China's government and military have targeted US government computers as part of a cyber espionage campaign, a US report on China says.

Intrusions were focused on collecting intelligence on US diplomatic, economic and defence sectors which could benefit China's own defence programme, it says.
This is the first time the Pentagon's annual report has directly linked such attacks to the Beijing government.
China called the report "groundless", saying it represented "US distrust".
A report from state news agency Xinhua cited Sr Col Wang Xinjun, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) researcher, describing the report as "irresponsible and harmful to the mutual trust between the two countries".
Both China and the US were victims of cybercrimes and should work together to tackle the problems, the agency quoted him as saying.
By Jonathan MarcusBBC Diplomatic Correspondent
This is the most explicit US statement so far charging that it is the Chinese government and military that are behind at least some of the many intrusions into US government computer systems.
It marks a general toughening of the US position over the course of this year. President Barack Obama raised the cyber-security threat in a telephone call to Chinese President Xi Jinping in March. The issue figured prominently when US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited Beijing a few days later.
There have long been fears about China's ability to steal technical and industrial secrets But this latest Pentagon report warns that China's activities go well beyond this "building a picture of US defence networks, logistics and related military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis."
US experts believe that China's "area denial" strategy - its effort to push US naval forces well away from its shores - could have a significant cyber dimension.
Of course the United States is also rapidly developing capabilities to counter-cyber attacks and to go on the offensive itself. Indeed this is a field where the boundaries between offence and defence are blurred. US Cyber Command is expanding rapidly. The US and others are thought to be behind a number of computer virus attacks against elements of Iran's nuclear programme; a small glimpse of what the future of warfare may look like.
The Pentagon report also criticises a "lack of transparency" in China's military modernisation programme and defence spending.
"In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the US government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military," the report from the US Department of Defense said.
The attacks were focused on "exfiltrating information" that "could potentially be used to benefit China's defence industry, high technology industries... and military planners," it said.
It added that this was particularly concerning because the "skills required for these intrusions are similar to those necessary to conduct computer network attacks".
While China has long been suspected of a role in cyber attacks, the US has generally avoided publicly attributing attacks to the Chinese government, or confirming that US government computers have been targeted.
But the issue has come under increased scrutiny in recent months.
In February, US cyber security firm Mandiant said that it had linked hundreds of data breaches since 2004 to a Chinese hacking team traced to the site of a military unit in Shanghai.
China called the Mandiant report flawed, and said it was opposed to cyber-crime.
The report also analyses China's progress in modernising its military and says that a "lack of transparency" about its military capabilities has heightened regional tensions.
China announced in March that its annual defence budget was $114bn (Â£73bn), an increase of 10.4%.
However, the Pentagon estimated that China's total military expenditure in 2012 was higher, between $135bn (Â£83bn) and $215bn (Â£138bn).
China launched its first aircraft carrier in 2012, and is also investing in ballistic missiles, counter-space weapons and military cyberspace systems, the report said.
Defense Department official David Helvey said that while none of the individual weapons systems were an issue, the "integration and overlapping nature" of the systems left the department "concerned".
They could boost China's ability to restrict access to, and military operations in, the Western Pacific, he said.
Mr Helvey said the report also found that China had "increased assertiveness with respect to its maritime territorial claims" over the past year.
China has territorial disputes with many of its neighbours, including in both the South China Sea and East China Sea.


Eight council-run village halls and community centres in the south-west of Scotland could face closure next year.

Dumfries and Galloway Council wants to transfer the properties to local management committees in the final phase of a Â£283,000 savings plan.
Where local people are unable to assume responsibility, halls will be closed.
Buildings at Drummore, Portpatrick, New Luce, Sorbie, Glenlochar, New Galloway, Thornhill and Eastriggs will be affected by the move.
The council wants to transfer the facilities to local committees by 31 January 2016. Where that cannot be achieved, they will be shut at the end of February.
Council officers will work with community groups affected by any closures to find "reasonable alternative accommodation".
Members of the community and customer services committee will be asked to approve the process at a meeting on Tuesday.


Two men have been charged after a teenage mother died in a car crash.

Nadine Foster, 18, was a passenger in a Ford Focus when it hit a wall in Stourbridge, in the West Midlands, in April.
She was taken to hospital but died a few days later, police said.
Dylan Stringer, 22, and Joseph Chance, 24, both from Stourbridge, are accused of causing death by dangerous driving and are due before magistrates in Walsall on Wednesday.
Mr Stringer, of Wychbury Road, and Mr Chance, of Murcroft Road, are also charged with causing death by driving a vehicle unlicensed and uninsured in relation to the crash in Hagley Road.
More news from Birmingham and the Black Country


Gallai terfynfa newydd gael ei hadeiladu ym maes awyr Caerdydd yn ystod y 10 mlynedd nesaf er mwyn disodli'r adeiladau presennol.

Dywedodd cadeirydd y maes awyr, Roger Lewis ei fod yn gobeithio y bydd sector preifat yn buddsoddi yn y datblygiad.
Fe brynodd Llywodraeth Cymru'r maes awyr yn 2013 am £53m.
Daw sylwadau Roger Lewis wrth i adroddiad blynyddol ddangos bod cynnydd o 16% wedi bod yn nifer y teithwyr sy'n defnyddio Maes Awyr Caerdydd yn ystod y 12 mis diwethaf.
Mae'n golygu mai dyma "un o'r meysydd awyr sydd yn tyfu gyflymaf" ym Mhrydain.
Fe ddefnyddiodd mwy na 1.3m o bobl y maes awyr ger Y Rhws yn 2016.
Dywed penaethiaid y byddant yn parhau i geisio ehangu'r busnes eleni gyda mwy o deithiau ar gael am "bris gwell" ac ar "amser gwell".
Mae adroddiad blynyddol 2016 hefyd yn dangos bod:
'Twf arwyddocaol'
Dywedodd cadeirydd Maes Awyr Caerdydd, Roger Lewis bod 2016 wedi bod yn "drobwynt".
"12 mis yn ôl fe wnaethon ni addewid y byddem ni yn tyfu'r busnes a rydyn ni wedi cadw at yr addewid yna.
"Mae gyda ni llawer mwy o waith i wneud er mwyn cyflawni ein nod o greu maes awyr gwych sydd gydag ystod eang o gyfleusterau y gall Cymru a Phrydain fod yn falch ohoni."
Ychwanegodd ei fod wedi dechrau trafod gyda Llywodraeth Cymru sut y gallai'r maes awyr ddenu buddsoddiad o'r sector preifat er mwyn datblygu.
Dywedodd Debra Barber, y Rheolwr Gyfarwyddwr bod 2016 wedi bod yn flwyddyn lle y cafwyd "twf arwyddocaol", sydd yn golygu bod Caerdydd yn un o'r "meysydd awyr sydd yn tyfu gyflymaf ym Mhrydain" yn ôl Awdurdod Hedfan Sifil Prydain.
Bydd Iberia Express yn cynnig ei gwasanaeth yn 2017 gyda theithiau awyrennau i Madrid tra bydd cwmni awyrennau Blue Islands yn cynnig teithiau i Guernsey yn ystod yr haf.
Bydd Flybe yn cynnig gwasanaeth newydd i Rufain o fis Mawrth.


The number of care homes closing in London is nearing "crisis level", the care watchdog has warned.

Five hundred care homes have closed in the capital in the past decade, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.
Nationally the number of care home spaces has increased by 5% on average in that time, while in London it has decreased by 8%.
A government spokesman said it recognised some care home providers were struggling financially.
The BBC has found that one in four care homes is at risk of going out of business by 2020.
You stay in your own home while getting help with everyday tasks such as washing, dressing and eating.
average amount of care provided per week, by your council
average paid per hour by your council, 2014-15
average paid per hour in your region if you pay for your own care, 2016
You live in a care home that provides round-the-clock support with everyday tasks.
TBC pay for their own care
You live in a care home which provides round-the-clock support for everyday tasks and nursing care. Depending on your medical needs, the NHS may contribute to your costs.
TBC pay for their own care
Savings, investments and income are assessed, along with the value of your home - unless you or a close relative live there.
Councils are responsible for delivering means-tested adult social care either by funding places in private care homes or by providing council-run homes. Both are coming under budget pressure from central government.
Haringey council in north London consulted residents about the future of adult social care in 2011. It said because of "unprecedented" government cuts it had no alternative but to consider the closure of its council-run care homes because it was no longer able to fund them.
33% cut
in Hackney from 569 beds to 379
34% cut
in Camden borough from 710 to 466
8% reduction (the average percentage change in London) in Hounslow borough from 954 to 879
8% reduction in Harrow council area from 1,320 to 1,213
But a 48% rise in Bexley council from 995 to 1,471 bed spaces
and a 14% rise in Camden borough from 710 to 466 bed spaces
Cuts are also having an impact on the level of care provided by those care homes still open, Segun Oladokun, the CQC head of inspection for adult social care, said.
Sixty care homes in London have been rated as inadequate by the CQC, because residents were not receiving personal care, and staff were inadequately supervised or insufficiently trained.
Elizabeth Bond, age 93, has advanced Alzheimers, but is otherwise healthy, her family said.
She was living with family in Dalston, in north-east London, but was starting to need more specialist care which they could not provide.
Because of the lack of NHS care homes in the area, they struggled for seven months to find a care home that would accept her, said the family.
Mrs Bond's daughter Catherine Bond said: "Her mobility is very limited, she needs help with all kinds of things... she can't walk now at all. That made it difficult for her to live with us.
"Finally [in April] she had pneumonia and the hospital worked really well with her.  She recovered from the pneumonia after about a month, but then she got into a situation where she was bed blocking.
"She was in the elderly care unit and there were other women who were clearly in the same position. I used to go and visit her and she had this little group of ladies who were just stuck there. It was sad to see this."
Mrs Bond eventually found a place in a care home in Hackney in September when another resident died.
Mr Oladokun said: "The context is that there is less money in the system. Providers are receiving less money for the care they are providing and adult social care is being squeezed and I think it is almost reaching crisis point, in terms of the lack of funding, compared to the NHS."
Paul Burstow, professor of health and social care, and a former Liberal Democrat Care Minister, said: "I'm very concerned that we are seeing a steady attrition in both our care home sector and in our home care services and that's shunting more and more pressure back on to families who are being expected to shoulder ever greater burdens when it comes to caring for loved ones."
287% rise
in Darlington borough from 1,236 to 4,781 bed spaces
241% rise
in Doncaster from 2,486 to 8486
5% increase in Shropshire from 3,495 to 3,686
5% increase (the national average) in central Bedfordshire from 1,515 to 1,596 bed spaces
57% reduction in Durham council area from 5,460 to 2,357
69% reduction in Derbyshire from 7,591 to 2,321 bed spaces
A spokesman from the Department of Health said: "We recognise that some care providers are finding the current market challenging.
"We have introduced legislation to make sure that no one is left without care if their home care provider closes because of insolvency and empowered the Care Quality Commission to monitor the finances of the very largest care businesses to ensure early warning of likely insolvencies."


