Family members of British soldiers who died in the Iraq war will not have to pay £767 for copies of the Chilcot report, Downing Street has said.

Families had expressed concerns that they would not be given a free copy of the 12-volume report, due on 6 July.
However, Number 10 said: "There is no question of families of service personnel who died in Iraq having to pay for copies of the Chilcot report."
Next-of-kin were due to get a free hard copy of the £30 executive summary.
What is the Iraq inquiry for?
Timeline of key inquiry moments
But relatives, who have been waiting seven years for the long-awaited publication, had reacted angrily to the news that they would not get a free hard copy of the full report, which will be free online.
Earlier, Roger Bacon, whose son was killed in Iraq, told the Telegraph it was "ridiculous and very unfair".
"Where do they think the families are going to get the funds from to do that? This is big money for most people. We are not corporations or government organisations, we are ordinary people," he said.
"To be expected to pay that amount of money for a report that has had an enormous effect on all of us is really not on.
"To deal with something like this you need to have something you can hold and read. It is offensive to expect us to cough up that amount of money."
Rose Gentle, whose son Fusilier Gordon Gentle was killed in a bomb attack in Basra in 2004, aged 19, told the Press Association news agency it was "disgusting".
"Why should we have to pay - have we not paid enough times with the lives of our sons?" Mrs Gentle, from Glasgow, said.
"The families should get a free copy of this, we have paid the cost with their deaths...
"Why doesn't Tony Blair say 'I will pay for it', because he has got enough money."
Families have also been invited to attend inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot's public statement when the report is published and will be able to read an embargoed copy.
The inquiry was announced by former prime minister Gordon Brown in June 2009. The last public hearing took place in February 2011.
There are a number of reasons why it has dragged out so long.
But the main reason for the delay was the long tussle between the inquiry and the government over which classified material could be published alongside the report, or referred to in it.
Read more
Shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry said it was "beyond insulting" that families of the bereaved would have to pay for a hard copy of the full version.
She said: "In the great scheme of things this is not a great deal of money and we have expected these brave men and women to put their lives on the line for our country.
"The least we could do is to give their families a proper full report."
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said he had written to the Ministry of Defence asking that free hard copies of the report be made available to the families on request.
He said: "It is unbelievable that after all these years of waiting, of stalling and uncertainty, we now find out that the families will have to pay for a copy of the report.
"Families who have waited years, mothers and fathers who have fought to have this report see the light of day, should not have to pay for this."
The inquiry was set up in 2009 by then prime minister Gordon Brown to examine the lead-up to the invasion, from the summer of 2001 up until the withdrawal of the main body of British troops.
The report's long-awaited publication follows 130 sessions of oral evidence, the testimony of more than 150 witnesses and is more than 2.5 million words long.
The inquiry has analysed more than 150,000 government documents as well as other material related to the invasion.


At least six people died when a passenger boat sank on a reservoir in north-western Colombia, officials say.

They say that 133 people were rescued, but 16 are still missing after the four-deck Almirante went down near the popular resort town of Guatapé.
There were about 170 people on board. Witness Juan Quiroz told the BBC the boat sank in less than five minutes.
Leisure boats quickly came to the rescue, hauling victims from the water and the top deck of the vessel.
Some survivors complained that they had not been given life jackets.
Army helicopters and divers later joined the search-and-rescue operation.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who travelled to the scene on Sunday evening, said six people had been killed, revising down an initial death toll of nine given by officials.
More than 20 people have been taken to a hospital in Guatapé.
Eyewitness Louisa Murphy told the BBC: "We saw things flying off the side of the boat. And within, I think, probably about 20 second the boat had sort of sunk with just the top deck visible."
Luis Bernardo Morales, a fire service captain involved in the rescue, said the boat was very close to the port when it sank.
"We do not know whether it was a mechanical failure, an overloading or something to do with the currents that caused it to sink," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
Local residents said that the vessel had sunk twice before but had then been repaired before being used again.
Guatapé is a popular Andean resort town, known for its water sports and recreational activities.


"I have had friends of mine who are cleverer than me explain the empirical evidence pertaining to the physical impossibility of the supernatural, they just don't exist."

