graduate and has been involved with various conservation organisations for more than 10 years. He volunteered on the island for a week last year and was eager for an opportunity to stay longer.
"There hasn't been a time I can remember when I wasn't fascinated by the natural world," he said.
When volunteers first arrive on the island they have to bring a month's supply of food in case they get stranded, and they do a monthly supermarket delivery order.
"Fresh food runs out quickly, so we mainly survive on tins, dried and some frozen food," explained Mr Faulkner.
"The island is managed sustainably which means electricity and water resources are limited. There is no central heating which makes the nights a bit chilly but otherwise it is very comfortable."
He said daily showers and an inability to "pop to the shops" were the things he missed the most about home, while his favourite thing was "getting to know a patch of land and its wildlife intimately".
"As soon as a bird lands on the island it has probably already been jotted down in someone's notebook."
Mr Faulkner said island living had given him a "very localised perspective".
"You often forget the mainland exists. I've found myself out of touch of social media and the news."
Ms Temple-Long is a marine biology graduate and a first time volunteer. Before arriving on Skomer she worked full-time in an office and wanted to get away from her desk.
She said she was attracted to Skomer by the "vast array of species" and research opportunities.
"The best thing is the amazing wildlife encounters that happen every day. No two days are the same," she said.
"Having the chance to share your passions and knowledge with the day trippers is also great. Everyone that comes here is always so excited. It makes you happy being able to share some tips on what to look out for as it often fuels their enthusiasm."
Ms Temple-Long said there was not much time to miss home as there is always a lot to see and do.
"The only thing I would have to say I miss would be not having to restrict bathing. As the island is managed sustainably we have a limited water supply so it's not feasible for everyone to shower as much as they'd like to.
"It just reminds me a lot of camping."
She added the volunteering opportunity has "reinforced her belief to do things that you are interested in".
"The difference you feel when the tasks you are completing feel like they have a purpose and that you learn from is so much more valuable than sticking to something because it's easier," she said.


When President Obama signed the nattily named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, it marked the most significant regulatory overhaul of the US healthcare system since 1965.

Fittingly, he used 22 different pens to sign the document - now more nattily nicknamed "Obamacare".
It continued a long-held American tradition that sees the pens used to sign historic documents donated as thank-you gifts. The more pens used, the more gifts can be made.
President Lyndon Johnson reportedly used more than 75 pens to sign the landmark Civil Rights Act in 1964. One, an Esterbrook, was given to Martin Luther King Jr.
And these pens can give us a tangible slice of history.
For example, the Parker Duofold Big Red used by General Douglas MacArthur to sign a surrender document aboard USS Missouri - effectively signalling the end of the Second World War - is now proudly displayed at the Cheshire Military Museum in Chester.
But is this where ink pens and hand-written signatures now belong - in museums?
On 1 July 2016, the European Union implemented new rules for electronic signatures, giving them the same legal weight as their "wet" - or ink-based - written counterparts.
The new eIDAS (European Identity and Trust Services) regulation has effectively put an end to a confusing patchwork of laws, making them consistent across every EU country.
So why has it taken so long? After all, the idea of a digital signature or certificate that proves you are who you say you are has been around for many years.
Businesses have been slow to adopt electronic signatures because "until now, there has been no legal framework or regulation which properly defines them," argues Mark Greenaway, director of digital media at software firm Adobe.
Such confusion has fuelled scepticism.
"The technology has been around for a while, but adoption in the UK is now commencing because people are starting to believe in it," says Richard Croft, chief communications officer at software company Legalesign.
The inability to prove online identity and authenticate documents has always been something of an Achilles heel for the internet.
But a number of different technologies have emerged to tackle this.
In Estonia, for example, every resident over the age of 15 has an ID card protected by a personal identification number and containing a digital signature. This enables them to access government services, digitally sign documents, and vote electronically in parliamentary elections.
They can do this on their smartphones, too. Around 170,000 people voted digitally last year.
"I'd rather not spend precious time on administration," says Anna Piperal, managing director of e-Estonia Showroom at Enterprise Estonia. "There is no value in that."
But even without paper to shuffle and ink to dry, such pragmatism doesn't mean the end of face-to-face communication.
"We still like to meet and talk, discuss, but not sign papers in stacks and spend a fortune printing and scanning," she says.
It is little wonder that 2% of Estonia's GDP [gross domestic product] is saved every year as a result of digital signatures.
"It makes business administration easy," she says. "For example, you can start a company in just 18 minutes."
And Legalesign has just launched an online witness product, enabling business people to sign contracts by typing their name, signing with a mouse or uploading their signature.
The signature is made in the presence of a witness, and the ID of the signatory is verified over email. The final document is tamper-proofed using an encrypted digital certificate.
The problem with written signatures - even those signed with a beautiful pen and a practised flourish - is that they can be forged.
"A [written] signature is simply weak evidence that somebody agreed to do something," says Jon Geater, chief technology officer at Thales e-security.
"It is not exactly unique or special, nor does it prove particularly well that a person was genuinely present or consenting."
Digital counterparts, on the other hand, whether using blockchain technology, which relies on a consensus agreement before verifying a signature, or password-based digital signatures, do away with this uncertainty.
"Modern digital technology provides considerably greater assurance that a piece of information was genuinely approved or agreed," says Mr Geater.
This enables business relationships to be "described, enforced and verified without the unnecessary involvement of superfluous middlemen, and with much greater levels of proof," he says.
Ron Hirson, chief product officer at US-based tech firm DocuSign, agrees, saying: "The benefits of digital business are outweighing the nostalgia of the hand-written signature."
But while describing written signatures unstintingly as "extremely primitive", Mr Croft does accept that digital versions lack theatre.
"Viewing the Magna Carta in person holds a certain magic. In a couple of generations time, the idea of inspecting a certified digital copy of the Great Repeal Bill signed with Her Majesty's encryption code might not be the same crowd-puller," he admits.
And some of the world's biggest businesses rely on the ritual of putting pen to paper to please the crowd.
"Take Zlatan Ibrahimovic signing for Manchester United this summer," says Dr John Curran, a business anthropologist and founder of research firm JC Innovation and Strategy.
"It goes way beyond the signing of a lucrative contract. The ceremonial nature enables the club, as a brand, to display its intent for success, whereas for the fans, it satisfies their need that their team is developing."
And we certainly don't seem to be losing our love of pens. In the US, traditional pen retail sales were up 4% in 2016 compared with 2015, according to the NPD Group.
"People still want that status or 'lifestyle piece' for important and meaningful signatures, like buying a house," says NPD analyst Leen Nsouli.
That said, you might think twice before buying the latest luxury piece from Swiss company Caran d'Ache, which recently collaborated with watch and timepiece brand MB&F to create its limited edition Astrograph pen.
It contains 99 components and is a snip at just under Â£20,000.
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter
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Board members at a UK-funded development agency made large expenses claims, including £5,000 air tickets, the National Audit Office has revealed.

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) has also built up a £27m surplus after the British government ramped up its donations.
The NAO has urged ministers to keep a much closer eye on the PIDG's spending.
Recent projects funded by the agency include a steel foundry in Nigeria and a Ugandan hydropower scheme.
The PIDG said it had revised its travel policy, which had seen board members claiming for more expensive flexible business class tickets.
But Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the Department for International Development (DfID) was to blame for not keeping a tight enough rein on spending.
"It's outrageous that 15 flights were booked from 2011, each costing over £5,000," said Mrs Hodge.
"Only this month has PIDG revised its travel policy. DfID should get a grip on administrative costs like this."
The PIDG was founded in 2002 by four countries - the UK, Switzerland, Holland and Sweden - to back private investment in infrastructure projects in developing countries, including roads, telecoms, sanitation, housing, agriculture, power and industry.
But the UK provides 70% of its funding, which is expected to hit £700m in total by 2015.
UK funding for the agency was increased fivefold by the coalition government in 2011, in line with its policy of encouraging private investment in the developing world.
But the NAO found much of that money had yet to be spent on development projects and the PIDG Trust was sitting on £27m in its bank account.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said: "The Private Infrastructure Development Group is providing important benefits to poor people in difficult environments, but DfID does not have enough good evidence  to show that funding PIDG is the best option.
"Furthermore, DfID's financial control has been lacking, allowing the PIDG Trust to hold nearly £27m worth of DfID funding since 2012.
"The department has recently made good progress in tackling these issues, which will put it in a better position to demonstrate value for money, but I consider that it should have taken more action earlier given its decision in 2011 to increase funding for PIDG fivefold."
The report also criticises two of the agency's subsidiaries, GuarantCo and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), set up by then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002, which are incorporated in the tax haven of Mauritius.
This arrangement has come in from criticism from War on Want, which claims it flies in the face of Prime Minister David Cameron's commitment to tax justice for poor countries. The NAO said it "raises reputational risks" for DfID.
A spokeswoman for DfID said: "The NAO has recognised that we are already improving the group's operations to drive even more job-creating private investment into developing economies, which is the only sustainable way to end dependency on aid.
"Since 2012 we have agreed new financial controls including value for money rules which restrict business class travel and ensure funds are only committed when projects are ready."


Scientists analysing data from Nasa's Messenger spacecraft say they have located some of Mercury's most recent volcanic activity.

