An inflated hedgehog has been saved from "rupturing" by vets who pricked it with a needle.

The animal, which was suffering from a rare condition in its belly called balloon syndrome, had swollen to twice its normal size.
Vets in Bude, Cornwall, think the animal swelled up after picking up an infection and gas was produced by bacteria.
The hedgehog is now being fed worms before being released.
Adam Revitt, of Locke and Preston Vets, who looked after the hedgehog when it was brought to them in early May, said: "If it had continued to blow up it could have ruptured.
"More concern to me was that the air was putting pressure on the hedgehog's chest so it couldn't breath or move, therefore there was a danger of it suffocating or starving to death.
"I used a needle and syringe to drain the air. It took about five minutes to drain all the air out."


Belfast man John Kelly, who held the Irish, British and European bantamweight boxing titles in the early 1950s, has died at the age of 84.

Kelly won the Irish title in June 1953 when he beat Eddie 'Bunty' Doran.
Four months later, Kelly landed the British and European titles by beating Scotland's Peter Keenan over 15 rounds.
Kelly defended his European belt against Belgian Jean Kidy a month later but then lost the title in his next defence against France's Robert Cohen.
Cohen knocked down Kelly several times in the bout before it was stopped in the third round.
Kelly lost his British title seven months later when Keenan avenged his earlier defeat by stopping the Belfast man in six rounds.
A brief stint at featherweight followed for Kelly before he ended his career in 1957 with an eight-round knockout of Teddy Baker, which left him with a record of 24 wins and four defeats.


Australia captain Steve Smith has been named cricketer of the year and Test cricketer of the year by the International Cricket Council.

Media playback is not supported on this device
He becomes the fourth Australian to lift the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy after Ricky Ponting,Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke.
South Africa's AB de Villiers won the ODI cricketer of the year award for the second year in a row.
Australia captain Meg Lanning was named the Women's ODI cricketer of the year.
Smith, 26, was the sixth highest run-scorer in Australia's triumphant World Cup campaign this year, with 402 runs at an average of 67, and made 1,734 in 13 Tests, at an average of 82.57.
He succeeded Clarke as skipper of the national team and led his side to a 2-0 Test series win over New Zealand last month.
Englishman Richard Kettleborough was named umpire of the year for the third time.
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year: Steve Smith (Australia)
Test cricketer of the year: Steve Smith (Australia)
ODI cricketer of the year: AB de Villiers (South Africa)
Women's ODI cricketer of the year: Meg Lanning (Australia)
Women's T20I cricketer of the year: Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
T20I Performance of the Year: Faf du Plessis (South Africa)
Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Josh Hazlewood (Australia)
Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year: Khurram Khan (UAE)
Spirit of Cricket Award: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy): Richard Kettleborough


We often refer to these as extraordinary times.

But what happened on Tuesday was both extraordinary and unprecedented. The resignation of an American national security adviser had Russian politicians reacting furiously and jumping to Michael Flynn's defence.
At the upper house of the Russian parliament, senator Alexei Pushkov tweeted that Mr Flynn was the victim of "paranoia and a witch hunt".
In a message posted online, the head of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachev, claimed that "either Donald Trump has been driven into a corner or the new administration has been permeated with Russopohobia from top to bottom".
The language from Moscow is both colourful and angry.
That is because the Russians had high hopes for Mr Flynn. They saw him as an influential figure who championed closer ties between America and Russia.
Mr Flynn was well known to Moscow. In the past he was a semi-regular contributor to RT, Russia's state-controlled English-language TV channel.
Two years ago, Mr Flynn attended an RT gala dinner in Moscow and sat at the same table as Vladimir Putin.
But the Russians are not only disappointed. I detect a degree of embarrassment here, too.
As late as yesterday, the Kremlin was continuing to insist that, before President Trump stepped into the White House, there had been no conversations between Moscow and Washington about sanctions.
Asked by journalists today about Mr Flynn's resignation, Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin "wouldn't like to comment on this".
"It's the internal affair of the Trump administration. It has nothing to do with us. We have commented many times on this subject. We have nothing more to add."
I asked Mr Peskov if, after Mr Flynn's resignation, he continued to assert there had been no discussion of sanctions.
"I repeat: I have nothing more to add. We don't want to comment on this."
It's not all bad news for Moscow. Far from it.
From the kind of comments he has been making in recent months, Mr Trump comes across as the most pro-Russia president in modern US history; the Russians are still counting on him to improve relations between Moscow and Washington, to ease sanctions and help bring Russia in from the cold.
Which is why the Russian state media avoids criticising President Trump; instead, it accuses his alleged "opponents" and "enemies" within the US establishment, intelligence services and American media of plotting to undermine Mr Trump's attempts to improve US-Russian ties.
And if America's 45th president fails to deliver what Moscow is waiting for?
In that case, instead of becoming a partner, America would most likely become the "enemy" again; a useful scapegoat to deflect attention from Russia's own problems at home.


The main road through a Hampshire village could be closed for more than a year for major flood alleviation work.

This phase of the £3.9m scheme involves a 3ft (1m) diameter pipe being installed under Hambledon to divert flood water.
The project is designed to prevent a repeat of 2013/14 floods when the village was inundated for more than 40 days
Hampshire County Council said the scheme would benefit residents.
Work will also see floodwater culverts created in East Street, West Street and parts of Green Lane, and road resurfacing and re-shaping.
Neil Mason, of Manor Farm, whose property was effected by the flooding, told BBC Solent although the work would cause an inconvenience for residents, it was for the "greater good".
Preliminary sewer work starts today and the main work is due to start on 22 June when the B2150 Hambledon Road will be closed south of the Cams Hill junction
Hampshire County Council is funding around £2.5m of the scheme with £1.4m from the government.
Sean Woodward, of Hampshire Councty Council, said the project was designed to "protect people and property".
The first phase involved improving and widening ditches downstream of the village and installing larger pipes under properties.
The works are due to be complete in Spring 2016.


Little by little, plans are leaking out regarding the imminent battle to remove so-called Islamic State (IS) from Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

Michael Fallon, the UK defence secretary, said military co-operation agreements were finalised on 23 September, adding that "the encirclement operation will begin in the next few weeks" with Mosul being liberated "in the next few months".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went even further, obligingly providing the start-date of the offensive, 19 October.
What can be said with certainty is that the liberation of Mosul will be a multi-phased operation.
First the logistical base for the operation must be established at Qayyarah airbase, a facility 40 miles (60km) south of Mosul that was seized by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in early July.
Since then, the airbase has been refurbished to enable the landing of cargo aircraft, enabling ammunition, fuel and rations to be flown directly to the front line rather than being trucked up from Iraq's military depots near Baghdad, 185 miles further south.
Around 560 US military advisers have been moved to Qayyarah to advise and assist the offensive. US and French long-range artillery systems have been emplaced, with mobile howitzers able to range out half the distance to Mosul and with rocket launchers able to shoot into the city itself, taking under 20 seconds and with great precision.
Qayyarah is also the collecting point for the Iraqi forces that will liberate Mosul. These are mainly Iraqi army forces drawn from across the country into multi-ethnic, cross-sectarian national units.
There are around 11 Iraqi army and special forces' brigades ready to attack, with each brigade numbering about 2,000 troops.
A further five units of tribal or paramilitary police forces are also ready, comprising about 6,000 troops, mainly Sunni Arabs from the broad Mosul area.
The Kurdish Peshmerga forces and a handful of small Kurdish-backed paramilitary police units manned by micro-minorities (Christians and Kakai) are circling Mosul to the north-east and will close the blockade on the city from that side.
A formula also seems to have been worked out to allow security volunteers from Shia-populated southern Iraq to indirectly support the battle without alarming the predominately Sunni residents of Mosul.
These Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation forces) will be used to secure the empty rural areas and roads south of Qayyarah and west of Mosul but will not be played into the urban battle.
The next phase of the battle will be a multi-pronged advance on the outskirts of Mosul.
Most likely the main thrust will drive up the Baghdad-Mosul highway on the west bank of the Tigris River, halting when the southern outskirts of Mosul are reached.
Another column may swing out west of Mosul into the desert along pipeline roads and tracks to close off the city from that direction, preventing IS from bringing in reinforcements or slipping away to Syria.
A final set of forces may push up to Mosul on the east bank of the Tigris, aiming at the eastern side of the city.
This phase will unfold in fits and spurts: one day 10 miles will be gained easily, another day there will be tough fighting at an IS strongpoint or a pause to bring up supplies.
There will be images of Iraqi Security Forces and Popular Mobilisation units streaming through the desert in large vehicle columns, interspersed with days of air strikes to eradicate stubborn IS fighters.
By the time of the US elections on 8 November the edges of Mosul will likely have been contacted at multiple points.
During November and December the main battle will likely begin.
First a new base of operations will be established in an area next to the city that can be fortified, such as Mosul's airport to the south.
This will give the ISF and coalition a place to position headquarters, supplies and artillery.
For the Iraqi and coalition forces the issue of civilians will be a tricky factor. Perhaps 700,000 people may still be in Mosul, the largest population to be present during an urban liberation battle in Iraq's war against IS.
As liberating forces line the perimeter of the city, the displaced people will start to leak out in huge numbers once IS can no longer prevent the exodus.
This is one reason why coalition forces may hesitate to approach Mosul before they are ready to take the whole city: the preference is for Mosul civilians to stay in place and hunker down during fighting.
Keeping civilians off the streets will also allow cleaner air strikes that focus on IS vehicles and fighters.
For many months the coalition has been intensively watching the IS defenders, profiling their movements and their defences.
Air strikes will be accelerated in places where the coalition wishes to breach the defences. IS commanders will be intensively targeted to disrupt the movement's ability to mount a cohesive defence.
Ultimately, however, IS may not fight very hard for most of Mosul city. The urban area is far bigger than anything they have attempted to defend before: about 10 miles wide by 10 miles long with a 30-mile perimeter - twice as large as their defence of Ramadi.
Instead the 2-3,000 IS fighters are likely to pick a couple of neighbourhoods to strongly defend.
The government centre in western Mosul is a symbolic location and liberation cannot be announced until it is retaken.
The old city is full of narrow streets in which the security forces cannot use armoured vehicles, artillery or air strikes with ease.
When these defensive pockets collapse - and they might collapse surprisingly quickly, as they did when Falluja was liberated within three weeks in June - the final stabilisation phase of the operation begins.
Fleeing IS fighters will need to be distinguished from displaced persons, law and order will need to be quickly but humanely established. These tasks may prove to be more difficult than the battle itself.
Dr Michael Knights is the Lafer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has worked in all of Iraq's provinces, and spent time embedded with the Iraqi security forces. His recent report on the Iraqi security forces is available via the Washington Institute website. Follow him on Twitter


Three men who challenged their extended sentences for preparing terrorism offences have lost their appeals.

