Journalists have urged the Welsh Assembly to scrutinise what they call the "ludicrous" behaviour of news publishers Trinity Mirror.

The Daily Post is scrapping its Senedd reporter and will cover Cardiff Bay politics from north Wales by a journalist also covering transport.
Trinity Mirror said it "remains committed to covering Welsh politics at a local and national level".
The National Union of Journalists said it risked leaving readers uninformed.
Trinity Mirror publishes the Western Mail, Daily Post, South Wales Echo and South Wales Evening Post, as well as websites including Wales Online.
A number of other positions at titles in north and south Wales are also under threat.
The NUJ has called for the establishment of a media and communications committee to scrutinise the industry.
Trinity Mirror said it would employ a new reporter to cover political and transport stories, based at its newsroom in Llandudno Junction, Conwy county.
But Martin Shipton, chief reporter at the Western Mail and chairman of the Trinity Mirror group chapel within the NUJ, said the publisher showed a "lack of commitment" to Welsh politics.
"We're very concerned about the proposals that they have put forward," he said.
"They are effectively suggesting that this role should be replaced by somebody who is based in Llandudno Junction whose primary responsibility will be as a transport or traffic correspondent, blogging about traffic jams on the A55 no doubt, and having as a secondary responsibility the coverage of the National Assembly.
"Well, we think that is rather a ludicrous proposal. It's impossible to cover the National Assembly for Wales from Llandudno Junction, and it shows a complete lack of commitment to political coverage."
Staff at the Daily Post have been balloted for strike action over proposals that will leave eight roles at risk of redundancy, while creating six new posts.
Plaid Cymru's Ynys Mon MP Rhun ap Iorwerth has written to the company asking it to look again, saying it was "hugely disappointing" and a "step backwards" in the reporting of Assembly politics.
A Trinity Mirror spokesman said it was committed to covering Welsh politics.
"We believe we are better placed to do this from the community in which we serve so we are appointing a politics reporter who will primarily be based in north Wales and will continue to write about the assembly and local government issues that matter to our readership," he said.
"We're constantly reviewing what our readers want to read and adapting our newsroom accordingly.
"There is no move away from hard news or politics but we are producing additional content that we know readers are also interested in about the communities around them, including leisure, lifestyle and people stories.
"The changes announced last month will see some roles going, but a number being created, resulting in a net impact loss of two jobs.
"It is vital for the future of the media, in Wales and elsewhere, that journalism and publishing adapts to the fast changing ways readers access and consume news and content."
The company said it was working closely with the NUJ and was committed to "strengthening our newsroom to better serve our audience on an ongoing basis".
In May, Trinity Mirror announced a number of roles would close at its Swansea-based newspaper, the South Wales Evening Post.
Economy Cabinet Secretary Ken Skates said it was "always concerning" when services came under threat but he appreciated the digital impact on traditional media and its "need to evolve".
He said there were plans to establish an expert independent body to advise on the future of media and broadcasting in Wales and the remits of assembly committees were also being considered.


An aircraft carrier that served in Bosnia and the Gulf as well as helping with aid missions has been taken out of service.

Invincible-class HMS Illustrious has been decommissioned at a service at Portsmouth Naval Base after 32 years.
Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret who launched HMS Illustrious in 1978, was at the event with hundreds of veterans.
The ship will be sold but the buyer must keep HMS Illustrious in the UK.
Dr Duncan Redford, senior research fellow in modern naval history at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, said it would be interesting to see where it ends up.
He said: "The ministers in government have made it clear that they would like to see a heritage option... in the disposal plans.
"Illustrious is a big ship - there are going to be a limited number of ports and cities that will have the infrastructure that will be able to support her."
The 22,000-tonne ship will eventually be replaced by HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the final two construction projects undertaken by BAE Systems in Portsmouth.
Its White Ensign was lowered for the final time during the ceremony in front of hundreds of guests.
Captain Mike Utley, the ship's commanding officer, said: "We say goodbye to Illustrious with sadness and pride as we remember her outstanding history but also excitement as the Royal Navy looks to the future and HMS Queen Elizabeth."
The ship has sailed 900,000 miles on operations across the globe, including the aftermath of the Falklands War, helping maintain a no-fly zone in Bosnia in the 1990s and doing the same in the Arabian Gulf in 1998.
It also helped with the aid mission in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.


A number of gunshots have been fired through the window of a home in Londonderry, police have said.

The attack happened in the Whitethorn Drive area, Currynierin at 22:45 BST on Thursday.
The occupants, a couple and their young daughter, who were in the house at the time, were not injured.
Sinn FÃ©in councillor, Christopher Jackson, said: "There can be no place for guns on the streets of our city.
"The people who carried out this attack need to explain to the local community the rationale for their actions."
Mr Jackson added: "We are in a new era, we are creating a new society for the younger generation and the people of Derry just want these attacks to stop.
"I would appeal for anyone with any information on this attack to bring it forward to the PSNI straight away."


An apology by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel over the shooting death of a black teenager by police has sparked peaceful protests in the city.

He said at a city council meeting he promises "complete and total" reform after the death of Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times.
Hundreds of people blocked traffic and chanted "16 shots and a cover-up", demanding Mr Emanuel resign.
Jason Van Dyke, the white officer who shot McDonald, was charged with murder.
"I take responsibility for what happened because it happened on my watch," said Mr Emanuel.
"And if we're going to fix it, I want you to understand it's my responsibility with you.
"But if we're also going to begin the healing process, the first step in that journey is my step."
He criticised the police department for its actions and said its "supervision and leadership" had failed.
The apology was not enough for protesters, who broke through a police line and marched down Michigan Avenue, one of the main streets of the city.
Some participated in a sit-in, which appeared peaceful but blocked traffic.
A video of the shooting was kept from the public for more than a year and only ordered to be released by a judge in November.
Days of protests followed, and Mr Emanuel announced a new police accountability task force and fired the police chief, but many say the mayor was complicit in a cover-up of the McDonald case and must go.


A 32-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a Cambridgeshire father-of-two who went missing in 2007.

Terry McSpadden, 24, disappeared from his home in Elm, near Wisbech, in March of 2007.  Despite extensive searches his body was never found.
Jonathon Porter, of Outwell Road, in Elm, has been charged with murder and is being held in police custody.
Mr Porter is due to appear before Norwich Magistrates' Court on Saturday, a police spokesman said.


Prince George has joined members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for an RAF flypast to mark the Queen's official birthday.

The Queen is celebrating her official birthday with the annual Trooping the Colour parade in central London.
More than 1,000 soldiers are taking part in the traditional display of of army drill, music and horsemanship.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh travelled by carriage from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade.
The Duchess of Cambridge is making her first public appearance since she left hospital following the birth of Princess Charlotte.
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Trooping the Colour originally happened when preparing for battle.
Colours, or flags, were carried, or "trooped", down the rank so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.
In the 18th Century, guards from the royal palaces assembled daily on Horse Guards to "troop the colours", and in 1748 it was announced that the parade would also mark the sovereign's official birthday.
The Queen's actual birthday was on 21 April, when she turned 89. The Duke of Edinburgh celebrated his 94th birthday on Wednesday.
It is the 63rd time the Queen has attended a birthday parade, a record unmatched by any monarch.
The Prince of Wales, who is Colonel of the Welsh Guards; the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals; and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards, rode on horseback in the procession.
Catherine, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry travelled together in another coach.
The battalion last Trooped the Colour in 2013, but they are doing it again to mark their centenary year.
Since the last Queen's Birthday Parade, elements of the battalion have been on training exercises at home and abroad in places including the Falklands, Canada, Kenya, Kazakhstan and Belize.
Four of the five Foot Guards regiments of the Household Division - the Welsh Guards, Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards and the Coldstream Guards - are marching in the parade wearing bearskin hats and red tunics.
Among the 31 aircraft taking part are Spitfires and Hurricanes, made famous in the Battle of Britain 75 years ago, and also modern jets including the multi-role Typhoon fighter.
The Red Arrows will be in the finale.


Donald Trump has showered Vladimir Putin with praise as he and rival Hillary Clinton took pointed questions from military veterans.