This indicates that rather than being a tiny, long-dead planet, as scientists had assumed, Mercury was volcanically active for much of its "life".
The researchers say it also sheds light on how other planets in our Solar System evolved.
The findings are described in the journal Science.
The new data have emerged from Messenger's recent third flyby of Mercury, ahead of the craft going into orbit around the planet in 2011.
This flyby revealed a basin that had been formed by a relatively recent impact. The basin has been named "Rachmaninoff".
"With the first flyby, we found evidence of volcanism all over the planet, which was pretty exciting," said Dr Louise Prockter, from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, who led the research.
"But now we've done some age dating on this particular impact basin; it's one of the youngest on the planet and there are signs of volcanic activity [in it] that happened after the basin formed."
The age of this volcanic activity can be estimated only very approximately by examining the texture of the surface; the more overlaid impact craters, the older the surface structures are estimated to be.
Dr Prockter said: "This volcano is about two billion years younger than we would have expected. And it's possible that when Messenger gets into orbit, we'll find younger areas of volcanism.
"We want to know: was this a last gasp? Or is this more common than we thought?"
Dr David Rothery, an Earth scientist from the UK's Open University in Milton Keynes, said the findings could reveal clues about the evolution of our own planet, and even of those outside our Solar System.
He told BBC News: "Mercury is very close to the Sun, and when we're looking for planets around other stars - exoplanets - those that are closest to their stars are the easiest to see.
"So similar processes to those on Mercury might occur on exoplanets."
Dr Prockter explained that, because Mercury is such a small planet, scientists would have expected it to "kick out" all of its heat very early on in its life.
The surface area of the planet is relatively large in relation to its volume, so all the heat generated underneath the surface should have escaped quickly.
Dr Rothery said: "We want to know what has kept Mercury going; it's clearly a much more dynamic planet that we expected."
In the same issue of Science, James Slavin, a space physicist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and colleagues, described evidence of very intense "magnetic substorms" on Mercury.
These occur on other planets, including Earth, bceause of the planet's magnetic field. This protects our planet from the hot, charged gas particles that flow away from the Sun as a "solar wind".
When the solar wind reaches the Earth it is deflected by the field. As a result, Dr Slavin explained, "part of the Earth's magnetic field gets pulled downstream by the solar wind to form a very long comet-like magnetic tail".
When conditions are just right, the solar wind can sometimes "load" that tail with many more lines of magnetic force to a point where it becomes unstable.
At Earth this loading goes on for about an hour before the tail's magnetic lines suddenly "break-off" - a portion return to Earth, while the rest are carried off by the solar wind.
"The energy given up during this unloading drives the heating and acceleration of charged particles in the tail," explained Dr Slavin.
"This process produces the majestic auroras that can be seen in the high latitudes, as some of the charged particles rain down into the upper atmosphere."
The combined loading and unloading process is referred to as a magnetospheric substorm - it is a form of space weather that can even affect satellite communications.
Messenger flew through Mercury's magnetic tail in September 2009.
"During this third flyby, over a period of 30 minutes, we saw its magnetic tail load, and then - boom - it unloaded, a total of four times," said Dr Slavin.
"But these magnetospheric substorms at Mercury are a great surprise in that they last only about two minutes - 30 times quicker than at Earth."
Messenger's principal investigator Sean Solomon, of Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in the US, said: "Every time we've encountered Mercury, we've discovered new phenomena.
"Once Messenger has been safely inserted into orbit about Mercury next March, we'll be in for a terrific show."
Dr Prockter said: "The Solar System is like this giant laboratory where Earth is the control, and all the planets are different.
"Missions like this help us to understand how the whole Solar System evolved."


Scotland's only commercial-scale woolskin tannery has secured funding towards improvements to its business.

Skyeskyns Ltd based in Waternish in north west Skye is one of just two businesses of its kind in the UK.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has announced investment of Â£33,360 in the family-run firm's construction of a new building.
HIE said the development would help to secure the future of 18 jobs and increase turnover by about a third.


Cliftonville boss Gerard Lyttle says he won't need to motivate his players for the game against leaders Crusaders who hammered them 4-0 on Boxing Day.

That crushing north Belfast derby loss is the only one the Reds have lost in a run of 12 Premiership games and they are 10 points behind their rivals.
"I don't think the boys will need a team talk after what happened the last time we played Crusaders," said Lyttle.
"I thought we let a lot of people down and hopefully we can put things right."
Crusaders, seven points clear of second-placed Linfield, have already beaten third-placed Cliftonville twice it the league this term, but manager Stephen Baxter knows Saturday's opponents will be hurting following that festive embarrassment at Solitude.
"No manager likes losing three or four, it is a punishing experience, humbling sometimes," said Baxter who is aiming to complete a hat-trick of championships with his Seaview side.
"But Cliftonville have quality footballers. The last time we got our noses in front and then got away from them a little bit. They are capable of doing the same to us.
"We won't underestimate them because they are a top team."
Linfield, Premiership runners-up to Crusaders for the last two seasons, continue their pursuit of a first title since 2012 by hosting Ballymena United on Saturday.
Blues manager David Healy has announced that five players have signed contract extensions at Windsor Park.
Defenders Matthew Clarke and Mark Haughey and reserve keeper Gareth Deane have accepted three-year deals.
Full-back Niall Quinn has agreed terms on a two-year contract and central defender Mark Stafford for one-year.
Ballymena, fourth in the table, lost 2-1 away to Linfield in December.
Portadown, nine points adrift at the bottom of the table, host Glenavon in a Mid-Ulster derby.
"The derby games are the pinnacle of the season and if you cannot get up for them you should not be playing football," said Glenavon player-manager Gary Hamilton.
"We have to crate more chances than we have been doing against the bottom six sides. That has been the most disappointing thing for me this season."


More aeroplane flights are to be made to the Isles of Scilly after helicopter services end in October, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company has said.

The firm said it planned to buy another 19-seat aircraft to add to the six Skybus planes it runs to St Mary's.
A ferry would also travel from Penzance every day next summer, it added.
British International Helicopters is to stop its year-round service from Penzance on 31 October after running into financial problems.
The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company operates both the Skybus planes and Penzance ferry services.
The Scillonian ferry currently runs for only seven months a year and the Skybuses are weather dependent.
The company said it was planning to increase the size of its air passenger terminal at Land's End, and that a new control tower would make flights less weather dependent.


Masters champion Danny Willett and runner-up Jordan Spieth face the sternest of challenges when they return to action at this week's Players Championship.

Neither has competed since the drama of Augusta more than a month ago, and they face the strongest field of the year on a TPC Sawgrass course that demands the utmost precision.
This is the week when golf bursts back to life at an event that is a major in all but name. It heralds the start of a hectic spell that includes the US Open, Open and PGA Championship as well as the game's return to the Olympics in Rio.
And it will be asking a lot for the top two at the Masters to hit the ground running.
Willett has spent the past month getting used to the life-changing circumstances of becoming a dad and a major champion for the first time.
Spieth, meanwhile, has been coming to terms with the first serious setback of his young career having squandered a five-stroke lead on the back nine at Augusta.
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"He's going to learn from it and that'll be the measure of him going forward," said David Duval, the former world number one and 1999 Players Champion.
There are many who believe Spieth will emerge a better player for the pain he suffered last month. The 22-year-old American has always shown remarkable maturity and seems well-equipped to bounce back from his Masters meltdown.
He will face considerable scrutiny as he embarks on what will be only his third Players appearance. Spieth was tied fourth on debut in 2014 but missed the cut last year.
Having taken a break that included a boisterous Bahamas holiday with fellow pros Smylie Kaufman, Justin Thomas and defending Players champion Rickie Fowler, Spieth says he is "kind of anxious to get back".
Having cashed in on his two major successes in 2015 with numerous global appearances around the turn of the year, the young Texan needed to recharge his batteries after the Masters.
"It feels like the start of a new season," he said after completing his early Sawgrass preparations.
Since his holiday he has been working on trying to return his swing to where it was last summer, when he came close to adding the Open and PGA titles to his Masters and US Open victories.
But despite the prestige of the Players, it would be wrong to read too much into his performance this week, and the same applies to Willett.
Sawgrass is not a place where you can ease your way back into form - the 7,215 yard, par-72 Stadium Course is far too punishing and demanding for that.
"The middle of the green never hurts you," Spieth said.  "You've just got to try and find the fairway."
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It's not a course where you can take on doglegs to shorten holes and the design messes with sight-lines in a way that unsettles the golfers. World number one Jason Day has often struggled in this event.
The penalties for inaccuracy are severe, especially on the closing stretch of holes where water is ready to punish wayward strikes on the par-five 16th, the famous island-green 17th and demanding par-four closing hole.
This famous finish rewards the daring, as Fowler showed last year. The young American went birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie to force his way into the play-off he won against Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner.
Fowler then birdied the 17th twice, first in a three-hole shootout and then in sudden death with Kisner, to complete a stunning victory that consigned to the rubbish heap a poll that had branded him the PGA Tour's most overrated golfer.
Since its inception in 1974, no champion has successfully defended the Players title. Sawgrass has been its home since 1982 and it is one of those courses that no-one routinely conquers.
This year, dry, warm and breezy conditions are predicted and come the weekend the course is expected to be fast, firm and as demanding as ever. All attributes of the 144-man field will be fully tested and 29 of the world's top 30 are on show.
While it would be unfair to measure the state of Spieth or Willett's games in the days ahead, the same cannot be said of Rory McIlroy.
This week's return to Florida provides an opportunity for the Northern Irishman to build on his encouraging finish at Quail Hollow last week, where he shared fourth place after a closing 66.
Sawgrass doesn't play to his big-hitting talents but he has finished in the top 10 in the last three years.  Winless so far this year, McIlroy would send a huge message were he to rectify that this week.
It would show that he can prosper in the most demanding of circumstances - where patience and precision are key - and set him up perfectly for the rest of the year.