The trio, including Richard Dart, a convert to radical Islam who has featured in TV documentaries, were sentenced to additional monitoring in the community after their jail terms.
They had argued during their appeal that the punishment was unfair.
But the Court of Appeal has ruled the sentences were justified because of the dangers the men posed.
It means a string of sentencing hearings for Syria-related terrorism offences, which had been on hold pending the ruling, can now go ahead.
The three men had all admitted preparing for acts of terrorism.
Each was given an extended sentence - meaning a jail term plus additional monitoring on licence in the community - last April.
Dart, from Weymouth, sought training in Pakistan and then discussed plans to attack Royal Wootton Bassett, the town that was the focal point for the repatriation of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, with others in the UK.
The other two men, Zahid Iqbal and Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, from Luton, had prepared for a possible attack on Luton's Territorial Army base.
Dart received a six-year extended sentence, meaning he must serve at least two-thirds in jail before he can be considered for release on licence.
At the end of those six years, he will be subject to a further five years of monitoring under licence in the community.
He would face the risk of being sent back to jail if he committed another offence during that time.
Iqbal and Ahmed received extended sentences of just over 16 years - comprising an 11-year jail sentence plus an extra five on licence.
Rejecting their appeals at the Royal Courts of Justice, Lord Justice Pitchford said the judges who sentenced them had followed the appropriate procedures to assess each man as posing an ongoing danger to society.
Dart, who changed his name to Salahuddin al-Britani, became involved in extremism after moving from his home town in Dorset to east London.
His beliefs were brought into the spotlight in 2011 as part of a BBC television documentary My Brother The Islamist, by his stepbrother Robb Leech.
This was followed by a second documentary, My Brother the Terrorist, earlier this year.


A giant red spoon sculpture unveiled by TV illusionist Uri Geller as a parting gift to the Berkshire village where he has lived for 35 years, has been removed.

The steel statue in the shape of a bent spoon had been placed on a large tree stump in Sonning earlier this month.
Geller, 68, who became famous for bending spoons, is believed to have since returned to his native Israel.
It is not clear who has taken the sculpture down, or why.
Following the unveiling, it emerged the sculpture did not have the necessary planning permission from Wokingham Borough Council.
The council said it was not involved in the removal and Thames Valley Police said it had not received a crime report.
The spoon has previously been targeted by graffiti and someone had even left a rude message and bag of dog poo on it.
Although Geller said it made him laugh, he warned that people should not leave dog mess lying around as it was "disgusting... and dangerous".
Nick Proctor, who cycled past the sculpture to and from work, said: "Every day it keeps changing - someone's defaced in it an exciting new way. Then I cycled past and discovered it had gone."
The large red artwork was unveiled as a parting gift to the Berkshire village of Sonning where Geller has lived for 35 years.


The second-biggest rebel group in Colombia has clashed with the government over when to release a hostage whose freedom is a key condition for peace talks.

Ex-congressman Odin Sanchez has been held by the National Liberation Army (ELN) since he offered to swap places with his ailing brother in April.
President Juan Manuel Santos said Mr Sanchez had to be released before peace talks could start in Ecuador.
The ELN has reacted angrily.
Chief negotiator Israel Ramirez, also known as Pablo Beltran, accused the government of changing its requirements "at the last minute".
"This gentleman will be released during the first round of talks," Mr Beltran told a Colombian radio station. "That is what we committed to do."
On Thursday the Red Cross and Roman Catholic Church began working with the guerrilla group to release Mr Sanchez but it was not clear when the operation would finish.
How significant is Colombia's ELN rebel group?
When Mr Ramirez was interviewed on Blu radio station, he refused to be drawn on how many hostages the ELN still had, saying only that the numbers were "very few".
Mr Sanchez had been thought to be the last. He handed himself over to the rebels in April in exchange for the release of his brother Patrocinio, a former governor of north-western Choco province, held by the rebels for almost three years.
The government is struggling not only to salvage the peace talks with the ELN but also a deal struck with Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
The Farc and the government signed a peace deal last month but the agreement was rejected by Colombians in a popular vote on 2 October.
More than 260,000 people have died in Colombia's armed conflict which has pitted left-wing rebels against right-wing paramilitaries and the security forces.


Physicists have pinned down precisely how pipe-shaped cells in our retina filter the incoming colours.

These cells, which sit in front of the ones that actually sense light, play a major role in our colour vision that was only recently confirmed.
They funnel crucial red and green light into cone cells, leaving blue to spill over and be sensed by rod cells - which are responsible for our night vision.
Key to this process, researchers now say, is the exact shape of the pipes.
The long, thin cells are known as "Muller glia" and they were originally thought to play more of a supporting role in the retina.
They clear debris, store energy and generally keep the conditions right for other cells - like the rods and cones behind them - to turn light into electrical signals for the brain.
But a study published last year confirmed the idea, proposed in earlier simulations, that Muller cells also function rather like optical fibres.
And more than just piping light to the back of the retina, where the rods and cones sit, they selectively send red and green light - the most important for human colour vision - to the cone cells, which handle colour.
Meanwhile, they leave 85% of blue light to spill over and reach nearby rod cells, which specialise in those wavelengths and give us the mostly black-and-white vision that gets us by in dim conditions.
The work was done in the lab of Dr Erez Ribak from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.
More than 10 years ago, Dr Ribak, an astrophysicist, turned his interest in light and optics to the study of eyes instead of stars and planets.
At this week's March Meeting of the American Physical Society, he presented his final instalment in that study: the "gory details of the optics" behind the work the Muller cells do.
In particular, the forest of Muller cells is just the right height, and their light-bearing trunks are just the right width, to filter the wavelengths correctly.
"If the retina is too thick or too thin, it's not effective," Dr Ribak told BBC News.
"It has to be thick enough and it has to be in front of the photoreceptors."
The idea that Muller cells were so important, he said, initially drew criticism from biologists and eye specialists.
"There was strong opposition at the beginning, I must admit."
To convince the doubters, Dr Ribak's team produced detailed 3D scans of the cells' structure and carefully measured what happened to different wavelengths of light, shone onto guinea pig and human retinas.
"This kind of clinched it," he said. "Simulations are not enough."
Dr Ribak has also suggested that this light-guiding function of the Muller glia explains why vertebrates, including humans, evolved the retina in its "backwards" format, with the light sensors at the back, away from the light.
"This is a centuries-old puzzle," he said.
"There's a 0.25mm thickness that needs to be traversed, that the neurons processing the data are behind."
Mark Hankins, a professor of visual neuroscience at the University of Oxford, admires Dr Ribak's work but is not convinced that the light funnelling phenomenon is the "driving force" behind the reverse-wired vertebrate eye.
He told the BBC there are several reasons why the light receptors are better off at the back, including the clearing of worn-out cell components and having access to a fuel supply of light-sensitive molecules.
Both of these services are offered by the thin, dark-coloured layer of cells right at the back of the eye.
"We should also remember that several animal classes do not have a 'backward-pointing' eye, and also have Muller cells," Prof Hankins said.
This includes some invertebrates with eyes, like octopus and squid.
"So Muller cells do plenty of important things other than perhaps functioning as light guides."
But he said that Dr Ribak's results offered a neat description of that light-piping function, highlighting how the different parts of the retina work together - giving us vibrant daytime vision but also delivering better sensitivity, with less colour, in the dark.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter


A haul of firearms has been seized in France from a car heading to the UK.

Seventy-nine "viable" weapons were recovered from the car's trailer when it was stopped by UK Border Force officers at Coquelles near the Channel Tunnel terminal on Saturday.
Two men, a Polish and a Czech national, have been remanded in custody at Uxbridge magistrates' court in connection with the operation.
The guns were concealed in specially-adapted engine blocks.
The seizure follows a joint operation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Metropolitan Police working with Border Force officials in France.
Graham Gardner, the NCA's deputy director of investigations, said: "Our recent threat assessment highlights that handguns are still commonly favoured by some criminal groups in the UK.
"They may not be the largest firearm, but they are easily concealable and lethal in the hands of anyone prepared to use them."
Denis Kolencukov, 23, originally from the Czech Republic but living in the UK, and Polish national Janusz Michek, 59, are each charged with two firearms offences.
No further action will be taken against six other Polish nationals arrested in Coquelles.


England, Australia and India will be given more control of cricket after a vote by the sport's governing body.