In a rare climbdown, the Angolan government has withdrawn controversial legislation severely restricting how people use the internet.

It was scrapped this week at the eleventh hour when the government removed it from parliament moments before it was due to be voted into law.
Under the proposal, which had already passed a first round of voting, it would have been illegal to share information electronically that could "destroy, alter or subvert state institutions" or "damage national integrity or independence".
This would have meant anyone criticising the government on social networking sites such as Facebook, or receiving an email containing anti-government sentiment, could have faced up to 12 years in prison.
The law also wanted to ban the online sharing of videos, pictures or recordings without the subject's consent, criminalise "whistle-blowing" under the crime of "espionage" and make it illegal for anyone to search for information about the state, even if it was not classified.
Minister of State Carlos Feijo told reporters in the capital, Luanda, that a decision had been made instead to insert special clauses about internet crimes into the new penal code currently under revision.
But many believe pressure from civil society and local journalists, who had strongly opposed the legislation claiming that it was "totalitarian" and violated basic freedom of expression, played a role in the decision to abandon the law.
US-based lobby group Human Rights Watch said the legislation would have "undercut both freedom of expression and information, and posed a severe threat to independent media, whistle-blowers, and investigative journalism".
With most of Angola's traditional media controlled by the state, or owned by government ministers and their business associates, there is little free debate in the newspapers or on television and radio.
Opposition parties are rarely afforded column inches or air time, while government and presidential activities are covered in minute detail and nearly always with a positive spin.
Civil society and opposition groups have therefore turned to the internet, even though only 1% of Angolans have access to the web, to hold their debates and share information through blogs and social networking sites.
In recent months, several anti-government marches have been organised and promoted through Facebook, where there are pages dedicated to opposing the president of nearly 32 years, Jose Eduardo dos Santos. There, people make comments they would not dare speak out loud in public.
Angolans living in the diaspora have also been busy online, creating websites to rally support for regime change, and there have been several solidarity protest events held in South Africa, the UK and Belgium.
Many are growing weary of the current regime and want more to be done to share the country's oil wealth among the majority, two thirds of whom still live in poverty and many without access to water or electricity.
The introduction of a special internet law was seen as a deliberate attempt to quash the online discussion that was fuelling this unrest.
In an uncharacteristically emotional speech last month, President dos Santos lashed out at social media sites, saying they were being used to "insult, denigrate and provoke uproar and confusion".
Officially the government stuck to its position that the technology legislation was needed to curb crimes such as child pornography, hacking and online financial fraud.
The editor of the private weekly newspaper Angolense, Suzana Mendes, who was among the journalists who publicly voiced concerns about the law, welcomed its withdrawal.
"The fact that the bill has been cancelled is important, because if it had been approved, it would have endangered our fundamental rights to inform and be informed," she told the BBC.
Sizaltina Cutaia, from the Angolan office of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa), which also opposed the bill, said they were pleased the government had backed down.
"This is definitely a victory for us and it is encouraging that we were able to get our message across." she said.
However, civil society celebrations around the scrapping of the legislation were short-lived after a number of activists were arrested on Wednesday for taking part in an anti-poverty demonstration in Luanda.
Organised via Facebook by a group calling itself the Revolutionary Movement of Social Intervention (MRIS), the protest was due to take place at lunchtime.
But following the arrest of MRIS leader Luis Bernardo, allegedly detained while putting up posters near his home in the district of Cazenga, only a few dozen people gathered in the city square.
According to reports, between 15 and 20 people were detained, among them a journalist and a representative from Osisa who had been trying to film the arrests.
They were later released and rejoined the protest, which at its height numbered around 100 people.
A spokesman for Luanda's provincial government told state media that the youth involved, who claimed they had authorisation to stage the protest, had acted "criminally" and the police force was within its rights to respond.
"What the government needs to realise is that the more they repress people, the more they will want to demonstrate," Ms Cutaia said.
Although small in size and number, protests like these are a relatively new phenomenon in Angola where few have dared to question the authority of President Dos Santos and his ruling MPLA.
"The people leading these protests are young and they don't have as much to lose. They were born after independence so they don't have that connection to the ruling party like older generations," Ms Cutaia says.
"All they see is that despite Angola's wealth under the MPLA most people have remained poor and they want that to change.
"Most of all they want the right to be able to make their voices heard."


Portsmouth have signed teenage Liverpool goalkeeper Ryan Fulton on a youth loan until the end of the season.

Fulton, 19, is a Scotland Under-21 international who has yet to play first-team football for Liverpool.
He was named as an unused substitute for the Reds in two League Cup ties against Carlisle and Bournemouth earlier this season.
Fulton is expected to provide competition for Portsmouth goalkeepers Brian Murphy and Paul Jones.
Meanwhile, Pompey defender Ben Davies has revealed he is close to signing a new deal with the club.
"I'm enjoying my football and whenever that's happened in my career, I tend to get the best out of myself," the 34-year-old told BBC Radio Solent.
"Being surrounded by good players and a good manager always helps as well."
Davies joined Portsmouth in the summer after being released by Sheffield United. He has been ever-present in League Two since then, scoring one goal.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


The Orange Order has said a crude device has partially exploded outside an Orange hall in County Armagh.

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27 September 2014 Last updated at 20:31 BST
A spokesman said a saucepan, thought to contain homemade explosive material, was left at the front door of Carnagh Orange hall, outside Keady on Friday night.
The police said they were investigating reports of the attack, that has been condemned by both unionist and republican politicians.


Company bosses could be prosecuted for failing to stop their staff committing fraud under new laws being considered by ministers.

The plans, which have yet to be officially unveiled, follow similar plans to make company boards liable if staff facilitate tax evasion.
Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to end "boardroom excess" and make tackling corporate crime a key focus.
Downing Street said the government would announce its bill in due course.
A new criminal finance bill will extend legislation and make employers responsible for preventing money-laundering, false accounting and fraud, The Times newspaper reports.
It comes after a recent speech by the attorney general Jeremy Wright QC who suggested the government would consult on extending the planned law on tax evasion, announced earlier this year.
Speaking at a symposium in Cambridge, he is reported as saying: "When considering the question 'where does the buck stop?' and who is responsible for economic crime, it is clear the answer is to be found at every level, from the boardroom down."
He said companies facing prosecution would be more likely to "take the actions necessary to discourage such offending in the first place".
It follows claims that while individuals were convicted over the Libor rigging scandal, UK authorities lacked the powers to act against institutions.
David Green, director of the Serious Fraud Office, said while banker Tom Hayes was the first person to be convicted for Libor fixing his employers were only held to account for his actions in a US court, where the law makes a prosecution easier.
Six former City money brokers who were cleared of helping to rig the lending rate claimed they had been made scapegoats for the scandal and any questions about the affair should have been put to senior bosses.


Actor Sir Patrick Stewart has said it would be a "grave mistake" to close an A&E department in his birthplace.

In a tweet from Los Angeles, the Star Trek and X-Men actor added a link to a petition against the move involving Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
The hospital could be demolished for a new facility in the town, a report revealed on 15 January.
Sir Patrick was born in Mirfield, near Huddersfield, and was chancellor of the town's university for 10 years.
Health bosses have said the way hospital services are currently run is not "sustainable".
It means people in Huddersfield could have to travel to Halifax, Wakefield or Barnsley for emergency treatment.
The recommendation is part of a wider shake-up of NHS services in the area, which include replacing the Huddersfield infirmary with a new hospital at Acre Mill, although it would not have an A&E department.
The Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are to put the plans out to consultation.
The petition against the closure move currently has more than 43,000 backers.
Huddersfield Town players are to wear T-shirts publicising the campaign during the warm-up before their Championship match against Cardiff City.
Dean Hoyle, the club's chairman, said: "I believe this is a decision that needs to be looked at very closely by those in charge."


A teenager has suffered serious head and face injuries in an assault by three men in Godstone, Surrey.

Police believe the 17-year-old boy may have been held in a silver van during the ordeal.
The assault happened in Selbourne Square just before 14:30 BST on Saturday. Police do not believe it was a random attack.
A woman in her 30s and a 14-year-old boy also sustained minor injuries during the incident.
Following the attack, the three victims made their way to the Shell petrol station on Godstone Hill where they called the ambulance service, police said.
Det Con Tom Gilbert, said: "Due to the seriousness of the injuries the victim sustained, we have yet to establish some vital parts of the investigation."
Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.


Manoj Kumar Paras is meeting constituents in a covered yard outside his home, many desperate for his help.