Some British nationals were "sadly likely" to have been on board the plane that crashed in the French Alps, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says.

The Germanwings plane carrying 150 people crashed on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
Mr Hammond said "based on the information available to us" it was likely British nationals were involved.
But he said he would not speculate on numbers of Britons involved until checks were completed.
"We are working closely with the French, German and Spanish authorities, and the airline, to establish the facts," he said.
He also said the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch, and UK disaster victim identification experts, were standing by to offer assistance to the French authorities, if required.
One passenger on the plane was named as Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio - a UK resident originally from Jaca in Spain - by the mayor of her Spanish home town.
The mayor of Jaca, Victor Barrio, said Ms Bandres was on the flight with her baby son Julian and had been in the Spanish Pyrenees town to attend a relative's funeral.
But he said he did not know if her husband was also on the flight with her.
Ms Bandres's former school, Colegio Escuelas PÃas in Jaca, issued a message of "sincere condolences" to her family.
The Manchester Evening News reported that she had lived in the Fallowfield area of Manchester and Rochdale since arriving in the UK.
The Airbus A320 - flight 4U 9525 - went down between Digne and Barcelonnette.
There are no survivors, officials say.
France's interior minister said the "black box" flight recorder has been found but the cause of the crash is not yet known and the plane sent no distress signal during an eight-minute descent.


Lancashire County Council versus Downing Street hardly seems like a fair fight.

But these are the two protagonists in the next battle over fracking in the UK. There can only be one winner.
Earlier this year, councillors in Lancashire rejected Cuadrilla's application to drill a handful of shale gas exploratory wells. There would be too much noise and the impact on the landscape would be too great, they said.
The decision did not go down well in Downing Street.
For the Conservative government has made it abundantly clear it wants to see fracking in the UK as soon as possible - hence the raft of new licences issued on Thursday.
"Shale gas is a fantastic opportunity for the UK," says a Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) spokesman. By its reckoning, the industry could be worth billions of pounds, creating more than 60,000 jobs and increasing the UK's energy security.
For this reason, the government will do everything it can to help clear the obstacles to widespread fracking.
It has already removed many. For example, if local councils take too long deciding on fracking applications such as Cuadrilla's, it will take the decision out of their hands after 16 weeks.
It has also changed the rules on property rights - fracking companies no longer need permission from landowners to drill horizontally deep underground. And just this week, ministers pushed through plans to allow fracking under national parks.
Perhaps most importantly, the government has decided to invoke long-held powers to decide planning appeals on matters deemed of national importance.
So Cuadrilla's appeal against Lancashire County Council's decision will not be decided by a planning inspector, but by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark.
No prizes for guessing which side he'll come down on, say environmentalists.
No wonder energy expert Prof Paul Stevens at the Chatham House think tank says he's "quite sure central government will approve [Cuadrilla's application]".
But this doesn't mean we're about to see fracking wells springing up across the UK - far from it.
For a start, the planning process remains incredibly onerous. Cuadrilla, for example, first received a fracking licence in 2008 - those companies awarded licences later are just embarking on a very long and trying journey.
And even Cuadrilla still has a long way to go. If the company wins its appeal, as seems inevitable, there is still a huge amount of work to do.
The company will have to meet planning conditions and build the fracking site - by its own reckoning drilling could commence towards the end of next year, at best.
Then follows an extended period of what is known as flow testing, the results of which are unlikely to be known before 2018 - late 2017 at a pinch.
If the results are positive, then Cuadrilla needs to submit a planning application for commercial production, rather than exploratory drilling. This effectively means that "planning permissions and permitting have to be sought again," says Cuadrilla's chief executive Francis Egan.
This involves obtaining permits from a bewildering number of bodies, including the Environment Agency, the Mineral Planning Authority, the Health and Safety Executive, the Oil & Gas Authority and Decc.
If everything goes to plan, Mr Egan says "the likelihood is that commercial production would begin at the end of this decade".
The so-called dash for gas is clearly a complete misnomer.
Court referral
But planning is just one of many obstacles to fracking in the UK - even if all frackers gain all the necessary permits to drill, there is no guarantee we'll see meaningful amounts of shale gas production in the UK.
For a start, the economics of shale gas may not stack up given the low price of gas. In Europe, the gas price is linked to the oil price, and many experts believe the oil price will remain low for many years.
Meanwhile the question of property rights has not been fully resolved - associated horizontal drilling may be fine, but fracking companies still need permission from landowners to set up site.
If landowners don't agree, the government currently doesn't have the power to force them, although any stand-off "could be referred to the courts for a judge to decide", according to Decc.
Then there are questions about the geology itself.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) estimates there is about 1,400tn cubic feet of shale gas in the Bowland Basin in the north of England and the Midland valley in Scotland.
This is enough to meet UK gas demand for more than 400 years based on current consumption, but not all of it can be recovered.
In the US, recovery rates vary between 8% and 29%, but we simply don't know the equivalent figure for the UK, according to Ed Hough at the BGS.
Given that both the rock type and the depths at which the shale can be found are similar, frackers are understandably optimistic, but until multiple test wells have been sunk, no-one knows whether significant quantities of shale gas can be produced.
But by far the biggest hurdle fracking companies must overcome is public opposition.
We had a taster when protesters tried to stop Cuadrilla drilling a test site in the West Sussex village of Balcombe in 2013.
But we could be in for far worse, according to Prof Stevens, who argues that any government decision to over-rule local authorities would be "an absolute gift to the anti-shale lobby.
"It would make Balcombe look like a Sunday picnic. We could see serious civil disorder and unrest with troops [on the streets]. We're not talking Orgreave incident [levels], but not far off.
"The vehemence felt is so strong it would be virtually impossible to carry out sensible operations."
The ensuing chaos would, he argues, force other gas companies to question whether to proceed, meaning "to all intents and purposes, the shale gas revolution is dead".
And he is not alone - the wider gas industry itself has said there will be no US-style revolution in Europe.
Perhaps most tellingly, some energy consultancies are no longer keeping a close eye on fracking.
"There is no interest in market forecasting as so many believe it is not going to happen," says John Williams at Poyry Management Consulting. The company's last report on fracking was in 2013.
"We could easily see no fracking at all in the UK."
So despite the best efforts of both the government and shale gas companies themselves, including the multitude of new licences being issued, fracking in the UK is far from a foregone conclusion.


A decline in the number of hospital beds is putting the NHS in England under increasing pressure and has become an important contributory factor in the number of patient deaths, according to one of the country's leading health statisticians.

An investigation by Professor Sir Brian Jarman shows that average occupancy levels for hospitals in England have climbed to more than 89 per cent and have not gone below the government's recommended average of 85 per cent since 2002.
Meanwhile, the number of beds has more than halved over the last three decades.
In 1987 to 1988, there were 297,364 beds in England NHS hospitals; the figure now stands at 130,404.
However, hospitals have treated many more people than they did back in the late 1980's - admissions have nearly doubled to more than 16 million.
Sir Brian says the declining number of beds has put more pressure on hospitals in England.
He said that doctor shortages had proved important contributory factors in hospital death rates but high occupancy rates were becoming increasingly prominent.
He said: "The factor that is most important in being most strongly associated with the variation of the death rates in hospitals in England, is that the more doctors per bed - that's either junior doctors, senior doctors or total doctors per bed - is associated with a lower adjusted death rate in hospital."
Sir Brian added that occupancy was beginning to come in the variables explaining the variation of death rates in hospitals in England.
Pioneering statistical work by Sir Brian on hospital mortality rates proved key in exposing appalling standards of care by the NHS in mid-Staffordshire.
The scandal was the subject of a public inquiry led by Sir Robert Francis QC.
His damning report in February 2013 made a series of recommendations to improve patient care and encourage whistleblowers in the NHS.
David Bowles, a former NHS Trust chief executive in Lincolnshire is leading a campaign to alert people to risks posed by high occupancy rates.
He claims thousands of patients may have had their rights to safe care jeopardised by hospitals that fail to admit when they are struggling to cope with demand.
Mr Bowles told the BBC that unless patients understood their rights they would suffer.
He said: "The patient needs to understand and be given a proper description of the risks of a hospital.
"If a hospital is seriously over full, you are less likely to get an intensive care bed when you need it; you are less likely to go into coronary care if you need it; you are less likely to have access to diagnostic services when you need it. You may go into the wrong kind of ward for your condition which means your complications are less likely to be picked up or you're more likely to get hospital-acquired infections. Those risks need to be explained to patients."
I spoke to Alan Burt and his wife Delia from the village of Horbling in Lincolnshire about their experiences in March 2012 at their local hospital, Pilgrim Hospital in Boston.
Alan was admitted to the accident and emergency unit after suffering a cardiac arrest. Delia says he had been resuscitated by paramedics but A&E doctors concluded he would not make a recovery and decided to place him in a side room and left him to die.
She added: "If they'd just listened to what I was telling them they'd have known that he wasn't a poor old man that was right at the end of his life and this was his last illness, but nobody would listen. They didn't want to know. As far as they were concerned they'd made up their minds and really they were making the circumstances fit the theory and he was just abandoned.
"And but for the interference of that wonderful nurse practitioner, he would be dead. If she'd been on holiday, which she was the very next week, if her holiday had been a week earlier, Alan would be dead because nobody else would've done anything."
The Trust responsible for the hospital, the United Lincolnshire Hospitals referred to a health ombudsman's inquiry into the case which had found there were 'no issues' in relation to Mr Burt's clinical care.
A spokeswoman added: "However, we do acknowledge we were slow in responding to Mr Burt's complaint, and we would like to apologise for this and any anxiety or frustration that this caused.
"In 2013 we introduced a new complaints system at ULHT. Ex-complainants were involved in designing the complaints process and staff workshops were held exploring their involvement with, and handling of, complaints and we have managed to significantly increase the number of complainants satisfied with the response."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health acknowledged the NHS was busier than ever but said hospitals were coping well with increased demand.
She added the government was committed to delivering a safer seven-day health service and investing Â£10bn to fund the NHS's own plan to transform services in the future.