The measures agreed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) will overhaul the sport's governance, competitions and finances.
A new revenue-sharing agreement will give the lion's share of money to the 'Big Three' nations.
Associate members, including Ireland and Scotland, will also now have the chance to play Test cricket.
Under the changes, the World Test Championship idea has been scrapped and the Champions Trophy will return in 2017.
India board president Narainswamy Srinivasan will become ICC chairman for two years from July.
The changes, which still need to be formally adopted by the ICC council, will see the formation of a new executive committee of five members, with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Cricket Australia (CA) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) all guaranteed a place.
The ICC's executive board - a panel on which all 10 Test-playing nations sit - currently agrees all major decisions.
Among the other key principles are the scrapping of the planned World Test Championship and the introduction of a new two-tier system that will give ICC associate members the chance to play Test cricket with the introduction of play-offs against the lowest-ranked Test nation.
1. South Africa
2. India
3. Australia
4. England
5. Pakistan
6. Sri Lanka
7. West Indies
8. New Zealand
9. Zimbabwe
10. Bangladesh
The six leading associate members - Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates - currently have one-day international  status, but are not able to play Test matches.
And the ICC's 10 full members - Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe - will no longer be obliged to play each other regularly after the Future Tours Programme was scrapped in favour of bilateral agreements between nations to cover Test series between 2015 and 2023.
England Cricket Board boss Giles Clarke is adamant changes are necessary and says all countries will profit financially if England, India and Australia are given more power to negotiate broadcasting and marketing deals on behalf of the ICC.
"All countries earn more through this proposal," said Clarke. "No member would earn less and, if our predictions are correct, most will earn an awful lot more. How can that be bad for cricket?"
Eight of the 10 full members voted in favour at the ICC meeting in Singapore, with Pakistan and Sri Lanka choosing to abstain.
The former chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Arif Abassi, has warned that the measures could create deep divisions in the world game, and targeted India for criticism.
Abassi told Lee James on BBC Sports World: "I can't reconcile myself with what India are doing, We can't have this bulldozing from India.
"The ICC is like a company and a company needs level playing fields. This is being done at the expense of equality. This will lead to division and polarisation in the game.
"The money that comes into the game is not because of India, it's because of the overall picture of Test cricket. I cannot endorse this behaviour from India."
Cricket South Africa (CSA), who had earlier voiced concerns about the changes, stressed that the agreement reached by the ICC is a work in progress.
"Nothing in life is perfect," commented CSA President and chairman, Chris Nenzani in a statement on the CSA official website. "All countries, including the so-called 'Big Three', have had to rethink and make concessions.
"It was key that we remain engaged and an absolute imperative that we should preserve the financial stability of the game over the next eight-year cycle from 2015 to 2023."


Police are treating the death of a man in Coleraine, County Londonderry, as suspicious and have made an arrest.

The man, who was in his 60s, died at Silverthorn Avenue in the town and police were informed of his death just after 12:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Officers investigating the circumstances of his death arrested a 25-year-old man in Coleraine just after 17:30 GMT.
There are no further details at present.


Police have arrested the brother of a man who died in a house fire in East Dunbartonshire on New Year's Day.

Cameron Logan, 23, died in the blaze in Milngavie on 1 January, while his partner Rebecca Williams, 24, was seriously injured.
Blair Logan, 26, has been arrested in connection with his brother's death and the alleged attempted murder of his parents, both aged 54, and Ms Williams.
He is due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday.
Ms Williams, a journalist with Global Radio, was initially taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in a critical condition.
She was later transferred to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary where she is now said to be in a stable condition.
The house in Achray Place remained cordoned off on Saturday with large green covers still in place over the property.
Police officers stood guard at the front and back of the semi-detached house and fresh flowers left in tribute to Cameron Logan were placed around a tree outside.


The man who masterminded Ross County's Development League title win admits he will ultimately be judged on how many of his players make the first team.

Stuart Kettlewell guided the under-20 side to the championship ahead of Hamilton Accies and Celtic, who had won six of the previous seven titles.
The 32-year-old former County player described the achievement as "special".
But he added: "At the start of the season I'm tasked with improving the players first and foremost."
Kettlewell continued: "The challenge for us now is 'can these guys go and play 10-15 first-team games a season, can we then get them up to being regulars and key players?'"
In recent weeks Reghan Tumilty and Dylan Dykes have made the transition to Jim McIntyre's first team and Kettlewell is sure others will follow.
"I can genuinely say every player in that 15-man squad has improved," he said.
"You're judged on how many players you can progress into your first team. We would obviously like that to be more but what we've achieved this year gives them as good a grounding as possible to try to achieve that."
County have been criticised for not bringing through more talent from their youth academy.
But chairman Roy MacGregor says while the club's focus on attaining and retaining Premiership status may have detracted from their development plans, they are back on track under Kettlewell and head of youth Stevie Ferguson.
"I had a vision for developing youngsters and an academy and we've had a few through (most notably Gary Mackay-Steven and Don Cowie) but I think after eight or 10 years of running the academy system, we seem to now have a formula," MacGregor said.
"It's a culmination of a lot of hard graft and belief that even from a centre of small population, if you go about it the right way and you've got good standards and good people, you can develop football players.
"It's very much the model that was in Iceland and has developed that into a successful football nation."
MacGregor is encouraged by the proposals made by the SFA's performance director Malky Mackay for improvements to the elite development programme.
Regardless of future changes, one of Mackay's predecessors, Mark Wotte, stresses the primary aim of the Development League is not "winning it but to prepare 16-21-year-old players for their first team debut".
"It's great for Ross County but all that matters is how many of their players will progress to the first team and maybe further up the ladder," Wotte told BBC Scotland.
"Winning the league is a 'nice to have' not a 'must have'. Academy graduates playing first team is a 'must have' like (Kieran) Tierney, (Liam) Henderson, (Callum) McGregor and (James) Forrest at Celtic.
"Also it is easier to produce players for the level of Ross County than for Celtic without disrespecting the level of Ross County.
"In fairness, Celtic have much more money for recruitment and their academy than Ross County so it is still an amazing achievement, but you have to put it in perspective with what kind of age-group players they participated throughout the season."


A man with learning difficulties has been left "absolutely traumatised" after being punched and robbed at a bus stop.

Police said the vulnerable man was targeted by two "despicable individuals" in East Kilbride on Friday night.
They threatened their 32-year-old victim with a knife before punching him and robbing him.
Det Con Stuart Burnside appealed for help in tracing the men.
He said: "These despicable individuals preyed on a vulnerable man who clearly could not stand up for himself and has been left absolutely traumatised by what happened.
"This type of abhorrent behaviour will not be tolerated and extensive enquiries are underway to find these criminals and hold them to account for their cowardly actions.
"I would appeal to anyone who was in the surrounding area late on Friday night, who may have witnessed the incident or may have seen two men matching the descriptions, to please get in touch."
The men approached their victim at a bus stop near Calderwood Square at about 23:00 on Friday. They were last seen heading towards Maxwellton Road.
Both men were white and in their mid teens or early 20s. The first was about 5ft 6in, and he was wearing a white T-shirt and dark coloured bottoms.
His accomplice was slim and about 5ft 8in. He wore a dark coloured tracksuit.
Their victim was treated at Hairmyres Hospital following the incident.


Championship club London Welsh are set to go into liquidation because of an "unsustainable" financial situation.

They were issued with a second winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs in October and they did not receive proposed investment.
London Welsh now hope to reform as a semi-professional side in 2017, playing at their current Old Deer Park ground.
The club can continue to play during the liquidation process, but they will be deducted 20 points.
They are due to face Doncaster in the British and Irish Cup on Saturday, but it is not yet known if the fixture will go ahead.
A Rugby Football Union spokesperson said: "The RFU are working with the club to find a way to fulfil their fixtures this season."
London Welsh will have to put together a sustainable business plan to the RFU - and raise a bond of £300,000 - in order to exist as a phoenix company.
If this is approved by the RFU then they will be able to keep their place in the Championship, or National League 1 if they are relegated.
If the plan isn't approved and they can't raise the bond, then they will drop out of the leagues altogether.
The club had a winding-up petition dismissed in September after agreeing a takeover with a United States-based investment group, but the deal was never completed.
Founded in 1885, the club still holds the record for the most players selected in a British and Irish Lions squad, when seven were picked for the 1971 tour to New Zealand.
The Exiles were in the Premiership as recently as the 2014-15 season, when they were based at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford - but were relegated after losing all 22 matches.
"Due to a playing budget of £1.7m and gates at games numbering as low 400, the club's current business model is totally unsustainable," chairman Gareth Hawkins said.
"Having to break the news to 40 staff members yesterday was extremely difficult.
"In the New Year, it is the hope and intention of the board that London Welsh will be able to return to playing at Old Deer Park.
"However, it will first be necessary to change the club's business model to a semi-professional set-up and form a new company, and then raise £300,000 so that the club can regain a position within the Championship."
Chris Jones, BBC Radio 5 live rugby union reporter
This is a sad day for one of Britain's oldest and most famous rugby clubs, but a salutary lesson of the harsh financial realities of professional rugby.
In hindsight, London Welsh should never have chased the Premiership dream without the backing, management or the infrastructure to be sustainable.
Premiership clubs are able to lean heavily on central revenues - especially from television - but this is not the case in the Championship, and unless clubs in the second tier have a wealthy backer they simply cannot support a professional set-up.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.


A 90-year-old World War Two veteran who has come out as transgender said she has always known she was in the "wrong body".

