George Osborne has had countless exhilarating moments in his career - and plenty of grim ones too.

He will have felt a surge of adrenaline when, this morning, he sits in the editor's chair at the Evening Standard for the first time. And thank goodness, because his new working hours mean he has to wake up at about 5am.
Here are six priorities in his new role.
Leadership is about vision, articulating where you want your team to reach - perhaps some shining city upon a hill.
Management is the daily trudge to get there.
The first thing any new editor has to do is set out very clearly where he wants to take the organ.
Who is it for, where will it sit politically, what key changes is he intent on making, and so on.
I can imagine Osborne saying, when he addresses staff after the first edition is sent to the printers, that London is his home city, the place of his birth, and that he wants the Standard to be a paper for London, by Londoners.
He might say: "For the past 20 years I've been a Conservative, but always a liberal one, and now I want us to fight for the liberal mainstream majority in this city."
Since leaving No 11, Osborne has missed running things. He'll enjoy being a boss again.
Editors depend for their efficacy on authority, and specifically the authority to make things happen - that is, power.
The sources of authority are several. First, natural authority, which comes from your manner, reputation, and character.
Second, the intellectual force of your leadership and vision. Third, a strong mandate from the proprietor. And fourth, knowledge of the craft you now practise.
And here Osborne is starting with - to use a term he knows well - a deficit. Since his student days, he hasn't rewritten a picture caption, designed a front page, or converted the seventh paragraph of his most pompous columnist's weekly contribution into an intro.
All this will take time, as will getting comfortable with some of the jargon beloved by old print hands, who talk of widows and orphans constantly (don't ask).
Osborne needs to impose himself intellectually and journalistically to persuade his colleagues he isn't an amateur. A masterstroke of a splash headline this week would help. So too would a gentle redesign.
Readers can get annoyed at redesigns, but given this paper is free, they might forgive it, and for Osborne it could be an unbeatable way to excite staff, show he cares about the small print (literally), and break with the past.
Osborne has done this several times of course, not least at the Treasury.
Newspapers are generally very hierarchical places. He will quickly discover that if one of his specialists or a desk editor is off sick, the paper will still come out, but when the lowest-paid among the production staff catch a flu, the paper is full of errors, he gets a nasty fine for being late, and the darn thing nearly fails to be printed.
Aside from getting to know junior staff in editorial and production, Osborne will need to get to know all the commercial staff too, because the Standard's business model is so dependent on selling ads.
He went round and introduced himself to them all when he went into the office a few months ago, and ought to do that again.
The Standard's business model is under immense pressure. Being free, it has no cover price revenue, and is therefore funded mainly by print display advertising.
But that market is disappearing fast, and though the Standard has mostly fixed distribution costs, Osborne needs to find new revenues - and fast.
Bringing in very high-profile speakers for big events is one way to achieve this, and he will need to call in some big favours very soon.
Mike Bloomberg, Christine Lagarde, David Cameron and even his chum Emmanuel Macron should expect calls.
As chancellor, Osborne grasped the importance of a turnaround, or crisis-and-resolution, narrative.
This is not unique to UK politics: Mitt Romney wrote a book called Turnaround.
Just as, years ago, the austerity chancellor left voters in no doubt that Britain's economy was on the brink, so as to justify some harsh medicine, so he may talk openly in coming weeks about why the crisis in the ad market makes it necessary for him to make painful decisions, including about sackings.
I spoke to one Standard hack over the weekend who said "Theresa May has done us a massive favour!"
The fact that Osborne is no longer MP for Tatton in Cheshire means he'll have more time available, will be less dogged by controversy over his split loyalties, and evades some censure for doing too many jobs.
But he still has to prove his independence from government. To be seen as a Tory lackey would be fatal for his authority.
So expect a major assault on the government's handling of Brexit, or perhaps the announcement of a new columnist from the Left.
Jeremy Corbyn could be prime minister in a few weeks, but if he isn't, then as a veteran London MP, perhaps he could be a candidate for the editor's favour. Goodness knows if his prose is elegant, though.
As I've argued several times now, it is very hard to see how Osborne can reconcile being in charge of the City pages with his work for BlackRock.
Aside from the time commitment, if any of BlackRock's clients are in the news Osborne faces a choice - even if he doesn't realise it.
Is he covering them as an impartial, ferocious editor, prepared to stand up to the mighty?
Or is the fact that he gets paid Â£650,000 for four days a month going to enter his mind, as his fingers hover over the keyboard and he formulates a headline?


A fatal accident inquiry into the death of a vulnerable woman in a bath has heard the 999 call made by a carer who found her.

Margaret Gilchrist, 50, had severe learning difficulties from birth, was registered blind and had epilepsy.
She died at her home in Carntyne Road, Glasgow - where she was cared for full-time - on 26 September 2013.
In the call the carer described Ms Gilchrist as being "as white as a ghost".
A paramedic also told the FAI that the carer told him she had left Ms Gilchrist alone for 10 to 15 minutes.
The inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court is examining the circumstances surrounding her death.
It has heard that she received full-time care provided by the learning disability organisation, Enable.
Another woman, who was supported by carers, also lived at the house in Glasgow's east end.
The 999 call made by Ms Gilchrist's carer was played at the inquiry.
In the call the carer sounds breathless and is asked to calm down by the operator. She then goes on to say that someone has drowned in the bath.
Asked "is she awake?", the carer replied: "No, she is as white as a ghost."
The carer said there was another woman in the house who had additional needs.
Asked by the operator about the woman in the bath: "How long was she in there? The carer replied: "Twenty minutes, half an hour."
The carer was then asked by the operator if she had pulled the plug. She replied that she had.
Asked if she was able to pull the woman out of the bath, the carer said she could not.
The carer went on to say: "About 20 minutes ago I was down the stairs trying to do stuff in the house. I'm so sorry I can't believe this. I don't know if I left the water on...There's been that much happening tonight I cannot believe this."
The inquiry also heard from Stephen Mason who was the first paramedic on the scene at about 20:03.
He said he went into the bathroom and saw a woman lying in the bath who showed no signs of life.
The paramedic said there was just a trickle of water left but he believed her head had been under water as there was water in her ear.
He also said there was fresh skin on the sides of the bath and he had formed the impression this had come from either the woman's hands or hips.
He said a tap was still running but "not fast". He agreed it was just a dribble of water.
He said the carer told him she had left the woman for 10 to 15 minutes and she had told him that she did not know if she had left the taps running.
He said he believed the carer had told his colleague she had left the woman for half an hour.
The inquiry before sheriff Lindsay Wood continues.


Geoffrey Howe was one of the longest-serving Conservative cabinet members of modern times.

He was at the Foreign Office for the second longest period of the 20th Century, and was a reforming and innovative chancellor.
Possessed of an owlish gaze and courteous manner, he was seen as an effective, if somewhat plodding member of the Thatcher administration.
It was therefore, something of an irony, that it was his measured tones that precipitated the downfall of one of the highest-profile prime ministers in British history.
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe was born in Port Talbot, South Wales on 20 December 1926. His father was a solicitor who was also the local coroner.
It was an area which had been dominated by Labour since Ramsay MacDonald won the parliamentary seat.
His grandfather had been a staunch trade unionist and Howe later recalled the long queues at local employment exchanges while he was growing up.
He remained a proud Welshman and later regretted not having learned to speak the language.
He left Winchester College in 1944 and joined the Army, serving as a signals officer in Kenya where he learned Swahili and lectured the locals on the perils of communism.
He turned down the opportunity to remain in the Army, instead going to Cambridge where he read law and dabbled in Conservative politics.
"Not because of strong political commitment," he later recalled, "but because of an interest in taking part in politics."
He became a founding member of the Bow Group, an independent think tank that promotes Conservative ideas.
He was called to the Bar in 1952 but politics still beckoned. He contested his home seat of Aberavon in 1955 and 1959, in both cases failing to unseat the Labour incumbent.
The following year he married Elspeth Shand who later carved out her own successful career in public life.
In 1958, he co-authored a report, entitled A Giant's Strength, which argued that the trade unions were far too influential and that their power should be curtailed.
It was useful research for the battles with the unions that would ensue after Margaret Thatcher's election.
Howe entered Parliament in 1964, as the member for the marginal constituency of Bebington, on the Wirral, but lost the seat two years later following boundary changes.
He never gave up his legal work during this period and remained convinced that MPs should have a sound career outside politics before entering Parliament.
"Politics is much healthier if you have real people conducting it."
Howe won the safe Conservative seat of Reigate in 1970 as the party returned to power under Edward Heath.
He was knighted the same year and Heath appointed him solicitor general. He was responsible for helping to draft the Industrial Relations Act and European Communities Act.
In 1972, Howe became minister of state at the Department of Trade and Industry, with a seat in the cabinet.
During this period, he introduced a number of bills to improve consumer protection and set up the Office of Fair Trading.
In February 1974 Howe won the seat of East Surrey. But Heath's government was defeated and Howe found himself in opposition.
He surprised many when he entered the race to replace Heath in the 1975 Conservative leadership election.
He got a mere 19 votes, but he had set out his stall. When Margaret Thatcher gained power in 1979, Howe was appointed chancellor of the exchequer.
He proved his reforming credentials by cutting income tax while doubling VAT. He strove to reduce inflation, but at the cost of sharply rising unemployment.
He rejected the idea that he was wed to some kind of monetarist dogma.
"The wellbeing of the British people, and the health of our economy, are far more important than any government's commitment to a particular strategy."
Moving to the Foreign Office in 1983, he upset the opposition by banning trade union membership at GCHQ in Cheltenham.
There was wide acclaim for his successful negotiations for the handover of Hong Kong to China, which would finally take place in 1997.
But after the killings in Tiananmen Square, he met hostility from Hong Kong residents when he refused them general rights of entry to Britain.
Howe wanted Britain to enter the European exchange rate mechanism five years before Mrs Thatcher finally agreed to it.
Only after he jointly threatened resignation with the Chancellor Nigel Lawson, did she consent to conditions for entry.
These differences almost certainly led to his unexpected removal from the Foreign Office in the summer of 1989 - some thought he should have resigned there and then.
But after a brief resistance, when he turned down the Home Office, he accepted the role of leader of the House and deputy prime minister.
He was responsible for making the televising of the Commons permanent, following an earlier trial run.
But his power was diminished, and his relations with the prime minister became cool due to their fundamental disagreement over the EU.
After representing Britain so often alongside her, he could not share what he called her "nightmare vision" of "a continent teeming with ill-intentioned scheming people".
And he came to believe that her beating of the nationalist drum was dangerous.
For her part, Mrs Thatcher accused Howe of "bile and treachery", and said he had become both "a source of division and a focus of resentment".
Howe finally broke ranks after the prime minister had declared at a European Council meeting that Britain would never join the euro.
She followed it up with a somewhat intemperate speech in which she attacked proposals that the European Parliament should become the democratic body of the community, the Commission the executive, and the Council of Ministers the senate.
"No. No. No," she famously told the Commons on 30 October 1990.
Howe not only resigned, giving up his posts as leader of the Commons and deputy prime minister, but made such a devastating speech of resignation in the Commons that the prime minister never recovered.
Using a cricket metaphor to describe Mrs Thatcher's attitude to British negotiations in Europe, he said: "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease, only to find ... that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain."
The speech encouraged Michael Heseltine to challenge Mrs Thatcher's leadership. Within weeks she left No 10.
Howe later claimed that he had not foreseen the consequences of his speech. At the next election he went to the Lords as Lord Howe of Aberavon.
He remained prominent in British politics and took a high-profile role in the battle against Tony Blair's attempts to diminish the power of the House of Lords.
"It's a treasure trove of speciality knowledge on almost everything," he said in an interview with Varsity magazine.
Lord Howe was a hard worker, a patient negotiator and a persistent advocate for the things in which he believed.
He was seen as radical on monetarist and union matters, but as a dove and something of a philosopher on social questions.
Denis Healey once joked that being attacked by Howe was like being "savaged by a dead sheep".
It was typical of the man that, away from the bear-pit of the Commons, Howe counted Healey among his closest friends and the two men and their wives often stayed with each other.
Geoffrey Howe proved himself to be a consummate politician, and a reforming chancellor.
Yet in the end, he will probably be best remembered for the part he played, albeit reluctantly, in the toppling of Margaret Thatcher.


Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, 37, has made history as the only Pakistani to win two Oscars.

On Tuesday, she made headlines in Pakistan when her name was called at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, for best short subject documentary film of the year.
She walked up to the stage to accept the award, waved her Oscar triumphantly and said: "I have another one!"
The film, A Girl in the River - The Price of Forgiveness, highlights the issue of honour killings in Pakistan. It traces the story of an 18-year-old woman, Saba, who was shot by her relatives to redeem their family honour, and dumped into a river. She miraculously survived to tell her story.
The subject of honour killings is not discussed much in Pakistan - mainly because most of the crimes go unreported and the victims remain unknown.
This is why Ms Obaid Chinoy chose it as the subject for her latest film.
In her acceptance speech, she said that after seeing the film, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has vowed to change the law on honour killings.
"That is the power of film," she said.
But legislation could prove difficult to implement in this religiously conservative society.
Although religious leaders condemn the killings, there is wide support for the tradition.
Murderers avoid punishment if they are forgiven by the family of their victims.
Sharmeen Chinoy was born in Karachi in 1978. She did her early schooling at the prestigious Karachi Grammar School, and later studied mass communications at Stanford University in the US.
Since 2010, she has reported, produced and directed over a dozen documentary films.
Apart from two Oscars, she has also won two Emmy Awards for her documentaries in 2010 and 2013, and was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (The Crescent of Distinction), the second highest civilian award of Pakistan, in 2012, soon after she won her first Oscar.
I sat down with Sharmeen a few weeks before her Oscar win. She said that apart from the accolade, she was happy that the film has allowed the subject to be discussed publicly.
"Honour killing is a taboo subject in Pakistan," she said.
"It's a very private affair. It happens when a father kills a daughter, when a brother kills a sister and it's left in the family.
"Often times you don't find out the names of the women, you don't find the bodies, you don't even know that a woman has been killed."
Sharmeen is no stranger to difficult subjects.
In 2012, she won an Oscar for another short subject documentary she made on acid attacks in Pakistan, an equally gory practice in which "shamed" relatives" or jilted lovers deface their female victims by throwing acid at them.
She told me that as a Pakistani filmmaker, she's interested in the issues that affect people here.
"There's a lot that needs to be fixed in Pakistan," she said.
She says she received criticism from people who say she only highlights the worst aspects of the country.
However, "I live in Pakistan and I must talk about these issues," she said.
Sharmeen said that she's been pushing for a bill against honour killings. One had already been put forward by the senate but collapsed in parliament due to disagreement between the government and the opposition.
Looking through her busy office, there are shelves packed with awards, including one of her Emmys, and pictures of Sharmeen with celebrities like Meryl Streep and US presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton.
"The Oscar is not here unfortunately," she said when she saw me looking for it.
"I keep it locked up safely!" she laughed.
It's easy to see that Sharmeen is an exception, not just because she's now Pakistan's only double Oscar winner, but also because she's a successful female filmmaker in a society where thousands of women are still up against practices like acid attacks and honour killings.
"If this bill [against honour killings] passes then I'll already be a winner when I walk down the red carpet," she said at the time.


A decades-old Morris dancing group says it desperately needs "fit, mildly eccentric men" to join in order to keep going.

Chelmsford Morris was founded in 1972 and currently has about 30 members.
However, the vast majority of members are now women and some male members are expected to retire soon.
Club bagman Celia Kemp said the the situation meant "the men of Chelmsford Morris may have to stop dancing in 2017 because of a shortage of dancers".
"The women's side is doing really quite well," she said. "They are going from strength to strength.
"But we really need some younger people to join. We have nine grown up sons between us and none of them have taken up Morris dancing.
"We would like people who have perhaps got fed up with the gym and who want to try something new - it is also such a good social life.
"Eccentricity is not a requirement but is usually the definition of a Morris dancer."
Dances usually involve six or eight men. But the club currently has seven male dancers who can perform most of the dances.
"That is really pushing it," says Ms Kemp, "because people have lives outside Morris and you need people in reserve."


German bank BayernLB says it has rejected a 25m euros (£20m) settlement from Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

The bank claims he collected commissions, and undervalued its stake in the global motor racing business, which it sold in 2005.
Mr Ecclestone's lawyer in Munich declined to comment.
This week a German court halted a bribery trial against Mr Ecclestone, relating to the sale of F1 rights, in exchange for a payment of £60m.
The 83-year-old billionaire had been accused of funnelling some £26m to jailed BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to ensure that a company he favoured could buy a stake in F1.
Mr Ecclestone had denied wrongdoing, and his payment was accepted by the district court in Munich.
He walked free and continues running the sport. It also meant Mr Ecclestone was found neither guilty nor innocent.
Gribkowsky was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in 2012 for accepting bribes.
Mr Ecclestone's lawyers last week had offered to pay public-sector bank BayernLB 25m euros, but also said that damage to the company was not evident.
The offer expired on Friday with the bank rejecting it, without giving reasons.
It has not said what its next move would be - it could either negotiate another sum or could launch civil proceedings against him.
In 2005 BayernLB sold its stake in Formula 1 to the private equity firm CVC, making it the largest stakeholder in the business.


EU milk quotas have been scrapped after more than three decades of efforts to prevent overproduction.

The system, set up in 1984, is ending so EU dairy businesses can compete with international rivals in supplying fast-growing markets in Asia and Africa.
The Irish Republic, the Netherlands and Germany are all expected to increase production sharply.
But UK farmers have said it could lead to further falls in the price they receive for their milk.
The European Commission believes the changes will not bring back butter mountains and milk lakes and says China and other international markets are hungry for European farmers' produce.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan said the ending of quotas was both a challenge and an opportunity for the EU.
"It is a challenge because an entire generation of dairy farmers will have to live under completely new circumstances and volatility will surely accompany them along the road," he said.
"But it certainly is an opportunity in terms of growth and jobs."
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) urged all countries to "act responsibly and collectively" and said the lifting of quotas could mean fresh price falls for English and Welsh farmers, who have operated within the system for the past 15 years.
NFU dairy board chairman Rob Harrison said: "With milk prices yet to show any strong signs of recovery, this could push farm gate milk prices down further in the EU and stall any recovery in the dairy markets.
"It's vital that expansion in any member state is planned in accordance with available market opportunities."
Somerset dairy farmer James Hole said: "All they are going to end up doing is create huge milk pools coming out of Europe.
"Long term there will probably have to be another form of capping. I can't see how they can just make it a free-for-all."
Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill said dairy farmers there faced a "difficult time" but she was "optimistic about the longer-term prospects... [if] the local dairy industry continues to pursue a market-led strategy with future decisions being taken in the context of input costs and market returns".
The EU milk quota system was set up after subsidised European milk production persistently outstripped consumer demand.
This led to the so-called milk lakes and butter mountains. From 1984, member states were fined heavily if they produced too much milk.
Quotas have been raised steadily in the past seven years in preparation for being lifted altogether.
Dairy farmers often struggle with price volatility, and the European Commission says quotas have not made their lives easier in that respect.
The prices paid to dairy farmers rose 13% in the first half of 2014, yet the corresponding consumer prices rose 8.4% in Germany, 1.6% in the UK and 0.8% in France.
It has taken years of tough negotiations to get to this point - and the Commission says there will still be a safety net for dairy farmers.
An EU Milk Market Observatory has been set up to help producers adjust to price fluctuations.
Read Laurence's full analysis in the Inside Europe Blog
The abolition of the system affects farmers in all 28 EU member states.
Belgian and other EU dairy farmers staged a protest in Brussels on Tuesday, fearing the lifting of quotas will drive small farms out of business.
They have argued the lifting of quotas helps only big food companies and the largest milk producers, whose efficiency allows them to operate with slim margins.
"We're really scared that production is going to explode and we won't be able to pay our costs any more," said Belgian dairy farmer Yvan Deknudt.
He said the wholesale price of milk was already 30% lower than the level he needed to break even.
German dairy industry association president Karl-Heinz Engel said he was happy quotas were being scrapped.
"We're prepared... export-orientated and competitive," he said.