He is a minister in the state government in India's Uttar Pradesh state.
Mr Paras is also charged with taking part in the gang-rape of a local woman.
The Indian government has promised speedier justice for crimes against women, shaken by protests over the fatal gang rape of a Delhi student.
Five of the accused are already on trial in a hastily-established fast-track court. A sixth accused, who is a minor, is being tried in a juvenile court.
But six years since Mr Paras was first charged, his case has neither been prosecuted nor dismissed.
The outcry over the Delhi gang rape has prompted a wider backlash against the old order, and the number of Indian politicians allowed to remain in office while facing serious charges is under the spotlight again.
Mr Paras' case is far from unusual.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi-based campaign group, a third of India's 4,835 elected representatives have declared criminal charges against them - many of them face serious cases like murder, rape and kidnapping.
The figures are based on information politicians themselves provide in their mandatory pre-election declarations.
Uttar Pradesh has more alleged criminals in its administration than any other state: Mr Paras is among 29 of 58 ministers charged with some kind of crime.
The state transport minister, Mehboob Ali, is charged with attempting to murder a rival politician, Nawshad Ali, last year.
He shows us the charge sheet drawn up by police, called FIR (first information report) in India.
But the minister disputes whether he has been charged.
"Maybe there is a complaint in a court or a police station," he says. "Maybe after an investigation, it might be found to be untrue."
On his election declaration, he has admitted to other past attempted murder charges, as well as kidnapping and robbery.
So far, there has been no progress in any of these cases.
Mr Paras says everyone in his Nagina constituency knows about his rape charge, insisting that it is "a conspiracy" fabricated by rivals.
That's possible in India's robust politics.
But it can be rare for women to press charges of rape - especially in rural areas like Nagina where tradition and caste govern life.
Many do not even report an assault because of the fear they will be ostracised by their family and community.
However serious the charge, as long as a politician is not convicted, he or she can stay in office under Indian law.
They are helped by the overloaded justice system, where even minor cases can drag out.
But ADR's national coordinator Anil Bairwal says politicians can also use their position to delay their cases "not just for years, but decades".
Until India's courts try more politicians, Mr Bairwal says the "poison" will spread through the world's largest democracy.
When Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took power last year, he pledged not to appoint "tainted" officials to his government. His office would not agree to an interview, despite repeated requests.
Other parties, including the Congress, have made similar pledges.
Yet, ADR figures show, the number of accused politicians keeps rising.
Parties need them to deliver votes, especially where religion and caste play such a key role.
Mr Ali has a proven track record at delivering votes from his fellow Muslims in his constituency, winning four elections in a row.
Mr Paras won by nearly 30,000 votes last year in Nagina, with a particular appeal among members of his Dalits or untouchable caste.
With a general election due in the next year, "India's democracy is in danger", warns Gopal Subramaniam, a former solicitor general and one of the authors of the Verma Commission report into the Delhi gang rape case.
Their report called on all politicians facing serious charges to resign - coming into line with many other democracies.
But Mr Paras rejects the idea of standing down: "Just charging someone is not enough, you have to wait until you are convicted."


Transport for London (TfL) has an annual budget of about £11bn, of which 42% comes from fares - meaning it is an extremely important area for mayoral policies.

On Wednesday we had two big announcements on transport; but there are still questions.
Both Labour's Sadiq Khan and the Conservatives' Zac Goldsmith recognise the importance of protecting investment in transport for things including Tube upgrades - to the tune of £3.9bn a year.
Both want the expensive Tube upgrades, new trains and for TfL to take over rail services; but there are differences in how they think it should be achieved.
Labour will freeze fares at 0% for four years.
TfL has warned that would cost it £1.9bn over five years, but Labour says it'll cost £452m over four years.
Both figures use different inflation assumptions to calculate the loss in fares revenue.
We don't know what the actual figure will be, so therefore it's difficult to know what impact that would have.
The Conservatives say Labour's plan would leave a £1.9bn 'black hole' in TfL's business plan.
But Sadiq Khan opened up another potential source of income and piled into TfL, calling it "flabby" with a "culture of excess".
And so on top of a £2.8bn cut to TfL's government grant and £15.4bn efficiencies already in the business plan by 2020-21, more savings could be needed at TfL.
The feeling is TfL has been protected so far from cuts.
TfL will have to work with whatever budget it is given. The question is how much can you cut its budget without it affecting investment? How much flab is there?
Would some investment have to go or be delayed? Would even a £1.9bn cut over a £50bn budgetary period until 2020-21 be achievable?
On the other hand there is the reticence of the Conservative camp, which will only say they will "bear down on fares" - replicating exactly the phrase used by the departing Mayor Boris Johnson.
That usually meant fares were kept at inflation (RPI) +1%, so Labour says the Conservatives will put up fares 17% over four years.
The Conservative policy emphasises how investment will be protected, but voters have no idea what will happen to fares. And there is a feeling from some commuters that fare rises are not sustainable.
In effect, we are being offered fares policies with a lot of assumptions and unknowns, and it will mean voters will probably have to rely on who they trust more.


Brendan Rodgers says his Celtic side's 5-0 hammering of Hearts was a fitting way to clinch the Premiership title.

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Celtic remain unbeaten in domestic competition this season and confirmed their sixth successive title on Sunday.
Scott Sinclair scored a hat-trick at Tynecastle, with Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts also on target.
"It typifies how they've been for the majority of the season - their attitude, determination, style and intensity," Rodgers told BBC Scotland.
"We knew it would be a tough game and to win a pressure game like that is a remarkable achievement from the players.
"We take the energy and hunger from training into games and, from a coaching perspective, that's great to see.
"The fans have been behind the team from day one. Everyone deserves a huge amount of credit - the players, staff and supporters."
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Rodgers took charge of Celtic last summer following the departure of Ronny Deila.
And club captain Scott Brown is in no doubt that the Northern Irishman's appointment set Celtic on the road to a reaching a new level.
"Football-wise, it's been top notch," he said. "The manager has recruited great players and brought belief to everyone. We have really pushed on this season."
Having already won the League Cup, and with a Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers coming up this month, the question now is whether Celtic will remain unbeaten this season and whether they will secure the treble.
Brown, however, refuses to look beyond their next match at home to Partick Thistle in the league.
"The target remains one game at a time," he added. "We've got a big game on Wednesday, so we'll go back to working hard in training."
Hat-trick hero Sinclair, who took his tally for the season to 21 goals in all competitions on Sunday, also exemplified the relentless drive that seems to underpin the attitude instilled by Rodgers.
"It was a performance that was unbelievable from the whole team," Sinclair said. "We've still got work to do and the season is not over yet.
"We keep winning and that's the mentality here - to keep going.
"We take one game at a time. We've done so well, so we just have to keep going."


Commuters in the West Midlands will be able to pay for their journeys using contactless cards and smartphones.

National Express West Midlands said it is installing technology on 1,500 buses through its network in the next two years.
A spokesman said the move will speed up routes and make fewer buses over-run.
Customers had complained drivers not giving change lost them money if they lacked exact change and added time on their journeys.
A Swift card can already been used on National Express buses in the area. It works in a similar way to Oyster cards used across London's transport system.
More on this and other stories from Birmingham and the Black Country
National Express confirmed Swift travel cards and cash would still be accepted on the network.
Jens Mullak, from Init Innovations in Transport, which is developing the systems for National Express West Midlands, said there is a "growing trend" for contactless payment around the world.
"I think it's a gradual process, but with the popularity of contactless bank cards and the usage of mobile phones this will surely more and more replace cash payments."


Ukrainian speakers in the eastern region of Donetsk have started leaving the area, fearing for their safety as pro-Russian militants tighten their grip.

The declaration on Monday by separatist leaders that their self-declared "Donetsk People's Republic" was now an independent, sovereign state which could ultimately be absorbed into Russia is likely to hasten the exodus.
"If a separate Donetsk People's Republic is founded here, I will have to leave," says Olga, a businesswoman and single mother with a young daughter.
"I won't be able to speak Ukrainian, my native language. A lot of my friends are currently selling their houses and moving to west Ukraine. People are afraid for their lives and families."
Although it is not an easy decision for her, she believes she has no choice because "freedom is the most important thing".
The fears are greatest amongst pro-Ukrainian activists who have spoken out against the ethnic Russians leading the drive to break away from Ukraine.
"Almost all my activist friends have now left," one source told the BBC whose own family are now packing up and heading west.
Their fears are well-founded. Pro-Russian militants have been filmed dragging activists into the now notorious regional government building in Donetsk city, which has been occupied by the separatists since March and has now become the headquarters of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic.
There are reports that one floor of the building is used as a makeshift prison and interrogation centre. The glass entrance doors have been covered, making it impossible to see what is happening inside.
The divide between the majority ethnic Russian population and the Ukrainian-speaking community in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk is widening.
Sunday's unofficial referendum on independence organised by the pro-Russian separatists highlighted and exacerbated the division.
It seems very few Ukrainian-speakers took part.
"It was a joke, it was illegal and we just didn't react to it because the aim of the referendum was to break up Ukraine," said Olga.
"There was nothing in it for us."
Adding to the fears of the Ukrainian-speaking population in this region is the announcement that the leadership of the pro-Russian separatists, who control much of Donetsk, has apparently now changed.
At the news conference on Monday when the separatists declared independence, the then overall leader, Denis Pushulin was asked what his status was.
He replied he was now just one of the leaders and the main commander was Igor Girkin, also known as "Strelkov" - meaning "the gunman".
He is a much-feared separatist militia commander who is accused by the Ukrainian government and the European Union of being a Russian military intelligence officer.
Last month he was added to the EU's sanctions list.


Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to set out 10 pledges "to rebuild and transform Britain" later.