There you have it, Tom Hiddleston, starring in the spooky new gothic horror film Crimson Peak, does not believe in ghosts. To paraphrase a hard-bitten studio advertising executive: "Way to sell the movie, Tom".
Hiddleston goes on: "I should say I did believe in ghosts as a child. I was at an old boarding school in England, and there used to be apocryphal stories that you shouldn't go into the chapel at midnight and all that, and I was as gullible as everyone else."
"But if you are going to tell this story, then Guillermo del Toro is the man, he is the master."
Crimson Peak is the duo's first collaboration and tells the haunting story of a young aspiring American writer - played by Mia Wasikowska - who, after falling for the charms of Hiddleston's Sir Thomas Sharpe is swept off to his family's remote gothic mansion in the Cumbrian hillside.
Also resident in the crumbling mansion, slowing sinking into the blood-red clay mines beneath, is his mysterious elder sister Lady Lucille, played by Jessica Chastain, the protector of her family's dark secrets.
"The way he [Del Toro] blends together sophisticated material with dark adult material that is emotional and complex with the world of supernatural, it was exciting," says Hiddleston.
The film is a return to the type of fantasy horror that made the Mexican director's name more than 20 years ago.
His Spanish-language films such as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone set a high standard, arguably surpassed by his beautiful but chilling fantasy Pan's Labyrinth, set five years after the Spanish Civil War and telling the story of a bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer who escapes into an eerie fantasy world.
The film was internationally acclaimed and won three Oscars and three Baftas.
Yet with Crimson Peak, Del Toro insists it's about more than just scaring people, though the film has ghosts (several of them), brutal murders and even a haunted house which has red, blood-like clay literally dripping from its cracked and broken walls.
At the centre of the film is a story about love and the forms it can take, whether pure or destructive.
"It's not a horror film, it's a gothic romance, does it mean it's not scary? No, it can be scary and spooky, but it functions as a romance," he says.
"The theme of love was important - to show every character being changed by love. When discussing gothic romance, and I'm paraphrasing here, [19th Century author and critic] Henry James said something like, 'The ghost represents the past or the impossibility for us to move into the future.'"
In the character of Sir Thomas, Hiddleston plays a character who treads on the dark side of human nature.
It's a side he has shown before, most famously as Loki, the villainous brother of Thor in the Marvel series of films.
He has also recently portrayed:
"I'm not exclusively drawn to dark characters," Hiddleston says. "I had this conversation with Anthony Hopkins, I don't mean to just clunk his name in there, but he played my dad in the Thor films and was once talking about this very thing - the appeal of darkness in cinema."
A keen mimic, he impersonated Robert De Niro on the Graham Norton show in front of the bemused movie star himself, Hiddleston continues in Hopkins's lilting tones.
"He said, 'When people stop me on the street, they only want to ask about one man [Hannibal Lecter from Hopkins's 1991 film Silence of the Lambs].
"'I think people are fascinated by darkness, they want their lives to be filled with love and happiness and friendship and laughter and joy.
"'But what they want on Friday night is to turn the lights out and go into a dark room and see someone lean into the darkness, and they see something and recognise it, but then they switch on the lights and they spill out into the street and have dinner and they do what ever they do and they don't want it in their lives but they want to see it on screen.'"
There is certainly darkness on screen in Crimson Peak, but Hiddleston is quick to point out that Del Toro attempts to give explanations if not excuses for his characters' behaviour.
He says: "Guillermo has compassion for his monsters, he writes his villains from a compassionate place. There's a lot of menace and cruelty about the Sharpe siblings but he tried to explain where that cruelty comes from."
However, while Hiddleston may refuse to entertain the possibility of the supernatural, Del Toro sits on the opposing side of the argument and even claims to have experienced two ghostly encounters.
The director says: "Once, scouting locations for The Hobbit in New Zealand, I beguilingly asked for the haunted room, and I was watching a boxed set of The Wire and, in the middle of the night, I heard a horrible murder in the room.
"I tracked the screams to the bathroom and nobody was there, and then I heard a man crying through the vent, which I opened, it led all the way to the cellar, it was very scary. I kept the lights on and finished the Wire box set that night."
But it turns out that, like many of the themes in even his most fantastical of films, his fear is rooted in the mundane.
"What scares me, in real life, is politicians and corporations," he says.
"Those are scariest things for me because they're inhuman in many ways. There are some politicians I'm sure who are OK, but I've just never been familiar with one.
"There's more chance of seeing a ghost."
Crimson Peak is in UK cinemas on Friday.


An 83-year-old woman and her 60-year-old daughter have been assaulted while on a day trip to Glasgow.

The women, who are from Fife, were outside the People's Palace in Glasgow Green when they were attacked.
Police have described the incident, which happened on Friday, as a "violent and unprovoked assault".
Both victims were treated for facial injuries at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary before returning home.
Officers say the women were approached by a man at about 14:30. He ran off along Monteith Row towards London Road following the assault.
He is described as white, about 20 years old, 5ft 8in tall and of medium build. He was wearing dark clothing and carrying a dark rucksack.
Det Con Paul Fraser from Police Scotland said: "This was a completely unprovoked and cowardly attack on an elderly woman and her daughter who had come to Glasgow to enjoy a day out.
"Both victims have been left very distressed by the ordeal and have returned home to Fife.
"Glasgow Green would been busy around the time of the incident and I would appeal to anyone who saw what happened to get in touch.
"In particular we would like to speak to the driver of a coach who witnessed the attack and went to their assistance.  We would urge him to come forward as soon as possible."


Newport County have re-signed Cardiff City midfielder Tommy O'Sullivan on loan until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old made 13 appearances in all competitions for the Exiles while on loan at the Rodney Parade club earlier this season, scoring one goal.
He previously spent three months with Port Vale in 2015, playing five games for the League One side.
O'Sullivan is yet to start a Bluebirds first-team match, but has made three substitute appearances for Cardiff.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


A seven-year-old boy put a drug dealer's misplaced ecstasy pill into his mouth thinking it was a sweet, a court heard.