South Korean intelligence officials are investigating whether a prominent defector from the North has been kidnapped back to Pyongyang.

The woman, known as Lim Ji-hyun, fled to South Korea in 2014, where she became a popular TV personality.
However, a woman resembling her appeared in a propaganda video in the North's capital on Sunday - prompting speculation she may have been abducted.
In the video, she says she was lured away and forced to slander the North.
She says that she voluntarily returned across the border.
Ms Lim had been a popular face on South Korean television, appearing on both talk shows and reality TV programmes.
The authorities have not yet confirmed if the woman in the propaganda video is Ms Lim. However, they believe Ms Lim is back in North Korea.
The propaganda video was released on Youtube by the North Korean Uriminzokkiri website on Sunday.
In the video, the woman introduces herself by another name, Jeon Hye-Sung.
She is shown in conversation with an interviewer and Kim Man-bok, another former defector who also returned to the North.
She says she was lured to the South by the "fantasy" that she could "eat well and make lots of money" and claims that she was forced into slandering her own country.
She describes how in the South everything was judged by money, how she was struggling to make ends meet and was asked to discredit the North on several TV shows.
She said she was now living back with her parents again after returning to the North last month.
"I felt really lonely in South Korea and I missed my parents," she said in the video.
JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reports that the defector had thanked her fans as recently as April for a birthday party, calling it "possibly the happiest birthday of my life".
Her fan club announced on Sunday it would shut.
Intelligence officials are investigating how Ms Lim might have re-entered North Korea.
Some North Korean defectors have speculated that she may have been abducted on the China-North Korean border while attempting to smuggle out family members, the Korea Times reports.
The BBC's Karen Allen in Seoul says that fake propaganda videos do circulate in North Korea but the authorities in Seoul have confirmed they are taking this seriously and are investigating her case.
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of North Koreans have defected from the authoritarian state into South Korea.
The unification ministry in Seoul told the BBC that since 2012 only 25 returned.
Some North Korean defectors have described difficulties in adapting to life in the South - many miss their families in the North, or struggle to find suitable jobs.


A shoplifter has been jailed for 75 days after she asked a sheriff to scrap her community service order and send her to prison instead.

Sonya Macdonald, 25, from Crieff, was originally given a non-custodial sentence for stealing from a TK Maxx store in Perth on 19 November 2014.
She returned to court to ask for a jail term after relapsing into drug use.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: "In light of the position stated, I will grant your wish and revoke the order."
Macdonald's solicitor Paul Parker-Smith had told the court: "She is asking the court to revoke the order and impose a custodial sentence instead.
"She has relapsed into drug misuse and much to her credit she contacted my office to say she was finding it hard to cope with the order.
"She is concerned she may, without appropriate assistance, revert to her old ways and she does not want to do that. Her request is to revoke the order and impose the alternative appropriate sentence."
Macdonald was previously placed on a curfew for six months after stealing wallets from men while she kissed them in a nightclub.
She was also jailed for five months in January 2015 after mugging a woman at a cash machine 10 minutes after being freed on bail.


More than 350 computer gaming researchers from around the world are attending a conference in Dundee to discuss the future of the industry.

Organisers of the event have billed it as the largest of its kind to be held in the UK.
The conference has been jointly organised by the Finland-based Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) and the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG)
The five-day event is being held at Abertay University.
The results of new research, including designing for virtual reality, will be unveiled at the conference.
Jim Whitehead, president of the Society for the Advancement of Digital Games said: "Abertay University is among the oldest computer game programs in the world, and has been a long time leader in games education.
"It was a natural match to host the first ever DiGRA/FDG conference in Dundee"
The event will coincide with the Dare Protoplay gaming festival, which runs from 4 to 7 August in the Caird Hall and City Square.


Wigan half-back Matty Smith says his side will take encouragement from their second-half performance against New Zealand Warriors in Hamilton.

The Super League champions warmed up for the World Club Challenge with a 46-22 win over the Warriors.
Wigan take on Sydney Roosters on 22 February at Allianz Stadium.
The World Club Challenge is an annual fixture played between the Super League champions and the winners of Australia's NRL.
The 2014 match in Sydney will be the first to be staged in Australia for 20 years.
"It was scratchy in parts but I thought it was a great second half from the boys," said Smith, who captained Wigan in the absence of Sean O'Loughlin.
The World Club Challenge is an annual fixture played between the Super League champions and the winners of Australia's National Rugby League (NRL).
"We've a lot to work on for next week," added Smith, who was also skipper on Friday as Wigan began their Super League campaign with a home defeat by Huddersfield Giants.
"We wanted an 80-minute performance and I don't think we were quite there tonight, but we were up against a great opposition in the Warriors.
"We need to recover properly over the next couple of days and then hit training hard. We need to work on our plays and our defence because I think that is what is going to win us the game next week.
"Our defence needs to stand up better than it did tonight."


It's the International Day of Happiness, and people around the world are celebrating what makes them happy.

20 March 2017 Last updated at 16:45 GMT
Whether it's sunshine, cute animals, playing sports, or getting hugs from your family, today is the day to celebrate!
Some of you have been telling Newsround about what makes you smile...


Ireland will take on South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in their 2017 autumn international series.

Joe Schmidt's side face their first Test against South Africa on Sunday 12 November.
Six days later Fiji play at the Aviva Stadium for the first time, having last played Ireland at the RDS in 2009.
Argentina, who beat the Irish in the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals in Cardiff, are the opponents on Saturday, 25 November.
South Africa's last visit to Dublin was in November 2014 when Ireland were convincing 29-15 winners.
Ireland have won their three previous Test fixtures against Fiji, the most recent being by 41-6 eight years ago.
Argentina last played in Ireland in 2012 when Declan Kidney's hosts ran out 46-24 victors.


Royal Mail is marking the 50th anniversary of the current design on its stamps with a new issue.

The stamp, featuring a profile of the Queen by Stoke-on-Trent-born sculptor Arnold Machin, has been reproduced in more than 130 colours since 1967.
He also designed the profile of the Queen that appeared on coins from 1968 to 1984.
A set of six stamps has now been issued featuring different stages of the stamp design.
Read more news for Staffordshire
The new stamps were issued on Monday to mark the day the Machin Definitive, as the image is known, was first issued.
It has since been reprinted an estimated 220 billion times.
Before 1967, an image of the Queen taken by society photographer Dorothy Wilding had been used.
Dominic Newton, Mr Machin's nephew and director and trustee of the Machin Arts Foundation, said his uncle "regarded his design and sculpture for the definitive issue stamp as his greatest achievement".
"He saw his task as creating a design with charm and dignity and yet without sentimentality, both a likeness of the Queen and an image of the monarchy," he said.
"The result was an iconic design that has stood the test of time."
Mr Machin, who came from a family of pottery workers, started working at the Minton China Factory aged 14.
He won scholarships to both the Derby School of Art and Royal College of Art and was appointed an OBE in 1965.


A community in the west Highlands has secured funding for its plan to build its own primary school.