Patricia Davies, from Sapcote, Leicestershire, who served in the army between April 1945 and 1948, said she was "living a lie" as a man.
Ms Davies said she knew she was transgender aged three and secretly came out to her late wife in 1987.
"They didn't realise it was something that you could not cure," she said.
Coming out to neighbours felt like a weight being lifted, she added.
Updates on this story and more from Leicestershire
Ms Davies said:  "The atmosphere [around being transgender] was not safe.
"Even the medical profession didn't understand it as the treatment was to give you the 'electric shock treatment'.
Ms Davies served in the army, as Peter, in the Far East, India, East Africa and Palestine, before marrying when she was 21.
"You couldn't flaunt [being transgender] that would have been a disaster," she said.
"I would have been classed as homosexual, which would have caused problems in the army. I would have ended up in prison."
After coming out to her wife, who bought her jewellery and dresses to wear, they agreed to keep it quiet.
They were married for 63 years before her wife died six years ago.
She visited her doctor last year and has been taking female hormones.
Ms Davies said: "I have been keeping quiet. I have slowly started to tell some of my neighbours. Everybody said 'don't worry, as long as you're happy'."
She has joined the Women's Institute and is enjoying a "new lease of life".
She said: "[The best thing about coming out] is being accepted as a woman. That has been something I've wanted all of my life."


Captain Danny McGuire will leave Leeds Rhinos at the end of the season after 15 years with the club.

The England and Great Britain half-back, 34, is the leading try scorer in Super League history with 233 tries and fourth on Leeds' all-time list.
"I've got some brilliant memories but it's time for myself and the club to move on," McGuire told BBC Radio Leeds.
He added he would not be retiring and did not rule out remaining in Super League next season.
"I've got a good idea of what I want to do and where I will be but nothing has been finalised," he said.
"My body feels really good, I feel like I'm still playing well. You're a long time retired, so I will play on next year."
Since making his Leeds debut as a teenager in 2002, McGuire has scored 262 tries in all competitions in more than 400 appearances.
He helped Rhinos to seven Super League Grand Final victories, three World Club Challenge titles and two Challenge Cup wins.
He remains a regular feature in the squad, having played 21 games in 2017, but his departure comes on the back of a new three-year deal for half-back Jordan Lilley, 20, and the arrival of Catalans Dragons playmaker Richie Myler for 2018.
"The club's got to look at the next generation and start planning for the future," said McGuire. "I've loved my time at the club ever since I signed my first contract, in December 1995. I remember it like it was yesterday."
Rhinos head coach Brian McDermott told the club's website: "In the decades to come, Danny McGuire's achievements will only become more impressive.
"As well as all the silverware and match-winning plays he has come up with, perhaps the most impressive thing about Danny is the way he has adapted and evolved his game to suit both his team-mates and the game in general.
"I am sure he will take that adaptability with him into whatever he decides to do next and will be a champion as always at whatever that is."


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Our selection of some of the best news photographs taken around the world this week.


A doctor accused of killing her friend by giving her prescription drugs at a tattoo parlour took charge of attempts to save her life, a trial has heard.

Katy McAllister, 31, took the lead in attempting to resuscitate Louise McGowan, 27, after she became unwell at a house in Dundee in May 2015.
Ms McAllister denies killing Mrs McGowan and other charges of supplying drugs to a number of individuals.
She also denies stealing quantities of a medicine from Ninewells Hospital.
Paramedic Robbie Gray, 52, told jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh that Dr McAllister met him outside the property in the city's Loganlea Terrace.
He said Ms McAllister phoned for an ambulance after Mrs McGowan's husband contacted her to say his wife was ill.
The court heard that when they went into the property, Mrs McGowan was unresponsive and didn't have a pulse.
Mr Gray said staff attached an electrocardiogram test to Mrs McGowan's heart and it demonstrated that she had little activity in the organ.
He told the court that Ms McAllister was in charge of treatment and staff began to administer CPR.
He said: "She took the lead. We would be quite happy for her to take the lead."
The court heard that Ms McAllister gained access to Mrs McGowan's jugular and the medics started administering adrenaline.
However, they could not resuscitate Mrs McGowan and she was taken by ambulance to Ninewells shortly afterwards.
Dr James Bentley, 33, a senior registrar at the A&E department at Ninewells, was in charge of Mrs McGowan's treatment at the hospital.
Medical notes describe Mrs McGowan as being a "friend" of Dr McAllister.
He told the court that Ms McAllister arrived at the hospital with Mrs McGowan and briefed staff about what she knew.
Dr Bentley said that Ms McAllister said Mrs McGowan had taken alcohol, ibuprofen and co-codamol during the previous day.
He said Ms McAllister told him that Mrs McGowan may have also taken diazepam because she was nervous ahead of getting a tattoo.
Dr Bentley said Mrs McGowan was pronounced dead at 07:50.
Prosecutors allege that on 9 May, 2015, at her home address, and Voodoo Tattoo in the city's Perth Road, Ms McAllister "did recklessly and unlawfully" supply controlled and "potentially lethal" drugs to Mrs McGowan.
The Crown alleges that the drugs supplied to Mrs McGowan were tramadol, diazepam and temazepam.
Ms McAllister is also alleged to have supplied Mrs McGowan with codeine, diphenhydramine and cyclizine.
The indictment states Mrs McGowan, of Dundee, "ingested" the drugs and died a day later.
The trial before judge Graham Buchanan QC continues.


Manchester United has reported a loss for the first three months of the year as operating expenses soared.

It lost £3.8m between January and March, down from a £13.7m profit in the same period last year.
The Old Trafford club incurred higher player contract expenses, and was also hit by adverse foreign exchange movements.
But total revenues were 3% higher at £127.2m and the club now expects record full year revenues of £560m to £570m.
If the club beats Ajax in the Europa League final on 24 May it would secure a coveted place in the Champions League for next season.
Manchester United has a clause in its kitwear deal with Adidas that allows for a cut of 30% in the annual sponsorship deal if the club fails to reach the Champions League in consecutive seasons.
After failing to qualify for the tournament in 2016-17 season, it means the Europa League final in Stockholm next week now takes on added importance.
Analysis: Simon Stone, BBC football correspondent
Manchester United are in line to post record profits despite being in this season's Europa League.
Under normal circumstances, United could have expected to generate between £15m and £20m from a decent Europa League run.
This season United are expecting to earn about £7m more due to a combination of entering the tournament as England's highest-ranked team due to their FA Cup success last term; reaching next week's final against Ajax; and the underperformance of the other English teams. West Ham, Southampton and Tottenham.
It has allowed them to project increased revenues of between £560m and £570m and profits of between £185m and £195m. United's record profit is £191.9m.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said: "We are forecasting better full-year financial performance than expected and as such have raised our revenue and profit guidance for the year.
"We look forward to a strong finish to 2016-17, both on and off the pitch."
Broadcast revenues were up 12.9% at £31.4m. Commercial revenues were slightly higher, while matchday income edged lower.
Two global sponsorship deals were signed during the quarter, with ride-hailing service Uber and Singapore firm Aladdin Street.
The Old Trafford club also lifted the EFL Cup during the period.
United increased its forecast for profits to between £185m and £195m for 2016-17.
Meanwhile, net debt at the end of March stood at £366.3m, an increase of £17.6m over the year.
The club's forthcoming summer tour features one game in Norway, and five games in the US.


Sheffield United celebrated their homecoming as League One champions in style with victory over Bradford, who failed to book their play-off spot.

The Blades, promoted 10 days ago, were crowned the division's winners on Saturday and put the Bantams to the sword on their first appearance back at Bramall Lane, with a brace from Leon Clarke and Billy Sharp's 27th goal of the season.
They were in party mood from the off and a fine start was rewarded with two goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Clarke made it four in four games when he swept home from the edge of the area after good work from Jack O'Connell and then Sharp bagged his first since 7 March when coolly converting John Fleck's through ball.
A third came on the brink of half-time when Clarke grabbed his second of the day, converting a breakaway move with aplomb.
A win for Stuart McCall's Bradford would have confirmed their top-six spot but, it was only ever going to be United who added to the scoreline as Sharp headed straight at Colin Doyle before Chris Basham missed two good chances late on.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Sheffield United 3, Bradford City 0.
Second Half ends, Sheffield United 3, Bradford City 0.
Corner,  Bradford City. Conceded by Jack O'Connell.
Chris Basham (Sheffield United) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by James Meredith (Bradford City).
Attempt missed. Tony McMahon (Bradford City) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
Corner,  Sheffield United. Conceded by Rory McArdle.
Attempt blocked. Billy Sharp (Sheffield United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt saved. John Fleck (Sheffield United) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt blocked. John Fleck (Sheffield United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt saved. Billy Sharp (Sheffield United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt saved. Billy Sharp (Sheffield United) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Hand ball by Mark Marshall (Bradford City).
Leon Clarke (Sheffield United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Leon Clarke (Sheffield United).
Nathaniel Knight-Percival (Bradford City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Chris Basham (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Charlie Wyke (Bradford City).
Corner,  Sheffield United. Conceded by Nathaniel Knight-Percival.
Foul by Leon Clarke (Sheffield United).
Nathaniel Knight-Percival (Bradford City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Billy Sharp (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Nathaniel Knight-Percival (Bradford City).
Romain Vincelot (Bradford City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Paul Coutts (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Romain Vincelot (Bradford City).
Substitution, Sheffield United. Samir Carruthers replaces Mark Duffy.
Foul by Daniel Lafferty (Sheffield United).
Romain Vincelot (Bradford City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Nicky Law (Bradford City) because of an injury.
Corner,  Bradford City. Conceded by Kieron Freeman.
Corner,  Bradford City. Conceded by Kieron Freeman.
Paul Coutts (Sheffield United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Paul Coutts (Sheffield United).
Charlie Wyke (Bradford City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Delay in match Paul Coutts (Sheffield United) because of an injury.
Corner,  Bradford City. Conceded by Simon Moore.
Attempt saved. Tony McMahon (Bradford City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Foul by Mark Duffy (Sheffield United).


Five members of one family arrested on suspicion of terror offences in east London have been bailed.