The Republican presidential nominee told the forum the Russian president "has been a leader far more than our president [Obama] has been".
It came on the same day the chief of the Pentagon accused Russia of sowing the seeds of global instability.
Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, defended her judgment despite her email scandal.
The White House candidates appeared back to back on stage in half-hour segments at the Intrepid Air and Sea Museum in New York on Wednesday night.
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Quizzed by NBC host Matt Lauer on his previous complimentary remarks about Mr Putin, Mr Trump responded: "He does have an 82% approval rating."
"I think when he calls me brilliant I'll take the compliment, ok?" added the businessman.
He said Mr Putin had "great control over his country".
Mr Trump also predicted that if elected in November, "I think that I'll be able to get along with him."
The property magnate recently drew sharp criticism when he urged Russia to dig up the emails that Mrs Clinton deleted from her email server.
Gabriel Debenedetti writes on the Politico website that neither candidate did much to advance their cause, with Hillary Clinton spending "a third of the time fending off questions about her emails" while "Donald Trump struggled to explain his secret plan to defeat the Islamic State."
Time agreed, citing "plenty of unilluminating blather spewed by both candidates". It said: "The most dispiriting thing was the grim view of the world the candidates gave Americans, with their relentless focus on fighting and terror... There was scant optimism."
One focus was on the performance of NBC moderator Matt Lauer. The New York Times pronounced that the "consensus afterwards was not kind". "Mr Lauer found himself besieged... by critics of all political stripes, who accused the anchor of unfairness, sloppiness and even sexism in his handling of the event."
Lauer's main miss, it seemed, was not to press Donald Trump when he said he had not supported the war in Iraq. Vox was among those pointing to a 2002 Trump interview with radio host Howard Stern that contradicts this.
Forum moderator Lauer suffers backlash
It is not the first time Mr Trump has made admiring comments about the Russian leader.
Last December he said it was "a great honour" when Mr Putin called him "a talented person".
Mr Trump's latest remarks came hours after US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said Russia "has clear ambition to erode the principled international order".
In a speech at Oxford University, Mr Carter also appeared to allude to suspected Russian involvement in hacking of Democratic National Committee computers in the US.
On Wednesday night, Mr Trump also courted controversy over sex abuse in the military.
He stood by a comment he made three years ago when he appeared to blame such assaults on the decision to allow women in the forces.
"It is a correct tweet," Mr Trump said of the 2013 Twitter post in which he remarked: "What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?"
The 30 minutes allotted to each candidate made the proceedings feel like the political equivalent of speed-dating.
And like speed-dating gone wrong, there was plenty of time for the participants to bury themselves with their words.
Mrs Clinton once again tripped up when discussing her use of a private email server as secretary of state.
Mr Trump found new and interesting ways to show his tenuous command of policy details and shower questionable praise on a US rival.
Read Anthony's analysis in full
Mrs Clinton, who appeared first on stage by virtue of a coin toss, found herself once again on the defensive over her private email server.
A US naval flight officer told the former secretary of state he would have been jailed if he had handled classified information as she had done.
The Democratic nominee replied: "I did exactly what I should have done and I take it very seriously. Always have, always will."
The former secretary of state vowed to defeat the Islamic State group, though she emphasised: "We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again."
Mrs Clinton also said her 2002 Senate vote in favour of the Iraq War was "a mistake".
But she said it meant she was in "the best possible position" to ensure it never happened again.
Mrs Clinton also pointed out that Mr Trump had once supported the invasion.
However, in his comments Donald Trump said: "I was totally against the war in Iraq."
NBC moderator Matt Lauer came in for intense criticism after the debate for not pressing Mr Trump on the statement.
Unusually for a US presidential candidate, Mr Trump made unflattering remarks about America's military leaders.
He said the generals had been "reduced to rubble" during President Barack Obama's administration.
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton's forum offered a preview of the questions they will face in their three forthcoming presidential debates.
The first will be at Hofstra University near New York on 26 September.


A long-term commitment to fund flood defences along the route of the M4 relief road is needed before the scheme goes ahead, it has been argued.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) - which is objecting to the £1.1bn project - said the likely impact of climate change had be taken into account.
NRW was giving evidence at a public inquiry into the plans in Newport.
Lawyers for the Welsh Government said it was "inconceivable" sea defences would not be maintained.
The proposed route of the relief road would cross areas of tidal floodplain within the Severn Estuary on a raised embankment.
Gary Purnell, a technical specialist for NRW's flood risk analysis team, told the inquiry that proposals to manage tidal flood risk had not been guaranteed over the lifetime of the project.
An assumption that defences would be maintained was not satisfactory, he said.
The proposed M4 scheme would increase tidal flooding risk to properties south of the new motorway, whilst benefiting properties to the north, he claimed.
Should sea defences not be improved throughout the lifetime of the scheme there was a "serious risk of flooding in that area" in light of climate change.
Commitments to flood protection had been made in the case of the HS2 project and the Thames Tideway Tunnel, he added.
But Morag Ellis QC, representing the Welsh Government, said for NRW to query whether funding would be available was to "underplay the serious risk" that climate change posed in future.
It was the government's position that it was "inconceivable" that measures would not be put in place, otherwise vast areas of Newport and Cardiff as well as important road infrastructure, power lines and industry would be at threat, she said.
She added it was not for NRW to question government policy or the allocation of funding and that both these issues were beyond the scope of the inquiry.
NRW's evidence will continue with objections set to be discussed surrounding the road's impact on Sites of Special Scientific Interest and protected species such as dormice.
The inquiry heard that following weeks of dialogue and work to address issues between Welsh Government and NRW officials, a number of other objections had been removed.


Two Italians and a Canadian who were kidnapped in Libya in September have been released and flown to Italy, the Italian government says.

Armed men abducted the three in the south-western town of Ghat, where they were working for an Italian company doing maintenance work at the airport.
They were freed after co-operation with Libyan officials, Italy's foreign ministry said, without giving details.
There has never been any claim or public request for ransom.
Numerous criminal and armed groups are active in Libya's south-western desert.
The Italians were identified as Danilo Calonego and Bruno Cacace, and the Canadian as Frank Poccia. Their state of health was not clear.
Ghat is controlled by the Tripoli-based government of national unity.


Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri scored his second goal in four games as Sevilla briefly moved top of La Liga after winning at Leganes.

Nasri, on a season-long loan from Pep Guardiola's side, struck from close range to double Sevilla's lead after Franco Vazquez opened the scoring.
Two goals in three minutes from David Timor and Alexander Szymanowski brought the hosts level.
However,  Pablo Sarabia curled in a stunning late winner for Sevilla.
The win was Sevilla's first away from home in La Liga in 23 games and took them to the top of the table before Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid both won later in the day to reclaim the top two places.
Match ends, Leganés 2, Sevilla 3.
Second Half ends, Leganés 2, Sevilla 3.
Vitolo (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Carl Medjani (Leganés).
Attempt missed. David Timor (Leganés) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left following a set piece situation.
Foul by Vitolo (Sevilla).
Víctor Díaz (Leganés) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Vitolo (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Víctor Díaz (Leganés).
Attempt blocked. Robert Ibáñez (Leganés) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Vitolo (Sevilla) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Víctor Díaz (Leganés).
David Timor (Leganés) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by David Timor (Leganés).
Goal!  Leganés 2, Sevilla 3. Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) right footed shot from outside the box to the top right corner.
Corner,  Sevilla. Conceded by Martín Mantovani.
Ganso (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Rubén Pérez (Leganés).
Foul by Ganso (Sevilla).
Rubén Pérez (Leganés) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Sevilla. Ganso replaces Vicente Iborra.
Samir Nasri (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Vicente Iborra (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card.
Foul by Samir Nasri (Sevilla).
Rubén Pérez (Leganés) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Sevilla. Vitolo tries a through ball, but Pablo Sarabia is caught offside.
Substitution, Leganés. Darwin Machís replaces Omar Ramos.
Vitolo (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by David Timor (Leganés).
Foul by Nico Pareja (Sevilla).
Rubén Pérez (Leganés) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Sevilla. Nico Pareja tries a through ball, but Vitolo is caught offside.
Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Diego Rico (Leganés).
Substitution, Sevilla. Pablo Sarabia replaces Wissam Ben Yedder.
Goal!  Leganés 2, Sevilla 2. Alexander Szymanowski (Leganés) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Rubén Pérez with a through ball.
Offside, Sevilla. Luciano Vietto tries a through ball, but Samir Nasri is caught offside.
Goal!  Leganés 1, Sevilla 2. David Timor (Leganés) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Alexander Szymanowski.
Substitution, Leganés. Robert Ibáñez replaces Gabriel.


Ireland were edged out 2-1 by Argentina in their quarter-final encounter at the World League in Johannesburg.

It was a battling display by the Irish against the world number three side, who took a second-quarter lead through Delfino Merino's classy reverse finish.
Julia Gomes hit the bottom corner to make it 2-0 before Roisin Upton pulled one back from a penalty corner.
Ireland will play in the fifth-eighth place play-off, with the team finishing fifth earning a World Cup finals spot.
Argentina were firm favourites to progress but they were pushed all the way by a well organised and determined Ireland side.
Upton set up a tense finale after lifting the ball beyond goalkeeper Belen Succi and into the net with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Media playback is not supported on this device
The Irish forced a penalty corner in the final quarter-final but failed to convert as their hopes of producing an upset were dashed.
Ireland, who are aiming to clinch a place in the World Cup finals for the first time since 2002, a will not know their play-off opponents until all four quarter-final matches are completed on Tuesday.
Ireland: A McFerran, K Mullan (Captain), S McCay, E Tice, G Pinder, C Watkins, N Daly, H Matthews, A O'Flanagan, Z Wilson, D Duke.
Subs: G O'Flanagan, Y O'Byrne, N Evans, E Beatty, S Loughran, R Upton, L Colvin.
Argentina: B Succi, M Cavallero, M Fernandez, D Merino (Captain), A Habif, M Granatto, F Habif, R Sanchez, L von der Heyde, N Barrionuevo, J Gomes.
Subs: A Gorzelany, E Trinchinetti, A Alonso, M Campoy, M Ortiz, J Jankunas, M Mutio.