French authorities have been left mystified by two consecutive nights of illegal drone flights over central Paris.

The small unmanned aircraft appeared over landmarks including the Invalides military museum, Place de la Concorde, and two of the old city gates.
Environmental activists, terrorists, and pranksters have all been mentioned as possible suspects, but no-one has claimed responsibility.
The difficult question now for the Paris authorities and in cities around the world is, how do you catch a drone?
We've taken a look at five of the best options.
Since the September 11th attacks there has been a shoot-down policy in place for any aircraft in UK airspace deemed to pose a threat.
If authorities were sufficiently concerned about a drone they could in theory scramble RAF jets on a rapid reaction alert to shoot it down.
A jet fighter to down a cheap, commercially available drone might seem like a hammer to crack a nut, but aviation expert Chris Yates told the BBC that even a small drone could present a threat to sensitive locations. These kind of drones could be fairly easily modified to carry a payload, Yates said.
Not as far-fetched as it might sound - both China and the US have successfully experimented with anti-drone lasers.
In November last year, Chinese state media reported that the country had developed a highly accurate laser weapon system that can shoot down a drone within five seconds of locating it.
The laser reportedly has a range of 1.2 miles (1.9km)  and is effective up to a maximum altitude of 500m (1,600ft). The weapon works by fixing a laser beam on the aircraft for long enough to burn through it.
In 2012, the US military tested a similar system aboard a Navy ship, successfully downing a surveillance drone.
Last year, a drunk government employee stirred up a security frenzy at the White House after accidentally steering his DJI Phantom drone onto the president's lawn.
In January, SZ DJI Technology, the Chinese manufacturer of the hugely popular Phantom, introduced a firmware update to the drone that aimed to prevent it happening again.
Now GPS will detect whether the drone is within a 15.5 mile radius of central Washington DC and cut the motor - so if you try and fly towards the famous doric columns your drone will have a bumpy landing somewhere short.
The same technology also prevents drones flying anywhere near airports. DJI has said it is now planning to prevent its drones crossing borders after enterprising drug dealers were caught trying to fly methamphetamine from Mexico to the US.
One ingeniously simply way to catch a drone is to use a bigger drone, with a net. Earlier this month, shortly before the mysterious flights over Paris began, French authorities launched a DJI Phantom and then sent up a bigger drone to go after it.
The successful demonstration, in La Queue-en-Brie, east of Paris, followed illegal drone flights over at least 13 nuclear facilities in France that left authorities concerned about security. With no bullets, missiles, or lasers needed, this could be an attractive option in urban areas.
One problem with tracking drones is that they are just too small for ordinary radar, which can confuse them with birds.
And if they are non-metallic, they won't trigger a radar return. But they do require some signals to operate - either radio, from a remote control somewhere nearby, or GPS - and those could technically be interfered with in order to incapacitate the drone.
Authorities with the means could also hack into the aircraft and seize its controls.


South African police are investigating the death of 15 suspected illegal miners killed in clashes this week.

It is understood that the group are from rival gangs who were working underground to mine gold in abandoned shafts.
Several police units and other law enforcement officers have been deployed to the Springs area, east of Johannesburg to monitor the situation.
Police say the victims were shot dead using different calibres of guns.
The authorities fear that the body count of the illegal miners known as "amazama-zama", meaning those who hustle, will increase as they continue to work on scene.
The violence underground appears to be part of a growing problem, which the government and the mining industry are battling to cope with, says the BBC's Nomsa Maseko in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is dotted with disused mine shafts, which attract men from around the region, including Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, with the promise of discovering remaining gold deposits.
Abandoned shafts become war zones when rival gangs clash - they sometimes throw improvised bombs at one another and open fire with machine guns, our correspondent says.
According to South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources, a 2008 study of the gold sector found that an estimated $509m (Â£330m) in revenue was lost a year as a result of illegal mining.
South Africa has some of the world's deepest gold mines and safety is a a big problem.


Police in China have taken 175 people into custody in what authorities are calling the country's biggest ever operation to recover stolen artefacts.

The Ministry of Public Security said 1,168 cultural relics worth more than 500m yuan ($80m; £52m) had been found.
The artefacts are thought to be illegally excavated in Niuheliang, a Neolithic archaeological site in north-eastern Liaoning province.
The ministry said the activities of the looters had severely damaged the site.
Among the artefacts was a coiled jade dragon, one of the earliest known depictions of the mythological creature, authorities said.
Unesco says the Niuheliang archaeological site, which dates back 5,500-5,000 years, was a burial and sacrificial centre in the late Hongshan period.
State media described the recovery as the biggest operation of its kind since the founding of modern China in 1949.
The date of the recovery operation was not provided, but the ministry said in a statement that 1,000 police officer were involved.
The looters were said to be split into 10 gangs that were responsible for everything from the excavation to the selling of the relics, according to China Daily.
Four archaeologists are also thought to be involved, the newspaper said.
"Artefacts are sold at a fast speed and traded frequently in a short time," said Cai Binghui, a police officer who was involved with the case according to China Daily.


Tweets by members of pop group One Direction - and about the World Cup - preoccupied UK Twitter users in 2014.

Six of the top 10 most mentioned tweets were about matches at the tournament, statistics from the company show.
Germany's 7-1 semi-final defeat of hosts Brazil was the most tweeted event, followed by Wayne Rooney's equaliser for England against Uruguay.
1D singer Harry Styles's tweet celebrating the band's fourth anniversary was the most retweeted.
The 23 July message - "4 years. Thank you to everyone who is involved in this. I feel so lucky to be part of it. Everyone who has worked with us thank you.." - has been retweeted more than 359,000 times.
In terms of news, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March was the most talked event by UK users in 2014.
It was followed by the Scottish independence vote; the inquest of Mark Duggan, who was shot by police in Tottenham, north London in 2011, and the deaths of US comics Robin Williams and Joan Rivers.
The third most tweeted event overall in the UK in 2014 list was Daniel Sturridge's equaliser for England in the team's eventual defeat against Italy, followed by new year celebrations and Germany's defeat of Argentina in the World Cup final match.
The other World Cup tweets to make the top 10 list were about Croatia scoring against Brazil, and the Netherlands' 5-1 victory over Spain in their opening match, while matches involving Manchester United and Real Madrid, and 1D's best video Brit Award win in February also attracted attention.
The statistics for 2014 showed UK Twitter users had similar interests to the previous year when football and 1D dominated the top 10.
Globally, the Brazil World Cup in June and July broke records to become the most tweeted about subject in 2014.
Twitter has dubbed 2014 the year of the selfie, with worldwide statistics showing users had mentioned the word 92 million times, an increase of 500% on 2013.
Ellen DeGeneres' star-filled Oscar photo taken on a mobile phone was retweeted more than three million times - a Twitter record.
Lewis Wiltshire, director of media partnerships at Twitter UK also highlighted the selfie of Prince William and Prince Harry with internet entrepreneur Jamal Edwards at a Buckingham Palace event.
Between them 1D have five of the most followed UK accounts.
Harry Styles has the most followers at 22.8 million. The top 10 most-followed list also includes Adele, Emma Watson, Coldplay, BBC News' @BBCBreaking, and Ed Sheeran.
In global terms, singer Katy Perry is the most-followed person on Twitter (61 million), ahead of Justin Bieber (57 million) and Barack Obama (51 million).


Network Rail believes it will take 28 years to get the Welsh rail system up to standard, Economy Secretary Ken Skates has been told.

In a leaked letter, Mr Skates said he was informed this was because of the current level of investment.
He meets Network Rail officials on Thursday after describing conditions for rail passengers as "unacceptable".
Network Rail said it was committed to working with the Welsh Government to get value for taxpayers' money.
Mr Skates has accused the company - which maintains tracks across the UK - of a lack of investment in clearing leaves this autumn, which cause damage to train wheels because of the extra braking pressure required.
He believes this has led to over-crowding and reduced punctuality of services as it forces more rolling stock to be removed from routes.
Arriva Trains Wales said 54 out of its fleet of 127 have had to be taken away for repairs this autumn - an increase of 54% on the same period last year.
In the letter seen by BBC Wales, sent last month to Network Rail's route managing director Andy Thomas, Mr Skates said Arriva Trains Wales raised concerns about the level of work being carried out to clear leaves from the lines.
He wrote: "I have been informed that Network Rail responded that this was due to budgetary reasons and that at the current level of investment it would take 28 years to get the Welsh network up to the prescribed standard."
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We have jointly concluded with Arriva Trains Wales that the reduction in fleet availability cannot be solely related to Network Rail's autumn plan as we are increasing spend and activity.
"We are committed to working jointly with Arriva Trains Wales and the Welsh Government to ensure maximum value for taxpayers' money."
In a debate at the Senedd on Wednesday, Plaid Cymru's economy spokesman Adam Price described current conditions for Welsh rail passengers as a "national crisis".
He referred to three examples on social media yesterday in which one passenger told of his experience of a train catching fire, one had been on an overcrowded service where a passenger fainted, and another claimed to have a seat for the first time in 11 months.
An Arriva Trains Wales spokesman denied one of its trains had caught fire, instead saying there was a problem with an exhaust.
He said: "We understand and apologise for the frustrations around the capacity issues faced by commuters which has been made worse recently by the additional maintenance required on damaged train wheels caused by the autumn leaf-fall.
"We continue to work hard with our partners in Network Rail to reduce the impact of this issue."