A man, 52, and woman, 53, believed to be the parents of three girls aged 16, 17 and 19 were all held on 12 August.
They were arrested on suspicion of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and have been bailed until November.
The man was also arrested on suspicion of possessing false identity documents.
Police said the 16-year-old girl had previously been arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorism and had an additional bail date of September.


Green MSP Alison Johnstone called for a new law to make motorists automatically at fault in civil actions after an accident.

Campaigners said they have already received cross-party support for a Bill to be brought forward.
The UK is one of only five European countries that do not currently have the law, known as "stricter liability".
Transport Minister Keith Brown said he did not support the change to the law.
Mr Brown said there was a "lack of robust evidence that stricter liability could have positive benefits for vulnerable road users".
He did say he welcomed the debate and was more than willing to listen to other evidence on the issue.
Nine cyclists died on Scotland's roads last year, with a further 167 injured.
Under a "strict liability" law, motorists would be held responsible in the civil courts for all accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians - unless they can prove they were not to blame.
Ms Johnstone, the co-convener of Holyrood's group on cycling, told the chamber 12 cyclists had been killed already this year.
She said: "Stricter liability is a contribution to a better culture on our roads where vulnerable users are better protected".
Campaigners said those involved in collisions with cars can wait up to nine months to receive compensation - even in straightforward cases - while in serious or fatal accidents it can take more than two years.
Earlier this year the group Cycle Law Scotland launched a campaign to introduce "stricter liability" in such cases.
Under these arrangements, a motorist would be presumed liable in a legal claim against them if they had been in collision with a cyclist or pedestrian, though they would still have the option to allege the cyclist had caused the accident.
Scottish Cycling, the governing body for cycling in Scotland which has 12,000 members and 150 clubs, has now joined the campaign and more than 5,000 people have signed an online petition for a Members Bill to be brought forward at the Scottish Parliament.
Cycle Law Scotland founder Brenda Mitchell said: "Receiving the support of Scottish Cycling is a huge boost to our campaign as it's members represent a significant portion of the cycling community.
"I welcome its backing and hope this will help encourage the Scottish government to take a serious look at what we are proposing."
She said the number of cyclists being injured on the roads was rising.
Craig Burn, chief executive at Scottish Cycling, said: "It is our goal to promote and encourage the sport of cycling at all levels and we recognise safety plays a big part in successfully encouraging more people to take to two wheels."


Hundreds of people have gathered in Stroud to protest against plans for a £500m incinerator near Gloucester.

Developers Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) had successfully appealed against a council decision to turn down plans for the Javelin Park site.
Opponents highlighted issues including the size and cost of the 30-acre site and the environmental impact.
UBB said the plant would stop waste going to landfill and generate enough electricity to power 26,000 homes.
It said the project would bring employment opportunities, boost the local economy and make a "positive contribution to the effects of climate change".
However, David Drew, Labour candidate for Stroud, said he believed it was the "wrong decision".
"We can still stop it... we've got to keep the argument going, it's the wrong technology.
"It's the wrong site and we owe it to our children and grandchildren to stop this monstrosity," Mr Drew said.
In 2013 county councillors voted to turn down plans for the facility, a decision which went against a recommendation by the council's own planners that it be approved.
Gloucestershire County Council had already signed a contract with UBB to build the energy-from-waste plant.
The company appealed to the Secretary of State's office and following a planning inquiry the government inspector decided the energy-from-waste plant could go ahead.


Actor David Harewood has said the next Doctor Who should not be another white man - and has thrown his own hat into the ring.

The Homeland and Supergirl star is among the actors whose names have been suggested to replace Peter Capaldi.
"It's nice to be in the running," he told BBC News.
"It needs to do something different, so I think it's either going to be a black person or a woman. It would just bring a different flavour to it."
The 51-year-old British actor has already been in Doctor Who, appearing in the 2009-10 double bill The End of Time. He can currently be seen playing the Martian Manhunter in the The CW's Supergirl.
"I'm already playing an alien so maybe I could switch and play a Time Lord - who knows what's going to happen," he said. "It's nice to be in the running. It's an iconic role."
The current bookmakers' favourite to take over the Tardis is Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, and Harewood said she would be a good choice.
"She's extraordinary anyway so I think she'd be great," Harewood said. "It would be a very different Doctor and maybe that's what it needs."
The actor said it was good that four of the five current favourites are women - with Maxine Peake, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Olivia Colman also tipped.
Harewood was speaking at the Independent Spirit Awards in California, where he was nominated for best male lead for playing a Pentecostal minister trying to perform miracles in Free In Deed.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has received another endorsement from a leading Republican, two days after the first presidential debate.

On Wednesday she was endorsed by John Warner, a five-time Virginia senator.
She was also backed by the Arizona Republic newspaper, the first time it has supported a Democrat since its founding in 1890.
Meanwhile Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, says Monday's debate has led to record fundraising for his campaign.
Speaking on Tuesday night at a rally in Melbourne, Florida, Mr Trump said that $18m (Â£13.8m) had been raised in the day since the debate was held.
The Trump campaign is planning to increase advertising spending before the election, and is reportedly considering asking the candidate to make his largest personal financial contribution yet towards it.
In other campaign developments:
Senator Warner represented Virginia in the Senate for five terms between 1979 and 2009. He also served as Secretary of the Navy and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Speaking alongside Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Mr Warner said that he was "distressed" by Mr Trump's words, and that the Republican nominee does not have respect for the military.
This is the first time he has endorsed a Democrat for president.
Other Republicans to have supported Mrs Clinton include Larry Pressler, a former governor and senator from South Dakota, and former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson.
Wednesday's endorsement by the Arizona Republic's editorial board is the latest from a typically Republican-leaning newspaper.
She has already been endorsed by the conservative-leaning newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News, the the Houston Chronicle, and the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles. This year is different. The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified," the editorial in the Republic, the state's largest, says.
Mr Trump has yet to receive the backing of a major publication, with some papers choosing to instead endorse libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
Hillary Clinton is campaigning today in New Hampshire alongside her former rival for the Democratic ticket, Bernie Sanders, who represents the nearby state of Vermont in the US Senate.
Donald Trump is campaigning in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
All you need to know about the US election
Key issues - where candidates stand
Who won the debate?
Lay off a woman's size, Trump


Everton have signed Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, Wigan midfielder James McCarthy and Manchester City's England international midfielder Gareth Barry.

Belgium international Lukaku, 20, and Barry, 32, join on season-long loans.
Everton have stated that McCarthy, 22, has signed for £13m, but Wigan say the fee is in the region of £15m.
The Toffees have also confirmed the departure of Marouane Fellaini to Manchester United for £27.5m and Victor Anichebe to West Brom.
Lukaku, who signed for Chelsea from Anderlecht in August 2011 for a reported £20m, spent last season on loan at West Brom, where he scored 17 Premier League goals.
He has appeared as a substitute twice for Chelsea in the Premier League this season and missed the decisive penalty in the Blues' Super Cup defeat by Bayern Munich.
The Baggies were hoping to bring Lukaku back to The Hawthorns but Everton beat them to his signature to offset the departure of Anichebe to West Brom.
McCarthy, who has played 16 times for the Republic of Ireland and was part of Wigan's FA Cup-winning side last season, was brought in to fill the void left by Fellaini's departure.
Everton have not revealed the length of his contract, describing it as a "long-term deal", while his former club Hamilton Academical have also received a substantial sell-on fee from Wigan.
England international Barry signs after making 132 Premier League appearances for Manchester City.
The former Aston Villa man, who helped City to FA Cup and Premier League successes, is in the last year of a five-year deal with the Manchester side.


A man suspected of committing a knifepoint rape on Tuesday has been released without charge.

A woman was held at knifepoint by a man wearing a balaclava between 19:45 and 20:10 GMT in Harcourt Hill, Oxford.
She was then taken to Raleigh Park and raped by the man who was about 30, muscular, white and under 6ft (180cm).
Thames Valley Police are still on the hunt for the rapist after they released a 38-year-old man on Wednesday evening.
The police are no longer linking the rape to a car crash in Wytham on Tuesday evening.
Detectives have asked anyone who saw any suspicious activity around Raleigh Park or Harcourt Hill, near the Oxford Brookes University campus, on Tuesday evening to come forward.
They have also asked the public to notify police of vehicles "being driven erratically" on the A34 northbound and near Botley or Wytham after 20:30 GMT on Tuesday.
Detective Inspector Jim Holmes said: "Perhaps you saw items being thrown from a vehicle on the A34 during that evening.
"If you did then we also want to hear from you."
Police have said there will be an "increased police presence in the area" and officers will be conducting house-to-house inquiries.


Objects used by mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, including the van that concealed a bomb, have gone on show in Norway amid fears the exhibition could attract sympathisers.

The display in Oslo opened four years to the day after Breivik killed 77 people in a bloody rampage.
Officials says it aims to help Norway come to terms with the terror attacks.
But experts and some relatives of the victims have warned it could become a magnet for right-wing extremists.
Concern has focused on the inclusion of some personal items belonging to the killer, including a fake police identity card.
Last week, Tor Oestboe, whose wife was among those killed, said he feared the exhibition would provide a "hall of fame" for the mass murderer.
Breivik killed eight people in a bombing in central Oslo and went on to gun down 69 more at a youth camp at nearby Utoeya island in 2011.
He harboured extremist right-wing views and claimed he had reacted against what he saw as a Marxist-Islamic takeover of Europe.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who was prime minister of Norway at the time of the massacre, attended commemoration ceremonies on Wednesday.
He said he believed the exhibition, housed in the government complex targeted by Breivik, was necessary.
"July 22 is a dramatic event in the history of Norway. It cannot be hushed up, but must be treated with the dignity and respect that such a brutal incident must be dealt with," local media quoted him as saying.
Oeystein Soerensen, a political historian, told Norway's Dagbladet newspaper last week that the exhibition could become "a kind of twisted Mecca" for anti-Islam and right-wing extremist "tourists".
Mr Stoltenberg is due to attend the Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island in August, which will take place for the first time since 2011.
A new memorial is also being unveiled on Wednesday to those killed on the island.
In 2012 a court in Oslo found Breivik guilty of a premeditated act of terrorism. and sentenced him to 21 years in jail.
He "acknowledged" the acts committed, but said he did not accept criminal responsibility.
His jail term can be extended if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
He has since launched legal action accusing the Norwegian state of violating his human rights by keeping him in strict isolation in prison.
Earlier this month he won a place to study political science at Oslo's university, although he will do so from his cell and have no contact with staff or students.