Police have offered a reward of 12,500 euros (£9,800) in the search for missing Ben Needham, who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

Officers from South Yorkshire Police are on the island for two weeks to re-appeal to local people and follow up lines of inquiry.
Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he disappeared on 24 July 1991.
His mother Kerry has always maintained her son, who would now be 26, is alive and was probably abducted.
Ms Needham said she hoped that Greece's statute of limitation laws would mean that people may now come forward in the knowledge they can no longer be prosecuted for withholding information.
Live updates on this story and others from South Yorkshire
At a press conference, Det Insp John Cousins said: "We specifically want to appeal to anyone who thinks they might be Ben. Did you have blonde hair and blue eyes as a child? Are you unsure of your background?
"I'd like any of those individuals who believe they might be Ben to come forward and speak to us. There will be no pressure on them at all.
"We have Ben's DNA and it will be very easy for us to do a quick test and confirm or otherwise."
Mr Cousins said officers were looking into calls made to the UK's Missing Persons Bureau in 1993 by an anonymous Greek person who had said "Ben was known then as  Andreas and was being cared for by a man called Nikos".
Ben vanished after travelling to the island with his mother and grandparents who were renovating a run-down farmhouse building in the village of Iraklis.
Speaking on the island where her son went missing, Ms Needham said: "The answer does lie on Kos, Ben was abducted from Kos, and someone knows on the island what happened to Ben. I think the appeal this morning by the detectives can bring that person forward.
"Every day is difficult to deal with. It seems, and it's a little bit ironic, but it's nearly 25 years and we're going back to the beginning. I wish this could have been done so many years before but unfortunately it never was allowed.
"I'm just thankful now that the Greek police and the British police are working together. The British government have given funding for this to happen.
"We need to look to the future now, to remain positive and hopefully, we can get some answers.
"There's no word to describe how much this means to me.
"I think we've got the best team of detectives on the case."
Officers travelled to Kos on Sunday, they are carrying out "house-to-house visits" and distributing leaflets and posters during the "next two weeks".
Speaking from the farmhouse where Ben disappeared, Mr Cousins said: "I'm aware there were a number of vehicles and people on this lane on the day that Ben disappeared. I'd also like to appeal to anyone that was here on this day to come forward and speak to us."
Earlier this year, the force secured £450,000 from the Home Office to investigate the disappearance of Ben for another six months.
A DNA test was carried out on a man in Cyprus in an attempt to establish if he could be the toddler, but proved negative in 2013.
In 2012, a police operation focused on a mound of earth and rubble close to where Ben was last seen, but no trace of him was found.


Kent eased their way to victory in the One-Day Cup as reigning champions Gloucestershire struggled with the bat at Canterbury.

Gloucestershire lost Phil Mustard and Ian Cockbain early on as they slumped to 29-2 from six overs and were on the back foot as they made a below-par 200.
Kent seized the initiative with Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond's 92-run opening stand putting them in control.
Denly hit eight fours and one six as Kent won by seven wickets on 203-3.
Darren Stevens hit a six to help the hosts over the line to reach 7,000 career one-day runs thanks to his 28.
Mustard joined Gloucestershire on loan from Durham on Tuesday, but will be ineligible to play against his parent club if the two sides meet in the knockout stages of the One-Day Cup, as is the case when they face each other in the T20 Blast quarter-finals on 10 August.


A left-leaning think tank looked at the tax promises of Scotland's parties and concluded that Scottish Labour's plan would raise the most revenue.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Scotland said the party could generate between £1.1bn and £1.2bn by 2020/21.
SNP income tax plans would raise £300m and the Scottish Conservatives zero.
Scottish Lib Dem tax pledges could result in added revenue of £750m and the Scottish Greens of up to £950m.
New finance powers - including setting the rates and bands of income tax on non-savings and non-dividend income - are heading to Scotland in April 2017.
Each of the five Holyrood parties have been outlining their tax and spend plans ahead of the Scottish Parliament election on 5 May.
The SNP has pledged to freeze tax rates, and will not implement UK government changes to the threshold at which people start paying the 40% tax rate.
It has also promised to raise the personal allowance to £12,750 by 2020/21 by setting a zero rate - a move which the IPPR says will cost £130m a year.
£1.2bn Labour
£300m SNP
£750m Lib Dems
£0 Conservatives
£950m Greens
Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats want to increase income tax by 1p, while Labour would also raise the additional rate for top earners to 50p.
The Tories have pledged to match UK government tax plans and therefore will raise no additional revenue, the IPPR said.
The Greens have announced plans to create new tax bands and increase the additional rate to 60%.
In March, the think-tank calculated the next Scottish government would face a £2bn annual spending gap by 2020.
Its latest research compares tax proposals already announced by the parties to what would be raised if they followed UK tax plans, assuming the UK government raises the higher rate threshold to £50,000 by 2020/21 as planned.
Russell Gunson, director of IPPR Scotland, said: "Our analysis is the first time we've been able to show how much each of the parties are seeking to raise in additional tax revenue.
"With billions of pounds of spending cuts and benefits coming to Scotland over the next few years, the balance of tax rises and spending cuts proposed by the parties needs to be front and centre of the plans they will take to the country to vote on next month.
"Ahead of manifestos being published over the course of this month, the parties need to be clear with voters as to how much, if any, tax they hope to raise - and what scale of public spending cuts and reform of our public services they're proposing."
Scottish Labour public services spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "This expert intervention shows that only Labour has a credible plan to use the powers to stop the cuts to schools and public services.
"The SNP's refusal to tax the richest will see the poorest lose out."
SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "This report shows that it is only the SNP that are putting forward balanced, reasonable and fair tax proposals that will support public services like our NHS whilst protecting households budgets."
He added that it showed "Labour's plans are a tax grab on some of the least well off in our society", while the Tories "are continuing to hand out tax breaks to the rich at the same time as they are cutting public services".
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the report showed its tax plans are "progressive", while Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie said it demonstrated its proposals are "far bolder than the SNP's", and tackle inequality, "while Labour's do not".


For many years, Panama's General Manuel Noriega was the embodiment of the terms  "military strongman" and "de facto leader".

Although he was never the actual president of Panama, he was the key figure from 1983 to 1989  - and a key US ally in Central America for four decades.
His connection with the United States dated back to the 1950s, when according to various accounts, he was recruited as a CIA informant while studying at a military academy in Peru.
Noriega, now 77, eventually became a prized American "asset" in a region that was becoming politically hostile to US interests in the wake of the Cuban Revolution.
He rose within the ranks of the Panamanian armed forces to become a key supporter of Gen Omar Torrijos, the military ruler who signed a treaty with the US to restore the Panama Canal zone to Panamanian sovereignty in 1977.
After Gen Torrijos's death in a mysterious plane crash in 1981, Noriega became the power behind the scenes as head of the security services.
The US relied on Panama as a regional listening post and Noriega obliged with unfaltering support for the Contras in Nicaragua, and in the fight against the FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador.
At the same time, he began to play an increasingly repressive role internally in Panama, especially after the assassination of Hugo Spadafora, a political opponent who was found beheaded in 1985.
Noriega allegedly played a role in the mid-1980s Iran-Contra affair, which involved the smuggling of weapons and drugs to aid US undercover efforts to support the anti-government forces opposing the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
However, the US became increasingly suspicious of Noriega amid indications that he was selling his services to other intelligence bodies, not to mention drug-trafficking organisations.
These tensions became public in 1988 when Noriega was indicted in a US federal court on drug-trafficking charges.
He was also accused of rigging elections in 1989.
By mid-December that year, ties had deteriorated so far that President George H W Bush launched an invasion, ostensibly because a US marine had been killed in Panama City, although the operation had been months in the planning.
Noriega sought refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City. The US tactic to flush him out was to play deafening pop and heavy metal music non-stop outside the building.
By 3 January 1990, it had worked and Noriega surrendered. He was flown to the US with prisoner of war status to face charges of drug-trafficking, money-laundering and racketeering.
His trial there was an international spectacle that revealed titillating details of his personal life.
At the time it was said he wore red underwear to ward off the "evil eye".
In 2007, he concluded his sentence after 17 years of confinement and public silence in a Miami federal jail.
But his legal troubles were far from over and he remained in custody.
In 1999, Noriega had been convicted in absentia in France of using $3m in proceeds from Colombia's Medellin drug cartel drug trade to buy property there.
In March 2010, the US Supreme Court agreed to a French request extradite him to Paris, where he faced a new trial for money-laundering.
Noriega, who denied the charges, was found guilty and sentenced to seven years.
His legal odyssey took another turn on 23 November when a French court approved a request from Panama to send him back home, where he was convicted in absentia of murder, corruption and embezzlement.
He refused the chance to appeal the decision and flew out of Paris on 11 December, escorted by a team of Panamanian officials and a doctor.


China has shut down the microblogging accounts of outspoken former property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang after he criticised President Xi Jinping.

The Cyberspace Administration of China accused Mr Ren of publishing "illegal messages that had a bad impact".
Mr Ren had written that state media were funded by taxpayers and should serve them, not the Communist Party.
President Xi urged state media early this month to follow party lines in their reporting.
China has been criticised for its strict internet regulations, including blocking major sites and censoring posts.
But Mr Xi has argued that countries had the right to choose how to develop and regulate the internet.
Almost 40 journalists are currently in prison in China for work posted online, the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders says.
Ren Zhiqiang is a retired top property developer with more than 30 million online followers.
His Weibo blog last week attacking Mr Xi had been criticised by state media - one referring to him as referring "anti-Communist Party" thoughts.
Internet users had to stick to the law and the fundamentals of socialism, said Jiang Jun, a spokesman for the Cyberspace Administration of China.
China has also unveiled new rules - coming into effect on 10 March - banning foreign media companies and foreign joint ventures from distributing content online without prior approval by Beijing officials.
Beijing keeps the world's largest online population under tight controls
Access to the BBC's English-language website was temporarily blocked last year
Virtual Private Network (VPN) systems are among the latest online targets
This year web users were banned from posting under famous people's names


Residents affected by the Grenfell Tower fire have vented their frustration at what they say is a lack of progress in dealing with problems.