The genome of the common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) has been sequenced for the first time - an important step in the battle against ash dieback disease.

Researchers, writing in Nature, found UK ash trees seemed to have more tolerance than Danish trees, which were devastated by the fungal pathogen.
The disease reached the UK's wider environment in October 2012.
However, the scientists warned that the species faced another serious threat - the emerald ash borer insect.
"We sequenced an ash genome for the first time and... compared it to other plant genomes and we found that a quarter of the genes were unique," explained co-author Richard Buggs from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the Queen Mary University of London.
"This really underlined why we needed to do the project, because there is so much of the ash that seems to be unique to the [species]."
Dr Buggs, the head of plant health at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, told BBC News that fellow members of the team from the University of York used the data to compare UK specimens with ones from Denmark, where the disease had been present for two decades and had decimated the country's population of ash trees.
"[They] found evidence that ash trees in the UK could harbour lower levels of susceptibility to ash dieback than trees in Denmark," he said.
After being first reported in Poland,  a large number of trees in northern Europe have become infected with the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus.
Symptoms on infected trees include leaf loss, lesions in the wood and on the bark and ultimately the dieback of the crown of the tree. Young trees can succumb to the pathogen in just one growing season, while older trees take several years to die.
In October 2012, the fungal pathogen arrived in natural woodland on the East Anglian coast. It prompted widespread concern among scientists and politicians.
Following the arrival of ash dieback on these shores and the acceptance that the disease will not be eradicated, the government listed bio-security as one of its environmental priorities in order to prevent future accidental invasions of alien pathogens.
Dr Buggs observed: "If it turns out that there's more trees in the UK that have low susceptibility to ash dieback then that's really quite good news for us... because, ultimately, we would like to breed trees that are completely resistant to ash dieback."
"If we already have native trees with low susceptibility then it's quite promising."
Dr Buggs said he did not think that ash dieback posed a threat to UK ash trees on a scale similar to the devastating impact that Dutch elm disease had upon the UK's elm population as the genetic diversity among the nation's ash trees was greater than the one in the elm trees.
However,  the team warned that the species faced another serious threat. The emerald ash borer, a small beetle, was first discovered in the Moscow area in 2007 and is a pathogen that is cause for serious concern among experts.
Since the turn of the century, the beetle has killed tens of millions of trees in North America and is expected to have cost the US economy $10 billion by 2020.
Research from the universities of Exeter and Warwick, also published in Nature, found that trees that had a higher degree of resistance to ash dieback had lower levels of a chemical compound that are known to deter insects.
"Our research highlights the danger of selecting trees for resilience to ash dieback at the expense of resistance to insects that threaten this iconic UK tree species," explained co-author Dr Christine Sambles from the University of Exeter.
Dr Buggs added: "I think that's why we need really tight bio-security going forward."
Following the arrival of ash dieback in the UK, the Environment Secretary at the time, Owen Paterson, listed bio-security as one of his department's priorities.
It was a position that was restated by his successor, Liz Truss.
Dr Buggs said that it was important that UK bio-security remained high on the agenda during Brexit negotiations and that the issue did not get trumped by trade deals.
"We do need to have increased plant bio-security measures in a post-Brexit Britain rather than decreased security," he warned.
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Plans to reintroduce beavers to Wales after an absence of centuries are moving ahead after wildlife experts submitted an application to release 10 of the creatures into the wild.

The trial in an undisclosed location in southern Wales could begin this year.
Scotland recently listed beavers as a protected species there following a successful reintroduction.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said it would have to consider the impact on existing wildlife and land use.
The Welsh Beaver Project first submitted an application over a year ago to NRW and said, following this subsequent submission, a public consultation would be held.
The group has been working towards this for years, and has previously identified the River Rheidiol in Ceredigion as a preferred location to reintroduce them.
In the 10th century, Hywel Dda, who was king of much of Wales, wrote in his laws that beaver skins were royal privileges, and were valued at 60 pence, or the worth of a "best horse", about Â£5,000 in today's money.
The historian Gerald of Wales noted in the 12th Century there were beavers on the River Teifi at Cilgarran in Cardiganshire (now in modern-day Pembrokeshire).
Oral history refers to beavers at Nant Francon in Snowdonia, north Wales, in the latter part of the 17th Century.
The species is believed to have become extinct in Wales around 400 years ago, after it was hunted for its pelt and scent glands.
European beavers, which would be introduced, are the same as those which once lived in Wales, as there is only one species of beaver native to Europe.
Source: Welsh Beaver Project
The five-year Scottish Beaver Trial saw a group placed in the Knapdale Forest, Argyll, while another emerged on the River Tay from illegal releases into the wild.
In England, a male and female have been released on the River Otter in Devon to boost the genetic diversity of a group already in existence, the country's only wild beaver population.
Alice Leow-Dyke, Welsh Beaver Project officer for the Wildlife Trusts Wales, said: "The evidence coming from Britain and Europe is they can be beneficial for ecology, helping with reducing flooding and filtering water, and have important consequences for the landscape."
She added beavers could help with habitat restoration, bringing light into overgrown areas and allowing other nature to thrive.
"With the beaver you're not looking at a single species, it can have such a wider benefit helping the ecosystem. Because we've had such a detrimental effect on the landscape for so long, this can help," she said.
Farmers and anglers have raised concerns the animals can damage the landscape and fish migration routes, and have called for conservation efforts to be focused on existing wildlife.
Ms Leow-Dyke said the scheme would have a net benefit, as well as providing an "enjoyment factor" of seeing the animals or the tell-tale signs of their presence, which could encourage children to engage with the natural world.
Liz Halliwell, Natural Resources Wales mammal ecologist, said beavers were once native wildlife and could create rich and varied habitats which make the environment "stronger and healthier".
However, she added: "Our assessment of any application for a licence would need to carefully consider the effects of a reintroduction on existing wildlife and land use."
She pointed to the interest in people coming to observe the beavers at the River Otter site, saying: "That's been benefiting the local pubs and B&Bs, and people are talking about beaver tourism, which is really encouraging."


Force India team members were forced to flee as petrol bombs were hurled over their vehicle on their way back from the Bahrain Grand Prix track.

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The four mechanics in a 4x4 were caught in the middle of an incident as police clashed with protestors.
Some tear gas fired by police entered the car, before the driver escaped through a gap in the flames on the road.
No Force India staff were hurt but two team members have asked to return home.
This circuit in the desert is a cocoon, shielded from the realities of this divided island. Publicly, the drivers obediently follow the FIA's orders, say the right things, and prepare to race. But Force India's traumatic experience last night has sparked a fresh sense of unease and tension among the teams. Some I've spoken to are angry with Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt for making guarantees over safety that now appear hollow. The expectancy is that the unrest will escalate before Sunday, and most say privately that they would rather be somewhere else, despite the renewed reassurances of the circuit authorities.
Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg questioned the decision to stage the Bahrain race, telling BBC Sport: "We shouldn't have been put in this position".
But while team-mate Paul di Resta described Wednesday's incident as "uncomfortable" he is prepared to take part if Sunday's grand prix goes ahead.
The mechanics were travelling on the main highway from the track into the capital Manama when unrest spilled into the road.
After being stopped in the road for two to three minutes, the vehicle was able to move away as part of a larger group of traffic.
Anti-government protests in Bahrain caused the 2011 race to be called off, and a number of teams expected a similar outcome for this year's race amid security concerns.
Teams and drivers are known to have private misgivings about the wisdom of racing in Bahrain amid ongoing civil unrest, but none have so far publicly questioned the decision.
The four men were said to be emotional, upset and angry with organisers that the race had been allowed to go ahead.
"We obviously sympathise with their position, their families, and we make sure it happens," said Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley.
"But the team itself is behind the programme for Bahrain. There's no issues as far as we are concerned. We want to see it go ahead and we want to see it as part of a healing process hopefully for Bahrain."
Bahrain circuit chairman Zayed R Alzayani said: "They weren't targeted. They just happened to be there.
"I think it's unfortunate. It's an issue of timing. It could happen in any place in the world really, getting caught up in a riot or a fight or anything."
One of the Force India team who has asked to return home was in the 4x4, which ran into trouble around 20 minutes from the circuit on the outskirts of the capital Manama.
It came at the end of the first day of work for teams in Bahrain, where they have travelled for this weekend's race following assurances from the country's authorities and F1's governing body, the FIA, that the Gulf state is completely safe.
The MRS team entered in the supporting Porsche SuperCup series has withdrawn from the weekend's season-opening race, saying it could not guarantee the safety of staff.
A spokesman for the McLaren F1 team said: "We are putting in place the appropriate security measures, which we always do at every grand prix, in accordance with local requirements."
Alzayani said there would "probably" be more violence, adding: "I can't comment on the degree of violence, whether it will be more or not - I don't have that kind of information.
"I don't think they will be within the track or close to the track, and I think they will be handled in the right way."
Alzayani said his advice to fans was "be vigilant".
"I would give them advice to enjoy the weekend," he said. "Don't be too worried and too distracted not to enjoy the weekend."
A statement from the circuit said the Force India group had driven through "an isolated incident involving a handful of illegal protestors acting violently towards police."
It added: "During this incident a Molotov cocktail landed in the vicinity of their vehicle.
"After approximately two minutes, the route was cleared and the vehicle carried on its journey. There were no casualties and eyewitness reports from the scene confirmed that their vehicle had not been targeted itself."
The Gulf Kingdom's ruling royal family are being pressured to improve human rights and make reforms by the majority Shia population, who accuse the minority ruling Sunnis of discrimination.
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On Friday, the FIA said it was "satisfied that all the proper security measures are in place for the running of a Formula 1 world championship event", and the race will go ahead.
However, with practice in Sakhir due to start on Friday, protests have continued in Manama with more scheduled for near the circuit on Sunday's raceday.
The Foreign Office said it would not be advising British fans to avoid travelling to the grand prix, although it was concerned about the unrest.
An all-party for group of MPs has written to F1 sponsors and urged them to boycott the event.
Some television broadcasters have decided against attending this year's race, but it is set to be shown in the UK.
Sky Sports refused to comment, while a spokesman for BBC Sport - which is due to screen highlights - said: "As the race has been officially sanctioned by the FIA we will cover the event as part of our contractual obligations.
"We take staff safety very seriously and continue to closely monitor the situation on the ground."