A handful of 27-year-old Dean Shaw's pills inadvertently ended up in a bag containing an iPad that the child was playing with.
The youngster discovered the Class A drugs and put a pill in his mouth before spitting it out because "it didn't taste nice."
Shaw will be sentenced in March.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told the incident could have resulted in "absolutely catastrophic consequences."
The court was told the carrier bag had been at Shaw's Arbroath home and was taken away by a woman and put on her kitchen table.
Her son went to play with the iPad and put one of the yellow, strawberry-shaped tablets into his mouth and then spat it out.
The woman found the pills strewn across the table.
Depute fiscal Vicki Bell told the court: "She thought they were sweets and noted there were some left in the shopping bag.
"She asked the child about the sweets and he said they were not sweets as he had put one in his mouth and it didn't taste nice so he spat it out."
The woman contacted Shaw who told her the tablets were ecstasy.
Miss Bell said: "The child was taken to Arbroath minor injuries unit and observed but didn't have any symptoms of ingesting the tablets.
Police raided Shaw's home and found Â£3,691 in cash, cocaine with a street value of up to Â£9,600 and 28 ecstasy tablets.
The prosecutor added: "He told police he didn't know how the tablets got in the bag.
"He said the only explanation was that he had a party and when people left someone had put them there because they didn't want to take them in to the street."
Shaw, from Arbroath, admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possessing ecstasy on 15 August last year.
Defence solicitor John Hall said: "He profoundly and profusely apologises for this.
"It is not lost on him that there could have been absolutely catastrophic consequences.
"He is fully aware that the likely outcome of this case will be a period of custody."
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC deferred sentence and released Shaw on bail.
She said: "These are very serious matters and custody must be at the forefront of the court's mind."


Wales midfielder Andy King will miss the Euro 2016 qualifiers in Belgium and Israel after Uefa increased his suspension for violent conduct.

Leicester City's King, 25, was sent off for a foul on Constantinos Makridis in Wales' 2-1 win against Cyprus.
The ban means King will miss the 16 November trip to Brussels and the match in Israel on 28 March, 2015.
The Football Association of Wales forwarded evidence of King's previous good behaviour in mitigation.
Wales boss Chris Coleman defended King following the midfielder's dismissal early in the second half of the game at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm disappointed for Kingy and it's not really his fault," Coleman said at the time.
"The timing was wrong and he had a red but that's probably down to myself and the staff.
"We've been firing the lads up the last two games. We've been into the lads all week saying 'whatever they give to us, we give to them'.
"I can't blame Andy for that. "
King's dismissal came during a game in which nine players were booked by German referee Manuel Graf, including five Cypriots.
Coleman insisted he had no complaints about the Cypriots' treatment of Gareth Bale, who received several challenges that left him writhing on the floor.
But the Wales boss was frustrated that the referee failed to protect the Real Madrid winger.
"I'm disappointed with the official," Coleman added.
"The red card was a heavy challenge but if he sends one of ours off surely he can send one or two of theirs off because they weren't shy either.
"Cyprus have got to do what they think is right to win the game, but the referee's there for a reason - to make a decision.
"When we play opposition in their back yard, their star players get rewards, they get free-kicks - but it doesn't happen for us."
Coleman's side appeared to be coasting as goals from David Cotterill and Hal Robson-Kanu gave them an early 2-0 lead.
But a goal from Vincent Laban and King's red card set up a nervous second half.
"We probably [wouldn't have won] that game in the last campaign. We didn't have that same togetherness then," Coleman said.
"The players were absolutely magnificent. We've only had one defeat in eight games and we've not lost here for a year.
"People have questioned the players' team spirit and [whether they] want to play for Wales, but I don't think I have to answer that any more. As a nation, we can't ask for any more."


UK travellers buying US dollars for holiday money are getting the lowest rates for nearly 31 years, according to the exchange firm, Travelex.

On Monday, most travel money firms were offering $1.17 for every pound, the lowest rate since 1986.
The slide in sterling means holidays overseas will be more expensive for UK travellers.
Travelex's tourist rate is down 19% from its strongest level against the dollar over the past year.
It stood at just under $1.44 shortly before the UK's European Union referendum in June.
The fall against the euro has been less dramatic. The pound now stands at a little over 1.10 euros, the lowest since 9 November.
Sterling dropped sharply in Asian trade on Monday, before recovering some ground, following reports that Theresa May will signal that the UK is planning a "hard" exit from the European Union when she gives a speech on Tuesday.


From diving at the feet of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian and presenting the MTV movie awards; to appearing as Princess Leia on the cover of GQ magazine and urging stricter gun control laws, Amy Schumer is absolutely everywhere.