They confronted housing minister Alok Sharma MP on why the homeless are not yet rehoused, in tense exchanges on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
The minister told them people would be offered a suitable place to live within three weeks of the fire.
Later, the Prime Minister confirmed 120 tower blocks had now failed fire tests.
And police said 80 people were missing presumed dead, but a true total of those who died may not be known until at least the end of the year.
During the TV programme, residents and survivors set out their problems in the wake of the 14 June inferno.
"I am not moving my child from here, to here, to here, to here - I want permanent accommodation," Oluwaseun Talabi, who escaped the fire with his wife and young daughter, told Mr Sharma.
"I am not going to take any house you give me, it has to be suitable.
"I was happy in my house. I work hard. I want permanent accommodation,"
He and his family have been living in a hotel room after they "lost everything".
Mahad Egal, who escaped the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower during the fire in the early hours of 14 June, described how he had been offered alternative accommodation in a high rise block. He has refused it.
"My first priority is to put suitable accommodation over my children and my wife," he said.
"These people have the right to get back their dignity. Where is the dignity?" asked survivor Sid-Ali Atmani. "I don't want Theresa (May) to go to the TV, I want her to come (here)."
The group described the practical problems they have faced in being rehoused; trying to replace burned documents; accessing funding; being unable to return to work without a permanent base; and their dealings with the authorities.
They also spoke about the psychological impacts.
Many said they had not been able to sleep since the disaster, or were haunted by images of their escape and their friends, family and neighbours who perished.
Omar Alhajali, whose brother Mohammed died in the blaze, said: "When I see (his image), I remember everything. Not only now but every night... I can't sleep."
The group were hugely critical of the local council and the government's emergency response.
Kensington and Chelsea council provided no spokesperson for the programme's debate and they were empty-chaired.
Mr Sharma, the government's housing minister, arrived to answer their questions part-way through the show.
Survivors have themselves begun to compile a list of the victims as the current official number of people who died stands at 79, but it is expected to rise.
They feel it will rise much further and are concerned the number is being downplayed.
Other residents have also voiced concerns - nearby blocks of flats and houses still lack hot water.
Simone Willis, a nurse who helped victims on the night, addressed a panel of politicians on the programme including the local MP Emma Dent Coad and London Assembly member Tony Devenish, saying: "When you're coming to these kinds of scenarios asking, 'what is needed?', think!
"You have a family, a mother, daughter, what would you need?
"This is not going to take a few shows, a few meetings, this is years of work."
Mr Sharma said the government guaranteed "people who have had their homes destroyed will be offered suitable accommodation within three weeks".
That timeframe leaves one week remaining. He initially said that would be "accommodation" and later said "temporary accommodation".
Everybody would have "good quality accommodation" he said, inviting them all to tell him their issues.
During the programme, residents raised the questions about the disaster they want to see answered by an inquiry.
They included:
Afterwards, Mr Sharma said he was going straight to the Westway emergency relief centre to hold a surgery with survivors.
At Prime Minister's Questions, Theresa May updated MPs on progress in dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.
She told MPs cladding on blocks across 37 local authority areas in England had failed tests for combustibility.
Given the "100% failure rate" she said local authorities had been told to get on with fire checks and any further necessary action.
She said 282 good quality temporary accommodation units had been identified, 132 families have had their needs assessed and 65 offers of accommodation had been made so far.
She said the lord chief justice would recommend a judge to head the public inquiry soon.
As of Wednesday morning, Â£1.25m had been paid to those affected and a further Â£1m would go to local charities and supporting groups, she said.


San Marino scored their first away goal since 2001 - but they could not prevent a 2-1 defeat against Lithuania in Group E of the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Matteo Vitaioli equalised with a free-kick after 55 minutes - but Lukas Spalvis snatched victory for Lithuania in the 92nd minute.
Vitaioli's goal was San Marino's first on foreign soil since Nicola Albani netted against Latvia in 2001.
In Group G Austria sealed qualification for Euro 2016 with a 4-1 win in Sweden.
Martin Harnik scored twice to help Das Team qualify for a major tournament for the first time since the 1998 World Cup.
Russia are now in pole position to claim the second automatic place in the same group after a 7-0 win in Liechtenstein.
Leonid Slutsky's side are now two points clear of Sweden in third with two matches remaining.
In Group C, Belarus eased to a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg, who had considered asking for the game to be postponed after 16 members of the squad contracted food poisoning.
Reigning European champions Spain remain on course for automatic qualification after a 1-0 win in Macedonia.
Match ends, Lithuania 2, San Marino 1.
Second Half ends, Lithuania 2, San Marino 1.
Fedor Cernych (Lithuania) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Danilo Rinaldi (San Marino).
Offside, Lithuania. Linas Klimavicius tries a through ball, but Fedor Cernych is caught offside.
Foul by Fedor Cernych (Lithuania).
Manuel Battistini (San Marino) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal!  Lithuania 2, San Marino 1. Lukas Spalvis (Lithuania) left footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Arvydas Novikovas with a cross.
Corner,  Lithuania. Conceded by Elia Benedettini.
Attempt saved. Arvydas Novikovas (Lithuania) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Second yellow card to Nicola Chiaruzzi (San Marino) for a bad foul.
Fedor Cernych (Lithuania) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Nicola Chiaruzzi (San Marino).
Attempt missed. Lukas Spalvis (Lithuania) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Arturas Zulpa.
Attempt missed. Fedor Cernych (Lithuania) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Arturas Zulpa.
Lukas Spalvis (Lithuania) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Lukas Spalvis (Lithuania).
Mirko Palazzi (San Marino) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Arvydas Novikovas (Lithuania) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left misses to the right. Assisted by Georgas Freidgeimas.
Substitution, Lithuania. Karolis Chvedukas replaces Linas Pilibaitis.
Attempt missed. Deivydas Matulevicius (Lithuania) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Substitution, San Marino. Andy Selva replaces Matteo Vitaioli because of an injury.
Offside, Lithuania. Linas Klimavicius tries a through ball, but Deivydas Matulevicius is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Fedor Cernych (Lithuania) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Arvydas Novikovas.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Matteo Vitaioli (San Marino) because of an injury.
Arvydas Novikovas (Lithuania) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Mirko Palazzi (San Marino).
Foul by Marius Zaliukas (Lithuania).
Danilo Rinaldi (San Marino) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Lithuania. Deivydas Matulevicius replaces Vaidas Slavickas.
Substitution, San Marino. José Adolfo Hirsch replaces Mattia Stefanelli.
Linas Klimavicius (Lithuania) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Mattia Stefanelli (San Marino).
Attempt blocked. Arvydas Novikovas (Lithuania) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Vaidas Slavickas.
Substitution, San Marino. Maicol Berretti replaces Lorenzo Gasperoni.
Nicola Chiaruzzi (San Marino) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Arvydas Novikovas (Lithuania) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Nicola Chiaruzzi (San Marino).
Cristian Brolli (San Marino) is shown the yellow card.


The Conservatives on Dorset County Council have elected a new leader after the authority's Tory leader lost his seat to the Liberal Democrats.

Former leader Robert Gould was beaten by Jon Andrews despite an overall win for the party, which retained council control at the local election.
Councillor Rebecca Knox, who represents Beaminster, was elected group leader earlier and said she was "delighted".
The new leader of the authority will be elected at full council on 18 May.
"There is much to do, we have a substantial programme of work we need to get on with, and I look forward to the opportunities we can deliver together with our valuable staff for the residents of Dorset," Ms Knox said.
Councillor Peter Wharf, who represents North West Purbeck, has been elected deputy group leader.
The Tories retained control of the county council after winning 32 of the 46 seats.
Mr Gould lost his Sherborne Town seat by 22 votes as Mr Andrews gained it with 1,493.
UKIP was left without a seat while the Liberal Democrats won 11 seats, the Green Party won two and the Labour Cooperative retained a single seat.
Colehill East and Stapehill councillor Janet Dover continues as the Liberal Democrat group leader.
She said it would be "working positively with the administration, but we will also challenge them when we need to".
Leader of the Green group, Rodwell councillor Clare Sutton, said she was "looking forward to having a stronger voice" in the council's decisions.
The local election took place amidst plans to reorganise local government in Dorset with two unitary authorities.
The authority has said it will not be revealing plans for the restructure until after the general election on 8 June.


Crawley completed a double over Newport County with a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The Reds had failed to score more than once in their previous 10 League Two games, but were dominant against Warren Feeney's side.
County striker Scott Boden opened the scoring at the wrong end when his header beat Joe Day after 36 minutes.
Shamir Fenelon then headed home eight minutes after the break, before Newport's Medy Elito was sent off with five minutes left for two yellow cards.
"It was disappointing, I don't think we got going from the first whistle, we couldn't get into a rhythm and our passing was poor," Newport manager Feeney told BBC Radio Wales.
"We have to put it to bed and move on to the next game, we are still in a fantastic position to avoid relegation and that is still my aim.
"You have ups and downs in a season and this was a down, the worst performance since I have been the manager. No-one likes to get beaten."


Investor confidence in Saudi Arabia remains strong, according to the deputy governor of a body which attracts investment to the kingdom.