In a speech in Dagenham, east London, Mr Corbyn will say he would ensure full employment by creating one million jobs building new infrastructure.
He also wants stronger employment rights and an NHS free of any private sector involvement.
Mr Corbyn is due to face challenger Owen Smith later in the first hustings of the Labour leadership campaign.
The debate in Cardiff is one of a series planned across the UK during the contest, which ends on 24 September.
During his speech in London, Mr Corbyn is expected to reiterate his claim that the UK's economic model is "broken" and outline how the country can respond.
Mr Corbyn will say: "We could all be living richer lives in a sustainable, more prosperous and more caring society" - BBC political correspondent Chris Mason reports.
"Labour will pledge to rebuild and transform Britain with a bold Â£500bn programme of investment," the Labour leader is expected to add.
In an interview in The Guardian, his rival Owen Smith says Labour is "teetering on the edge of a precipice" and "could be bust apart and disappear."
Mr Smith's pitch at this evening's hustings will be that he can unite Labour and turn it into what he calls "a radical government in waiting," the BBC's Chris Mason says.
Meanwhile, a group of Labour Party members is launching a legal challenge over restrictions on who can vote in the party's leadership battle.
The group is attacking Labour's decision to enfranchise full members only if they joined the party on January 12 this year or earlier, arguing that they also have a right to vote in the contest as "a term of contract".
The decision to exclude them was made under revised rules introduced by the party's national executive committee (NEC) in July.
To be able to vote, anyone who joined after 12 January had to pay an extra Â£25 to become a "registered supporter".


The proposed £1bn M4 relief road around Newport would cut through the first nesting site for common cranes in Wales in over 400 years, it has emerged.

The RSPB said the revelation, in a Welsh Government ecology report, was emblematic of wider environmental concerns about the scheme.
A five-month public inquiry into the plans begins on Tuesday.
Ministers have insisted that the project is vital, with congestion on the M4 holding back the economy.
But their preferred "black route" cuts across the ancient marshlands of the Gwent Levels, a haven for wildlife.
As well as rare plants, invertebrates and aquatic mammals like voles and otters, the latest species to be spotted is the common crane.
Last spring, a pair flew from Somerset to nest on the levels, hatching the first Welsh-born chick in over 400 years.
The adults originated from the Great Crane Project, which has been reintroducing the birds to the West Country since 2010.
Damon Bridge, from the RSPB, who manages the project, said he had "major concerns" about the M4 scheme and the impact on the rare birds, which require a "very quiet, undisturbed" environment.
"It would be a significant loss to lose the very start of this comeback for a wonderful species on a site as wonderful as the Gwent Levels," he said.
"These birds died out across the UK sometime in the 1600s.  Seeing them spread back into their former haunts highlights the importance of protecting our wetlands."
A host of environmental groups are set to give evidence to the public inquiry, which will examine the plans as well as suggestions of alternative routes and issue a recommendation to the Welsh Government.
Gemma Bode, director of conservation for Gwent Wildlife Trust, said she was "really devastated that it had come to this point".
The Welsh Government is attempting to compulsory purchase part of the charity's nature reserve at Magor Marsh to build the road.
She said: "We know how important the landscape is - the designations are there. The route would cut through several sites of special scientific interest and it's also a landscape of outstanding historic interest, absolutely unique in Wales and across the UK.
"It really is a David and Goliath battle - we're a small, local environmental charity and we're fighting this proposal by the government."
'Ill conceived'
Mitigation land for wildlife is being promised as part of the road's development, with the Welsh Government arguing that tackling congestion will also help combat air pollution and carbon emissions from standing traffic.
But Ms Bode said the loss of habitat envisaged by this scheme could not be mitigated for.
In evidence submitted to the inquiry, Wales' Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe said she believes the plan was "ill-conceived".
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "The public inquiry will allow the project, and its environmental mitigation measures, to be openly and robustly scrutinised by independent inspectors to determine whether it is the sustainable, long-term solution to the serious problems associated with this gateway to Wales.
"The outcome of the inquiry will inform a final decision on whether to proceed with construction."


US safety regulators have announced a formal recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 after reports of fires caused by faulty batteries.

The South Korean tech giant had already launched a voluntary recall after user complaints about 'exploding' phones.
According to Samsung, the problem affects 2.5 million devices globally, including 1 million in the US.
The recall comes at a crucial time as rival Apple has just released its new iPhone 7 flagship model.
"Because this product presents such a serious fire hazard, I am urging all consumers... to take advantage of this recall right away,'' Elliot Kaye, chairman of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
Mr Kaye said Samsung should not have tried to do the recall by itself, saying: "Anybody who thinks that a company going out on its own is going to provide the best recall for that company, and more importantly for the consumer, needs to have more than their phone checked,"
So far, Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the US, including 26 reports of burns and 55 of property damage, according to the commission's website.
The company said it would speed up its recall, with Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America saying that "consumer safety is always our highest priority."
What makes lithium batteries catch fire?
Samsung has come under fire for its response to reports of battery problems over the past weeks.
On 2 September the firm said it would stop selling the phones and offered to replace the ones already sold.
The company last week advised people to stop using the device.
Samsung also said it would limit the batteries of the Note 7 to 60% of their capacity via a software update.
The US Department of Transportation meanwhile has ordered airline passengers not to bring the phones on planes unless they keep them turned off and don't charge them during the flight.
Passengers were even advised against packing the phones into any checked-in luggage.
A number of airlines around the globe have also banned the phone from being used or charged on their planes.
The phone was launched on 19 August and had been generally well-received by critics and consumers.
The Galaxy Note 7 model is the latest of Samsung's series of so-called phablets - smartphones with very large screens.


Jonnie Peacock held on to his T44 100m victory on Friday, claiming gold at the Paralympics in Rio.

11 September 2016 Last updated at 09:31 BST
He won his race in just 10.81 seconds and told Newsround it felt 'absolutely crazy' and 'amazing' to take the gold.
Jonnie said: "Everything is possible. If you get yourself with the right team and keep your head in the game, you can achieve what you want to do."
Watch Martin's interview to find out more...


A woman got a "fright" when a possum ran up her back before jumping in her pocket while she was in a Leith stairwell.

The sugar glider possum dived into her pocket where it remained until the Scottish SPCA arrived 40 minutes later.
The creature, which was "feisty", is thought to have followed the woman into the stairwell on Leith Walk on Monday.
The charity, which is caring for the pet in the rescue centre in Balerno, is urging its owner to come forward.
Steph Grant, of the Scottish SPCA, said, "The lady initially thought it was a chipmunk.
"She had just got inside her stairwell when the sugar glider ran up her back and went inside her cardigan pocket. It then stayed there until I arrived, which was around 40 minutes later.
"It's pretty feisty and the poor woman understandably got a bit of a fright. We think it may have been on the loose on Leith Walk when it followed her into her stair.
"This may be the first sugar glider we have rescued and it's certainly a new one for me.
"This sugar glider is in very good condition although it's still rather skittish and very shy."
They are native to Australia but some people do keep them as pets in the UK as they do not require a licence.


Exeter went top of the Premiership table after a thrilling win over Wasps.

The Chiefs secured a bonus point before the break as Thomas Waldrom scored two tries and Jack Nowell and Mitch Lees also crossed the whitewash.
Frank Halai replied for Wasps on the stroke of half-time and Ashley Johnson and Lorenzo Cittadini scored after the restart to pull the home side level.
Waldrom then completed his hat-trick before Moray Low's late try secured a convincing victory for the visitors.
Exeter put in a clinical display in the first half, scoring four tries in the first 34 minutes for a 27-6 lead, with Jimmy Gopperth kicking two penalties for Wasps in reply.
But George Smith's grubber kick allowed Halai to score in the corner right on the half-time whistle and Gopperth converted to make it 27-13 at the break.
Johnson and Cittadini powered over to drag Wasps level on 52 minutes but Chiefs number eight Waldrom crashed over to seal his hat-trick and put Exeter back ahead.
After losing Henry Slade to a knee injury midway through the second half, Exeter asserted their control and Low bundled over for their sixth try of the afternoon.
The Chiefs will be replaced at the top of the table if unbeaten Saracens beat Newcastle Falcons on Sunday.
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young:
"Today was a real leveller and brought us back down to earth.
"We were beaten by a very good Exeter team that looked to be better than us in all departments. Sometimes you just have to put your hand up and say that.
"We were hugely disappointing in the driving at the line-out and that is something we pride ourselves on. Today Exeter made it look easy.
"You've got to give them credit but in saying that we have to be better than we were today. It tends to happen when people start saying nice things about you and you have to be careful not to believe it."
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter:
"The performance was very good. Credit to Wasps, I was surprised how well they fought back into it.
"Wasps have had some big emotional performances in the last few weeks. They are draining and sometimes it's hard to hit the field with that same intensity.
"Our challenge was to try and put a bit of pressure on Wasps with our line speed, put pressure on their scoreboard and see if they had been drained by those two previous games."
Wasps: Piutau; Tagicakibau, Daly, Jacobs, Halai; Gopperth, Simpson; Mullan, Johnson, Cittadini, Davies, Gaskell, Jones, Smith, Thompson.
Replacements: Shervington, McIntyre, Cooper-Wooley, Myall, Hughes, Simpson, Jackson, Leiua.
Exeter: Dollman; Nowell, Slade, Hill, Short; Steenson, Chudley; Moon, Yeandle (capt), Francis, Lees, Parling, Johnson, Salvi, Waldrom.
Replacements: Taione, Rimmer, Low, Welch, White, Lewis, Whitten, Woodburn.
Referee: Greg Garner.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.


Prosecutors are considering whether various charges should be brought against 18 soldiers over their involvement in Bloody Sunday.

Official correspondence shows the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) is also looking at potential prosecutions of soldiers for perjury.
Thirteen people were shot dead when members of the Army's Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry in 1972.
A fourteenth person died later.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) began a murder investigation after the Saville Report on the killings in 2010 said that those who were killed or injured on Bloody Sunday were innocent.
At the same time, the then prime minister David Cameron issued a public apology for the actions of the soldiers - describing the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable".
The police investigation took a number of years to complete and detectives then submitted their files to the Public Prosecution Service towards the end of last year.
The BBC has obtained a letter from a senior public prosecutor detailing the criminal charges the soldiers could face.
They include murder and attempted murder, wounding, perjury and joint enterprise, which means an offence where two or more people are involved.
In the correspondence from the PPS, the identities of the 18 soldiers are withheld; instead, they are referred to by letters of the alphabet allocated to them at the time of the Saville inquiry.
The letter also reveals that four other soldiers, whose actions on Bloody Sunday formed part of this investigation, have since died.
The correspondence states:
The PPS said it was actively considering Bloody Sunday investigation files that it received last December, but had not yet taken a decision on possible prosecutions.
"It is likely to be some time before any decision will issue," said a PPS spokesperson.
"We have recently made contact with families to provide an update on progress and also to explain our role and some of the legal issues that require consideration in this case."
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Bloody Sunday had been "a stain on our history" and the "idea that people can murder with impunity" should not be allowed to stand.
"I hope that there are charges brought to those people who, as we've seen through the Saville inquiry, were absolutely off the leash in murdering with impunity on the streets of Derry," he added.
The Democratic Unionist Party's Gregory Campbell said the development was "proof positive of the partisan approach" taken by the PPS in relation to Troubles murder cases.
"This is an outrageous example of former soldiers who stood against the sectarian terrorism of 1972, instigated by the IRA, now being tried while many of those who hid behind balaclavas have avoided any trial," he added.