Strontian Community School Building Limited proposes replacing a mid-1970s primary school building with a new one on another site in Strontian.
The group has received Â£50,825 from the Scottish Land Fund to buy a plot next to Ardnamurchan High School.
The rest of the funding needed to pay for the school is to come from a loan and community shares offer.
Once built, the building would be leased to Highland Council. The local authority has described the project as "innovative".
The new building would be designed in such a way that it could easily be converted into three terraced houses, or another community facility, in the future.
This conversion would happen if Highland Council later decided to construct its own primary school in the village.
Donald McCorkindale, chairman of Strontian Community School Building Ltd, said the group was delighted to receive the grant from the Scottish Land Fund.
He said: "It is a huge boost not only in financial terms but in the confidence placed in this ground breaking initiative."
John Watt, of the Scottish Land Fund's committee, said: "In Strontian, local people have spoken and decided that they want to purchase land on which to build a new community owned asset, in this case a primary school.
"This unique proposal has both community and public sector support and includes a longer term plan that will see the community owned building designed to be converted into much needed housing in the future."
Land Reform Secretary Roseanna Cunningham added: "I am delighted that, with support from the Scottish Land Fund, the community in Strontian now have the ability to purchase a strategic piece of land in their village.
"The ownership of this will allow them to progress their ambitious and innovative project to initially house the local primary school and, in the longer-term, provide much needed affordable housing."


Three thieves who robbed an Edinburgh shop with a knife and a hammer before hitting the shop worker on the back of the head are being sought by police.

The incident happened at about 17:00 on Monday at the Fernieside Newsagents in Fernieside Crescent.
The men stole a four-figure sum of cash and a large quantity of cigarettes.
A 41-year-old worker was treated at the scene. The first suspect is white, about 19 years old, 5ft 8ins tall and of stocky/heavy build.
He was wearing a dark hooded top, dark grey joggers, maroon skate shoes with a white trim and a dark tartan scarf covering his face.
The second is white, about 19-years-old, 5ft 10ins tall and of slim build. He was wearing dark clothing, and also had his face obscured by a dark garment.
The third suspect is white and was wearing dark clothing with white trainers.
Det Con Jonny Wright, of Police Scotland, said: "Not only was this an extremely frightening ordeal for the shopkeeper, he was also assaulted and robbed of a considerable amount of stock and cash.
"We are pursuing various lines of inquiry to identify these men but would ask anyone who recognises their description to contact police immediately.
"In addition, anyone who remembers seeing anything suspicious around the store on Monday evening, or who has any other information relevant to this investigation should also get in touch."


US spy chief James Clapper has strongly defended government surveillance programmes after revelations of phone records being collected and internet servers being tapped.

He said disclosure of a secret court document on phone record collection threatened "irreversible harm".
Revelations of an alleged programme to tap into servers of nine internet firms were "reprehensible", he said.
Internet firms deny giving government agents access to their servers.
The director of US national intelligence said he wanted to reassure Americans that the intelligence community was committed to respecting their civil liberties and privacy.
What can you learn from phone records?
US media review: NSA revelations
He issued a strong-worded statement late on Thursday, after the UK's Guardian newspaper said a secret court order had required phone company Verizon to hand over its records to the National Security Agency (NSA) on an "ongoing daily basis".
That report was followed by revelations in both the Washington Post and Guardian that US agencies tapped directly into the servers of nine internet firms to track people in a programme known as Prism.
The reports about Prism will raise fresh questions about how far the US government should encroach on citizens' privacy in the interests of national security.
The NSA confirmed that it had been secretly collecting millions of phone records. But Mr Clapper said the "unauthorized disclosure... threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation".
The article omitted "key information" about the use of the records "to prevent terrorist attacks and the numerous safeguards that protect privacy and civil liberties".
He said reports about Prism contained "numerous inaccuracies". While admitting the government collected communications from internet firms, he said the policy only targets "non-US persons".
Prism was reportedly developed in 2007 out of a programme of domestic surveillance without warrants that was set up by President George W Bush after the 9/11 attacks.
By Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent
What this highlights is the way we now entrust our data and our privacy almost entirely to American companies, storing it in their "clouds" - vast data centres located in the US.
Prism reportedly does not collect user data, but is able to pull out material that matches a set of search terms.
Mr Clapper said the communications-collection programme was "designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-US persons located outside the United States".
"It cannot be used to intentionally target any US citizen, any other US person, or anyone located within the United States," he added.
Mr Clapper said the programme, under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was recently reauthorised by Congress after hearings and debate.
"Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats," he added.
But while US citizens were not intended to be the targets of surveillance, the Washington Post says large quantities of content from Americans are nevertheless screened in order to track or learn more about the target.
The data gathered through Prism has grown to become a major contributor to the president's daily briefing and accounts for almost one in seven intelligence reports, it adds.
The Washington Post named the nine companies participating in the programme as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple.
In 2006 I was a plaintiff in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against the government over a domestic spying programme. Other plaintiffs include the late Christopher Hitchens, and James Bamford, the author of a book, The Shadow Factory, about the NSA.
The lawsuit stated that NSA officials may have eavesdropped on us illegally  - and that the warrantless wiretapping programme should come to a halt. In 2007 an appeals court said that we could not prove that our calls had been monitored. As a result it did not have standing. The suit was dismissed.
-Tara McKelvey
Read more
Microsoft said in a statement to the BBC that it only turned over customer data when given a legally binding order, and only complied with orders for specific accounts.
"If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don't participate in it," Microsoft said.
Meanwhile, Yahoo, Apple and Facebook said they did not give the government direct access to their servers.
In a statement, Google said: "Google does not have a 'back door' for the government to access private user data."
On Wednesday, it emerged that the NSA was collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans, after the Guardian published a secret order for the Verizon phone company to hand over its records.
A senior congressman, House intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers, told reporters that collecting Americans' phone records was legal, authorised by Congress and had not been abused by the Obama administration.
He also said it had prevented a "significant" attack on the US "within the past few years", but declined to offer more information.
The order requires Verizon - one of the largest phone companies in the US - to disclose to the NSA the metadata of all calls it processes, both domestic and international, in which at least one party is in the US.
Such metadata includes telephone numbers, calling card numbers, the serial numbers of phones used and the time and duration of calls. It does not include the content of a call or the callers' addresses or financial information.
As surveillance practices come under scrutiny in the US, a new system to monitor phone and internet connections in India is being criticised as "chilling" by New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The Central Monitoring System (CMS) enables authorities to follow all online activities, phone calls text messages and social media conversations.
The Indian government said in December 2012 the system would "lawfully intercept internet and telephone services". But HRW says the system by-passes service providers in a country that has no privacy law to protect people from arbitrary intrusions.
In the UK on Wednesday, a committee of MPs criticised a decision to allow Chinese firms such as Huawei to become embedded in British network infrastructure without the knowledge and scrutiny of ministers.
Huawei - which denies close ties with the Chinese state - signed a 2005 telecoms deal with BT  to supply equipment for a Â£10bn major network upgrade.


Former world champion Jenson Button's father has died aged 70 of a suspected heart attack.

John Button was found dead at his home on the French Riviera by a friend on Sunday.
He was a strong influence on his son's career, which includes winning the 2009 World Championship.
A statement released by the McLaren driver's agent read: "It is with great sadness I can confirm John has passed away."
"Jenson Button's father John had been a permanent fixture in Formula 1 since his son's debut 14 years ago.
"The perfect 'racing dad' - he was there at his son's wishes for support and advice if required, but never interfered or got in the way.
"A very decent rallycross driver in his time, John Button was a bon viveur and heartily jovial character. Rarely very far from a glass of red wine, he was popular throughout the sport.
"'Papa Smurf', as he was known, was the source of many a great story from behind the scenes. The paddock will be a duller place without him."
It added that "initial signs indicate a suspected heart attack".
The statement continued: "John's children Jenson, Natasha, Samantha and Tanya and the rest of the family are clearly devastated and ask for their privacy to be respected during this extremely difficult time."
Former McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton led the tributes to the 2009 champion's father, tweeting: "Deeply saddened by the passing of John Button. I'm so sorry @jensonbutton John was such a great man and will be missed by so many. God bless."
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "Speaking on behalf of all at McLaren Mercedes, I want to say how very sad I was to hear the news of John's passing.
"In my long Formula 1 career, I've encountered many drivers' fathers, but I think it's safe to say that John was perhaps more devoted to his son than any of them.
"Ever since Jenson was a boy, racing go-karts, his dad has been at his side, helping him, supporting him, finding the money for the next race.
"He was not only a great dad, but also a lovely man, and he'll be enormously missed by Jenson, of course, by all at McLaren, and indeed by the Formula 1 community at large."
Button's new team-mate Kevin Magnussen wrote on Twitter: "I'm very, very sorry for my team-mate, Jenson Button. His dad was a really great guy who will be missed by all in F1."
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso tweeted: "My condolences to all the Button family, especially to Jenson Button. Very sad news. John.... a great man, a friend, we will miss him."
British driver Max Chilton tweeted: "So sad and shocked to hear the sad passing of John Button. One of the greatest characters in the paddock & will miss him dearly."


Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak has given his first in-depth interview about the forthcoming Steve Jobs movie.