The hottest name in American comedy, Schumer is nevertheless still something of an unknown quantity in the UK.
That could be about to change with the release of her new movie Trainwreck, which she wrote and Judd Apatow directed.
It's the first time the This is 40 and Knocked Up filmmaker has made a feature film which he has not himself written.
"Judd Apatow reached out to me after hearing me on (US shock jock) Howard Stern a few years ago and he said that he could tell that I could write movies, that I thought visually," she says. "I probably would never have had the confidence to just take it upon myself and write a movie unless he encouraged me.
"Is there a bigger compliment that someone saying I will put my name and a lot of money into you?"
For his part, Apatow has nothing but praise for his leading lady and collaborator: "I heard her on the radio talking about her dad, who has MS and she was telling these really dark stories about what it was like to care for him but they were also really funny and also really warm, you could tell how much she loved her dad.
"I thought she was this really interesting person, she has a side that I haven't seen presented in movies before and I asked her whether she wanted to write a movie."
Before penning Trainwreck, Schumer may have been a newcomer to screenwriting but she had been performing stand up in her native New York clubs since 2004.
Prior to that she graduated from The William Esper studio, an acting school, where she studied for three years.
The comic made her network debut in 2007 when she placed third in on NBC's Last Comic Standing and later co-starred on an episode of the hit comedy 30 Rock.
After years of grafting on the sidelines, she says the sudden shift into stardom has been an eye-opener.
"I know that's how things happen and I'm certainly glad that I haven't had this much exposure before. I don't think anyone's ever really ready for this amount of exposure.
"I won a critics' award the other night and I couldn't be there to accept it. So, one of my writers went and said, 'Amy couldn't be here, she's being treated for over-exposure'. I thought that was really funny.
"But it was never my dream; I was never trying to be here. This is so far beyond anything I ever saw for myself that its overwhelming."
In 2013, Comedy Central premiered Inside Amy Schumer, a mix of sketch, stand-up comedy and on-the-street interviews.
With jokes and observations about sex, work, relationships and gender inequality, the series and the two that followed it, introduced Schumer and her take-no-prisoners attitude to a much wider audience.
Though she has her fans, her jokes about racial stereotypes and race relations have led to some accusations that she has  "a blind spot" on race.
She addressed the criticism on Twitter, saying she enjoyed "playing the girl who time to time says the dumbest thing possible, and playing with race is a thing we are not supposed to do, which is what makes it so fun for comics."
Schumer insists she never set out to push the envelope in terms of what she wanted to talk about on stage and in her shows.
"I don't think I ever decided that, it was just what was funny to me. When you start out, you do whatever you can to be on stage so I did a lot of open mics.
"The audience was all comedians and they would sit there with their notebooks and you have to pay to do the show so you have to surprise them or trick them into laughing so that's a skill set I developed early because it was the only way I could get laughs."
In the notoriously male-centric profession of comedy there is little surprise Schumer has faced sexism is all its forms during her time on the road.
"I don't think that I face any more being a comedian," she says. "I think that all women face sexism every day whether it's buying coffee or walking into a grocery store, it's just part of our world. But whenever I'm met with any sexism I call it out."
Sometimes that sexism can come from her frank material.
"The most sexism I've faced is when I get off stage. I talk about sex, right now it makes up about 30% of my act and I'll go on stage after a male comic who maybe talks about sex for 80 percent of his act.
"The booker or promoter will say to me, 'Wow you're not afraid to talk about sex,' but they wouldn't say that to the guy and I would be looked at as easy but the guy wouldn't."
Most recently, Schumer stuck her head above the parapet to address the issue of gun control in the US.
It followed the fatal shooting of two women at a screening of her film in Louisiana. The gunman had a history of mental health issues.
The comedian put laughs aside to appear with her father's cousin, Senator Chuck Schumer, to call for American state authorities to submit information on potential gun buyers to a national database.
She also criticised proposals to slash funding to mental health services.
The gun issue, in particular, puts her in the sights of the powerful US gun lobby, making it something of a David and Goliath battle.
"I think I did understand the gravity of it," she says. "I have so much room for educating myself about this topic, I think the central issue is money, it's about funding. They're trying to take away money from mental health services, it's awful and I really hope that doesn't happen."
The Trainwreck is in UK cinemas now.


An Indian bride has married a guest at her wedding after her groom-to-be had a seizure and collapsed.

Reports said the groom, Jugal Kishore, was epileptic and he had kept the information from the bride, Indira, and her family.
While Mr Kishore was taken to hospital, the angry bride decided to switch husbands.
She asked a member of her brother-in-law's family, who was a guest, to step in and marry her instead. He agreed.
The incident took place in Rampur town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
According to a report in The Times of India, Mr Kishore, 25, fell to the ground in front of the wedding guests just as he was reaching out to garland Indira.
On his return from the hospital, Mr Kishore pleaded with Indira to change her mind, telling her that he would be ridiculed by friends and relatives if he went home without a bride, but she refused.
Local police official Ram Khiladi Solanki told the BBC that Mr Kishore and his family were initially upset and lodged a complaint with the police.
"But since the bride is already married now, what can anyone do? So the families have resolved the matter and the complaint has been withdrawn," he added.


The new police and crime commissioner for Essex says the first thing he will look at is "modernisation and getting police out on patrol".

Conservative Roger Hirst won the election with a total of 135,948 votes, once second-preference voting had been added, beating UKIP's Bob Spink.
Three other candidates - one Labour, one Lib Dem and one Independent - were eliminated in the first round.
At 26%, the turnout almost doubled from the last election in 2012.
Candidates are listed alphabetically by surname. BBC News App users: tap here to see the results.
More information is available on the Choose my PCC website.


A disc jockey at a party in northern India was shot dead by a guest, apparently for not playing a song.

The guest had been jailed, Brajesh Srivastava, additional superintendent of police in the town of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh state, told the BBC.
Police said the gun owned by the guest was illegal and had been confiscated.
The song the guest is said to have wanted played is called Tamanche pe disco, which translates from Hindi as "dancing with an illegal firearm".
The victim, identified as Arun Valmiki, had been hired as a disc jockey for a private party organised at the residence of a local businessman, one of his relatives told the BBC.
The man who shot Mr Valmiki is a relative of the host and, armed with a revolver, fired in the air several times while on the dance floor, the victim's relative added.
In the video for the song, which is from a film called Bullett Raja, the hero is seen flaunting a revolver while dancing in a discotheque.
Mr Valmiki had been taken to a government hospital but was declared dead on arrival.