The mother of a gangland murderer has said she will fight until her dying day for his release, 20 years after he killed three men.

Drug dealers Craig Rolfe, Tony Tucker and Pat Tate were shot dead in a Range Rover in Rettendon on 6 December 1995.
Jack Whomes and Michael Steele were jailed for life for their murders. Pam Whomes said she hopes she is "still alive to see him walk out of prison".
A retired detective said he had "no doubts whatsoever" about the case.
It became known as the "Essex Boys" murders, particularly after a 2000 film of the same name, starring Sean Bean.
The three murdered men, all career criminals, were ambushed over an unsellable consignment of cannabis.
Whomes and Steele were jailed following a trial at the Old Bailey in 1998 and have always protested their innocence.
Doubts have often been raised about their conviction, which was based on the word of a police informant. Mobile phone records were used to corroborate his testimony but have since been called into question.
However, two appeals have already been turned down in the courts, and Whomes's third bid was recently rejected before reaching that stage.
Mrs Whomes, 77, who lives in Stowmarket, Suffolk, said her legal team was now trying to overturn that decision. She insists they have fresh evidence but did not want to reveal its nature to the BBC.
"He wouldn't put us through this if he had done it, he would have been out 10 years ago if he admitted it, but he won't confess to something he didn't do.
"That's my one aim in life, I just hope that I'm still alive to see him walk out of there, but I know even if I'm not he'll fight on and prove it in the end," she said.
However, former Det Supt David Bright, who lives in Southend, had a key role in the original investigation and says he has "no doubts whatsoever" about the conviction.
"It was a long and very thorough trial and the decision was unanimous by the jury, they were very satisfied with the evidence.
"I know the defendants have exhausted almost every avenue for appeal and they always come back with the same findings.
"It wasn't a mistake, it was a horrendous crime that deserves to be punished," he said.
Michael Steele is also currently going through the courts in a separate attempt to overturn his conviction.
Father-of-two Whomes teaches in HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, where he is detained, and has gained 27 City and Guilds qualifications.
"I think we've got a hell of a struggle the way the legal system is, but I really believe that he will eventually walk out," Mrs Whomes added.


India captain Mahendra Dhoni praised James Anderson's role in helping England secure a 2-1 series victory.

England drew the final Test in Nagpur to clinch their first series triumph in India since David Gower's side in 1985.
"We struggled in the batting department but the difference between the bowling sides was James Anderson," said Dhoni.
"India got sucked into believing that they were going to beat a poor England team and win 4-0. They never looked at themselves and they got complacent. Sachin Tendulkar is out of form and at the end of his career, Virat Kohli played some terrible shots in the series and Virender Sehwag was not at his best. They believed they were better than they were, but by the end of this series they and the Indian public have been forced to realise the truth. Whether they do anything about it is up to them, it's not our problem."
Dhoni also said "I hope so" when asked if 39-year-old batsman Sachin Tendulkar would continue his Test career after he scored just 76 runs in his six innings.
Tendulkar, who was voted the second greatest Test batsman of all time by respected cricket almanac Wisden, has endured a miserable 2012 in which he has scored just two half-centuries in 15 Test innings, with a top score of 80.
This poor form from the 'Little Master' had led to calls for him to retire, but Dhoni, when pressed on whether Tendulkar has told him whether he planned to quit, said: "No."
The match petered out to a draw after tea on day five, with England on 352-4 in their second innings - 356 runs ahead of the hosts.
The lifeless pitch in Nagpur attracted criticism from all quarters and Dhoni acknowledged it did not suit either side.
"There was not much really for the fast bowlers or the spinners," he said. "It was difficult to score runs but if you kept your head down it was difficult to get the batsmen out."
He added: "We bowled for 10 hours and we got three batsmen out. You can't just sit there and say we need to be aggressive.
"Aggression is not just about setting a silly-point or short-leg, or having a slip; you have to analyse where you can get a batsman out on a wicket like that.
"It's very difficult to make a good wicket in the subcontinent. They tried, but it's very tricky."
Listen to Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott's analysis of the final day's play on the Test Match Special podcast.
We are using archive pictures for this Test because several photo agencies, including Getty Images, have been barred from the ground following a dispute with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, while other agencies have withdrawn their photographers in protest.


Relatives of 12 Chinese passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have filed lawsuits in Beijing, one day before the deadline for launching legal action.

They say they want the courts to help establish what happened to the plane.
Families of 32 other passengers, mostly Chinese, filed a separate lawsuit in Malaysia, their lawyer has said.
MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Under international agreements, relatives have two years following an air accident to begin legal action.
MH370: What we know
Missing Malaysian's wife seeks $7.6m in damages
Zhang Qihuai, the lawyer for the 12 families, said they were seeking a range of damages, but their goal was to determine the cause of the accident and those who were responsible.
The total compensation requested from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, engine manufacturer Rolls Royce and insurance companies ranged between 10m and 70m yuan ($1.5m to $10.8m; £1m to £7.6m) per family, Mr Qihuai was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
Verdicts might not come for two years, he said.
The companies have not commented.
Many relatives were crying as they presented their documents to court officials. Some said they hoped to use the action to obtain more information about the case.
"Today we came to demand our people back. We come every day. We demand to have our people back everyday, we want our relatives," Dai Shuqin, whose sister was on board the flight, told the Reuters news agency.
In Kuala Lumpur, lawyer Ganesan Nethi said he filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of the relatives of 32 passengers last Thursday. He said most were Chinese, along with one American and a few Indians, AP reported.
The lawsuit named the airline, the Malaysian government and its air force and civil aviation department, he said.
It was not immediately clear how many lawsuits have been filed in total or how many cases have been settled in relation to MH370.
Ships in the Indian Ocean are still searching for the missing Boeing 777, in an operation that is estimated to have cost more than $130m (£92m).
Meanwhile, Mozambican civil aviation officials handed over suspected debris from the missing flight to Malaysian experts.
If confirmed, the object found by an American amateur investigator would be the second piece of known debris from the aircraft to be found.
Last year authorities found a piece of the plane's wing on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean.
The debris could provide fresh clues to the mystery of the flight. Based on satellite communications data, MH370 is thought to have crashed in the Indian Ocean.
"Currently, we are awaiting verification of two more pieces of debris which were discovered recently in Mozambique and Reunion Island respectively," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement.
An interim report will be released by the investigation team on Tuesday marking the two-year anniversary of the disappearance, he said.


Scotland delivered a record win over Italy with an aggressive and assured performance in this warm-up Test.

A brace apiece for Sean Lamont and Tim Visser, and tries for John Barclay - who staked a major claim for World Cup selection - and Mark Bennett ensured the Scots' dominance never wavered.
Michele Campagnaro capitalised on in-goal havoc to score Italy's sole try.
But the visitors' dreadful ball retention and handling meant they seldom built phases and impetus.
Tighthead prop Willem Nel anchored the Scottish scrummage impressively, earning possession and penalties, while opposite number Martin Castrogiovanni infringed three times in the opening seven minutes.
Captain Greig Laidlaw broke the deadlock from the prop's second transgression as the Scots pressed hard from the off.
Soon after, Finn Russell lofted a gorgeous diagonal kick towards the corner flag from 25 metres out, with veteran Lamont beating Guglielmo Palazzani to the ball and touching down on his 96th cap.
Laidlaw converted, and added a second penalty, as Francesco Minto strayed offside.
Barclay, starting his first Test since November 2013, drew yet another Italian infringement as he seized upon Leonardo Sarto as the winger attempted an ambitious breakout from deep.
Laidlaw kicked successfully again for a 16-0 lead.
Past frailties threatened to emerge when a rolling maul - the scourge of Scotland's Six Nations campaign - brought Italy to within a yard of the home line.
Tommaso Allan's chip into the in-goal area caused chaos in the home ranks; Tim Visser should have rescued the ball but instead played volleyball with Laidlaw.
Neither collected and Campagnaro duly pounced under the posts, Allan with an easy conversion.
It proved the only moment of concern for Vern Cotter's side.
Scotland retorted swiftly with a punishing maul of their own, rumbling at speed into the Italian 22, halted only by the cynicism of Minto, who earned himself a yellow card.
The home side kicked for corner again, rallied the forwards anew and, from the resultant drive, Barclay powered between Leonardo Ghiraldini and Angelo Esposito to ground, Laidlaw converting.
Four minutes after the restart, Visser failed to convert a glorious opportunity from a flowing first-phase move, juggling Stuart Hogg's pass and succumbing to the cover defence.
The winger had the easiest of tasks to gather Russell's floated pass and touch down minutes later, though, after Dave Denton had forged ahead up front.
Laidlaw pulled the conversion from wide on the left but kicked penalty number four on 56 minutes.
Lamont cantered in again as he picked off Quintin Geldenhuys' pass and ran in from 25 metres, Laidlaw missing from the tee.
Visser raced in from some 80 yards to ice the Scots' cake as he capitalised on Luke McLean's telegraphed pass, Russell converting, with Bennett scoring a remarkable third interception try from a similar distance with the last play, ensuring with a scoreline of 48-7 a record margin of victory over the Italians.
Scotland: Hogg, Lamont, Bennett, Horne, Visser, Russell, Laidlaw (c), Dickinson, Ford, Nel, Gilchrist, J Gray, Wilson, Barclay, Denton
Replacements: McInally, Reid, Welsh, Harley, Cowan, Pyrgos, Jackson, Scott
Italy: McLean, Esposito, Campagnaro, Morisi, Sarto, Allan, Palazzani; Aguero, Ghiraldini (c), Castrogiovanni, Fuser, Furno, Zanni, Minto, Vunisa
Replacements: Manici, Rizzo, Chistolini, Geldenhuys, Bergamasco, Violi, Canna, Masi


Customers of smaller broadband providers are much happier than those of the big three BT, Sky and TalkTalk, reports consumer group, Which?