A 23-year-old lawyer has been given the task of leading Ukraine's anti-corruption drive, the second major appointment of a young woman in weeks.

Anna Kalynchuk's promotion has provoked consternation among some Ukrainians who say she is unqualified and too young.
She will direct Ukraine's department of "lustration", which aims to purge officials tainted by corruption.
Corruption was a key complaint of protesters who forced President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014.
Ms Kalynchuk's appointment comes days after Anastasia Deyeva, 24, was named by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov as deputy minister, one of Ukraine's top police and security posts.
Read more about Anastasia Deyeva here:
Too much, too young? Storm over Ukraine security job
That announcement was met with anger, which only intensified when nude photos of Ms Deyeva were shared on social media.
As well as the private photos shared on social media, she has also been the subject of a more tasteful photo-shoot in Ukrainian lifestyle website Style Insider.
Interior Minister Avakov defended the appointment as a breath of fresh air, but that has not satisfied those who wonder whether there were other factors behind her appointment.
Kiev political analyst Vadim Karasyov told Associated Press that Ukrainian politics increasingly resembled "a circus show in which clowns come to succeed frustrated professionals".
The majority of Ukraine's ministers are now in their thirties, ever since a reshuffle in February. The Prime Minister, Volodymyr Groysman, is only 38.
In a country as ridden with corruption as Ukraine, the promotion of younger talent could be seen as an antidote to the wasted decades associated with older politicians.
Despite the outcry in the social media about age and lack of experience, these two young women are well suited to their posts.
Anna Kalynchuk was already deputising for the previous head of the anti-corruption department, Tatiana Kozachenko.
As a freshly qualified lawyer, two years ago she was engaged in setting up the very institution she now temporarily heads. On her Facebook page, she said she was prepared for claims that she was too young and inexperienced for the post.
Anastasia Deyeva was appointed on 11 November, having acted as an assistant to the former deputy minister, a Georgian who resigned from her position earlier this year.
In a recent interview, her predecessor as deputy minister was full of praise for her abilities as a negotiator.
At the heart of the storm is the frustration of ordinary Ukrainians at the pace of the drive to clean up Ukrainian politics. Perception of corruption is worse in Ukraine than in Russia, according to Transparency International.
Little more than two weeks ago, the charismatic governor of the Odessa region, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, resigned, accusing Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of backing corrupt officials who, he said, were undermining his reform efforts in Odessa.
His resignation followed that of the Odessa police chief, fellow Georgian Giorgi Lortkipanidze.
Only days before, top officials were forced to reveal their huge wealth - hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and collections of luxury items - under new anti-corruption rules. None was accused of criminality, but it was a stark illustration of the trappings of power and the gulf between some officials and the mass of Ukrainians.
The lustration department says hundreds of officials have been forced to resign over corruption, but Ukraine's corruption problem clearly still remains crippling.


A man who went from a 16 stone smoker to Commonwealth Games competitor is taking part in his first marathon in his home town.

Steve Way took up running aged 33 and ditched smoking, drinking and kebabs to come 10th in the Games marathon.
The Bournemouth resident is running the 26.2 mile (42km) race on Sunday as part of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival.
Races are on Saturday and Sunday, including a 5km, 10km, junior races and a half and full marathon.
Mr Way, 41, said: "I have long wanted to race a marathon in my hometown and the schedule works well this year to make it a reality.
"I took part in the half marathon last year and then set the marathon runners on their way as the official starter last year, which was a real honour.
"The atmosphere around town has been brilliant for the first two years of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival. I'm looking forward to enjoying the full 26.2 miles of it."
Ben Smith, from Bristol, is also taking part in the event as he is currently attempting to run 401 marathons in 401 days.
Bournemouth is the only marathon he is set to run twice.
Steve Edwards, 53, from Morton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds, is due to run his 700th marathon on Sunday.
It is hoped he will set a new world record for running 700 marathons in the fastest average time at three hours and 18 minutes.
He has run every Bournemouth marathon since it started three years ago.


A man convicted of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death at the hair salon where she worked has lost an appeal against his life sentence.

Asher Maslin, 22, was jailed in July and ordered to serve a minimum term of 24 years for the murder of 20-year-old hairdresser Hollie Gazzard.
The Court of Appeal rejected his challenge against his "manifestly excessive" minimum term.
Miss Gazzard was stabbed 14 times by Maslin, with a Â£3 carving knife.
The attack took place hours after Miss Gazzard ended her relationship with the former security guard.
The court heard there were two aggravating factors in Maslin's case.
Firstly that he went into Gloucester to buy a bread knife and spent a couple of hours walking around, before he went to Fringe Benefits & La Bella Beauty salon where Miss Gazzard worked and stabbed her.
Secondly, Miss Gazzard was murdered in a public place, in front of "terrified customers" at the salon, the court heard.
The defence team said Maslin's tariff should be cut from 24 to 22 years, on the basis he had shown remorse and the sentence was too excessive.
Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, said: "There is no basis on which it [the sentence] can be said to be manifestly excessive or wrong in principle.
"It properly reflected the serious culpability of the appellant and the brutal and premeditated nature of the killing in the manner we have set out."
"The appeal is accordingly dismissed."
Speaking outside court, Miss Gazzard's father Nick said: "This appeal only increases our determination to campaign in Hollie's name for statutory healthy relationship education in schools.
"This will help to teach young people about domestic abuse and other safeguarding issues so that they can can spot the signs of an abusive partner before it's too late."


An Australian teenager has flown around the world and into the record books.

29 August 2016 Last updated at 15:13 BST
At 18 years old, Lachlan Smart is the youngest person ever to fly around the world in a single engine aircraft, by himself.
The journey was 24,000 air-miles long, and he stopped in 15 different countries along the way.
54 days after setting off, Lachlan got a big welcome as he touched down back home in eastern Australia.
Leah's been taking a look at how he did it.


Hugs and high fives have been given out across the country to keep awareness going of Stephen Sutton and his fundraising.

National Good Gestures Day has been held in 15 locations, supported by Stephen's friends.
Stephen, of Burntwood, Staffordshire, died of cancer a year ago.
He and his friends helped make the gestures day a national event last year and they promised him they would keep it going.
Hannah Telles knew Stephen, who was 19 when he died, and took part in the day with him last year.
"It's celebrating his message and his legacy," she said.
"With the anniversary (of his death) just gone, it's a good time to come out and make people happy.
"I think he would love this."
One woman who was given a hug in Birmingham said it brought tears to her eyes.
"It's 12 months since he died and his friends are still here doing things to raise awareness for him," she said.
"And he did so much himself."
Stephen had initially set out to raise just £10,000 ($16,800) for charity, but his fundraising campaign attracted huge attention after he posted a selfie online.
The image went viral and attracted the support of celebrities including Jason Manford, who championed Stephen's charity efforts. So far, his Just Giving page has raised £4.5m.
Good Gestures Day events have been held in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Chelmsford, Falmouth, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton and Swansea.


A maths equation for a spinning lasso stunt performed by cowboys and cowgirls has been unravelled.

By studying trick roping as a science, a French physicist has taught himself to lasso like a rodeo veteran.
Anyone can teach themselves the famous "flat loop" by following some basic formulae, says Dr Pierre-Thomas Brun, of EPFL in Switzerland.
He showed off his "cowboy physics" skills at the American Physical Society meeting in Denver.
Trick roping has evolved from a straightforward cattle-catching tool into a performance art form, seen in western movies and at Mexican charreadas - competitions featuring traditional horsemen (charros).
It was made famous by vaudeville cowboy Will Rogers in the 1920s and 1930s.
Flamboyant moves include the Merry-Go-Round, the Wedding Ring, and the Texas Skip - considered the most difficult.
But while these loops spellbind our imagination, they also harbour useful mathematical secrets.
"Elastic threads are everywhere in our daily lives - from hair and textile yarns to DNA and undersea broadband cables. Even the honey you pour on your toast," said Dr Brun who worked on the research with his colleagues, Dr Basile Audoly and Dr Neil Ribe.
"All of these threads twist and coil according to the same equations as the cowboy's lasso."
Studying fancy tricks like "spoke-jumping" and the "Kansas Tornado" could actually help us unravel coiling problems which plague industries like yarn spinning.
To begin investigating, Dr Brun has created a mathematical recipe for the simplest trick - the flat loop.
"The physics boils down to a few simple rules," he explained.
"First, use the maximum amount of rope in your loop - about 70%.
"Then, move your hands with a slow frequency - about two hertz.
"And crucially - with each turn of the rope, roll it between your thumb and forefinger, to avoid accumulating twist."
But is science really a good approach to learn trick roping?
BBC News spoke to "Cowboy Craig" Ingram, a champion roper who performs around Colorado.
"Absolutely, there's a lot of science to trick roping: geometry, speed, timing and centrifugal forces," he told BBC News.
"But it's also more than science. It's about artistry. When I perform it's like dancing with a partner - I feel the fluidity of the rope spinning around me and I respond to its movements."
Dr Brun agrees that, beyond the flat loop, the science quickly becomes more complicated.
"When Craig's tricks get more fancy, you have to come up with a more dynamic model," he explained.
"The flat loop equation is a simple, steady state solution. The rope is stationary in a reference frame that rotates with the hand. And exploiting this, we can derive a model in which line tension is balanced by the centrifugal force and the rope's weight.
"But when you watch Craig's routine - even in slow-motion - his stunts are way more gifted and skilled than our theories can follow at this point."
To advance his model, he wishes to build a "robo-cowboy" that can self-adapt to the evolution of a spinning rope.
"With a robot, we can simulate more complex movements. And those could be of interest to the computer graphics industry - animation companies like Disney and Pixar," he believes.
To animate a whirling skirt or the bounce of curly hair, you can follow similar equations to those governing the lasso, Dr Brun explains.
"The nice thing about physics, is we can apply maths to our favourite interests - like movies," he says.
"As a child in France, I always enjoyed westerns. So I'm happy that as a scientist, I can explore the things that made me dream when I was young."