That is despite an oil price that has halved in the past six months.
Sentiment is buoyed by heavy state spending and much-anticipated reforms to the Saudi stock market.
Lower economic growth is expected in the kingdom this year which is likely to experience its first budget shortfall since 2011.
The deputy governor of SAGIA, Saudi Arabia's government-run investment authority, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, told the BBC in Dubai: "We've seen investor confidence increase in 2015. That's been our observations."
Despite the lower growth forecast, Prince Saud said: "We haven't observed any negative effects to the lower oil prices from our side as an organisation."
Saudi Arabia is in a strong position to weather major cuts to its oil revenues with an estimated $750bn (Â£507bn) in foreign exchange reserves built up during the boom times.
However, during the oil rush the effectiveness of regulations to help local businesses prosper in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh have worsened, according to a World Bank global comparison report.
From the 13th best placed amongst the nearly 200 countries that featured in the 'Doing Business' report five years ago, it is now 49th. Its business climate is seen as particularly bad when it comes to resolving insolvency, starting a business or enforcing contracts.
Prince Saud, who is president of the National Competitiveness Centre, a think tank set up to improve the ease of doing business in the kingdom, said he is not concerned by the fall as long as the 70-year-old "momentum of change" in Saudi Arabia continued.
"They've changed [the World Bank/International Finance Corporation] the way they calculate specific indicators and reforms. I think this is a positive change and I think it will give us even more incentive to continue with our economic reform process," he told the BBC.
Saudi Arabia's economy still heavily depends on oil, the price of which dropped further on Monday.
That was due to oversupply fears as nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers, including the US, progressed. Should negotiations succeed, sanctions against Iranian oil may be eased.
Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, told the BBC in March that a deal with Iran could lead to a nuclear fuel race in the region. A favourable deal for Iran could lead other states in the region to develop atomic fuel, he said.
However, Prince Saud bin Khalid al-Faisal, a younger member of the House of Saud, described the "huge potential" that the lifting of sanctions would bring if the political differences with Iran could be resolved - namely expanded trade and investment for the region.
"There's a value chain there, so the more investment that we can get in the region, the better. Whether it's any country in the region. Whether it's to the north, to the south, to the east, or to the west," Prince Saud told the BBC.


A former soldier who agreed to obtain information from an army barracks for a newspaper will not face a trial, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

The former private, who is in her 20s, has accepted a conditional caution for misconduct in a public office.
The woman has agreed to make a payment of Â£40 to an armed forces charity.
She was arrested at her Nottinghamshire home under the Metropolitan Police's Operation Elveden inquiry into alleged corrupt payments to public officials.
In a statement, the CPS outlined details of the offence but did not name the newspaper or the barracks.
CPS lawyer Gregor McGill said: ''The evidence in this case was considered very carefully and although there was sufficient evidence to prosecute this offence, when considering the public interest it was decided that a conditional caution was an appropriate course of action.
''In accepting a conditional caution, an individual accepts responsibility for the offending set out.''
The former soldier was arrested in September. She was the 87th person to be held as part of Operation Elveden, which was launched after the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World newspaper.
The operation was established to investigate allegations of inappropriate payments to police but was widened in January 2012 to include other public officials. It is being overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.


A statue to commemorate one of the Pendle Witches has been unveiled in her home village of Roughlee.

Alice Nutter was one of the group of people tried for murder after being accused of using witchcraft 400 years ago.
The two-day trials in 1612 led to 10 people being hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster, after being found guilty of causing death or harm.
"It's not your stereotypical hooked nose, warts and ugly countenance," Sarah Lee, of Pendle Council, said.
"She was a dignified person and the statue reflects that."
The statue was designed by David Palmer who lives in the village and unveiled by another of Roughlee's residents, Bobby Elliott from the 1960s pop group The Hollies.
Its creation was the idea of Pendle councillor James Starkie, whose interest in the story dates back to his time as an art student in Lancaster.
Alice Nutter was unusual among the accused as she was the wealthy widow of a farmer.
She kept silent throughout her trial except to enter a plea of not guilty to the murder of Henry Mitton by witchcraft.
She was later hanged after a statement by a nine-year-old witness,
          Jennet Device
, stated she had been present at witches' coven meeting at Malkin Tower meeting on Good Friday, 1612.


A neighbour of a woman who died when a landslide engulfed her home, has told an inquest he had to clamber over a torrent of mud and water to escape.

Susan Norman, 68, died in March 2013 when the landslide, during torrential rain, poured into her flat in Looe, Cornwall, burying her in her bed.
A post-mortem report read to the jury at Truro Magistrates' Court said Mrs Norman died immediately.
The inquest is expected to last until 24 November.
More on the landslide inquest and other news from Cornwall
Mrs Norman lived in the ground-floor flat of a house split into three apartments.  It was built into the hillside with a retaining wall behind the property.
The jury also heard building work had taken place to the rear of the property before the incident.
Dwayne Bown, who was asleep in one of the first floor flats, said he initially thought a tree behind the house had fallen down before the house jolted and the ground dropped in front of him.
"I then saw mud and water coming down into the landing as I was trying to get out; the entrance was blocked completely and I had to climb over dirt and water and mud to get out," he said.
In the weeks before the landslide, the court heard a bulge had formed in the wall behind the house.
Rowan Beckingham, who lived in the other first-floor flat, said in the days prior to the landslide the landlady had told him she was commissioning repairs to the wall to the rear of the property.  He said he had subsequently witnessed builders "digging a hole in the cliff behind the house and pumping concrete into it".


A 17th century castle "lost" for more than 250 years has been rediscovered in the centre of a town on the Irish border.

26 August 2016 Last updated at 10:29 BST
An archaeological excavation in Clones, County Monaghan, had failed to uncover the castle but, unknown to experts, it was standing nearby.
County heritage officer Shirley Clerkin took BBC News NI's Julian Fowler on a tour.


Star Wars fans are being given the opportunity to become Jedi Knights and learn how to wield lightsabers in combat.

LudoSport has opened its first academy teaching seven forms of combat from the Star Wars world using flexible blades mounted on weighted hilts.
The sport began eight years ago in Italy but has only just come to England with the first classes in Cheltenham.
Instructor Jordan Court said people were already "hooked".
The classes in Cheltenham began last month. So far there are six pupils, but this number is expected to increase.
Mr Court attended an international boot camp to learn the different stages of the sport which range in characteristics from defensive in stage one to "aggressive and flamboyant" in stage four and "unpredictable" in stage seven.
The 34-year-old said fighting with "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age" was a childhood dream come true.
"My brother and I used to steal our Mum's bamboo garden canes to fight with," he said.
The lightsabers used in the sport are all hand-made and are provided for use during the classes, Mr Court said.
The sport is so new to England that there have only been a handful of classes so far but Mr Court said there were plans to begin teaching in Bristol by the end of October... if "the Force" was with the academy.
Lightsaber Combat Academy
There are several ranks for those wishing to become a fully-fledged Jedi Knight:


Some weather presenters look set to lose their jobs as MeteoGroup is named as the company to replace the Met Office as the BBC's weather forecaster.

In an online blog, the project director for BBC Weather procurement, Nigel Charters, said the "vast majority" of presenters would be kept on.
The Met Office confirmed it had lost its BBC weather forecasting contract in August last year.
MeteoGroup will take over in the spring of 2017.
"MeteoGroup is honoured to have been chosen to partner with the world's leading broadcaster," its chairman Richard Sadler said.
"The BBC is dedicated to offering the best possible weather service to its audience and it has been a demanding selection process."
In Mr Charters' blog he said he was "extremely pleased" about the announcement, and that it would save the corporation "millions of pounds".
"We have taken forward the strongest bid based on best possible service and value for money for the licence fee payer.
"These services will hit your screens, from mobile to television, in spring next year. And at a time when we need to make big savings across the BBC, it will also save us millions of pounds over the next seven or so years.
"Some things won't change, though. We know how fond people are of our weather presenters. We have taken steps so the vast majority of our well-known and much-loved presenters will continue to front BBC Weather."
The BBC weather app, which has seen more than 15 million downloads, will also be upgraded, Mr Charters said.
The Met Office had provided the data used for BBC forecasts since the corporation's first radio weather bulletin on 14 November 1922.
The BBC said last August that it was legally required to secure the best value for money for licence fee payers and would tender the contract to outside competition.
MeteoGroup, which already provides weather services to Sky and Channel 4, is the UK's largest private sector weather business, with offices in 17 countries around the world.
It started out as MeteoConsult in the Netherlands in 1986 as the first major European weather business in the private sector, and its London headquarters were established in 2005.
The company PA Group, the parent company of the Press Association news agency, acquired a majority share in the MeteoGroup in 2005 and it was sold to global growth equity firm General Atlantic in 2014.


A police officer battled to save a dying motorcyclist after spotting him lying in the street after a crash.

The constable gave the 44-year-old first aid before paramedics arrived but the rider died at the scene.
He was found in St Chad's Queensway, Birmingham, close to the junction of Whittall Street at about 06:00 BST.
CCTV footage is being reviewed to assess how the crash happened, involving a man from Handsworth.  His relatives have been informed.
Pc Chris Ridge said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the man.
"We're working hard to establish the cause of the crash and need people's help.
"There is some suggestion that a second motorbike was travelling in convoy with the deceased's bike.
"While we check CCTV footage to see if that's the case, I'd ask that anyone who was in the area at the time to pick up the phone and tell us what they saw."


South Africans have been paying tribute to renowned jazz musician Thandi Klaasen who has died aged 86.