The three largest providers received customer satisfaction scores below 50% in a survey.
Smaller providers such as John Lewis Broadband, Plusnet, Utility Warehouse and Zen Internet scored over 70%.
Which? is campaigning for greater clarity in the broadband speeds companies are allowed to advertise.
"Smaller suppliers are leaving larger rivals in their wake when it comes to the service they provide so we need to see the big players up their game," said the executive director of Which? Richard Lloyd.
The consumer campaign group says most of the internet service providers in the survey received scores of three stars when people were asked to rate their broadband speed.
TalkTalk customers were least happy, giving their provider two stars for speed.
Which? is campaigning against rules which it says allow providers to advertise broadband speeds that only 10% of their customers actually receive.


No further police action is being taken against a boy arrested in connection with the sexual assault of two girls at Legoland.

The six-year-olds were "touched inappropriately" at a playground in the Windsor theme park on 11 August.
Thames Valley Police has re-issued an e-fit image of a man officers would like to speak to in connection with the investigation.
The case was the subject of a BBC One Crimewatch appeal in September.
The boy had been been released on bail after being arrested in November.  Thames Valley Police had refused to give his age or say where he was arrested, citing "safeguarding issues".
The assaults happened between 12:15 BST and 12:30 BST in the Pirate Shores area of the attraction on a day when about 14,200 attended the theme park.
Police described the suspect as white, in his teens or early 20s, possibly under 5ft 8in tall. He was wearing dark-coloured slim-fit trousers, a dark T-shirt and trainers.
A man in his 20s, from Bracknell, was later arrested on suspicion of sexual assault but released without charge on 31 August.


Drug misuse causes 10 times as many deaths as collisions on the roads in parts of England and Wales.

Analysis by BBC News has found drug misuse deaths outnumbered road fatalities in three quarters of local authority areas between 2013 and 2015.
The number of people dying of drug misuse has recently reached a record high.
Public Health England (PHE) said it needed to ensure the most vulnerable drug users could access treatment.
Analysing data from the Office for National Statistics BBC News has found that that 75% of all local authorities in England and Wales have seen more people die because of drug misuse than on the roads.
Get the data here
There were 6,648 drug misuse deaths recorded compared with 4,683 road deaths between 2013 and 2015.
A drug misuse death is recorded when someone dies after abusing a substance or when they are poisoned by an illegal drug.
Portsmouth saw the highest drug to road death rate, where 18 people died because of drug misuse for every one recorded road fatality.
Other parts of the country such as Blackpool, South Tyneside and Brighton and Hove recorded more than 10 times as many drug deaths in comparison to road deaths.
The rise in drug misuse deaths is being attributed to the greater availability and strength of drugs like heroin.
Ian Hamilton, from the University of York, said it was "horrifying" the number of people dying has continued to rise.
"What this shows is that the issue of drug deaths is not just confined to certain areas but is in fact affecting nearly every part of the country".
The lecturer in mental health and addiction studies says a decision in 2010 to end a treatment process that saw addicts often prescribed replacement substances like methadone has had unintended consequences.
"Since a policy of total abstinence was introduced we've seen the number of people dying of drugs increase every year, I don't think that's a coincidence".
Public Health England says there is no evidence to suggest that changes in drug policy have contributed to an increase in drug deaths.
"Reassuringly, overall drug use has declined" said Rosanna O'Connor, from PHE.
"There is though a need to ensure the most vulnerable can access treatment. We know that the majority of those dying from opiates like heroin have never been involved with treatment services".


The EU has warned of increased tensions amid claims that Russia has redrawn a section of Georgia's de facto border with South Ossetia.

Georgia says Russian troops installed signs marking the "state border" of the breakaway region of South Ossetia further inside Georgian territory.
The move has left a small portion of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline under Russia's effective control.
Russia has brushed off accusations about its role.
Its troops have been patrolling the administrative border since the 2008 Russian-Georgian war over South Ossetia.
An EU foreign policy spokesperson said the installation of new signposts "had led to tension in the area, with potentially negative effects on the local population, their livelihood and freedom of movement".
"Steps that could be perceived as provocative must be avoided," the office of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.
"The EU reaffirms its full support for Georgia's territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders."
Reports say markers have been placed at least 300m (980ft) further south into Georgian territory. The new border is now just 500m away from Georgia's main highway linking the Black Sea to Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili condemned the border move as a continuation of "creeping Russian annexation".
It leaves a 1.6km segment of a BP-operated Baku-Supsa pipeline outside Georgia's territory.
However, Georgia's Energy Minister, Kakha Kaladze, and BP spokesperson Tamila Chantladze say BP has not had access to that section of pipeline since the 2008 war.
Ms Chantladze stressed that the pipeline was operating as normal.
Meanwhile a flag erected by Georgian protesters near the village of Khurvaleti, just south of the dividing line, has been removed by guards on the South Ossetian side, Georgia's Rustavi-2 TV channel reported on Thursday.
In August 2008, tensions between Georgia and Russia escalated into a full-blown military conflict when Georgia tried to retake South Ossetia after a series of lower-level clashes with Russian-backed rebels.
In the aftermath of the war, South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia and was recognised by Russia, although only a few other countries followed suit.
In April 2009, Russia bolstered its position in South Ossetia by signing a five-year agreement to take formal control of its frontiers with Georgia proper.
There have been long-standing concerns that tensions over Russia's influence in the region could have an impact on Georgia's strategic infrastructure.


A Walsall store selling nursery and childcare products has stopped trading and plans to go into liquidation, an insolvency firm said.

Customers of Kiddisave said they had paid hundreds of pounds for prams and buggies which had not been delivered.
Kay Possard, of WP Mayfield insolvency practitioners, said she expected to be formally appointed as liquidator at a directors meeting on 3 December.
The firm has been unavailable for comment.
Chloe Khan, 27, from Dudley, said she had put down a deposit of Â£878 for goods totalling Â£1,756, including a double buggy for twins she is expecting in the next two weeks, but had received nothing and was "devastated".
Miss Khan, who has an 18-month-old son, said when she had paid the deposit in late October, the firm had agreed to give her a month to pay the rest, but called her after two weeks.
She said: "They said they wanted me to fetch it because it's in the way of new stock (and said) it's going to get damaged by all the stock in the way.
"[When I said I didn't have the money] the phone went quiet, they just went 'OK' and put the phone down."
Miss Khan said the firm had now stopped trading, leaving her with "no money and no pram".
She said: "I think so many have been affected, it's disgusting."


Palestinian Christians are appealing for international support to oppose renewed construction of part of Israel's West Bank barrier.

Residents of Beit Jala - a town along the planned barrier route - made the appeal at an open-air mass among centuries-old olive trees on Friday.
They have also been waging a long legal battle, backed by the Vatican.
The barrier will separate over 50 families from their land - but Israel says it is a vital security measure.
An earlier attempt to pray at the site of Friday's mass had resulted in scuffles between Israeli border police and worshippers and priests.
At the start of the week, Israel's defence ministry began to prepare an area at the entrance to the Cremisan Valley for an expansion of the barrier.
Locals protested as some of the trees were removed by bulldozers and others were cut down.
The mayor of Beit Jala has written to diplomats from the European Union and the United States, asking them to put political pressure on Israel not to continue.
"We want people outside to come and say 'enough is enough'," says the mayor, Nicola Khamis. "Christians all over the world must stop being silent."
"What Israel is doing here is against peace. It will prevent a two-state solution [to the conflict]."
Last year, Pope Francis met residents who stand to lose access to their land in the Cremisan Valley, when he visited nearby Bethlehem.
Foreign dignitaries have also expressed their concerns to Israeli authorities, listing the separation barrier among pressures that are pushing Christians to leave the Holy Land.
Israel says the barrier is needed in the valley as a security measure to protect the Jewish settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disagrees.
Construction of the Israeli barrier began in 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada or uprising, after a series of suicide attacks.
In the Beit Jala area, at this time, there was shooting at the settlements.
Palestinians believe the ultimate aim of the barrier - which includes stretches of high concrete walls and barbed-wire fences - is to grab land.
Much of it has been built inside the occupied West Bank on land Palestinians want for a future independent state.
In April, Israel's High Court appeared to rule against proposed routes for the barrier in the Cremisan Valley, a local beauty spot filled with olive groves and orchards.
However, the court later said this prevented work only in a small area near a Salesian convent and school, and a monastery and winery.
Local church leaders - Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox - have been involved in the campaign to prevent the construction of the barrier.
"When you kill the olive trees, you kill the people here," said the Catholic priest, Faisal Hijazin, during the mass. "We pray for God to protect the olive trees, the land and the people."


UKIP members in Wales will vote on whether their leader should be allowed to continue in his two elected roles.

Nathan Gill said he would quit as an MEP if elected as an AM, but with no UKIP member to replace him he said he did not want to force a by-election.
The party's ruling National Executive Committee had threatened him with expulsion if he did not resign from one of the posts by Sunday.
But on Monday it voted to put the matter to the membership.
UKIP chairman Paul Oakden told BBC Wales it was the right thing to do.
Mr Gill did not respond to the request to step down by the deadline so was briefly expelled from the party.
But the NEC voted to reinstate him and let members decide his fate.
Mr Oakden said: "The NEC believes, as I do, that members in Wales are the best people to make this decision.
"I will now decide how to do this fairly, cleanly and as soon as possible."