It's been an extraordinary 24 hours in the poisonous relationship between Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Donald Trump.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio landed some jabs on Mr Trump during Thursday night's debate, and the two of them continued their verbal assaults the next day.
Mr Rubio appeared on morning shows and then at Texas rallies to describe the billionaire businessman as, among other things, a "con-artist" who was hijacking the Republican party.
His rival, who has won three states and is the clear favourite to be the Republican nominee, hit back by calling the senator "low-life".
There were also some unexpected forms of mockery. Here's a selection.
Mr Trump ridiculed Mr Rubio for applying make-up backstage at the debate, saying it looked like he put it on with a trowel. He even suggested he needs make-up to cover up his ears.
Mr Rubio said he saw Mr Trump applying makeup backstage, as well, because he had a "sweat moustache" he needed to cover up.
People have been ridiculing Marco Rubio for his love of drinking water ever since he paused for a sip during his State of the Union response speech in 2013 on national television.
During his remarks in Texas on Friday, Mr Trump did an extended impression of Mr Rubio gasping for air.
He tossed a water bottle, sprayed the crowd with it and said "It's Rubio!"
Mr Trump poked fun at Mr Rubio's sweating habits, calling him a "nervous basket case" who perspires more than anyone he had ever seen.
"It's disgusting," he said. "We need somebody that doesn't have whatever it is that he's got."
Mr Rubio ridiculed Mr Trump for a series of misspelled tweets, which he later deleted. He misspelled "choker", "lightweight" and "honour".
He said the only way to explain the tweets is "that's how they spell at the Wharton School of Business," at the University of Pennsylvania, where Mr Trump attended, or "he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets".
Mr Rubio said that backstage at the debate, Mr Trump requested a full-length mirror, presumably, "to make sure his pants weren't wet".
"He called me Mr Meltdown. Let me tell you something, last night in the debate, during one of the breaks - two of the breaks - he went backstage, he was having a meltdown," said Mr Rubio.


Sharpen your shuriken, Japan's Aichi prefecture is looking to hire six ninjas in a bid to boost tourism.

The roles are full time and the pay is Â¥180,000 ($1,600; Â£1,100) a month, the job ad says (in Japanese).
Physical fitness and acrobatic skills are a must says Aichi prefecture, which hopes to promote "warlord tourism".
Ninjas were 15th Century Japanese mercenaries specialising in espionage, assassination, sabotage and other forms of irregular warfare.
Such trickery was considered beneath the samurai, or military nobility, who had to observe strict rules on fighting honourably.
The job specification has been somewhat changed for the advertised roles.
It involves stage performances and "PR work" for radio and television. Combat experience as a ninja is not required and a track record of killing people for money would not help your application.
Ideal candidates should "enjoy being under the spotlight even though he or she is a secretive ninja," Satoshi Adachi of the prefecture's tourism promotion unit, told AFP.
As the troupe will sometimes perform in English, Japanese language skills are preferred rather than essential, Mr Adachi said, although a passion for history and tourism is a requirement.
Training is also a little quicker these days: winning applicants will be up to speed in the arts of wooing tourists with back flips and sword play by the end of April.
Successful applicants will be performing in Nagoya Castle and various other locations.
Aichi prefecture may be hoping to see some of the success seen by neighbouring Mie prefecture's Ninja museum in Iga city, which combines historical details with acrobatic performances inspired by tales of the ancient warriors.
Iga, which brands itself as the "home town" of ninja, was once home to many ninjas, also known as shinobi, who emerged as a distinct phenomenon in the volatile "warring states" period of the 15th Century. They gradually disappeared as Japan was unified in the 17th Century.
While ninja were a very real historical phenomenon, much popular folklore about them is based on legend and myth.
But while once they were looked on as little more than a historical curiosity of more interest to foreigners than Japanese themselves, prefectures are increasingly keen to capitalise on historical ties to tap into the country's tourism boom.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to increase tourism even further in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Anyone over 18 can apply to be a ninja in Aichi, and applications close on 22 March.


As a judge on Britain's Got Talent, David Walliams is used to being the person giving out his opinions, but as a children's author he's had a taste of what it's like on the other side, from one fan.

Madeleine was so disappointed by the TV version of one of her favourite David Walliams' books, that she wrote to tell him what was wrong with it.
Although she sent the letter to his fan mail address, Madeleine made it clear that it was 'NOT fan mail', and said that 'it is a COMPLAINT'.
Madeleine was upset that so much had been changed from the book, including one character being dropped completely, and the names of others being changed.
She said there was 'no reason whatsoever' for Dave Grubb's name being changed to George Grubb.
Finally, the 11-year-old felt that the main character, Joe, was changed so that he seemed like a 'sad boy' instead of a 'spoiled brat' like in the book.
Madeleine wasn't the only person who was unimpressed - another fan wrote to tell David that the film was 'a bit disappointing' because so much was missing, and he couldn't understand it well.
David Walliams replied to Madeleine with a 'letter of APOLOGY' saying that he was very sorry that she didn't enjoy the TV version of the story.
He said that they had hoped the changes would make the story better, and that 'the good thing is the book will always be the book, and it will never be better than how it appears in your imagination.'


Supermarket giant Tesco has won £1.50 compensation from a customer who spilt a bottle of milk in one of its stores.