Woz - as he's commonly known - acted as a consultant to Danny Boyle's film after refusing to be involved in an earlier biopic.
The movie is already being tipped for awards glory after a rough cut was shown to the public last weekend, ahead of its official premiere in October.
The movie's scriptwriter is Aaron Sorkin. His previous account of Facebook's rise won three Oscars. But the social network's founder Mark Zuckerberg was not a fan.
Some wondered what Woz would make of the new film after he expressed mixed feelings about the way its trailer showed him angrily challenging Steve Jobs to his face.
But, as he told the BBC, he is more than satisfied with the outcome.
I've actually seen two rough cuts. My impression was I was shocked and amazed at how good it was in the sense of professional filmmaking.
I usually go to a movie not looking for "do I like the story" as much as: "What is the quality that came out of the heads of the people that made it?"
In this case the filmmakers have done an award-winning job. The acting was just so realistic.
In some prior movies, I saw [the actors] simulating Steve Jobs, but they didn't really make me feel like I was in his head understanding what was going on inside of him - his personality.
This movie absolutely accomplishes that, and it's due to great acting, which obviously comes from great directing.
A lot of people think the face of Steve Jobs matters, but it's his brain, his head, the way he worked, how did he think, how did he act with people - that's important.
Michael does an incredible job with a tight script and for very much of it he's interfacing with Kate [Winslet, who plays Apple's marketing chief Joanna Hoffman], and the two of them are superb together.
It's believable that this is how things would have happened and went down, and I felt I was seeing the real Steve Jobs in there.
Of course, I have prosopagnosia where I don't really store faces. So, to me faces don't matter that much anyway.
It deals with what we are all very familiar with - a lot of his negativism.
This comes about less with him doing negative things to other people, and more him just sort of standing [there] and not caring as much about others as himself, and not being able to have feelings very much.
It deals very much with that part of him all through the movie right to the end, with some resolution to it. That's the major conflict in the movie.
But it also deals with him going through various product introductions and how he would have to be very tightly in control.
Part of the "reality distortion field" is in there, and his failing to listen to others on occasion and only seeing everything he did as right.
These are well-known traits and there are stories we've heard about Steve Jobs.
But when you see it portrayed dramatically, not the way it really happened but in a way that is emotionally graphic, it really conveys what Steve Jobs was really like inside... and what it was like to be around him.
About a year-and-a-half ago I went down and met with Aaron Sorkin.
He would ask some questions and I would start relating bits and pieces of stories. And he would put them into his movie.
He didn't put them in what I consider necessarily accurate or fair ways in every case, but it still came out as a good movie.
Things that were in existence in the real world were put into my mouth.
So, I may not have said those things. I may not have been talking to Steve at those events.
But they were "in the air", so you have to put them in someone's mouth to make a movie.
Walter Isaacson said I did meet him at a couple of events - see I don't pay attention to  names, I'll talk to anybody - and I guess I did give him information.
I did not get involved in the movie Jobs that starred Ashton Kutcher.
I was interested in doing consulting for it, and then they sent me a script and I thought: "You've already got a script written and it's really lousy."
My feeling is that it just didn't represent things well at all. But I went to the movie thinking maybe it would be good.
And I felt like I'd eaten a big full meal but was still hungry. Ashton Kutcher did a great job of looking like and personifying Steve Jobs on the outside but the script didn't get me to the inside.
This [new] movie was just night and day the opposite of that.
I thought he did an excellent job.
In many places in the movie I'm portrayed saying things that are negative directly to Steve Jobs.
Anybody who knows me will tell you I just don't say negative things to people, and could not have said them, and didn't.
However, there were real issues going on in the company, the world, the customers, the board, whatever.
Oh my gosh, even while Steve was alive [so was] the myth.
He became our hero because we have our iPhones, and he saw the way the world was going to evolve much earlier than others, so we love him.
But the mythology, even while he was alive, was extended back to make him that person from day one.
[People] try and make him a lot more right about things than he was and ignore what some of the real facts were.
The most incredible scene in the Sorkin movie is between Steve Jobs and [ex-Apple chief executive] John Sculley.
It goes back and forth at two points in time [with them] saying different things that add up to where the company stood and the difference between the two of them. And it was really just a business difference.
See, the mythology is that Steve Jobs had this beautiful vision for the Macintosh and the board and John Sculley didn't buy into it.
No. Our entire company bought into that vision as the future for Apple.
It was just going to take at least three years to build until it could finally not lose money.
And John Sculley is the one who actually made the Macintosh successful because of believing in it.
I have not seen the film, but know it has a lot of first-hand interviews with people who were very close and around Steve during things like the early Macintosh and Next days.
And a bunch of them on Facebook have told me they were there around Steve, and they've seen the movie and it exactly represents the way he was.
And you know what? Eddy Cue wasn't around in those early days.
Steve Jobs always dealt very nicely and respectfully with me - we were friends to the end - and I never saw a lot of the bad behaviour that he was accused of by others.
But I've heard about it from others.
Eddy Cue by being smart and good at what he does, Steve would have worked with him in a very different way [to his] "You can't have your ideas, I'm going to cut you down" [behaviour].
I don't think he had arguments with Eddy Cue or Tim Cook. He got along with people he respected highly. Even engineers who stood up to him, if they had a basis for standing up, Steve showed them respect.
But I don't think Steve was never that way.
I think Apple goes out of its way to try to enhance his reputation and safeguard the "great" Steve Jobs.
Steve was not a nice "people person". I meet a lot of CEOs who are, and they don't have these kind of reputations and stories about their background.
Think about this: What would Steve Jobs' legacy be had he been nice to everyone and still have sold great products, which is totally possible?
He would just be the hero of all time.
But his personality settled in around aged 18 to 23 and it stayed for life. It really almost never changed.
So, his way of acting that way and not caring what other people thought about him - which lets you be nastier than you would have been otherwise - that was right there at the start of Apple.
All of a sudden we had a bunch of money, Steve saw the chance to have power - which he always wanted in his life - and he ensured he was always involved in the power even though he hadn't really ever created the product or had a [prior] executive job to qualify him for the title.
He established himself by force to be the leader, that was his goal.
That was when his personality changed from being the nice prank-playing joking person that we'd go to concerts with, to all of a sudden everything had to be super-serious and super-business and you couldn't fall behind anyone else.
I saw that change, I was there during those days, and from then on Steve wasn't the person he'd been before we had started Apple.
But I would point this out: he ended up with a wife and a family and a home. He spent a lot of time there and had good relationships with his family.
So, he did manage to have a side of his life that kind of didn't matter so much [to him] when he was younger and starting to get rich.


Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali accused Giro d'Italia leader Tom Dumoulin of being "a little bit too cocky", with three stages remaining.

Dumoulin was ninth on stage 18 and retained a 31-second lead over Nairo Quintana, with Nibali third overall.
Dutchman Dumoulin said his two closest rivals were "clearly working together" and hoped they would lose places.
Nibali countered: "Has he ever heard of karma? He should do less talking because even he might miss the podium."
American Tejay van Garderen won Thursday's 18th stage, edging out Mikel Landa at the finish in Ortisei.
It was a first individual Grand Tour stage victory for the 28-year-old, who helped his BMC team to win team time trials at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in 2015.
Dumoulin finished ninth, more than one minute behind Van Garderen, but held off attacks by Quintana to maintain his overall advantage on the Colombian.
Britain's Adam Yates finished 12th and moved up to ninth overall.
Find out how to get into cycling with our special guide.
Dumoulin, seeking to become the first Dutch winner of the event, crossed the line in the same time as Quintana at the end of the 137km stage from Moena to Ortisei.
Defending champion Nibali remains one minute 12 seconds behind, while Thibaut Pinot of France gained more than a minute on the leading trio in the general classification.
Asked about Nibali's comments, Dumoulin said: "They're only trying to make me lose. Until today I had no problems with Nibali. Only today I didn't like his riding in the final."
Friday's 19th stage is a 191 km ride from San Candido to Piancavallo featuring four climbs and Dumoulin insisted Quintana, the 2014 champion and two-time Tour de France runner-up, is still "the strongest climber" in the race.
The 100th Giro ends in Milan on Sunday.
1.  Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC Racing) 3hrs 54mins 03secs
2.  Mikel Landa (Sp/Team Sky) Same time
3.  Thibaut Pinot (Fr/FDJ) +8secs
4.  Domenico Pozzovivo (It/AG2R) Same time
5.  Jan Hirt (Cze/CCC) +11secs
6.  Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha) +24secs
7.  Bauke Mollema (Ned/Trek)+34secs
8.  Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/LottoNL) Same time
9.  Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Sunweb) +1min 6secs
10. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) Same time
1.  Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Sunweb) 80hrs 00mins 48secs
2.  Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) +31secs
3.  Vincenzo Nibali (It/Bahrain) +1min 12secs
4.  Thibaut Pinot (Fr/FDJ) +1min 36secs
5.  Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha) +1min 58secs
6.  Filippo Pozzato (It/Wilier Triestina) +2mins 07secs
7.  Bauke Mollema (Ned/Trek) +3mins 17secs
8.  Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/LottoNL) +5mins 48secs
9.  Adam Yates (GB/Orica) +7mins 06secs
10. Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step)+7mins 24secs


A mother has shared an image of her daughter before her death from meningitis to back a campaign for vaccines to be given to all children.