In a corner of Ruislip, west London, there is a field that is forever Ireland.

This Sunday, London's Gaelic football team play the biggest match in their history when they contest the Connacht Senior Football final.
If they win the match, their next game could be at the 82,300-capacity Croke Park in Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
"It's hard to explain and put into perspective. It's a dream," Noel O'Sullivan, the chairman of the London County Board, told BBC London 94.9.
"I've been involved for over 40 years and we always aspired to win one game in Connacht.
"To reach the final has been unbelievable."
The London GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) was formed in 1896 to give the Irish community in England's capital an opportunity to play Gaelic football and hurling and has formed the focal point for what is now a thriving youth and club system.
Their formative years were successful, with the side winning the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 1901, but prior to this year they had only won one senior game of Gaelic football.
Since the 1970s the club have competed in the Connacht Senior Football Championship, one of four similar competitions in the provinces of Leinster, Ulster and Munster, which culminate in the All-Ireland Championship.
Such is the size and spread of the Irish diaspora that a team from New York in the United States also compete in the Connacht SFC.
London's recent success has been down to an increasingly professional approach, retaining the core of last year's side and attracting players from Ireland who are looking for work during the recession.
Their current team features players from Cavan, Derry, Galway, Longford and Sligo as well as a London-born player in Phillip Butler, who was introduced to the game by a friend from school.
"This London team have written history," said Kevin Kelly of the London Supporters' Club.
"It has created a buzz around London, and Ireland.
"It is a game-changer and has put London on the map. It will make people in Croke Park realise we were here."
Having beaten Sligo and Leitrim, the latter via a replay, London face last year's All-Ireland final runners-up Mayo in the Connacht final in Castlebar this weekend.
"We've had three hard games and they are hot favourites," London manager Paul Coggins said.
"The lads are all willing to be the best they can be.
"It's down to the last 12 and it's knockout football. We're hoping for a huge performance."
Gaelic football is one of the biggest sports in Ireland: a 15-a-aside field game which is played on a pitch up to 145m long and 90m wide.
The goalposts are the same shape as on a rugby pitch, with a lower crossbar, and a goal tended by a keeper.
The ball can be carried in the hand for a distance of four steps and can be kicked or "hand-passed". After every four steps the ball must be either bounced or "solo-ed" (an action of dropping the ball onto the foot and kicking it back into the hand). Players may not bounce the ball twice in a row.
To score, you put the ball over the crossbar by foot or hand / fist for one point or under the crossbar and into the net by foot or the hand / fist (in certain circumstances) for a goal, the latter being the equivalent of three points.
London beat Leitrim by a one point margin last month - an experience Coggins believes will prove useful in the Connacht final.
"We are well up for it," he said.
"Belief is a powerful ally. We had two games against Leitrim which were fierce and competitive.
"Playing close games and getting over the line against good, competitive teams who have a great tradition in Connacht gives belief and determination."
The run has caught the imagination of the Irish population in London, including good luck messages from Mayor of London Boris Johnson and London-based comedian Dara O'Briain, as well as in Ireland itself.
Even should they lose to Mayo, London will have another chance to reach the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Championships.
The losers of this weekend's match at Castlebar will play the winners of Derry and Cavan for a place in the last eight.
Having written London GAA history in 2013, Coggins and O'Sullivan agree the potential is there for London to have an even better team in the future.
"We have to build on it and get more people playing Gaelic football and hurling in the capital and get it into more schools," Coggins said.
"It is a great game and am so happy I learned to play."
O'Sullivan added: "It's been a fantastic achievement by the team.
"For years you'd see kids wearing the jerseys of the teams from counties in Ireland. It is joyful to see kids in London wearing the London shirt.
"With proper management, training and funding, there's no reason we can't be there or thereabouts in the future."
Interviews with Paul Coggins, Kevin Kelly and Noel O'Sullivan by BBC London 94.9's Phil Parry.


Seamer Kate Cross is excited by the prospect of being among seven England players taking part in the inaugural Women's Big Bash League in Australia.

The WBBL is a Twenty20 competition with eight franchises  - aligned with the men's Big Bash League teams - playing 59 games from 5 December to 24 January.
"I'm very excited about signing for Brisbane Heat," said Cross, who will be joined by team-mate Lauren Winfield.
England recently lost the multi-format Women's Ashes series to Australia.
However, Lancashire's Cross hopes the opportunity to play down under alongside Australia's top women players, and other international stars, can be of significant help to the national side.
"We are currently enjoying unprecedented times for women's cricket, with increasing levels of professionalism, improving standards and a constantly growing profile," she added.
"With the ICC World Twenty20 in India coming up early next year, playing in the WBBL will give us the perfect opportunity to practise our skills against some of the best players in the world in a highly competitive environment.
"Playing in the WBBL should also give us a taste of what we can look forward to experiencing in the ECB's Women's Cricket Super League in England next summer."
Also heading to Australia will be England captain Charlotte Edwards (Perth Scorchers), vice-captain Heather Knight (Hobart Hurricanes) and wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor (Adelaide Strikers) - all of whom had successful spells with Australian state sides in last winter's Women's National Cricket League (WNCL).
Meanwhile, fast bowler Katherine Brunt joins Edwards at the Scorchers, and all-rounder Danielle Wyatt has signed for Melbourne Renegades.
Fellow spinner Laura Marsh will play for New South Wales in the 50-over WNCL - while Knight, Taylor, Winfield and Wyatt will also feature in the WNCL.


A head teacher who tried to groom a 15-year-old boy on the Grindr dating app has been jailed for a year.

Glyn Knowles, 50, who was acting head of Cambridge International School, was caught in a sting by an undercover journalist posing as a teenager.
St Albans Crown Court heard Knowles used a false name to respond to what was actually a fake profile.
Knowles, who was responsible for child protection at his school, was sacked in July after admitting a grooming charge.
The court heard that in his first message, Knowles said: "Hi, nice pic mate, very sexy."
More news from Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire
He then turned the conversation to sex and sent the boy a picture of himself in his underwear, asking him intimate questions.
They arranged to meet in Bishop's Stortford but the journalist informed Hertfordshire Police of the meeting, and Knowles was intercepted on 14 July.
Knowles, from High Street, Puckeridge, Hertfordshire, at first claimed he had intended to meet the boy simply to advise him on how to use the internet safely, but later admitted attempting to groom him.
Sentencing Knowles, Judge Andrew Bright QC said: "You were responsible for the protection of children, not the abuse of children."


John Sheridan has left Oldham Athletic to become Notts County's new manager on a three-year contract.

Sheridan, 51, led Oldham to 17th in League One after taking over from David Dunn in January.
Ex-Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley will be assistant to Sheridan, whom he worked with at Chesterfield.
Previous manager Mark Cooper left Notts in May to join Forest Green, despite the offer of a permanent contract if a points target was achieved.
Oldham initially rejected approaches from Notts County for Sheridan but later allowed him to speak to Notts, who finished 17th in League Two and are currently under a temporary transfer embargo because of unpaid bills.
"There are several reasons behind this move and not all will be apparent to everyone, but John goes with my blessing and eternal thanks for his tremendous effort," Latics chairman Simon Corney told his club's website.
"Whilst we recognise the huge disappointment many fans will be feeling, we ask everyone to try to stick together and continue to support our club. This is not something we wanted or envisaged."
Sheridan started his managerial career at Oldham in 2006 and left after three years with the Latics.
While in charge of Chesterfield, he won the League Two title in 2011 and the Football League Trophy a year later.
"Notts County is a big club - far bigger than its current league position suggests and I know what is required to succeed and get the club back to a higher level," Sheridan told Notts County's website.
"The tremendous home support has always made Notts a tough place to come - this passion can make a real difference and give us a huge advantage in our endeavours next season."
Chief executive Jason Turner added: "I'm confident that we've found a manager who can have us challenging for promotion at the top end of the League Two table.
"He's vastly experienced with a proven track record at this level, so to attract somebody of his calibre is a real statement of intent by the club."


A development bank for Welsh businesses could be on the cards as Economy Minister Edwina Hart goes ahead with plans to see how it would work.