President Jacob Zuma said the nation had lost a leading pioneer of jazz who promoted a "cosmopolitan culture".
Born to a shoemaker and a domestic worker in racially segregated South Africa, she performed with US stars such as Roberta Flack and Patti LaBelle in a career of more than 50 years.
Klaasen was battling pancreatic cancer at the time of her death.
"She was a role model to many of our young and upcoming musicians and her legacy will live on for generations to come," Mr Zuma said in a statement.
As a teenager, Klaasen's face was permanently disfigured in an acid attack by a jealous rival.
Recalling the incident, she said that "even if people in the street make you feel like you have leprosy or like you're dirty... you must be strong".
Klaasen grew up under white minority rule in South Africa, and gained a reputation for fighting both racism and sexism.
"Her career as a singer and dancer began in the mid-1950s when the apartheid and patriarchal system were entrenched but that did not deter her from pursuing her dreams," the governing African National Congress women's wing said in a statement.
Analysis: Milton Nkosi, BBC Africa, Johannesburg
Affectionately known as Sis Thandi, Klaasen was not just a brilliant jazz musician. She was far more than that. She was the very embodiment of triumph over adversity.
The horrific acid attack on her face did not dim the fire in her soul to share her rare talent in the arts. She also survived intolerable racial obstacles which were experienced by many black artists during the dark days of apartheid in Sophiatown, which was demolished by the then-minority regime as part of its policy of promoting segregated living.
Klaasen became a pillar of support for younger female artists like Mara Louw and many others by offering her wise counsel on issues that where outside the realm of jazz.
World renowned musician Sipho  "Hotstix" Mabuse put it aptly when he said: "Sad news. Rest in peace Thandi Klassen, always humble and so gracious. We have lost a giant of South African music."
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said Klaasen had a "silky smooth voice which serenaded audiences the world over".
"How much richer we are having heard her sing. How much she touched our spirits and made us complete beings in a world in which things were falling apart," he added.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance described her as a "guiding light" in the arts industry.
"South Africa is a country filled with talent and hope, and Thandi Klaasen's story shows what we can achieve - even in the most difficult of circumstances," it added.
Mr Zuma gave her one of South Africa's highest awards, the  Order of the Baobab, in 2006  for her "excellent achievement in and contribution to music".


In 1964, Justice Potter Stewart of the US Supreme Court famously gave up looking for a legal definition of pornography and declared, "I know it when I see it."

Will the British government's plan to define extremism face the same problem?
That's just one of the unanswered questions from the prime minister and home secretary's plan to make a counter-extremism bill a central piece of the new government's programme.
The proposed policies were first floated last year - but didn't make it into law because the coalition partners couldn't agree on them.
Top of the list are banning orders for extremist organisations that seek to undermine British democracy, but fall short of the legal test to be outlawed under terrorism legislation.
Second, ministers want to create extremism disruption orders, which would be used to restrict the activities of people they believe are grooming and radicalising young people.
We've no idea yet how they will work in practice, but they might operate a bit like anti-social behaviour orders which have to pass various tests before a court.
The government also wants powers to close premises used by extremists - that's something that has been floated time and again since Tony Blair was prime minister.
And finally, there will be a raft of powers designed to stop extremists entering the UK, abusing charitable status or the airwaves.
Hate crimes and terrorism are easy to define in clear terms because they both involve the intention to cause some kind of harm to another. But can you define extremism?
The home secretary gave her definition earlier this year.
"Some say we cannot base a counter-extremism strategy on British values because it is too difficult to define them," she said. "But we are not calling for a flag to be flown from every building, or demanding that everyone drinks Yorkshire Tea and watches Coronation Street.
"Our definition of extremism is 'the vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs'.
"And we regard calls for the death of members of our armed forces as extremist behaviour. This is a limited, practical and inclusive definition - and I challenge anybody to say it is unreasonable."
On the other hand, critics say that's a totally subjective test, which will simply attack free and open debate.
Definitions are going to be really important because if Parliament does not give the courts a clear explanation of what is and what is not extremism, the various banning orders could result in an endless loop of legal challenges relating to human rights and freedom of speech.
If you want the home secretary's answer on where the line lies, listen to her BBC Radio Four interview this morning - it's not yet clear.
Legal issues aside, this package is part of a shift in focus.
The UK has a massive toolkit of counter-terrorism laws already in place, including recently created orders to temporarily ban some British suspects from returning home.
The proposed new tools are part of an extended strategy to "disrupt" extremists enough to create opportunities to bring vulnerable people back from the edge of becoming a danger to society.
But there are also practical questions.
First, could such bans work without tying up the resources of the security services or leading to accusations of a "police state"?
MI5, for instance, already has triage-like systems to prioritise watching the most dangerous people - it can't monitor everyone with dangerous views.
What's already clear is that some chief constables don't want to be in the game of policing thought.
Undercover police have long monitored domestic extremism, but the allegations of historical wrongdoing by Scotland Yard, including watching some MPs, has led the home secretary to order an inquiry.
Second, could bans be enforced?
Margaret Thatcher's broadcasting ban against Sinn Fein didn't work. And today, as fast as social media companies take down accounts run by supporters of the self-styled Islamic State, they pop up again in a different guise, as my BBC World Service documentary series explains.
So in the internet age, can any government really hope to silence the extremists unless it's got a plan to defeat their ideas?


Hans Rosling, a Swedish professor of global health and well-known public educator, has died aged 68, his Gapminder foundation has announced.

Mr Rosling was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year ago and died in Uppsala, Sweden.
He was known for lively presentations that used data and animation to explain global development in a compelling way.
His Gapminder co-founders said that they would continue to fight for "his dream of a fact-based worldview".
Mr Rosling was a professor of global health at Sweden's Karolinska Institute but decided to "drop out" in 2007 to dedicate his time to Gapminder, which allows users to create their own data visualisations.
Hans Rosling: Five ways the world is doing better than you think
The Joy of Stats: 200 countries, 200 years, 4 minutes
He co-founded the foundation with his son Ola Rosling and daughter-in-law Anna Ronlund in 2005.
In a statement announcing his death, they said the time he dedicated to Gapminder "made him a world-famous public educator, or Edutainer as he liked to call it".
Hans Rosling became widely known after a talk he gave at a Technology, Media, Design (TED) conference in 2006 called "The best statistics you've never seen" was watched millions of times online.
In it, he used animated bubble charts to show how developing countries were catching up in development indicators with the West, presenting in the style of a sports commentator.
Mr Rosling presented Don't Panic: The Truth About Population on BBC2 in 2013, which included a demonstration of how British university graduates would be outperformed by chimpanzees in a test of knowledge about developing countries.
He enjoyed debunking myths about the changing world, including fears of massive overpopulation due to decreasing child mortality.
"I've watched people have this 'aha' moment when Hans speaks," Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation told the journal Nature last year. "He breaks these myths in such a gentle way. I adore him."
Gapminder was set up to provide a view of the world different to that which most people would imagine from reading news headlines, its website says.
Facts, Mr Rosling believed, could correct "global ignorance" about the reality of the world, which "has never been less bad".
The Swedish professor was listed as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People globally in 2012 and gave advice to charity leaders, technology company executives and globe-trotting politicians like Al Gore.


For Sam the Spaniel, a police career offered a second chance at life.

He was in a pound before being rescued and ending up with the PSNI, where he is now a highly-trained search dog.
For the past year-and-a-half he's been helping police sniff out drugs, cash and firearms throughout Northern Ireland.
It's a dog training programme that is proving very successful as shown by Mike, who was named as the best police dog in the UK earlier in May.
He took first place at last weekend's National Police Dog Trials at Stormont.
His PSNI colleague, and fellow Belgian Malinois Finn, took the runner-up spot, beating off competition from 18 of the UK's most skilled police dogs.
It was the first time in the tournament's 56-year history that a police force achieved both first and second places.
Despite the success, not every dog is cut out for the police according to Sgt Mark Jordan, who has been working with the PSNI's dog unit at Steeple in Antrim for the past nine years
"A police dog just needs to be very, very agile, very confident in itself and willing to please its owner," he said.
"And sometimes it just needs to be what we would call a bit nuts, and then we're able to gel them into what we want them to do."
While Mike and the other so-called general purpose dogs are no strangers to public order situations, their day to day work involves much more.
"Our police dogs are available 24/7," said Sgt Jordan.
"They would most of the time be used for things like searching for missing persons and people who have mental health issues.
"If we don't get them soon then they're open to exposure and things like that and we have found missing persons like that and saved their lives.
"In everything we do, it's about keeping people safe."
One of the newer recruits is 11-month-old Zorro.
He is in training, but by the time September comes he'll be a fully operational general purpose dog.
He is learning to track and search for people, how to behave during public order situations and also criminal bite work.
Zorro will have to complete an intense 12-week training programme before he'll be allowed to join his handler on the front line.
The bond between dog and handler is such that the animal lives and works with the trainer full-time.
Sgt Jordan said: "Handlers look after these dogs from when they are a pup until they retire so the bond is very strong.
"It can be very rewarding but also very frustrating work - they do say never work with children or animals.
"Normally when it goes right, it is very rewarding.
"This is probably the best job in the police, but just don't tell anybody else."


A 92-year-old woman facing deportation has been given permission to stay in the UK.