Faye Burdett, aged two, from Maidstone, Kent died on Valentine's Day after fighting the infection for 11 days.
Her family said they were enduring "a pain you cannot describe" after the toddler contracted meningitis B.
Their photographs of Faye, including one of her in hospital, have been widely shared on social media.
The most widely shared image shows her covered in a rash from the infection lying in her hospital bed.
More than 331,000 people have signed a petition calling for the NHS vaccination programme to be widened to all children.
A vaccine to protect against meningitis B became available on the NHS for babies in September but parents who want to have older children vaccinated must pay privately.
"We campaign for change in her memory," said Faye's mother, Jenny.
"Faye was taken to A&E with a rash on her forehead. She was then transferred by South Thames Retrieval Service to Evelina Children's Hospital, where her heart stopped in the ambulance.
"They revived her and spent hours working on stabilising her.
"We were given a 1% survival chance but she proved them wrong and carried on fighting.
"After a few days she seemed to have turned a corner, but the sepsis started to affect her more."
It was then that doctors presented the family with an option of amputation.
"The extent of removal was massive, full leg amputation and one arm and plastic surgery," Jenny said.
"We had to make the decision, a massive operation and she may die or we let her go peacefully on her own accord.
"We decided the latter and then watched our little girl slip away."
Charlene Reed, who set up a JustGiving page in memory of Faye, to raise money for the Evelina hospice, said Faye's mother shared the picture to raise awareness.
"It's not nice, but it is reality. It's what this disease did to Faye which made her sadly lose her life on Sunday," she said.
Sue Davie, chief executive of Meningitis Now, said: "Although the introduction of the Men B vaccine on the childhood immunisation scheme for young babies was a momentous achievement, saving thousands of lives, there are still so many, like Faye, left unprotected.
"We continue to campaign to see the Men B vaccine rolled out, particularly to at-risk groups, to insure a future where no-one in the UK loses their life to meningitis."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "When any new immunisation programme is introduced, there has to be a date to determine eligibility. A decision based on the best independent clinical recommendation to ensure we can protect those children most at risk of Men B.
"When our nationwide Men B vaccination programme was introduced last year, England became the first country to protect our babies from this devastating disease."


A Dutch police unit has confirmed to the BBC that it can decrypt messages on Blackberry's most secure smartphones.

It did not go into details about how it does this but said that its methods allow police to read messages.
Troubled phonemaker Blackberry has prided itself on providing customers with one of the safest methods of communication.
In response to the news, it said it could not comment without more information about the crack.
"We are confident that Blackberry provides the world's most secure communications platform to government, military and enterprise customers.
"However, we can't comment on this claim as we don't have any details on the specific device or the way that it was configured, managed or otherwise protected, nor do we have details on the nature of the communications that are claimed to have been decrypted," a spokeswoman told the BBC.
It is believed that the tests were conducted on PGP Blackberrys, handsets with an extra layer of encryption provided by online vendors, such as GhostPGP and TopPGP.
The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), a body that provides forensic evidence to Dutch police, was unwilling to provide details on how it decrypted messages from the devices, although it seems that it does need physical access to handsets.
Technology website Motherboard reported that it uses a piece of forensic software made by Cellebrite. Others speculated that the NFI may have removed a memory chip and dumped the data from it.
The NFI could not decrypt all messages. According to Dutch blog Crime News, which first reported the news, 275 out of 325 encrypted emails were cracked.
So-called PGP Blackberrys  are advertised as being particularly suited to people wanting to keep data secure and have been linked to criminals in the past.
GhostPGP said that its services had not been compromised.
In 2014, it was reported that such phones were used by those involved in a series of killings in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald claimed that police officers had travelled to Blackberry headquarters looking for advice on how to access encrypted data on the phones.


The Queen has signed a charter setting out the Commonwealth's values and commitment to equal rights.

She made her first official public appearance in more than a week at the Marlborough House reception in London.
Earlier, the Queen was forced to pull out of the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, for only the second time since becoming monarch.
Buckingham Palace said she was still recovering from the symptoms of gastroenteritis.
The Commonwealth, which accounts for 30% of the world's population, has for the first time drawn up a charter that details 16 core beliefs, which was adopted by all 54 member states in December.
By Peter HuntRoyal correspondent
Pulling out of the Westminster Abbey service is a decision the Queen will not have taken lightly.
She has an attachment to the Commonwealth which has not always been shared by her government of the day.
The association of countries - almost all of which were once under British rule - has afforded the Queen a continued global role long after the empire that her ancestors once ruled had gone.
But given that her illness is still lingering, her doctor will have advised the 86-year-old monarch to avoid sitting through a lengthy service in an ancient, draughty abbey.
She may well miss more public engagements later this week.
But officials insist the Queen is not bedridden and her failure to shake off the virus is not something to "fret about".
These include upholding democracy and opposing "all forms of discrimination" although it does not explicitly include discrimination against gay people.  In some Commonwealth countries, homosexual acts are illegal.
The charter states: "We are implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds."
Guests at Marlborough House including Commonwealth high commissioners heard the Queen say the charter "represents a significant milestone as the Commonwealth continues its journey of development and renewal".
She told them: "We have now, for the first time, a single document that captures the core values and aspirations of the Commonwealth and all its members."
Last week the Queen, 86, was admitted to hospital for the first time in 10 years, suffering from the symptoms of gastroenteritis.
The monarch saw a doctor on Monday morning and the decision was taken that it would be best if she did not sit through an hour-long church service, said BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt.
Officials insist the Queen's health problems are "nothing serious " and "nothing to fret about".
A palace spokeswoman said: "This time last week she was in hospital, but she's in great spirits and apart from this is in good health and will be going to the reception in the evening.
"It's just the tail end of the symptoms, her condition has not worsened at all."
The Queen hopes to undertake some of her official engagements planned for the rest of this week, the palace said.
The Duke of Edinburgh attended the service as planned which was also attended by Commonwealth ambassadors and featured an address from tycoon Richard Branson.
The only other time the Queen withdrew from the same event was in 1993 when she was suffering from flu.
In her annual pre-recorded message, which formed part of the service, the Queen spoke about the benefits of the Commonwealth.
She said: "Our shared values of peace, democracy, development, justice and human rights - which are found in our new Commonwealth Charter - mean that we can place special emphasis on including everyone in this goal, especially those who are vulnerable."
Our correspondent said that to its critics the Commonwealth was ineffective, but its supporters remember the moral authority it brought to the campaign against apartheid.
For the Queen, it has been an important dimension of her reign.
All official engagements last week, including a visit to Rome, were either cancelled or postponed after the Queen was treated at London's King Edward VII's Hospital.


Pakistan's Champions Trophy victory could encourage the world's top cricket nations to resume touring the country, captain Sarfraz Ahmed says.

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There has not been an international match in Pakistan since a 2009 attack on Sri Lanka's team bus killed six policemen and injured seven cricketers.
"Hopefully this win will boost Pakistan cricket and all playing nations will come and play us," said Sarfraz, 30.
Pakistan beat India by 180 runs at The Oval on Sunday.
The United Arab Emirates has become Pakistan's cricketing home in recent years but a World XI is scheduled to tour their country in September for three Twenty20 games.
Speaking about that ICC-sanctioned tour, Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said: "Hopefully that paves the way for the future.
"I'm sure the nation of Pakistan is really happy tonight because they deserve it. Let's hope this really kick-starts the momentum in Pakistan again."
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Pakistan's thrilling victory over their biggest rivals was set up by Fakhar Zaman's century and a three-wicket burst from opening bowler Mohammad Amir.
Amir, who received a five-year ban from all cricket and served three months in prison following a conviction for spot-fixing in 2010, removed Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
India never recovered from the 25-year-old's spell, and Arthur revealed it was all part of a plan.
"We spoke about it in the team meeting," the South Africa-born coach said. "We thought that if we could get among the Indian top order early, we could probably expose the middle order that hadn't batted a fair amount.
"Amir was the guy that could do that for us. He is a big-match player.
"When the game is on the line, the more he performs, the more amped up he gets.
"He doesn't shy away from big games. He's got a proper big-match temperament, and he showed that today on the biggest stage."
India, the defending champions, were never in the game after falling to 33-3 and then 54-5 in their chase of Pakistan's 338-4.
For the first time in the tournament, their top order failed while their usually reliable spin bowling was costly - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav returned combined bowling figures of 21-0-164-1.
Captain Kohli said: "I want to congratulate Pakistan and their supporters.
"They had an amazing tournament. The way they turned things round speaks volumes for the talent they have.
"It's disappointing for us but I have a smile on my face because I'm very proud of how we've played in this tournament. They outplayed us. They were more intense and passionate on the day."
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A new system is being developed to assess future pupil intake capping levels during a major overhaul of education in Dumfries.

All four secondary schools in the town are being rebuilt or refurbished as part of the Learning Town scheme.
It will cut the capacity at all the sites to "reflect demographics".
Dumfries and Galloway Council said it could not speculate on what might happen if the number of pupils seeking places exceeded the limits at a school.
A report earlier this year outlined proposed S1 intake capping levels at Dumfries Academy, Dumfries High School, Maxwelltown High School and St Joseph's College.
All the schools are being rebuilt or upgraded and a new "learning hub" with room for more than 300 students is also being built.
At present, the capacity of the secondary schools exceeds the number of pupils by more than 1,000.
However, proposed caps on intake would be below the 20-year average at two sites and close to the average at another.
The council said it was working on a new modelling tool to help inform future capping levels which should be ready for use in 2017/18.
It said the picture for August next year should become clearer at the start of the new year when placement requests were confirmed.
"We cannot speculate on the limits," a statement said.
"We can work with data but are always aware that other factors such as parental choice may impact."
It said that new capping numbers for the secondary schools and the hub reflected the need to reduce the school estate by approximately 1,000 pupils.
"The numbers for the Academy and High School are to accommodate the change to the new campus figures that are reflective of numbers across the town," it added.
"This is also the case for St Joseph's College, here we are reducing the size of the building but increasing the efficiency therefore we can continue to accommodate similar numbers."