It follows criticism of the performance and policies of the Welsh government's investment body Finance Wales.
The Development Bank for Wales was proposed in a review last year by the economist Dylan Jones-Evans.
It would take over part or all of Finance Wales, which he said was "not fit for purpose".
Finance Wales was set up in 2001 to lend money to or buy shares in Welsh companies.
But last year's review said it was too focused on generating profits rather than helping businesses and developing the Welsh economy.
The report said there was confusion over the bank's exact role and concerns about the cost of loans to small firms.
Prof Jones-Evans, an academic at the University of the West of England, said Finance Wales was offering higher rates of interest on borrowing than it needed to under EU state aid guidelines.
Plan for the new bank emerged on Wednesday as an investigation by BBC current affairs series The Wales Report revealed that investments from Finance Wales' main European fund had only resulted in 20% of the jobs they were expected to create.
The £150 million JEREMIE fund was established in 2009, draws money from European sources and the Welsh government, and comes to an end in September 2015.
Finance Wales was given an initial target of creating 15,000 jobs using this fund, later reduced to a target of getting 10,070 people into work.
With a little over 18 months left, the latest figures show 1,991 jobs have been created with most of the fund invested.
By Brian MeechanBBC Wales business correspondent
Prof Jones-Evans's report into how Welsh businesses access finance found there was a £500m shortfall between what firms need and what banks will provide.
Finance Wales is owned and funded by the Welsh government. Its aim is to help small and medium sized companies be able to borrow.
The report said it was too focused on getting high returns on its investment through interest rates and fees rather than stimulating growth in the economy and creating jobs.
The Wales Report has uncovered figures which show the organisation has created only 20% of the jobs target set for its main European fund.
Finance Wales says its loans are often high risk and therefore they expect a return on that money.
But the independent report said some or all of its operations should be taken over by a new development bank.
While Finance Wales has smaller funds and has created and secured other jobs, the employment results for JEREMIE represent around 20% of a target that was already reduced.
In a written statement on Wednesday afternoon, Mrs Hart confirmed she would be "exploring further the proposal for a development bank for Wales".
Mrs Hart said she had asked Professor Jones-Evans "to lead a further review that will explore this concept in more depth and provide me with a report on his findings".
She added that the terms of reference were still being agreed but he would "explore the potential mission, role and operations that such an organisation could undertake; the legal and state aid framework required to establish and operate; the necessary skills, experience and costs; and the relative risks and rewards."
Answering questions from AMs later, Mrs Hart said a "lot of the business community are happy" with the support from Finance Wales.
Ms Hart added that "there are issues" but that she had been "transparent" and that there was a need to carry out further work.
The Conservatives' shadow business minister Nick Ramsay said Finance Wales "has done some things well" but "other things badly", such as charging high interest rates to companies "without justification" and that "Finance Wales clearly has to go."
Ms Hart replied that some Welsh businesses would not have been successful without support from Finance Wales.
Earlier, the Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the prospect of a new development bank.
Iestyn Davies from FSB Wales said Prof Jones-Evans's report had "shone a stark light on Finance Wales, and the inflated interest rates that it has been charging our members".
"We are very much in favour of reform to Finance Wales to ensure that it provides affordable loans to small business and is properly accountable with a far higher degree of transparency and opportunity for scrutiny than exists at present.
"We believe that the notion of a Development Bank of Wales is worthy of serious consideration, and we welcome a review into how such a bank would operate in practice."
Plaid Cymru's economy spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "Access to finance has consistently been cited as a barrier to growth for many SMEs (small to medium size enterprises) and much more needs to be done to tackle this problem.
"That's why Plaid Cymru proposed to establish a new body, owned by the public but at arm's length from government to lend money to small businesses at competitive rates and to offer finance services.
"A Welsh public bank is the boost that Welsh businesses need and Plaid Cymru will continue to make the case for it."
But the Liberal Democrats said it was important that Mrs Hart "keeps her options open".
Their economy spokeswoman Eluned Parrott said: "The Welsh Labour government's record of acting as financier for businesses is mixed at best.
"The recent Access to Finance Review identified shortcomings in the government-backed Finance Wales.
"Having spoken to many businesses across Wales, Finance Wales seems to be offering higher interest rates and less favourable terms compared to commercial banks - this is not a way of encouraging businesses in Wales to grow."
For more about Finance Wales, see The Wales Report on BBC One Wales at 22:35 GMT on Wednesday, 29 January.


When you think about the epic sweep of the Lisbon Lions story, you have to wonder what was the greater of the miracles that happened back then - the fact that, 50 years ago, 11 local lads won the European Cup or the fact that, as a team, they existed at all.

Consider the roadblocks. Bobby Lennox - so shy as a kid he was embarrassed to play football in other people's company.
John Clark - his young life ruined by the death of his father in a railway accident.
Stevie Chalmers - so sick from tuberculosis-meningitis in his late teens and early 20s that he was given three weeks to live.
Jock Stein - left his job as Celtic reserve team manager on account of his religion, the Parkhead board telling him that as a Protestant he had gone as far as he could possibly go at the club.
Stein was in tears that day. So say a number of his former players in a documentary - Glasgow 1967 - about the Lions and the city they came from, to be aired on Wednesday on BBC One Scotland at 21:00 BST.
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It's part football film, part social history, part dream come true, a Cinderella tale to match any Cinderella tale the global game has ever produced. So much has been said and written about them. A quick online search shows that at least 32 books, two plays and a novel have been penned in their honour.
In this past week, the newspapers have been full of supplements, fine journalism that came at the story from new angles. There are other documentaries available, there are CDs, there's a Lisbon Lions cushion, if you fancy it, there's a Lions tea towel, a Lions iPad cover, a Lions mouse mat.
On Sunday at Celtic Park, 60,000 people created a stunning visual display that evoked their legend. On Thursday, thousands more will gather at the SSE Hydro to do it all again, this time in the company of Sir Rod Stewart, Sir Alex Ferguson, Martin O'Neill, Gordon Strachan and others.
The story never gets old, the appetite never sated.
There's a simple and lovely moment close to the beginning of Glasgow 1967 when Willie Wallace, now living in Australia, revisits Celtic Park and wanders about its corridors. "Fifty years and they're still going on about it," he says with a smile on his face that spoke of pride, no doubt, but also amusement at all the fuss.
These lads didn't do fuss. They didn't consider themselves celebrities, just footballers, guys who adored the game and who were blessed with a talent and a hunger to succeed.
On that May day, Jimmy Johnstone, hot to trot, stared over at the bronzed athletes of Inter Milan as they took to the field in Lisbon and said to Bertie Auld: "Look at them, wee man, they're like film stars!"
And Auld's answer cut to the heart of the greatness that was about to show itself. "Aye, but can they PLAY?"
The Lions could play on a carpet and they could play on a ploughed field just as fluently. There's footage of them training on muck, not grass. That was the way of it. That was the norm. There's more footage of what tough economic times they lived in and yet amid the gloom this thing of beauty emerged.
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The documentary is called Glasgow 1967 for a reason, for what shines through is the character not just of the players and their manager, but of their supporters and their city.
Humour courses through the narrative of Lisbon like a fast-running river. The emotion and the hilarity of the supporters elevates what happened to almost mythical proportions.
The fans are here in numbers. Ian Martin making a cup of tea in his kitchen and telling of the day he left for Lisbon in a Mini Cooper as part of a three-car cavalcade. "One of the boys in the other motor lost his suitcase even before he got to Bishopbriggs. It fell off the roof-rack."
There's Jimmy Quinn telling of an uncomfortable conversation with his fiancee. "I said, 'See this getting married carry-on, saving up for an engagement ring an' that, I want to go to the cup final. End of story'. She wasn't a bit pleased."
John Cowan was on a flight out of Glasgow that touched down uncomfortably close to kick-off-time. The doors of the plane swung open. The airline had no steps in place and the 19-year-old John didn't have the luxury of waiting - so he jumped.
"I sat down on the ledge and went for it," he recalls. "There was guys coming behind me. Dropping, dropping, dropping. And we started running towards the terminal."
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God knows where Charlie Fryars and his mates were at this point, but Fryars' personal odyssey is a glorious illustration of the fact that, in many ways, there were more than 11 Lions in Lisbon.
Charlie tells part of his tale in the documentary, the full comic brilliance of it being told in a piece he has written for the ByTheMinute Celtic platform online. It begins when his mate, Gerry Loney, rings him up and offers him a seat in his Austin Cambridge, bound for Lisbon.
Charlie and Gerry plus Laurence Donnelly, John Hughes and Jim McDaid met at the Admiral Bar in Waterloo Street in Glasgow and hit the road. They had almost 2,000 miles to drive and three days to do it. That meant no hotel stops and as few comfort breaks as possible. Their first destination was Southampton to catch the boat to Cherbourg. They got as far as Lockerbie when the car broke down.
The explorers made the ferry, got some sleep on the four-hour crossing, drove down the Cotentin Peninsula and into Nantes where they had some beers in a bar near the station - and another kip. Not Charlie, though. Charlie was busy falling in love with a 19-year-old waitress called Ghislaine.
After half an hour, Ghislaine threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss. "She wanted my Celtic scarf and I said to her, 'No, we need it for hanging out the window." What greater love can one man have for his football club than to refuse to lay down his scarf for the gorgeous Ghislaine?
On they went - a thousand miles to go and only 33 hours left. Their exhaust pipe went near La Rochelle, but they got help and found a new one. They had a moment of weakness near San Sebastian, but they pulled back from the brink and carried on.
They came to the Portuguese border and it was closed for the night. The guards saw their colours and waved them through.
They made the kick-off, celebrated thunderously and then turned around and drove home. They were seven days on the road there and back, a whole week sleeping in the Austin Cambridge; unwashed, weary, but with memories that will sustain them for the rest of their lives. They didn't play that day in Lisbon, but what is that if not footballing heroism?
"When I got home," says Charlie, "I got my Celtic scarf and I parcelled it up and I wrote a letter to Ghislaine at Bar de la Garde, Nantes... I never heard from her." On that 4,000 mile trek, two happy endings was too much to hope for.
One was enough, more than enough. In this film, you marvel anew not just at what the Lions achieved, not just the lengths that 10,000 Celtic people went to in order to see them achieve it, but how powerful that achievement remains to this day, the magnitude of it passed on from father to son through the generations.
Glasgow 1967: The Lisbon Lions will be shown on BBC One Scotland at 21:00 on Wednesday 24 May. It can be seen in other parts of the United Kingdom at 23:20.


Britain's Bradley Wiggins took the race leaders' yellow jersey as Team Sky showed their power on the Tour de France's first summit finish.