Yorkshire have appointed the first female and first Asian board members in their history, subject to a vote from the club's membership.

Katherine Mathew and Hanif Malik will start their new roles in March 2017 if their nominations are approved.
Earlier this year, Geoffrey Boycott's candidacy was rejected by the members.
"It's a huge step forward in trying to bridge that void that we might currently have between the club and the South Asian community," Malik said.
He is the founder and chief executive of a healthy living centre and was awarded an OBE earlier this year.
"Certainly growing up, myself and a lot of colleagues wouldn't have perceived Yorkshire as the most welcoming club to people of a minority background," Leeds-born Malik added.
"But I think the new regime and particularly the chief executive and the chairman are really striving to make this club more reflective of the vibrant and diverse communities we've got here in Yorkshire."
Mathew, who works for East Riding Council, was elected to a committee role with the club in January 2015.
She said: "I think, to be fair, everybody is really keen to involve all stakeholders in Yorkshire cricket already.
"It's not that me being a woman will change that - it will just help broaden views slightly."
Former Yorkshire and England batsman Boycott's hopes of rejoining the board came to an end in March after chairman Steve Denison asked members not to vote for him.
"We need specialist skills on our board in relation to finance and construction - and that's the direction of the board over the next few years," he said at the time.


Burton Albion secured promotion to the Championship for the first time with a nervy draw at Doncaster that confirmed Rovers' relegation to League Two.

With third-placed Walsall thumping Port Vale, Burton needed a draw to guarantee their second consecutive promotion.
The Brewers' best chance fell to Calum Butcher, who was denied when one-on-one, but they held on to remain second.
Doncaster had needed a win, plus defeat for Fleetwood and an improbable 13-goal swing, to avoid relegation.
Burton, who won promotion to England's third tier for the first time last season as League Two champions under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, reappointed Nigel Clough for a second spell in charge after Hasselbaink's switch to Queens Park Rangers in December.
Since Clough's return, when Burton were top of League One, they have won 12, drawn eight and lost six of their 26 matches, failing to win in six games between 26 March and 19 April to set up a nervous finale to the season.
With Walsall winning 5-0 at Vale Park, Burton knew that a Doncaster winner would have denied them promotion, but Jon McLaughlin's goal was rarely threatened.
Their clean sheet ensured the club that was playing non-league football for its entire history until 2009 will face two former European Cup winners - Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest - in the Championship next season.
Doncaster, who spent five seasons in the Championship between 2008 and 2014, will return to the fourth tier for the first time since 2004.
Relegated from the second tier on the final day of the season by a last-gasp Birmingham goal two years ago, Rovers' drop to League Two was made more likely by a dismal 17-match winless run between 9 January and 9 April.
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Burton manager Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Derby: "I think it's an emotional time for everybody. It is truly, truly remarkable.
"We don't spend money we haven't got, there's no big investors, nobody puts any money in. You just run it sensibly, make good decisions, try to get good characters in the club and on the pitch and you've got a chance.
"I think it's fitting we get promoted with a clean sheet. It was a good solid performance."


Photographer Sahlan Hayes has captured a series of icy images as a cold snap continues to sweep across Australia's south-east.

The town of Crookwell in New South Wales' Southern Tablelands was blanketed in snow over the weekend. Some major roads in New South Wales and Victoria were closed because of snow and ice
There were snowy scenes across New South Wales, Victoria, and even light dustings of snow in the 'Sunshine' state of Queensland. Freezing conditions brought snow to New South Wales' Southern Tablelands
Hundreds of Queenslanders travelled south across the New South Wales border to go 'snow-spotting'. Paul Tully told the BBC he woke up at 2.30am on Sunday so his teenage son could see snow for the first time.
The RSPCA has appealed to Australian pet owners to bring domestic animals inside to escape freezing conditions.
A severe weather warning was issued on Monday for large parts of New South Wales with damaging winds gusts of up to 100km/h (28m/h) expected.


A pretend wedding, a very cheeky burglary and a really great cow are among the stories covered in Northern Ireland's weekly papers.

A heavily-tattooed driver - who claimed he could not give a blood sample due to his fear of needles - makes the front page of this week's Coleraine Times.
The Coleraine man pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and other motoring offences after he caused a crash near the Causeway Hospital in June.
It was alleged that despite having several tattoos, he refused to provide a blood specimen saying the last time he gave blood he had been left with a bruise.
On its inside pages, the paper carries a special report on teenage involvement in Northern Ireland's "massive wave of cyber crime".
The head of the PSNI's Cyber Crime Centre says the majority of offences detected by his officers have been carried out by 14-17 year olds.
DCI Dougie Grant claimed the bulk of hacking is carried out by young people whose parents believe they are playing computer games in their bedrooms.
He said that over a six-week period, the PSNI team visited 75 addresses and in 70 of the cases the suspect turned out to be a young person.
County Fermanagh's "stairway to heaven" has unleashed hell on the surrounding landscape, in this week's Impartial Reporter.
Cuilcagh Mountain Boardwalk - a wooden walkway designed to protect an environmentally important bog - has become a favourite attraction for daytrips.
But a local farmer complains to the paper that visitors have "done more damage to the area in the last 12 months than farmers have for the past 100 years".
He says day-tripping drivers are "ruining the grass verges, they are damaging the road, they are throwing out their rubbish and cups of tea on the ground".
Inside, the paper milks it by dedicating 11 pages to the Fermanagh County Show, where it seems some cows are just better than udders.
"There are good cows and there are great cows. This is a great cow," declared the judge of show's All-Ireland Dairy Cow contest.
The top prize was awarded to 'Priestland5235 PS James Rose EX95', who was by all accounts, outstanding in her field.
The "spring of rib", milk-pumping bovine produces an impressive 60 litres a day.
Despite her name, there was no divine intervention in the result - the magnificent beast is called after her home, Priestland Farm, on the north coast.
There is great excitement in County Tyrone as plans are unveiled for new shopping centre in Dungannon.
The Tyrone Courier leads with a photo of the "long vacant" site on Ann Street on the edge of the town centre.
The paper understands that Marks and Spencer has been earmarked as the anchor tenant of an 11-unit complex.
It says the possibility of a future hotel development at the site is also under consideration.
In other property news, the Courier reports that a County Kildare estate, part-owned by a Dungannon family, is being put on the market for £53m.
The Mallaghan family bought the dilapidated Irish aristocratic mansion, Carton House, in the 1970s and spent millions transforming it into a luxurious hotel and golf course.
Conor Mallaghan tells the paper his family is "extremely proud" of the restoration but said it was "now time to pass its stewardship to a new owner".
A sham wedding with a difference features in this week's edition of the Andersonstown News.
"My Big Fat Gael Weddin' saw two men "get married" in west Belfast to highlight the "solidarity" between the campaigns for same-sex marriage and an Irish language act.
Conall Mac Corraidh and Chris Mac Phaidín got hitched on the steps of the Cultúrlann - a former church turned Irish language arts centre on the Falls Road.
Same-sex marriage remains illegal in Northern Ireland, and the issue, along with calls for an the Irish language act, have caused irreconcilable differences at Stormont.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's ceremony, Mr Mac Corraidh told the paper: "It will be your standard, run-of-the-mill wedding with all the frills, suits, music, bridesmaids, rings, but I have to stress that it's a fake wedding."
The Andersonstown News also says that Irish language classes are becoming very popular in one of Northern Ireland's "most unionist towns".
The classes started when west Belfast priest, Fr Martin Magill, was transferred to a rural parish in Ballyclare, County Antrim.
"One of the things that surprised me was that, when the class got up and running, Catholics would have been in the minority of the people attending," the priest tells the paper.
"There's a greater number of people from other denominations and no denominations."
The father of an 11-year-old boy, who was seriously injured in an accident on their family farm, says he has no doubt Northern Ireland's new air ambulance saved his life.
The Mourne Observer says Conor McMullan sustained a fractured skull after he was crushed against a wall by a tractor on the farm near Castlewellan, County Down.
He became the first patient in Northern Ireland to benefit from the helicopter service, even before its official launch this week.
The Observer reports that the boy was airlifted to a Belfast hospital within eight minutes - a journey which would have taken at least 45 minutes by road.
The paper also carries photographs of flash flooding in Downpatrick, which has cost town centre businesses thousands of pounds' worth of damage.
Shops along Scotch Street, Church Street and Market Street bore the brunt of flooding after "torrential downpours" on Monday afternoon.
A cafe worker tells the paper she saw a "river running down the street", while the owner of a carpet shop says it is the 14th time his business has been flooded.
In County Armagh, a family's nine-year battle over their young son's grave makes the front page of the Portadown Times.
Jamie Stevenson was 15 when he died.  He is buried in what the council describes as a "lawn only" section of Kernan Cemetery.
His parents want a grave "surround" and personal tributes left on his burial plot - but council staff want to remove all such items from lawn only graves.
"There are people who want grass because it suits them for the council to cut it," his mother tells the paper.
"But we maintain our son's grave - the council doesn't need to do it."
In the paper's court coverage, an alleged knicker thief is accused of burgling the same house on three different dates.
The 28-year-old man is to stand trial for stealing a number of unusual items from the house in Portadown on three separate days in March.
The Portadown Times reports that on the third occasion, he is alleged to have stolen "a pair of ladies underwear and strawberries".


As the owners of a small business with just 30 members of staff, Edwina Dunn and her husband Clive Humby shouldn't have been in Tesco's boardroom.