Shopper Cornelius Price, 40, threw the six-pint bottle in a temper, Llandrindod Wells Magistrates' Court heard.
It was claimed he was verbally abusive and escorted off the premises.
Admitting criminal damage, Price said he threw the milk towards the store manager saying "catch it" but it accidentally spilt.
"He was told to return the milk he was holding and leave the store and he threw it at the floor in temper," said Julie Sullivan, prosecuting.
"£1.50 compensation is requested for the milk."
Phil Sherrard, defending, said: "This is minor criminal damage. He knows he should have been more careful with the milk."
Price was told to pay £1.50 compensation to Tesco, fined £75, ordered to pay £20 victim surcharge and £85 costs. The money will be deducted from his benefits at £10 a fortnight.


Ecuador has been struck by a massive magnitude-7.8 earthquake that has left more than 230 people dead and hundreds injured.

The epicentre was near the northern coastal town of Muisne, but the effects were felt hundreds of kilometres away, including in the capital, Quito, and second city, Guayaquil.
People in Ecuador have been contacting BBC News with their stories.
'It lasted for minutes and was very scary' - Juan Jose, Guayaquil, Ecuador
I am safe with my family now but the earthquake was an awful experience. It lasted for minutes and was very scary.
The streets started to move like waves. The roof fell in on a mall here and a bridge collapsed.
My daughter is still afraid. The worst affected towns are Pedernales, Manta, Muisne, Portoviejo and Guayaquil.
My uncle lives in Portoviejo and says the damage there is very bad.
The electricity service is still very unstable here and the phone lines are very bad.
We are scared about another quake happening.
We've had lots of small tremors over the last few months, so I thought it was just another one of those to start with, which is why I was slow to react.
When I heard people yelling, children crying and dogs barking, I realised it wasn't. My mirror started shaking, then I heard a bottle fall downstairs from my apartment.
I grabbed my dog and hid under the table. The worst part was realising it wasn't going away and that I might be found here if the worst happened.
So I grabbed my dog and ran out into the street. We could see the electricity lines shaking - in other parts of the city they've collapsed, apparently.
I've gone back to my apartment now. I've seen images of dead people on the news, crushed by falling objects, that I'd rather not have seen.
They are saying this is the worst quake since 1979 to strike the country.
I never felt something like that in my life, never! Because in Ecuador this is not common. It was so strong. I was feeling very, very scared.
Suddenly everything was dark; the light was off; like a movie. I only was thinking 'God, please stop that, because maybe I die today.'
Just after 7pm we felt a long earthquake while driving. I didn't understand it at first.
Then I saw other cars were shaking too and people starting to go out of their cars and buildings.
The power went off in the area we were in. We were happy we were in the car and felt safe there.
Just now, there was an after-quake and we were on the 9th floor. It was very scary and lasted for 30 seconds. They say it was 6.2 near the coast.
We are trying to sleep because it's 02:30 here, but I am very scared and sad.
I can tell you, that was an extremely scary experience. I live in Guayaquil and we got hit pretty hard.
Cities around us have been affected so badly. My first ever experience of an earthquake and I'm just relieved that my wife and family are all OK. RIP to all those who passed. What an absolute tragedy.


Scientists in Chicago have produced a visualisation of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, showing what it would have looked like before its colours faded.

The artist painted three versions of this famous scene, using broadly the same colour scheme.
But time and light degradation have taken their toll on the pigments.
Using a variety of techniques, the researchers have digitally restored the light blue walls and door to their original lilac and purple.
The computer visualisation is part of a major new exhibition at the The Art Institute of Chicago, which brings together all three versions for only the second time since Van Gogh produced them.
It is hoped visitors to the exhibition will get a deeper sense of the emotions the 19th Century artist was trying to convey in the works.
"Science is vital in identifying the pigments that have faded, but then there is a lot of interpretation that we rely on from conservators and art historians who really know the hand of the artist, and know how to dial that virtual knob more or less," explained Dr Francesca Casadio, Mellon Senior Conservation Scientist at the Chicago institute.
"This is just a visualisation of what we think the faded colours looked like, but barring the invention of a time machine it will always still be an approximation."
Dr Casadio was speaking here in Washington at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The Art Institute has one of the bedrooms permanently in its collection. The other two are normally held at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
The Chicago team knew there was something not quite right with the colours from the information contained in letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo, and other artists.
In that correspondence, he sets out very clearly what everything should look like.
"He describes it in detail - that the furniture is yellow, the bedspread is red, and the walls are lilac and the doors purple. Well, today, the wall is light blue," said Dr Casadio.
Taking a tiny flake of wall paint and examining it under the microscope, the team could see remnants of the original pigment. It is a carmine lake, or cochineal, pigment. Extracted from the bodies of certain insects, this pink pigment is vivid but fades rapidly over time.
"Of course, pink and blue makes purple," Dr Casadio adds.
The team then set about investigating the rest of the scene, using X-ray techniques that allowed them to interrogate pigments at the atomic level, and so gauge their original "recipe".
All this information went into the algorithms that make the final representation.
"And when you see the painting today in the visualised form, you get this sense of what the artist wanted - that the painting should convey a sense of repose, of calm. The colour combination should rest the mind, or rather the imagination. And once you have this purple restored, it's also restoring the balance between the complementary colours - the yellow and the purple - and it's really a very different mood to the painting."
The three versions of the Bedroom in Arles were painted over a period in 1888 and 1889.
The great irony is that conservators know that the walls of the house in Arles were actually white-washed.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Teachers have backed plans for a possible boycott of primary school tests in England next year.