More than 150,000 people signed a petition supporting Myrtle Cothill, from South Africa, who had been ordered to fly home by the Home Office.
Mrs Cothill has been cared for by her daughter in Dorset since coming to the UK in 2014.
The government has granted limited leave to remain due to "compassionate and exceptional circumstances".
The widow, who came to the UK on a tourist visa, has heart problems, is losing her eyesight and cannot walk unaided.
She sold her house in South Africa, so she could live with her daughter Mary Willis in Poole, but did not apply for UK residency.
Mrs Cothill had been ordered to take a flight back to Johannesburg on 23 February after her case was heard by immigration tribunals, but the Home Office halted proceedings pending a medical report.
The second of her immigration tribunals had earlier concluded it was "implicit" Mrs Cothill entered the UK as a visitor "by deception" because, among other things, she disposed of her property in South Africa before leaving the country.
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said Mrs Cothill's family had since provided further evidence about her health and fitness to travel.
He said: "I asked that this evidence be carefully considered as a fresh application under the rules.
"In the light of this assessment, I have decided that Mrs Cothill should be granted limited leave to remain in the UK with her family given the compassionate and exceptional circumstances of this case."
The decision was made on the basis that Mrs Cothill will have no recourse to public funds, including the NHS.
Mrs Cothill said the decision was "too wonderful".
She said: "I feel like a weight has been lifted off me, I want to thank everyone who has supported me. Last month has been really horrendous."
The medical report concluded there was a "considerable (and heightened) risk of mortality" within three months if Mrs Cothill returned to South Africa.
Her daughter Mary said it was the "best Mother's Day present we could have hoped for".


Hillary Clinton is "healthy and fit to serve" as US president, says her doctor, as her campaign released updated medical information.

The statement said the Democratic presidential nominee "continues to improve" after a pneumonia diagnosis.
The disclosure came as her Republican rival Donald Trump released health data of his own on a medical chat show.
Clinton aides say she will return to the campaign trail on Thursday after falling ill in public at the weekend.
Both candidates, among the oldest ever to run for the White House, have been under intense pressure to share more medical information.
Health issues have dominated the race for November's election since a dizzy spell forced Mrs Clinton, 68, to leave a 9/11 ceremony in New York on Sunday.
Her campaign said on Wednesday that her physician found her complete physical examination was "normal" and she is in "excellent mental condition".
Dr Lisa Bardack said Mrs Clinton was "recovering well with antibiotics and rest".
What is 'walking pneumonia'?
A history of US presidential bad health
The campaign said she had a chest scan on Friday that showed a "mild, non-contagious bacterial pneumonia".
Mrs Clinton - who has been recuperating at her suburban New York home - was treated with an antibiotic called Levaquin, which she was prescribed for 10 days.
"She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States," concluded Dr Bardack in the letter.
The physician said Mrs Clinton was up to date on all vaccines, including two given to help prevent pneumonia, Prevnar and Pneumovax.
The letter did not state when she received those vaccines.
Mrs Clinton's blood pressure (of 100 over 70) and total cholesterol (189) were all within healthy levels, according to the letter.
The former Secretary of State also had a normal mammogram and breast ultrasound, said the doctor.
She takes thyroid and allergy medicines and the blood thinner Coumadin, prescribed after she suffered a blood clot resulting from a 2012 concussion.
The blood clot was said to have been in a vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear.
The complication led Mrs Clinton to spend a few days in hospital and take a month off from her job at the State Department.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, has said he is planning to release details this week of a recent physical.
The Republican White House nominee handed over a one-page summary of that examination while appearing on The Dr Oz Show.
He told the host he is 236lb and 6ft 3in tall, which would make him clinically overweight.
The syndicated television show will not be broadcast until Thursday and the campaign declined to immediately disclose the results.
Mr Trump told a rally in Canton, Ohio, on Wednesday night that he doubted Mrs Clinton would have the stamina to lead one of his events.
He asked the crowd: "You think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour and do this? I don't think so, I don't think so."
Mr Trump later said she was "lying in bed, getting better".


Brazil's tourism minister has resigned, in a move that adds pressure to embattled President Dilma Rousseff.

Opposition lawmakers want to remove Ms Rousseff over claims she manipulated accounts to hide growing deficit.
Officials from her coalition allies, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), will vote to leave the alliance on Tuesday, members said.
Tourism Minister Henrique Eduardo Alves became the first PMDB member to stand down from government on Monday.
What has gone wrong in Brazil?
Rousseff faces a perfect storm
Ms Rousseff, a former political prisoner during Brazil's military government, began her second term in office 14 months ago.
But her popularity has plummeted amid corruption allegations around senior members of the governing Workers' Party.
The speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, agreed in December to open impeachment proceedings against her.
Last week, Ms Rousseff, who denies wrongdoing, said the procedure amounted to a coup. She spent Monday meeting officials from the PMDB ahead of that party's national leadership meeting on Tuesday.
But a number of MPs from the PMDB said ahead of the meeting that most members had already decided to abandon the coalition.
"On Tuesday we will be disembarking from this government," Senator Valdir Raupp told Reuters.
The PMDB is headed by Michel Temer, Ms Rousseff's deputy, who would become president should she be removed.
The loss of support by his party's 69 MPs could have consequences for the impeachment proceedings. Ms Rousseff needs the support of a third of the 513 members of the lower house of Congress to stave off impeachment.
The Workers' Party has been in power since Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in for his first term in 2003.
It has been hit by a long-running investigation into bribes from contractors working for state oil company Petrobras.
A recent attempt by Ms Rousseff to appoint Lula as her chief of staff was seen by critics as an attempt to shield him from money-laundering charges - which he denies - connected with the case.
His appointment was blocked by a judge earlier this month.
Lula said on Monday he expected his successor to survive growing pressure, and said he would speak to Mr Temer to work out how to save her job.
Protests involving tens of thousands of people have taken place across Brazil to call for Ms Rousseff's impeachment.
According to poll by the Datafolha poll in late February, only 11% of respondents across the country said the president's performance was "good or excellent".


Most tennis fans go to Wimbledon expecting to face strawberries and cream instead of 100mph serves.

But for a County Wicklow man, nothing would stand in the way of getting a rally with Belgian grand slam winner Kim Clijsters - not even having to borrow a set of tennis whites.
Chris Quinn, from Greystones, was unexpectedly challenged onto the court during an invitational match on Friday.
After shouting to the star from his seat, Clijsters invited him to play.
Realising he was not in regulation tennis whites, she grabbed spares from her own kit.
The video of him facing a serve has racked up over two million hits on Wimbledon's YouTube channel.
For Chris, it was all a bit of "light-hearted" fun at a ladies' invitational doubles match.
He said the match was slightly less serious that what goes on at centre court, and that the spectators had been interacting with the players throughout the game.
"Kim had said to the audience, 'will I serve left or right?' and I said 'body serve', and the next thing you know, she responded to my shout-out by saying, 'do you think you can handle my serve?'"
Mr Quinn, who is the captain of Greystones Lawn Tennis Club, immediately hopped onto the court for a once-in-a-lifetime sporting moment.
He did not, however, expect to be pulling on one of the four-time grand slam winner's skirts.
"Before she was about to serve to me, she runs over to her bag, pulls out what I thought was a pair of shorts, but as she got closer I realised it was a skort," said Mr Quinn.
But not to be deterred, the Greystones man was a good sport and wriggled the skort up around his hips - game on!
"I wasn't leaving the court until I got to play against Kim Clijsters so did I pull them up? Absolutely and I'd do it again," he said.
Since last week's wow moment at Wimbledon, Mr Quinn has had the chance to talk to Clijsters again - and he thanked her on Twitter for being such a good sport.
She also let him keep the now infamous skort, and Mr Quinn is putting it up for auction to raise money for charity.
He said the day had been absolutely fantastic, and that "life's too short not to say yes to things like that".
"It's not every day you can say you've shared headlines with Roger Federer on the Wimbledon page, that's one off my bucket list."


An Egyptian human rights lawyer has been sentenced to five years in jail and 300 lashes by a court in Saudi Arabia, his former lawyer says.

Ahmed al-Gizawi was convicted of drug trafficking by a court in Jeddah, in a case which sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries.
Mr Gizawi was arrested in April with more than 20,000 anti-anxiety drugs, which are banned in Saudi Arabia.
Egyptians protested at his arrest, and the Saudis recalled their ambassador.
The fallout was the worst between the two countries since Saudi Arabia severed ties when Egypt signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979. The two powers restored relations in 1987.
Another Egyptian who was arrested in connection with the same case was sentenced to four years in prison and 400 lashes, and a Saudi national jailed for two years and sentenced to 100 lashes, AFP news agency reports.
Egyptian activists say Mr Gizawi was held after lodging a complaint against Saudi Arabia for its treatment of Egyptians in its prisons.
His family said he had gone to perform a pilgrimage.
But Saudi authorities doubted this account, saying Mr Gizawi was not wearing white pilgrims' clothes when he was arrested.
He was detained at Jeddah Airport after officials found the anti-anxiety medication Xanax in his luggage.
"These verdicts are lenient" given the defendants' "good morals... and the lack of judicial precedents" the judge at the hearing said, according to AFP.


A new index suggests that African countries are among the world's worst places to be old in.

Media playback is unsupported on your device
1 October 2014 Last updated at 19:45 BST
The Global AgeWatch Index 2014 measures the social and economic welfare of those over 60 in 96 countries.
According to the index, Norway comes on top and the worst country is Afghanistan, followed by Mozambique.
Here's the story - in 15 seconds.


The economic cost of supporting someone with autism over a lifetime is much higher than previously thought, research suggests.