Five suspected terrorists including Abu Hamza al-Masri can be extradited to the US, ending a long legal battle, UK High Court judges have decided.

The court ruled Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz did not show "new and compelling" reasons to stay in the UK.
Their appeal came after the European Court of Human Rights backed successive UK courts in ruling for extradition.
The men have left Long Lartin prison in a police convoy.
Three police 4x4s, two armoured vans and a blacked-out police people carrier arrived at the Worcestershire jail at 18:15 BST.
A Home Office spokesman welcomed the decision and said it was "working to extradite these men as quickly as possible".
The BBC understands two US civilian jets - one of which is registered to the US Department of Justice - are on the tarmac at an air base in eastern England.
Judges Sir John Thomas and Mr Justice Ousley said in their ruling that there was an "overwhelming public interest in the functioning of the extradition system" and that there was "no appeal from our decision".
Of the long legal battle to send the men - whose extradition requests were submitted between 1998 and 2006 - to the US, Sir John told the court: "It is unacceptable that extradition proceedings should take more than a relatively short time, to be measured in months not years.
"It is not just to anyone that proceedings such as these should last between 14 and eight years."
There was no doubt each man had, over the years, "either taken or had the opportunity to take every conceivable point to prevent his extradition to the United States", he added.
The comments echoed those of James Eadie QC - representing the home secretary - who, during this week's hearing, argued the men's applications amounted to an abuse of process.
The judges' written ruling, read out in court, concluded that "each of the claimants' applications for permission to apply for judicial review or for a re-opening of the statutory appeals be dismissed".
By Dominic CascianiHome affairs correspondent
Abu Hamza's final appeal against extradition ended in judicial fireworks in the High Court - although the judges expressed their anger in completely different terms to those used by Abu Hamza when he preached in London.
Barring an utterly unforeseen legal twist - and this case has had its fair share - the next time we'll see Abu Hamza will be in Federal Court in New York.
The battle has seen prime ministers and US presidents come and go. Six home secretaries had his file in the ministerial red box.
But put aside the courts and the politics for one moment and remember his real impact.
He caused lasting harm and enormous community tension.
And he cast a long shadow over the lives of British Muslims who wanted to get on with life - just like the Christians and Jews Abu Hamza hated.
The judges rejected a plea by Abu Hamza to delay his extradition so he could undergo an MRI brain scan which, his lawyers said, could show he was unfit to plead because of degenerative problems.
"The sooner he is put on trial the better," they said.
The 54-year-old, a former imam at Finsbury Park mosque, north London, was suffering from chronic sleep deprivation and depression as a result of eight years in prison, his lawyers added.
But during the hearing, Sir John observed there were "excellent medical facilities in the United States".
The BBC's Dominic Casciani, at the High Court, said the British government had got the result it had wanted to see for years on Abu Hamza, who the US first attempted to extradite in 2004.
His extradition was halted when the UK decided to try him on allegations relating to his sermons. He was convicted in 2006.
The judges also rejected appeals from Mr al-Fawwaz and Mr Bary, who are accused of being aides to Osama Bin Laden in London.
The US alleges they promoted violent jihad against the West and were involved in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, which killed more than 200 people.
The battle to stay in the UK is also over for Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, who are accused of running pro-jihad website Azzam.com - which the US says was hosted there - and of helping terrorists.
In a statement prepared in prison before the verdict, Mr Ahmad said that, "By exposing the fallacy of the UK's extradition arrangements with the US, I leave with my head held high having won the moral victory."
Mr Ahmad's father, Ashfaq, said outside court he was appalled the British legal system had let him down "in a manner more befitting of a Third World country than one of the world's oldest democracies".
"We will never abandon our struggle for justice for Babar and the truth will eventually emerge of what will be forever remembered as a shameful chapter in the history of Britain," he added.
And Emma Norton, legal officer for human rights group Liberty, said that, as Mr Ahmad's alleged offences took place in the UK, "It beggars belief that he won't be tried here."
"Isn't British justice - so admired around the world - capable of dealing with crimes committed in the UK by its own citizens?" she added.
In a statement released by its embassy in London, the US said it was "pleased" the men were being extradited after "a lengthy process of litigation".
"The law enforcement relationship between the United States and United Kingdom is predicated on trust, respect, and the common goals of protecting our nations and eliminating safe havens for criminals, including terrorists," it added.
Lord Reid, who was home secretary in 2006 and 2007, meanwhile, said that like "the vast majority of people in this country" he had a sense of satisfaction "that justice, or at least this sense of the judicial process" had been complete.
He told BBC News "The propriety, the attention, the compassion, the legal approach that has been taken on this by the British stands in marked contrast to what was meted out to the victims of some of these alleged crimes."
But he urged the home secretary to look at the length of time the legal process took "because there is no doubt there has been a degree of frustration".
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the judges had thrown down the gauntlet for Parliament to look at judicial reviews - which can be used to re-open issues that have already been decided.
One of the challenges was to stop suspects from storing up last-minute legal challenges that frustrated the courts and bewildered the public, he added.


Belfast's Michael Conlan has become the first Irish male to win a senior World Amateur Championship title with victory in Wednesday's bantamweight final.

The 23-year-old Ireland team captain beat Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan on a unanimous points decision in Doha.
Conlan shaded the first round and clearly took the second but had to hang on at the end after being knocked down in the final minute.
He adds the world crown to his European and Commonwealth titles.
Conlan had already qualified for next year's Olympic Games in Rio.
"I am a bit embarrassed at getting knocked down in the last round," said Conlan.
"It is the first time I have been on the canvas in my life. He hit me sweet on the chin and it was the best punch I have ever been hit with.
"But I recovered really quickly and I am really happy."
Irish light-heavyweight Joe Ward is also through to the final at the World Championships and fights Julio La Cruz of Cuba on Thursday evening.
Earlier, Michael O'Reilly lost a controversial decision to Hosam Abdin of Egypt in their box-off for a place at the Olympics.


Two men aged 66 and 19 are being questioned by police about the theft of a fire engine in County Antrim.

It was driven out of Larne fire station and crashed at Glenarm Road in the town damaging houses and cars.
One of those arrested was taken to hospital following the crash that happened shortly after 04:00 GMT.
Police said they received several reports of a  fire engine having crashed into a number of cars and gardens.
They said two men left the scene of the crash. One of them was later taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries and has since been released.
Both men are in police custody.
The fire engine ended up in the front garden of John Lashford's home. He described what happened early on Saturday morning.
"There was a long continuous crash, crash, bang, bang, bang, culminating in a final big bang at the end," he said.
"I jumped immediately out of bed, looked out the bedroom window and looked down. I could not believe my eyes. There was a fire engine in my front garden.
"Then, I looked at the absolute carnage of the cars littered down the road that had been smashed."
Residents of the Victorian Street have described the scene they awoke to this morning as "surreal".
There was a car on its roof, five others damaged and strewn across the road and a fire appliance lying abandoned in a garden parallel to the downstairs window of the last house on the street.
The fire engine had been stolen from the station 500 metres away at about 4am. Two people have now been arrested.
Several residents have been told not to return to their homes due to the risk of structural damage.
Many others on the street have spent the morning on the phone hoping their insurance companies will cover the damage.
The local fire chief, Kevin O'Neill, said the Larne station was also damaged during the break in.
"It is an inconvenience in that we have had to put in emergency arrangements, but we are in a position where we can deal with things," he said.
"I would urge anyone who has any information to report it to the police."
East Antrim MLA Gordon Lyons said those who took the fire engine should understand the consequences of their action.
"They caused a lot of damage by what they have done," he said.
"They have been putting lives at risk by their behaviour. So we can only hope that they will understand what they have done has been very selfish and very dangerous indeed."
Sinn FÃ©in MLA Oliver McMullan said: "We are very lucky no-one was killed or seriously injured after the fire engine crashed into parked cars and buildings.
"Not only was the danger in the appliance being driven by inexperienced drivers, but it also removed this appliance from being on call."


Nottingham Forest have signed out-of-favour Hull City winger Thomas Ince on loan until the end of December.

The 22-year-old only joined the Tigers from Blackpool in the summer.
But he has been limited to four games for the Premier League side and has not appeared in the league since August.
Reds boss Stuart Pearce told BBC Radio Nottingham: "He needs first-team football and a challenge. He's not featured much for Hull, so this move - for him and us - will be fantastic."
Chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi said on Twitter: "I'm thrilled to say Thomas Ince has joined us on loan until 28 December. A very warm welcome."
England Under-21 international Ince is the son of ex-England and Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince, and also made eight appearances for Forest's neighbours Notts County in 2010-11.


A new service aimed at protecting young people from sexual exploitation in the north east of Scotland has been launched.