Wiggins and team-mates Richie Porte and Chris Froome ramped up the pressure in the final 5km with 2011 winner Cadel Evans sticking stubbornly with them.
Briton Froome broke clear in the last 200m to win stage seven, with Evans and Wiggins finishing two seconds back.
Wiggins holds a 10 seconds lead over Evans in the overall standings.
You can't choose when you take the yellow. There's another tough day tomorrow then we've got the time trial and a rest day and we're halfway through the Tour. We'll defend it every day
It is the first time Wiggins, who is bidding to become the first Briton to win the race, has worn the yellow jersey in the Tour, following Tom Simpson (1962), Chris Boardman (1994, 1997, 1998), Sean Yates (1994) and David Millar (2000).
"It is an amazing feeling," said the 32-year-old, who justified his pre-race favourite tag with a solid ride to the finish. "It just went perfectly for us, the boys put it on the line and did a fantastic job.
"'Froomie' was mind-blowing - he is just going from strength to strength as a bike rider - and we got the yellow jersey so it is fantastic.
"This is what we have been training for all year, and I think it is fair to say we have peaked now.
"We are in the driving seat and we will look to consolidate in the coming days, more so in the time-trial [on Monday].
"Cadel is hot on our heels so it's not something we're going to accidentally try and lose to him.
"It is not over but with everything that is to come, just to be in the yellow jersey is something to be savoured. It is a childhood dream of mine.
"I'd sit on the home trainer watching my hero, my Tour de France hero, Miguel Indurain."
Wiggins, who crashed and broke his collarbone on stage seven of last year's Tour, started Saturday's stage, a 199km race in eastern France from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles, in second place.
He was seven seconds behind Fabian Cancellara who had led since the opening prologue seven days ago, however, the Swiss time trial specialist was not expected to keep pace with the main contenders and he duly dropped away on the final climb, a 5.9km category one ascent.
Seven riders who had broken clear just 15km into the stage were soon hoovered up as Australian Porte set a blistering pace up the mountain to split the peloton wide open, dropping established climbers such as Russia's Denis Menchov and Spain's Samuel Sanchez.
That stage could not have gone any better for Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins. It was a tremendous all-round team performance and an important psychological blow because Evans's team evaporated. That will give Wiggins tremendous confidence in his team for future days. It was an excellent ride by Froome as well, to have the power to ride away from Evans on such a steep gradient.
Pacemaker Porte eventually dropped away with 2km remaining, leaving 27-year-old Froome, who finished fourth behind Wiggins at this year's Dauphine, at the front.
Wiggins continued to be paced up the mountain with Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Rein Taaramae also in the hunt for the stage win.
Evans attacked on a flat section near the summit but Wiggins followed and Froome launched a counter-attack on the 20% gradient 500m from the line before riding away for an unexpected victory while Wiggins followed the Australian over the line to take the race lead.
Kenyan-born Froome, who finished second at last year's Vuelta a Espana, one place ahead of Wiggins, also collected 20 points in the king of the mountains race and will wear the polka dot jersey on Sunday.
"It's a dream come true, I never thought of winning the stage, I'm chuffed to bits," said an elated Froome, who grew up in South Africa and has only ridden for Britain since 2008.
"From the start we were controlling the race. The guys did a fantastic job, Richie [Porte] set a blistering pace [up the final climb] and got rid of a lot of guys.
"It wasn't the plan to go for the stage but I'd seen the finish before and I thought 'I've got the legs' and I gave it a small nudge.  I couldn't believe it when Cadel didn't follow. And having Brad two seconds behind, we couldn't ask for more."
Sunday's stage eight features seven categorised climbs as the riders race 158km from Belfort to Porrentruy in Switzerland. The final climb of the day is the category one Col de la Froix, although the race does not finish at its summit.
1. Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky - 4h58:35
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC - @2"
3. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Sky - @ 2"
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas - @7"
5. Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - @19"
1. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Sky - 34 hours, 21 mins, 20 seconds
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC - @10"
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas - @16"
4. Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - @32"
5. Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha - @54"
9. Chris Froome (GB) Sky - @1:32


The world's largest maker of computer chips, Intel, says the weak economy will mean its next profits will miss forecasts.

The company's second-quarter net income was $2.83bn (Â£1.8bn, 2.3bn euros), 4.3% below that made in the second quarter of last year.
Operating expenses rose faster than its revenue, which rose 3.6% to $13.5bn.
Intel has also been buying back shares, an activity that helped keep earnings per share flat.
The company said it expects to make revenue of $13.8-$14.8bn in the third quarter with a mid-point of $14.3bn, below current analyst forecasts of $14.6bn.
Intel cut its revenue growth forecast for the whole of this year to between 3-5%, down from a previous forecast of "high single-digit growth".
The company makes chips for 80% of the world's personal computers (PCs) but has a far smaller presence in tablet computers like Apple's iPad, or in the fast-growing smartphone sector.
Tablet computer sales are rising far more quickly than those of PCs.
Intel's chief executive, Paul Otellini said in a statement: "As we enter the third quarter, our growth will be slower than we anticipated due to a more challenging macroeconomic environment."


A man accused of carrying a sword in public while wearing a hockey mask is due to appear before magistrates.

Abdullahi Hassan Abdullahi was arrested by police in Islington, north London, shortly after midnight.
The 21-year-old, of Elthorne Road, Archway, has been charged with possession of an offensive weapon.
Mr Abdullahi, who is unemployed, has been remanded in custody and is due to appear before Highbury Corner magistrates on Saturday.


A senior judge will decide whether a retired Anglican bishop is well enough to stand trial for alleged sex crimes dating back nearly 40 years.

Bishop Peter Ball, 83, is accused of sexually assaulting boys and young men when he was Bishop of Lewes, East Sussex in the 1970s and 80s.
The Old Bailey was told a 10-week trial is provisionally set to start in the first week of October.
The trial judge will hear argument on whether Bishop Ball can stand trial.
Mr Justice Sweeney said senior judge Mr Justice Wilkie has been allocated to hear the case.
Bishop Ball, of Aller, near Langport in Somerset, was Bishop of Lewes between 1977 and 1992 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 until 1993.
He is charged with misconduct in public office between October 1977 and December 1992; indecent assault on a boy then aged between 12 and 13 in 1978 and the same offence against a man aged 19 to 20 between 1980 and 1982.
He is also charged with indecent assault on a man over 16 between 1990 and 1991 in Berwick and on a boy under 16 between 1984 and 1985, in Litlington, both in East Sussex.
The venue for the hearing in October is yet to be decided.


Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has formed a new government a month after winning elections that were boycotted by the main opposition parties and tarnished by a poor turnout.

The key foreign ministry portfolio has gone to Ibrahim Ghandour, a former presidential assistant.
Mohamed Zayed has been appointed oil minister, while Mustafa Osman Obeid was appointed acting defence minister.
The new government will comprise a total of 31 cabinet ministers.
In addition President Bashir has also appointed governors for Sudan's 18 states in what he has vowed will be a "new page" for his country,
Speaking at his inauguration last week, the president said that he wanted to repair ties with the West, tackle corruption and bring peace to the country.
Another priority is restoring Sudan's ailing economy.
Mr Bashir, 71, seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.
Even President Bashir has been forced to admit - with civil war(s) continuing, and the ongoing economic crisis - that Sudan needs to change, and this reshuffle is part of his promised reforms.
The most surprising decision is the removal of Abdel Rahim Hussein as defence minister, as for many years he has been President Bashir's confidant and friend.
Mr Hussein has been named governor of Khartoum state, one of several changes among the governors, which seem designed to remove any who were developing sizable local power bases.
But simply replacing ministers and governors will not bring change. Instead, the way Sudan is governed will have to improve if the country is to escape from its current malaise.


A historical sex offence inquiry into singer Sir Cliff Richard has "increased significantly in size" and involves "more than one allegation", police say.

The expansion of the investigation meant no date could be given for when it would be concluded, South Yorkshire Police's chief constable said.
It comes after officers raided Sir Cliff's Berkshire home last August.
Sir Cliff, 74, said he had no idea where the "absurd and untrue" allegations against him come from.
"The police have not disclosed details to me," he said in a statement.
"I have never, in my life, assaulted anyone and I remain confident that the truth will prevail. I have cooperated fully with the police, and will, of course, continue to do so."
Sir Cliff has been interviewed about an allegation of a sex crime, but was not arrested or charged.
The BBC understands the original allegation relates to an alleged assault at an event featuring US preacher Billy Graham at Bramall Lane in Sheffield in 1985.
In a letter dated 10 February to Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Chief Constable David Crompton said his force was in regular contact with Sir Cliff's lawyers.
That involved a "verbal update about once a fortnight", he said.
"This is an investigation which has increased significantly in size since its inception. Sir Cliff Richard's lawyers are aware that there is more than one allegation," he said in the letter.
He added: "It would be premature and potentially misleading to predict a likely date when it will be concluded, however, we are progressing as swiftly as possible."
Parts of the letter were blacked out before it was released.
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had not been presented with a file for a charging decision.
"The CPS is providing early investigative advice in relation to allegations of sexual offences committed by a 74-year-old man, interviewed by police in August 2014," it said in a statement.
"The allegations remain under investigation by South Yorkshire Police."
It comes after an independent report concluded that police should not have released "highly confidential" details to the BBC about the planned search of Sir Cliff Richard's home.
A deal over the details was made when a BBC reporter told the force he knew they were investigating the star.
The report looked into a subsequent agreement between South Yorkshire Police and the BBC, which led to the raid being broadcast live.
South Yorkshire Police had "interfered with the star's privacy" by telling the broadcaster about the raid, the report said.
A statement from Sir Cliff's lawyers at the time said the coverage caused "immeasurable harm" to the star.
A BBC spokesman said the Home Affairs committee had "already endorsed the way the BBC handled this story."
South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, said six recommendations in the report "will be implemented".


(Close): US markets ended the day more or less where they started, but shares in Nike fell more than 3% following a broker downgrade.

Nike shares were hit after Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the stock to "underperform" from "neutral".
The Dow Jones ended 18.77 points lower at 18,142.42.
The wider S&P 500 index slipped 0.26 points to 2,126.15, while the Nasdaq fell 0.97 points to 5,189.13.
Shares in industrial giant General Electric fell 0.4% to $29.10 after the company agreed to merge its oil and gas business with oilfield services firm Baker Hughes.
The deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, will create the second-biggest firm in the oilfield services industry.
Shares in Level 3 Communications jumped 3.9% after CenturyLink announced it was buying the company in a $34bn deal. Shares in CenturyLink dropped 12.5%.