It amounts to £1.5m in the UK and $2.4m in the US for individuals with the highest needs, say UK and US experts.
Autism cost the UK more than heart disease, stroke and cancer combined, said an autism charity.
But only £6.60 per person is spent on autism research compared with £295 on cancer, according to Autistica.
The research looked at the costs to society of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in both the UK and US.
Autism cost the UK at least £32bn a year in terms of treatment, lost earnings, and care and support for children and adults with ASD, found the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics.
This compared with £12bn for cancer, £8bn for heart disease and £5bn for stroke, said Autistica.
The figures showed a clear need for more effective interventions to treat autism, ideally in early life, to make the best use of scarce resources, said lead researcher Prof Martin Knapp, of the London School of Economics and Political Science, in London.
"We need to use our resources earlier, identify people earlier and try to provide therapies and support that makes it easier to manage the condition," he told BBC News.
He said new government policies were also needed to address "the enormous impact on families".
Christine Swabey, chief executive of the autism research charity, Autistica, said there was an "unacceptable imbalance" between the high cost of autism and the amount spent on research.
"The right research would provide early interventions, better mental health, and more independence," she said.
"But right now we spend just £180 on research for every £1m we spend on care."
Commenting on the study, Prof Emily Simonoff, of King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, said the finding was important because of the "relatively low amounts of research funding that go to mental health, despite its huge burden".
More than 600,000 people in the UK have autism, a developmental disorder that can cause problems with social interaction, language skills and physical behaviour.
The disorder varies from mild to so severe that a person may be unable to communicate and need round-the-clock care.
Follow Helen on Twitter.


Two bibles believed to be about 200 years old have been stolen from a church in West Lothian.

The red leather-bound books were taken from Abercorn Parish Church between Sunday 17 July and 24 July.
They are approximately 2ft by 1ft in size and about 5in thick. Each has distinctive brass plating on the corners.
The bibles were donated to the church by the Hopetoun family and have "considerable local historic value".
PC Andrew Young, who is based at Broxburn police station, said: "Both bibles hold considerable value not only in monetary terms but also have historic significance for the local community.
"We are extremely keen to recover these items and return them to the church as quickly as possible."


Ministers from countries conducting air strikes against the Islamic State group are to discuss intensifying the military campaign.

The meeting on Wednesday in Paris, the first of its kind, will involve defence ministers from countries including the UK, the US, Germany and France.
It is expected to discuss strengthening military operations in Iraq and Syria.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the coalition aimed to "dismantle" the group's "structure and capabilities".
In December MPs voted in favour of UK airstrikes against the militant group in Syria.
The UK has been carrying out airstrikes against the group in Iraq since 2014.
Mr Fallon will say: "We have made strong progress in recent weeks.
"Now the campaign is moving into a new phase where we aim to systematically dismantle Daesh's (also known as the Islamic State group) structure and capabilities.
"That means striking harder at the head of the snake, with an increased focus on infrastructure, lines of communication and supply routes."
The meeting comes as government figures show that UK air strikes have risen from a monthly average of 29 between May and October last year to more than 80 in December.
In January the RAF conducted 31 strikes in the first week alone.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the UK will also deploy HMS St Albans to patrol the waters of the Gulf, protecting the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle as strike operations are conducted.
St Albans will also perform a similar role for the US carrier Harry S Truman, the MoD added.
Meanwhile on Wednesday Mr Fallon will also announce that nearly 1,000 British troops are to be sent to Poland for Nato exercises.
The UK is sending about 800 military personnel for Exercise Anakonda and 150 personnel to Exercise Swift Response, Michael Fallon will say.
Mr Fallon is due to confirm the deployment after talks with his Polish counterpart Antoni Macierewicz.
A further 1,000 personnel will also be sent to Nato's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2020, he will add.
Mr Fallon and Mr Macierewicz are expected to discuss the security relationship between the two countries when they meet in Edinburgh.
The frigate HMS Iron Duke will visit Poland on Nato duties this summer.
The helicopter carrier HMS Ocean will also take part in a Baltic Sea exercise, and a Royal Navy minehunter is due to visit Poland in the autumn.


Author and "earth skills" expert Claire Dunn explains why she scooped a kangaroo carcass off the road for the sake of fashion.

On the Australia Day long weekend, I did something more traditionally Aussie than snags [sausages] on the barbie or sunburn on the beach. I tanned a kangaroo hide.
It was only after I had mentioned it casually to a friend on Facebook who replied "Ba ha ha - what a message!" that I remembered hide tanning was not your usual backyard hobby.
Nor was it mine, until 2010 when I embarked on a year-long Independent Wilderness Studies Program, living off the land in a forest on the north coast of New South Wales.
The experience quickly dispelled any romantic notions of wild living. I remember one night, my palms bleeding from fire-lighting blisters, standing under a shelter with rain pouring in and wondering what I was doing.
But overall I loved it. The rawness and physicality of living outdoors, the intimacy with the elements, and the time to just wander without time or destination.
Alongside a curriculum of matchless fire-making, shelter building, hunting and gathering, primitive pottery and bird language, I learned the art of "brain tanning".
Every animal, so I'm told, has enough brains to tan its own hide, the fats and chemicals contained within being the alchemical ingredient to turn skin into suede.
I still struggle to imagine by what experimental process this equation was first discovered, but the proof is smooth against my own skin on the occasions I don my matching hide skirt, top and bag.
On Australia Day, it's been a year or so since my last tanning effort, and I'm a little daunted as I rescue my 'roo hide from the lime bath it has been soaking in and fling it onto the fleshing beam which is used to scrape off flesh and skin.
With the hair half falling out, it's hard to connect the object in front of me to the animal I scooped off the side of a road in far north Queensland last winter.
During the "bush year", roadkill roo provided me with a regular source of food, as well as leather. I didn't eat this one but salted and dried the hide for safe keeping.
My tanning companion is Michelle Yang, who is working on a deer hide from a nearby venison farm. She emerges from the kitchen with a bucket of what appears to be strawberry milkshake. Submerging her hands and the hide within it, Michelle looks up at me with a grin.
"I'm fine with the ick factor now, but the first time I saw brains being mushed up for tanning I almost upchucked," she says.
My shoulders soon remember the arduous process of turning stinky skin into leather. Into the night I lean my weight against the beam, and painstakingly scrape off layers of snotty epidermis until the matrix of small fibres underneath appear, each patch as unique as a fingerprint.
Looking closer I'm struck again by how incredible skin really is - thin, flexible, water wicking and so strong.
Michelle is several steps ahead of me, working the deer's skin with practiced fingers. She turned her suburban Melbourne backyard into a traditional tannery after learning the skill during a visit to the US. She works with rabbits too.
It's a passion that's turned into a business. Michelle ran her first Backyard Buckskin course this year.
"I just love the craft of it, the re-learning of what used to be such a part of indigenous life," she says.
"I also love that I'm making use of something that would be otherwise thrown out, and turning it into beautiful, durable clothing that I can also throw in the washing machine."
Michelle is not the only hide-tanner of my acquaintance. She's part of a loose east coast collective who gather occasionally to practise these and other "earth" skills.
Among them is Dan White, a life coach from northern NSW who picks up carcasses of wallabies near his home to feed both his dogs and his penchant for hides.
"If anyone took a look in the back of my van and saw plastic bags, knives, and rope they might be a bit worried," Dan says.
With a house adorned with "chicken bits, possum handbags, roo hides, wings and bones", Dan seems to loves the shock value it provides his guests.
"People think I'm a fruit loop, but then when I explain to them why I do it they get it," he says.
"Rather than about death I'm cherishing the life of these animals, it makes me feel closer to them. What's not normal to me is buying meat wrapped in plastic at the shop."
I feel that same sense of closeness to the roo on Australia Day, although the holes I'm accidentally scraping are making it look more like Swiss cheese than a potential pair of shoes.
My hide emerges from the brain bath like a cross between chamois, modelling clay and a rubber mat. Rain dampens our plans to soften and smoke the hides (another long and tiring process), so I return mine to the freezer until a later date.
Perhaps I'll make it an Australia Day ritual, an honouring of a lost art that also honours the lives of our wildlife.
Claire Dunn is a writer, rewilding facilitator and barefoot explorer. She is the author of My Year Without Matches: Escaping the City in Search of the Wild.


Permian won the Dante Stakes at York and boosted the Derby credentials of non-runner Cracksman.

The 10-1 winner, ridden by Franny Norton, saw off favourite Benbatl in second with Crystal Ocean third.
Cracksman, who beat Permian in Epsom's Derby Trial in April, was ruled out of the York race by trainer John Gosden because of the rain-softened ground.
Permian is not entered for the Derby on 3 June but is set to be supplemented for the race at the cost of £85,000.
The Mark Johnston-trained horse is rated a 14-1 shot by bookmakers for the Epsom Classic, with Cracksman as low as 4-1 favourite alongside Cliffs Of Moher, trained by Aidan O'Brien.
Permian hit the front over a furlong out in the Dante, considered one of the leading Derby trials, and won by three-quarters of a length.
Benbatl could also line up for the Derby, but Crystal Ocean - whose odds for the Epsom race had been cut earlier in the week - is an unlikely runner, said trainer Sir Michael Stoute.
BBC horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght:
What a thoroughly likeable performance by a thoroughly likeable horse who adds an interesting extra dimension to the Derby picture.
I loved the way in which jockey Franny Norton just had to administer the smallest amount of encouragement late on for his mount to respond quite convincingly.
Surprisingly, he'll be trainer Mark Johnston's first runner in the Epsom Classic in over 10 years.
Cracksman didn't run here and goes straight to Epsom, but his supporters will have derived satisfaction from the fact he beat Thursday's winner at Epsom in April.