Alcohol and Drugs Action (ADA) said the Green Light Project (GLP) - funded by Comic Relief - was for those aged up to 25 in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
It will include advice on the safer use of social media.
ADA said sexual exploitation could lead to alcohol and drugs problems in later life.
Chief executive Luan Grugeon said: "We know that child sexual exploitation can lead to young people developing a whole range of problems as they grow up, including problems with alcohol and drugs to cope with the trauma they have experienced.
"I am really pleased that we are able to launch this project which will prevent and protect young people from being sexually exploited in the local area".
Hannah Bennet, a young people's worker delivering the service, said: "I am really excited to be a part of this new service.
"It is so important to keep raising awareness of child sexual exploitation, especially because this form of abuse can happen entirely online now.
"We need to make sure we are keeping up with technology and protecting young people from the risks posed by an increasingly connected and accessible world".


MSPs had a fiscal start to the festive period, with work scrutinising newly published budget proposals continuing right up to the start of the Christmas recess.

There had been complaints that Derek Mackay had not left committees much time to properly scrutinise his first set of tax and spending plans, after he delayed publication until 15 December.
So MSPs immediately got down to work with most of the cabinet facing a committee grilling over funding for their areas in the week before Christmas.
Here are the highlights from the first week of budgetary scrutiny.
The political flashpoint in the budget was local government finance, so it was fitting that the man who penned it was sent straight to the local government committee.
Mr Mackay repeatedly insisted that he had provided a "fair and reasonable settlement" for local government.
The finance secretary also denied claims of "double counting" in the budget, prompted by the fact £107m of funds for social care used to show a boost in the local services budget are also used to meet a target in the health budget.
The Fraser of Allander Institute economic think tank said the money should only be included under the health line or local government, adding "you cannot have it both ways".
However under questioning from Labour's Elaine Smith, Mr Mackay said: "The position is that the transfer that exists from health to social care is the same as in previous years. There's no double counting in that it's certainly part of local government services."
While the core funding for councils falls in the budget, Mr Mackay said the "totality" of funding for local services would rise, with potential council tax rises and ring-fenced funds for health and schools included.
He defended this, saying: "What are communities most interested in? It's the totality of the package to their community. It's what are you investing in schools, what are you investing in social care partnerships."
Committee convener Bob Doris noted that in light of "local services" being funded partly from the local government, education and health budgets, "we're not quite sure who's doing the scrutiny, a consolidated piece of work, on the financial position of local authorities and the support provided to them".
He said: "We need to do better as a parliament on how well we follow the public pound at a local authority level."
Economy Secretary Keith Brown told MSPs that Scotland "continues to be an attractive country for business growth" in light of the budget proposals.
Much of the questioning from the committee focused on funding for enterprise agencies.
Under examination by Tory Dean Lockhart and Labour's Richard Leonard Mr Brown accepted that money had been moved away from Scottish Enterprise; there was dispute over how much, but Mr Brown said it was "more than made up for" by other enterprise investment.
Adding that "we have to live within our means", Mr Brown highlighted cuts to business rates and an increase in capital investment to conclude that "we have a very strong commitment to enterprise in Scotland".
The budget will also see 100,000 properties exempt from business rates under the small business bonus scheme, which Mr Brown said had been "extremely well received".
He also agreed with convener Gordon Lindhurst that the government should focus on developing trade with countries outwith the EU, in particular with countries like the US, Brazil, Russia, India and China.
At more than £13bn, the health and sport portfolio is Holyrood's biggest area of direct spending. And due to SNP manifesto commitments, the draft budget included a promised boost for health funding.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said the government had "consistently prioritised" the NHS. However, like her cabinet colleague Mr Mackay, she came under pressure about the "double counting" claims over funds supporting both the health and local authority budgets.
She said: "I don't think there is double counting. We've been clear in our statements that the £107m is allocated to the health budget and then transferred into the new integrated authorities. I don't think that could be clearer."
Director of Health Finance Christine McLaughlin added: "The reflection in local government isn't adding to the value of the settlement, it's showing as another source of funding as it flows through from health. It's only included once in the overall numbers."
Green MSP Alison Johnstone also raised questions over an 8.3% real-terms cut to the sports budget. Ms Robison agreed it was a "tough settlement", and said Sport Scotland should prioritise the delivery of grassroots community sport.
John Swinney, himself a veteran of many budget statements, defended the allocation for schools during his appearance at the education and skills committee.
He was pressed in particular over funding for implementing the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), which Scottish Parliament Information Centre analysis showed was to drop by 49.2% across the SQA, Education Scotland and central government budgets.
Tory MSP Ross Thomson said this cut came during an "intense period of assessment redesign" which needed additional resource. But Mr Swinney said the curriculum and qualifications framework had been developed to "a very advanced stage".
He said: "I think the decisions that we've taken have been robust and clear decisions. I obviously will continue to monitor all of these decisions as we go through the financial year but I'm confident that we've taken a set of decisions that are appropriate for the stage of development of Scottish education."
Labour's Johann Lamont asked about the "huge uncertainty" in the sector and among parents about the reforms.
The deputy first minister said definitive guidance about the delivery of CfE had been issued in August, adding that teachers had told him it was "enormously helpful in simplifying guidance".
With Scotland setting up its own social security agency to deliver a range of newly devolved benefits, a hefty share of the budget has been committed to that new department.
Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman told MSPs that £80m had been allocated to developing the new Scottish welfare programme.
However, under questioning from Tory Adam Tomkins and Labour's Mark Griffin, she conceded that the £80m would go towards all the new powers devolved under the Scotland Act, not just social security. She said both the Crown Estate and employment support would have a call on some part of the total, and said she would try to clarify this for the committee.
Asked by convener Sandra White if the budget total was likely to change, Ms Freeman said she was "confident and comfortable" that the £80m figure would be sufficient initially.
However she warned that at times all the Scottish government could do was put a "sticking plaster" on UK government policy.
The justice committee took evidence from the government's top law officer, Lord Advocate James Wolffe.
Repeatedly pressed by Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross, Mr Wolffe conceded that there had been a real-terms cut to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal's Office budget.
Members heard the revenue budget reduction comes in at £1.4m, which service bosses said would be taken 50% from the staff budget and 50% from non-staff costs.
However, when asked if he was left going "cap in hand" to the government for funding, the Lord Advocate said: "Would I like to have more money? There is no head of any public service anywhere in Scotland who would not like to have more by way of resources.
"Can I deliver a prosecution service that fundamentally does the job that it is there to do - to prosecute crime effectively, rigorously and fairly - with the settlement we have achieved? I believe that I can."
Much of the budgetary questioning for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop focused on Brexit.
Committee convener Joan McAlpine noted that while the external affairs budget was to rise overall - chiefly due to a rise in humanitarian aid - the European line of the budget was to fall.
Ms Hyslop said this was because there was now a separate budget line for the government's Brussels office, which was where "a great deal of the European strategy funding is now located" with the government "geared up to deal with the consequences" of Brexit.
With cultural funds largely protected, Janet Archer from Creative Scotland told the committee she was "absolutely delighted" with the budget, while Malcolm Roughead from VisitScotland said his group was "delighted with the outcome".
However, as Ms McAlpine pointed out, the schools music budget was cut by £1m. Ms Hyslop said she was "being up front" with the committee: "In order to protect the portfolios for Creative Scotland, VisitScotland, the national collections and the national performing companies, I had to take some reduction somewhere."
The environment and rural economy budgets both grew in both cash and real terms in the draft budget, according to SPICe.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing told MSPs that the key priorities in his area were reforming farm payments, developing the food and drink and forestry sectors, supporting fishing and and improving digital connectivity.
SNP member Gail Ross and Tory Peter Chapman highlighted a real-terms reduction in forestry budgets, which Mr Ewing admitted "has perhaps not received quite the same focus as farming and fishing".
The Scottish government has missed its latest tree-planting targets, and Mr Ewing said he was "determined" to do so in future, committing to "substantial funding to assist plantings".
Lib Dem Mike Rumbles raised the issue of the farm payments IT system, which he said "a heck of a lot of money" was being spent on. Mr Ewing said he was "determined" to ensure that "farmers get their money on time".
Mr Ewing also highlighted a substantial increase in funding for peatland restoration, from £2m to £10m - something which was also praised by Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham during a meeting of the environment committee.
Ms Cunningham told members that climate change, flooding and land reform were the key priorities in the environment budget, noting that budgets were "protected" for these areas. She added: "I hesitate to use the word 'increased', because the likelihood of a great deal of extra money suddenly being around is pretty remote."
Scottish Natural Heritage faced funding cuts in the budget, and warned that the UK leaving the EU could have a "significant impact" on their work with the loss of EU funding. Ms Cunningham said there was a "huge question mark over funding right across the board because of Brexit".


Newport Gwent Dragons captain Lewis Evans says their 23-21 win at Gloucester to reach the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup is among his career highlights.