The National Union of Teachers says the tests for seven and 11-year-olds are damaging to children and education.
One delegate likened Sats to the "monster stalking our schools". Another said they needed to be "decapitated".
The government is consulting on the future of primary assessment, and may scrap the tests for seven-year-olds and introduce a baseline test in reception.
But, if agreed, this would not be put in place before 2020.
On Sunday, teachers at the NUT conference backed a motion for an indicative ballot on a Sats boycott, and are expected to debate the matter further on Monday and back plans for a full ballot.
Siobhan Collingwood, a teacher from Lancaster, told the union's conference in Cardiff that Sats were "the monster that is stalking our schools".
She was one of a dozen speakers who spoke passionately against the tests and in favour of ending them.
Last year, when 47% of 11-year-olds failed a new set of tougher tests, Ms Collingwood said, she had seen children cry during the tests.
She had gone around "rubbing pupils' backs", she told delegates.
Now instead of carrying on with the tests, the union needed "to bring down the whole stinking edifice" of the assessment system, she added.
Lambeth delegate Jessica Edwards said the monster that was Sats needed to be "decapitated".
"Sats in our schools is damaging to children and their education, damaging to the self-esteem and mental health and all the things that they need to succeed as they go through their education.
"We all know that last year's tests were the worst they ever had.
"They saw huge numbers of our children not 'failing' as they were labelled but being failed by the assessments that they undertook."
In 2016, the first set of Sats on the new national curriculum were taken by pupils in England's school.
The pass rate fell from 80% in 2015 to 53% for the nation's 11-year-olds.
Chris Ayton, a delegate from Manchester, was given a standing ovation after exclaiming that teachers should be "liberating" children's minds, not preparing them to answer tests on things they did not understand.
Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, said teachers had been saying the system was so broken that they wanted to stop it.
"Primary education should be a time in children's lives when they develop a love of learning, not a fear and dread of failure.
"Drilling within a narrow set of disciplines and expectations is taking the joy out of learning and much of it is of questionable educational value.
"Children are being put under unnecessary stress and teachers' workload is heavily impacted upon."
The Department for Education says tests should not be stressful, and rigorous testing helps raise standards in schools.
It maintains that parents have a right to expect testing in schools to show whether their children are leaving primary school with the right skills in maths and literacy.
A spokeswoman said: "We want a long-term, stable and proportionate system for primary assessment that measures the progress that children make throughout their time at primary school fairly and accurately, one that recognises teachers' professionalism in assessing their pupils and which does not impose a disproportionate burden.
"We have worked with the teaching profession on how best to establish this and we are currently consulting on a number of proposals."


An 86-year-old man who was struck by a train in Cardiff before being arrested in connection with the alleged murder of his wife, has died.

The body of Margaret Mayer, 85, was found at an address in Fairfax Road, Heath, in July.
She was found after Angus Mayer was hurt at Cardiff Central train station and taken to hospital earlier that day.
South Wales Police said on Tuesday an 86-year-old man had died and inquests would be held into both deaths.
At the time of the incident, a neighbour said the couple were "very much in love", adding Mrs Mayer had been treated for dementia.


At the moment (although we know Theresa May is very capable of changing her mind) there won't be head to head TV clashes between the PM and Jeremy Corbyn - or the PM and Nicola Sturgeon, or the PM with anyone else for that matter.

One, the Tory leader is no fan of the glitz of the TV studio. That's one reason why Number 10 is adamant that she will not take part in TV debates. But two - it's not just down to her very different style, but also, as David Cameron learnt very quickly, front runners in any campaign have everything to lose in those debates, and the underdogs have everything to gain.
Downing Street knows they will take a certain amount of flak for the decision not to play ball, and the opposition parties are of course relishing every opportunity to say that the PM is too frightened to defend her record.
But right now Mrs May's allies are willing to wear it, rather than broker the risk of taking part, even if the broadcasters go ahead with the programmes without her.
What will you hear a lot of from the Tory leader? Well if her very first campaign visit is anything to go by, David Cameron and George Osborne's "long-term economic plan" mantra will be replaced by the phrase "strong and stable".
On the stump you'd be forgiven for losing count of the number of times she used the phrase. One totting-up puts it at 13 mentions.
Brexit has undoubtedly set the backdrop for this election, and provided the catalyst for its timing. But the Conservatives plan to win to deliver their version of Brexit by again and again comparing what they claim is the "strong and stable" leadership provided by the sitting prime minister, and the alternative put forward by Jeremy Corbyn.
Tomorrow he'll make his first big election speech, his first big chance to recast that argument.


Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin has signed a new five-year deal that will keep him at the club until 2022.

The 20-year-old has made 10 first-team appearances since joining the Toffees from Sheffield United in August 2016.
He scored his first goal for the club in the 4-0 win over Hull City in March.
"I'm really grateful for the opportunities I've had since joining the club and I'm really looking forward to continuing my development here," he told Evertonfc.com.
"I hadn't expected things to move as fast as they have and to have played against the teams I have done.
"I'm very grateful for that and I'm working hard every day to improve," he added.


A super-life-like robot has started work at a department store in Tokyo, Japan.

Media playback is unsupported on your device
20 April 2015 Last updated at 16:37 BST
The robot will help to welcome customers who visit the shop, and offer directions.
Mio Sakai has been working as the store's human receptionist for two years now, and says she feels honoured to work alongside the robot-lady.
The new robo-receptionist will be welcoming visitors to the store for the next few days, before working elsewhere in the store as a guide.
Martin's got more on the artificial assistant!