Work on a new gym, cafe and pool-side changing rooms is due to start at a Denbighshire leisure centre in January.

The former Nova Centre in Prestatyn shut in February after the trust running it had its funding pulled by Denbighshire council.
It has confirmed the revamp will take place from 5 January after agreeing £4.2m in funding in October.
Three promenade-side retail units will also be built as part of the plans.
"The redevelopment of the Nova Centre is an important piece of the jigsaw in our vision to develop the leisure offer on the coast," said councillor Huw Jones, cabinet lead member for leisure.
The work is expected to be complete by July.


Funding of £1.5m will be used to help West Yorkshire Police review 55 unsolved murders.

The so-called "cold cases" include ones dating back to the founding of the force in 1974.
Det Supt Simon Atkinson, from the Homicide and Major Inquiry team, said the money would be used to employ 35 new staff.
The funding comes from the office of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
Det Supt Atkinson said: "One undetected murder is one too many.
"That is why the PCC has announced these extra resources to recruit staff to review all these cases and we are determined to do our best to get some answers, to find the people responsible and to bring them to justice."
He said major advances in forensic techniques could make a real difference in reviewing all 55 cases.
West Yorkshire's most well-known unsolved murder cases include the death of 13-year-old Lindsay Rimer, from Hebden Bridge, in 1995.
Her body was found in the Rochdale Canal five months after she disappeared.
Lindsay's sister, Kate Rimer, said: "We miss her so much and every memory of her is tainted because of what happened to her."
Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson said: "There are still people out there, in our communities, enjoying their liberty, who are responsible for terrible crimes.
"They present a real threat of further harm and need bringing to justice."
Mr Burns-Williamson said the money had been found from spending reviews and would fund the team for 18 months.


Some listed buildings at the former North Wales Hospital may not be salvageable, an inquiry has heard.

Owners Freemont (Denbigh) Ltd are appealing against a compulsory purchase order (CPO) by Denbighshire council which said action was needed to preserve the Victorian buildings.
Harriet Townsend, for the council, said some buildings have declined so badly that they might be beyond saving.
She said without the CPO the future of the buildings "is bleak".
The public inquiry hopes to determine if the council was justified in stepping in or whether Freemont should have been given more time to pursue its redevelopment plans for the site.
In 2011 the council, frustrated at the deterioration of the listed buildings, served an urgent works notice on the company and then carried out repair work by default.
Ms Townsend said that if the council had not carried out works itself, "it is likely the jewel of the site would now be beyond repair".
In October 2014, a public inquiry was held into the council's claim for the Â£900,000 of work to be refunded by Freemont.
The Welsh government's decision on that is expected within the next three weeks.
Plans for a large-scale, mixed development have since been submitted on behalf of the Prince's Regeneration Trust, working in conjunction with the council.
If the CPO is confirmed, it is proposed the property be handed over to the North Wales Buildings Preservation Trust.


China has approved a long-anticipated trading link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen's stock markets and abolished an overall quota limit that investors considered restrictive.

The Shenzhen Connect was supposed to be launched more than a year ago but was postponed due to market volatility.
It is now expected to go live by the end of the year.
The move comes as China looks to open up its $6.5 trillion (Â£5 trillion) equity markets to foreign investors.
Beijing has also been pushing to have its bourses included in global index providers MSCI but their bid was last rejected in June.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as saying the scheme "marks another steady step towards building a law-regulated capital market with international features".
The overall quota limits for the link between Hong Kong and Shanghai's stock exchange, which was launched in late 2014, was also lifted. Daily quota limits, however, remain in place.
The approval of the Shenzhen Stock Connect scheme may boost market sentiment, Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics said.
"It is a welcome signal that policymakers are keen to press on with financial reform as concerns over market volatility and capital outflows fade," he wrote in a report.
"But limited appetite overseas for mainland equities means the direct impact on equity valuations and capital flows will be small."
Hong Kong is the world's second-busiest bourse and has benefited from the Stock Connect scheme as mainland investors look to buy overseas assets to counter the weakening Chinese yuan currency.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen is Asia's busiest exchange with monthly turnover of more than $1 trillion, according to the World Federation of Exchanges data.
But some investors believe the new link won't see huge demand due to the high valuations of mainland stocks.
"In the short term, I very much doubt this will drive significant flows into Shenzhen shares as a lot of stocks are expensive," Caroline Yu Maurer, head of Greater China equities at BNP Paribas Investment Partners said.
The quota usage for the Shanghai to Hong Kong Stock Connect was more than 80% when southbound while the northbound quota used was around 50%.
Investors have been nervous about investing in Chinese stocks after the market crashed last summer and the government intervened by spending billions to prop it up.
Mainland Chinese shares have fallen around 12% so far this year while Hong Kong is flat.


A 20-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a suspected hit and run incident in Crossmaglen, County Armagh.

A man in his 20s, was left in a critical condition after being struck by a car on Tuesday.
The incident happened at Cardinal O'Fiaich Square shortly before 06:20 GMT.
The man was arrested on Wednesday morning. He was interviewed and released on bail pending further enquiries.
Police continue to appeal for witnesses.
Sinn FÃ©in councillor Terry Hearty said he was "deeply shocked" at what had happened, and that anyone with information about the incident should contact police.


The UK's culture secretary has said that more than a million properties now have access to "superfast broadband speeds" as a result of a government-backed rollout of the tech.

Sajid Javid added that the effort was "firmly on track" to offer high-speed internet to 95% of UK homes and businesses by 2017.
He said that fast speeds were "totally transforming the way we live and work".
But many have questioned the quality of access and speeds advertised.
Superfast broadband is defined by the European Union as speeds of 24Mbps or above. The UK government's ambition is to provide 95% of the UK with those speeds or higher by 2017, with the rest having a minimum speed of 2Mbps.
By contrast, Finland plans to have a baseline speed that is more than four times faster - 100Mbps - by next year, while South Korea wants to see citizens equipped with 1Gbps connections by 2017.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has said that the UK's broadband target is simply not ambitious enough when compared with other nations and wants the government to commit to delivering a minimum of 10Mbps for all homes and businesses by 2018-19.
John Allan, FSB's national chairman, told the BBC that "there is still a long way to go".
"Small businesses are increasingly reliant on digital services, but too many are without decent and affordable broadband that meets their needs. This restricts their ability to grow, innovate and compete in global markets.
"Leaving 5% of the UK without adequate broadband in 2017 is simply not good enough. "
But the UK government says the current UK coverage of superfast broadband is the highest of the five biggest European economies.
The government has also set aside millions to improve broadband access in rural areas.
But BDUK, the group set up to spend the Â£530m of government money for the rural internet initiative, has come in for criticism for delays in distributing funds to councils and for awarding every contract to BT.
"Getting fibre to rural areas is hard, and often complex, work, but we are making great progress," said Gavin Patterson, the chief executive of BT, adding that it was laying undersea cables to the Outer Hebrides, for example.
"Some of the early projects are close to completion, and further funds will be released if we come in under-budget or take-up exceeds expectations," he said.
A Commons Public Accounts Committee report criticised the government for wasting taxpayers' money by giving all of its broadband funds to BT.
The FSB has said that coverage in rural areas is "either very poor or non-existent".
Alternative providers are already in place. B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), for example, offers broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps to about 350 homes currently. But since BT signed contracts with councils around the UK, the plug has been pulled on several community-based schemes.
Malcolm Corbett, head of the Independent Network Co-operative Association, which represents some of the smaller broadband suppliers, told the BBC: "It is great that the rollout programme is making good progress. However, there are far too many homes and businesses in both rural and urban areas that won't see any benefit for some years to come.
"Fortunately there is a growing sector of independent providers that are stepping up to fill the void," he added, citing projects like CityFibre, which is developing a portfolio to bring ultra-high-speed broadband to York,  Peterborough, Coventry, Bournemouth, and more.
Andrew Ferguson, the editor of thinkbroadband.com, told the BBC that the focus was now on those 5% of people in the "most remote and hardest parts" of the UK not covered by the current plans for superfast broadband.
He said that Â£10m had been invested in a series of pilot projects currently under way in eight locations across the nation to work out how best to get broadband to them.
"The findings will be used to inform future funding bids to ensure everyone benefits from the transformation of the digital landscape currently under way," he added.


England lost their series against Jamaica 2-1 with a 64-57 defeat in a thrilling deciding match in Coventry.

The home side led after the first quarter, but Jamaica hit back in the second to lead 33-29 at half-time.
England came roaring back at the end of the third quarter to draw level, only to cede the momentum once more as Jamaica ground out the victory.
The Roses had earned a 63-50 victory in the second Test on Friday, after the tourists won 66-49 in Tuesday's opener.