Charlie Davies' late try ended the holders' 15-game unbeaten European run.
"We've enjoyed derby wins over the years but winning away in Kingsholm in a quarter-final is certainly right up there," Evans said.
"Today was something fantastic for the team, but the fans deserved it."
Replacement scrum half Davies crossed after acting captain Evans decided to kick for the corner and a possible winning try, rather than tie the scores with four minutes left.
"To get over that (winning) barrier is great for us, personally to be the one to touch down it's elation. I'm really happy for myself but more importantly for the team to move on in this competition," said the Welsh-qualified scrum-half.
"I've only done that (reached a European semi-final) once before with Wasps, that was against Gloucester a few years ago."
Evans, who has been at the Dragons for a decade, was left to enjoy the fruits of his gamble.
"Towards the end the momentum was in our favour, we had our tail-feathers up and we thought we'd keep the building the pressure," he told BBC Wales Sport.
"It wasn't just me making the decision, as soon as I said it, everyone backed it."
Wales number eight Taulupe Faletau also ranked the game as an all-time highlight.
"It's an amazing feeling, we can take confidence from this" said man-of-the-match Faletau, who is leaving for Bath in the summer.
"The boys put a heck of a shift in and were rewarded with the result.
"It's up there for the top game I've been involved with for the Dragons. It's always nice to be in (contention in) a competition, it gives the boys something to play for."
It is the second successive season that the Dragons have reached the last four of the second-tier European competition.
In 2015 they beat Cardiff Blues in a home quarter-final only to lose heavily at Edinburgh.
Dragons' semi-final opponents Montpellier are second in the French Top 14, but the Welsh side can take heart from wins at Pau in the current campaign and Stade Francais in the 2014-15 season.
"The stadium looks fantastic on TV and I've always wanted to go there for an occasion," Evans said.
"This is one of the best ones for a semi-final, so let's go out there with the same mentality to play and to win."


Recent high-profile cases of unarmed black men dying at the hands of the US police have sparked protests and civil unrest in several American cities.

The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray are - some claim - evidence of long-standing problems with police racism and excessive violence.
Four expert witnesses talk to the BBC World Service Inquiry programme, including the head of President Obama's taskforce on police reform, Charles Ramsey.
Sam Sinyangwe is a researcher and activist who started the Mapping Police Violence project.
"I'm 24 years old.  I'm a black man. It's incredibly depressing to see people just like me who have been killed.
"I started the project to provide answers in the wake of the shooting of Mike Brown. It's very heavy to read these stories, and yet it feels like the right work to do.  It's important.
"There are statistics on all kinds of violent crimes. And yet, when it comes to people being killed by police officers, there's no data on that. So a light bulb went off in my head. I looked at two crowd-sourcing databases which collected all of the names. I then went through the media reports listing each of those people who were killed."
He counted 1,149 people of all ethnic groups killed by the police in 2014.
"I identified whether they were armed or unarmed. I identified them by race by looking at if there was an obituary or another picture of them online.
"In the aftermath of Ferguson [where the unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed], there was this big question 'Is this a pattern, is this an isolated incident?' What [my data] shows is that Ferguson is everywhere. All over the country you're seeing black people being killed by police."
The youngest recorded was 12, the oldest 65. More than 100 were unarmed.
"Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police in the United States than white people. More unarmed black people were killed by police than unarmed white people last year. And that's taking into account the fact that black people are only 14% of the population here.
"It goes back to this question of how do they perceive young black men? There's something in the US called Vision Zero, a commitment by mayors to achieve zero traffic fatalities in a specified timeframe.
"We haven't seen mayors step up and make clear commitments to eliminate the level of police violence in their communities. I think that says a lot about the relative value that they place on those constituents' lives."
Lorie Fridell is an Associate Professor of criminology at the University of South Florida and was director of research at the Police Executive Research Forum.
"I'm a white, middle-class professional woman. I enjoy a great deal of privilege. And I certainly have the black crime implicit bias: I am more likely to see threat in African Americans than I would Caucasians.
"Racial profiling was the number one issue facing police [in the 1990s], and I came to understand two things. Bias in policing was not just a few officers in a few departments; and, overwhelmingly, the police in this country are well-intentioned. I couldn't put those two thoughts together in my head until I was introduced to the science of implicit bias.
"We all have implicit biases whereby we link groups to stereotypes, possibly producing discriminatory behaviour - even in individuals who are totally against prejudice.
"The original 'Shoot, Don't Shoot' studies have a subject sitting in front a computer monitor and photos pop up very quickly, showing either a white or black man. That man either has a gun in his hand or a neutral object like a cell phone. The subject is told 'if you see a threat, hit the 'shoot' key and if you don't see a threat, hit the 'don't shoot' key'. "
The Inquiry is broadcast on the BBC World Service on Tuesdays from 12:05 GMT/13:05 BST
Listen to the programme
Download the podcast
The studies suggest that implicit biases affect these actions - for example in some studies people are quicker to 'shoot' an unarmed black man than an unarmed white man. A Department of Justice report released in March looking at the use of deadly force by Philadelphia police, supports the idea that police are susceptible to implicit bias:
"One of the things they looked at is what they called threat perception failure. The officer believed that the person was armed and it turned out not to be the case. And these failures were more likely to occur when the subject was black [even if the officers were themselves black or Latino].
"Officers, like the rest of us, have an implicit bias linking blacks to crime. So the black crime implicit bias might be implicated in some of the use of deadly force against African-Americans in our country.
"An important message in our training is that stereotypes are based in part on fact, and we have to recognise this because in our country, people of colour are disproportionately represented amongst the people who commit street crime.
"That does not give you licence to treat every individual in a group as if they fit the stereotype, that's where we go wrong."
Former policeman Seth Stoughton is now a law professor at the University of South Carolina.
"The first rule of law enforcement is to go home at the end of your shift. The key principle is officer survival. That's what all training is designed to promote. But it ends up endangering civilians rather than preserving their safety.
"The warrior culture - the belief that police officers are soldiers engaged in battle with the criminal element - that has contributed to some shootings that were most likely avoidable.
"It starts in police recruitment videos that show officers shooting rifles, strapping on hard body armour, using force. That attracts a particular type of candidate, and the Police Academy further entrenches this.
"It teaches officers to be afraid by telling them that policing is an incredibly dangerous profession.
"Officers are trained to view every encounter as a potential deadly force incident: you walk up to a person who is loitering outside of a convenience store, their hands are in their pockets. You as the officer begin talking to them, and without saying a word they pull a gun out of their pocket and begin shooting you.
"Training involves an average of about 60 hours on deadly force - the use of firearms - and just over 60 hours on self-defence. Compare that to de-escalation conflict resolution training: the average there is only eight hours of training, and most of that is classroom-based.
"When the military is designing a mission, they have in mind the fact that they're going to lose soldiers. The police profession has strongly repudiated that notion. No officer fatalities are acceptable.
"If all of the states had the same approach and the same numbers of officer-involved homicides as the best states, the states that had the fewest, we could expect about 300 to 600 lives to be saved every year."
Charles Ramsey is the Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, and was asked by President Obama to run the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
"We live in a society where everybody wants to point fingers, but we have a lot of deeply-rooted societal problems: poverty, education, poor housing stock.
"We've got to deal with the issue of extreme poverty. Philadelphia has the highest rate of poverty among US cities. You have an underground economy that supports many of these neighbourhoods - drugs, prostitution, illegal cigarette sales.
"Why are police in large numbers in some of these neighbourhoods? We have to deal with the reality that there's a disproportionate amount of crime occurring in many of these neighbourhoods.
"We've had several police officers shot and killed during the past seven years.  I've had eight officers killed in the line of duty - five shot dead. So there is violence that takes place against police as well, and that needs to be taken into consideration."
To tackle the problem, he has divided Philadelphia into separate areas with their own teams:
"They have monthly community meetings to talk about crime and disorder. Cadets that come out of the academy are assigned to foot patrol right away, they don't automatically go into cars. So that they actually get to know people in these challenged communities, good folks that are there entrapped in certain conditions."
In response to the Department of Justice report criticising Philadelphia police's use of force, Commissioner Ramsey introduced new training that focuses on de-escalation, as well as armed response:
"Putting them in scenarios where they have to exercise good judgement and being able to critique that so that when they are in these real live situations, their reaction, their response, is really more consistent with what the actual threat is."
The Inquiry is broadcast on the BBC World Service on Tuesdays from 1205 GMT/1305 BST. Listen online or download the podcast.
The link in this story to the "Shoot, Don't shoot" studies referred to by Professor Lorie Fridell has been updated to reflect more accurately the research.


Adam Sandler's hit film Grown Ups 2 leads the nominations at this year's Razzies, taking eight nominations.

The comedy, about four childhood friends reuniting, took $247m (Â£150m) at the global box office, but was dubbed "Groan Ups 2" by critics.
It is up for worst picture, sequel, ensemble and screenplay at the Razzies, which launched in 1980 as a spoof of the Oscars.
Box office flops The Lone Ranger and After Earth are also multiple nominees.
Sandler, who wrote and starred in Grown Ups 2, is in the running for worst male in a lead role.
He is no stranger to the Razzies, having taken the worst actor title last year for his role in man-child comedy That's My Boy.
A year before that, Jack and Jill - in which Sandler plays biologically-impossible identical male and female twins - made Razzie history with a record 10 awards.
The 47-year-old won both the worst actor and actress prizes.
Grown Ups 2 is a sequel to Sandler's 2010 film, which brought Sandler back together with US comedy show Saturday Night Live stars Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade.
The second instalment was one of the worst-reviewed films of 2013, with an average score of 19 out of a 100, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
"In the first five minutes, a deer walks into the star's bedroom and urinates on his face. It's all downhill from there," wrote Matt Patches in Time Out.
Branding the film "slothful" and "indulgent", Empire Magazine's Simon Crook criticised its "lumpen slapstick, casual sexism and a smug tone".
Supporting actors Taylor Lautner, Salma Hayek and director Dennis Dugan are also up for Golden Raspberry Awards.
The other films nominated for worst picture were Johnny Depp's uneven Wild West adventure The Lone Ranger; Will Smith's sci-fi misfire After Earth; Tyler Perry's holiday comedy A Madea Christmas and comedy anthology Movie 43, featuring the likes of Kate Winslet, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.
After Earth, A Madea Christmas and Movie 43 have six nominations apiece.
The shortlist comes a day before the Oscar nominations, and the Razzies will similarly be handed out a night before the Oscars ceremony on 2 March.
Winners generally fail to show up - although Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock have collected their gold spray-painted prizes in person.