Yet back in 1994 they had been invited to give a presentation to Tesco's directors.
What Ms Dunn and Mr Humby said that day enabled the supermarket group to double its market share in little more than a year, transformed the way many of us shop, and ultimately made the couple multimillionaires.
After they had finished their presentation, an awkward silence followed for more than a minute.
This was eventually broken by Tesco's then chairman, Lord MacLaurin, who made a remark that has gone down in the supermarket's folklore: "What scares me about this is that you know more about my customers after three months than I know after 30 years."
So what was the secret of Ms Dunn and Mr Humby's presentation?
They had shown the Tesco board that their tiny business had the software and skills to do something the supermarket group hadn't been able to do for itself - work out almost exactly what Tesco's customers were buying.
Ms Dunn, now 56, says: "It was the defining moment."
Tesco quickly gave the couple a long-term contract and used their expertise to launch the Tesco Clubcard, the world's first supermarket loyalty card.
Ms Dunn and her husband had set up their business four years earlier, in the kitchen of their home in Chiswick, west London.
Called Dunnhumby, it was one of the first companies in the UK dedicated to analysing data to best work out the spending patterns of consumers.
Building on work the couple had previously done while both employed at the UK arm of a American software business (where they had first met and married after just one year), Ms Dunn and Mr Humby had a clear division of labour.
He was the software and data expert, and she was the chief executive who would look after the day-to-day running of the business.
Their first client was UK food wholesaler, Booker.
Studying Booker's sales in depth, they were able to advise the company on exactly what its customers were buying, allowing Booker to improve its distribution network.
Thinking about this these days, many might question why Booker wasn't already doing this itself. But back in 1990 no national retailer was properly collecting and analysing its sales data.
Retailers at the time obviously knew how much they were selling of a particular product, but the key point is that they did not know what combination of items consumers were typically buying. Dunnhumby was able to provide this information.
"The thing to remember is that data was thrown away in those days... there was no such thing as data mining or data profiling, this was all new," says Ms Dunn.
In 1994 a senior manager at Tesco got in touch with Dunnhumby because the supermarket giant wanted to launch a loyalty card.
The card would give customers special offers and money-off coupons, in return for Tesco finding out a lot more about what people were buying. Only the company was having difficulty dealing with all the data.
"They were struggling with their pilot, there was just so much data that they couldn't manage it," says Ms Dunn. "Remember that computers were not what they are today.
"So we were invited in to look at their data, and told not to get too excited, as it would only be one-off."
It was the start of a 16-year working relationship between Tesco and Ms Dunn and Mr Humby.
Thanks to Dunnhumby's help, Tesco was able to successfully pilot its Clubcard across nine stores in 1994, and then launch it nationwide a year later.
Ms Dunn explains how Dunnhumby was able to make the data work: "We brought in a statistician's mindset, which was 'some of the data, some of the time'. That is what the technology people at the time didn't grasp."
So she says that while Tesco had been trying to analyse 100% of consumer data, a giant task that was near impossible at the time and very expensive, Dunnhumby was able to show that they could instead just study a 10% sample and still achieve between 95% and 99% accuracy.
"When Tesco asked its IT department how long, and how much to do the [nationwide] roll out, they said three years and £50m," says Ms Dunn.
"We said £250,000 and 10 weeks."
The launch of the Clubcard was an immediate hit with Tesco's customers, with millions of people signing up, tempted by the promise of money-off coupons, and special offers that the supermarket group had arranged with the big brand owners, such as Coca-Cola and Nestle.
In just over a year it enabled Tesco to overtake Sainsbury's and become the UK's largest retailer.
But how exactly did Dunnhumby make millions of pounds from its contract with Tesco?
Firstly Tesco paid it an annual fee, but more importantly - and much more lucratively - Dunnhumby got a share of the money Tesco started to receive from selling to the likes of Coca-Cola the vast amount of consumer data it was now collecting.
Ms Dunn describes the start of the working relationship with Tesco as an "amazingly intense phase".
Dunnhumby's workforce "immediately" went from 30 to 70, and then continued to more than double every year.
"That was the fastest we could grow, it was our maximum capacity, as we couldn't hire and train enough people," she says.
With Tesco's blessing, Dunnhumby was soon signing similar deals with supermarket groups around the world, and then in 2002, Tesco bought a 53% stake in the business.
In 2010, Ms Dunn and Mr Humby eventually sold the remainder of the business to Tesco, pocketing a widely reported £93m in total.
Ms Dunn says: "It had always been our intention to ultimately exit the business, and we had come to the end of business plan. We had exceeded our numbers, and Tesco gave us more than they had promised.
"They were happy, and we were happy. And we were tired actually... I just needed a rest."
Yet after six months of relaxation in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, Mr Humby and Ms Dunn were keen to start working again.
And so a year ago, they joined a start-up business called Starcount, which aims to study which celebrities people follow on social media, and then sell on the useful information.
"Brands need to know what [and who] people really love. Only then can they introduce their brands in a way which feels relevant and personal."
Ms Dunn happily admits that Starcount is yet to make money, but earlier this year she helped it to secure multi-million pound investment.
And while she doesn't comment on Tesco's recent woes - the supermarket group revealed in September that it had overstated its profit guidance - Ms Dunn says she hopes it will continue to be committed to its Clubcard.
Follow Will Smale on Twitter @WillSmale1


Wildlife officials in India have rescued three baby rhinos from the Kaziranga national park in flood ravaged Assam state.

The two male and one female calves are under observation, officials said.
During floods, hundreds of animals in the park move to the adjacent hills of Karbi Anglong for safety.
Kaziranga is one of the world's most important wildlife parks and is home to the highly endangered one-horned rhino, elephants, swamp deer and tigers.
Earlier a herd of elephants was photographed swimming through the flooded park and crossing a national highway for drier higher ground.
Officials had also rescued seven hog deer from the floods, they said.


David Cameron has rejected the idea he is "scaremongering" by claiming migrant camps like the "Jungle" in Calais could move to England if the UK left the EU.

The PM said a vote to leave would give French politicians the chance to "tear up" the deal which lets UK border guards check passports at Calais.
Campaigners for the UK to leave the EU say the deal is between the two countries and not an EU deal.
UKIP said the PM's claim was "based on fear, negativity and falsehood".
The 13-year agreement with France had "nothing to do with our EU membership," said Vote Leave, while Leave.EU said there was "no reason for this to change on leaving the EU".
Mr Cameron's former defence secretary Liam Fox said he was "sad and disappointed to see our prime minister stoop to this level of scaremongering", while fellow Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston said Mr Cameron was "taking voters for fools".
An in-out referendum on EU membership has been promised by the end of 2017, although it is widely expected to be at the end of June, if Mr Cameron can secure agreement to his reform proposals at the next summit of EU leaders on 18 February.
About 5,000 migrants and refugees trying to reach the UK are thought to live at the "Jungle" camp in Calais.
Under the terms of the February 2003 Le Touquet treaty between the UK and France, checks for migrants trying to illegally stow away on lorries or trains heading for Britain are carried out by British border guards at a number of French ports.
Under the system of "juxtaposed controls", which was transposed into UK law in June 2003, the UK operates immigration checkpoints in Calais and Dunkirk, while France has a checkpoint at Dover.
Analysis: By BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith
Asked about the suggestion that he was "scaremongering" by linking a vote to leave the EU with the moving of the Calais migrant camps to the south coast of England, Mr Cameron said it was a very real risk.
"There are any number of opposition politicians in France who would love to tear up the excellent agreement we have with France to make sure that we have our borders on their side of the Channel - I don't think we should give those politicians any excuse to do that," he said.
"If we can get this deal in Europe, if we can get this renegotiation fixed and we can stay in a reformed Europe, you know what you get. You know the borders stay in Calais."
The deputy Mayor of Calais, Philippe Mignonet, bolstered his case by telling the BBC: "We will have to cancel these agreements, because England won't be in Europe anymore. So that will really be a foreign country for us."
But the UK's former chief inspector of borders and immigration, John Vine, told the BBC's World at One he didn't think the UK's exit from the EU would lead to an immediate collapse in cross border arrangements with France.
"I don't necessarily think this would collapse overnight. If it didn't exist there would still be border controls. We would have to rely on the Belgians and the French," he said.
Mr Vine pointed out asylum seekers could only claim asylum once they were on British soil.
The 'Treaty of Le Touquet' is an agreement between France and the UK that has been in place since 2003 and governs border control arrangements and immigration.
The treaty ensures that immigration checks are carried out before passengers embark on cross channel services - French Border Police have immigration checkpoints at Dover while  the UK has immigration checkpoints at Calais and Dunkirk. But at Calais and Dunkirk, passengers also go through French exit checks, as well as UK immigration entry checks.
In theory this stops those seeking to reach the UK from doing so without their immigration status being checked first. But this has also led to the establishment of camps in Calais such as the so-called Jungle and previously, Sangatte.
The BBC's political correspondent Chris Mason said Mr Cameron's warning was a sign that Downing Street was planning to emphasise what it sees as the important contribution the EU makes to the country's national security.
But Vote Leave said Mr Cameron's claims had no basis in reality. "UK border controls are in France because of a bilateral treaty, not because of our EU membership, and a result of the camps in Calais, not the cause of them," said Matthew Elliott, the campaign group's chief executive.
"Clearly, No 10 is in a blind panic over the failing renegotiation."
Leave.EU co-founder, Arron Banks said: "The agreement we have to process migrants in Calais is with France, not the EU. There is no reason for this to change on Leaving the EU.
"The key issue here is that we should not have to accept migrants that have arrived from a safe country. The scandal of countries effectively waving migrants through Western Europe to our shores will only end when we are able to control our borders again."
Guide: All you need to know about the referendum
EU renegotiation: Did Cameron get what he wanted?
Referendum timeline: What will happen when?
The view from Europe: What's in it for the others?
More: BBC News EU referendum special
Mr Cameron has been touring European capitals trying to build support for his draft renegotiation package, which he has said is the basis for a new settlement for Britain in the EU but which has been dismissed as inconsequential by those wanting to leave the EU.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, a key figure in the Conservative Party, has said the case for staying or leaving is "finely balanced" and he would only decide which way to campaign when the terms of the final agreement were known.
"This is the moment to stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, squint down the barrel and only when you see the whites of their eyes should you finally let fly and decide whether to stay or leave the EU," he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.