Olympians Chris and Gabby Adcock reached the All England Open Badminton quarter-finals with a victory over China's Chen Xu and Du Yue.

The seventh-seeded English pair, who won Commonwealth gold in 2014, took the match 21-17, 21-12.
They will face Indonesian Olympic champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the next round on Friday.
"We're really happy with how we performed," Gabby Adcock told BBC Sport.
The Adcocks beat the Indonesian duo at the same stage at last year's event en-route to the semi-finals, which was their best ever result.
They are hoping to become the first British finalists since 2007 and first GB winners of the event since Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms claimed the mixed-doubles title in 2005.
"It would be nice if we could have the same result against Ahmad and Natsir as last year, but we know it's going to be extremely tough," Chris Adcock told BBC Sport.
"Our dream is to win this one day and it doesn't get any easier, but we'll give it our best and hopefully still be here for the final on Sunday."
In the men's doubles, it was an Indonesian pairing who reached the quarter-finals at the expense of British pair Peter Briggs and Tom Wolfenden, who lost 21-13 21-14 to Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.


The BBC's 100 Women season is back on 21 November and this year is bigger and more ambitious than ever before.

Highlights include a day-long "edit-a-thon" of a major website to rediscover "forgotten" women, and a five-hour live festival in Mexico City.
There will also be three weeks of thought-provoking journalism on issues from self-harming to female friendship.
And as in previous years, the season kicks off with the publication of the 100 Women List.
We choose 100 women to profile and champion - a mix of world leaders in politics, science and entertainment, as well as lesser-known inspirational women from across the globe.
"100 Women is now in its fourth year, and we are proud of the platform it has given to many inspirational women - using the reach and journalistic excellence of the BBC to highlight the challenges, opportunities and experiences of women across the world," says Fiona Crack, editor of the 100 Women season.
"This year I'm particularly looking forward to some of the stories coming from Gaza, Uganda, Nepal and Kazakhstan. We will focus on lots of difficult issues including trafficking, secondary infertility, domestic abuse, harassment and trolling," she says.
"We will also explore the inspiring attitudes of women and girls with features about reimagining 'sexist' fairy tales, harnessing the power of grandmas and how to plan a wedding for 3,000 in Africa's most populous city."
One highlight is a documentary called Scar. It will follow two young women, both recovering from years of self-harm, who meet to compare their paths back to health and travel to London to meet Barbara, a woman who has opened a specialist make-up clinic to help such women conceal their scars.
Other programmes which will air on BBC World News include No Longer a Goddess - incumbent and former living goddesses in Nepal discuss the pressures and expectations of such a role - and Death and Cheerleading, which follows a group of cheerleading grandmothers in Arizona embracing life in their final years.
We will hold a five-hour open festival in Mexico City featuring music, dance, theatre, debates and exhibitions on 24 November, which will be covered live on BBC World News and Facebook.
In London we are hosting a marathon editing session of a major website to rediscover some of the unsung achievements of women and girls.
Online there will be at least 10 opinion pieces by people who defy stereotypes around the globe, including a father dedicated to raising a feminist son; a gay woman who felt moved to marry a gay man to gain acceptance; and a worker who takes menstrual leave every month from her job.
The BBC's 100 Women 2016 season runs from 21 November to 9 December on the BBC News website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and World Service TV and Radio.


A man has died after suffering severe burns in a fire in Cardiff.

The 40-year-old was seen on fire at the Marl Recreation Ground in Grangetown on Saturday.
He was taken to Swansea's Morriston Hospital but died later that night.
Chf Insp Karl Eenmaa said: "I would like to thank all those who tried to help the man on Saturday because they were met with a horrific situation but acted selflessly and did whatever they could."
Police have confirmed they are not looking for anyone else in relation to the man's death.
Chf Insp Eenmaa added: "We are mindful that those who were there may be extremely disturbed by what they saw and should seek to get support if they need it."


Luis Suarez scored twice as Barcelona moved up to second in La Liga with victory in the derby against Espanyol.

The striker calmly rolled in his first after running clear, before tapping in a second from close range.
Jordi Alba smashed home a third and David Lopez struck for Espanyol before Lionel Messi added a fourth late on.
Barca are now three points behind leaders Real Madrid, who have played one game fewer after being crowned Club World Cup champions earlier on Sunday.
Barcelona forward Messi produced two moments of brilliance in the second half to give Luis Enrique's side a comfortable victory at the Nou Camp.
The Argentine danced past four Espanyol defenders for Suarez's second, with the Uruguayan quickest to react following Espanyol goalkeeper Roberto's fumble.
A minute later, Messi beat the same number of players before laying the ball into the path of Alba to score.
Messi completed his masterclass performance with a well-deserved goal, poking in through the legs of Roberto from Suarez's lobbed pass.
Match ends, Barcelona 4, Espanyol 1.
Second Half ends, Barcelona 4, Espanyol 1.
Corner,  Barcelona. Conceded by David López.
Attempt saved. Neymar (Barcelona) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Lionel Messi.
Goal!  Barcelona 4, Espanyol 1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Luis Suárez with a through ball following a fast break.
Neymar (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Javi López (Espanyol).
Foul by Jordi Alba (Barcelona).
Reyes (Espanyol) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Neymar.
Neymar (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Javi Fuego (Espanyol).
Foul by Jordi Alba (Barcelona).
Gerard Moreno (Espanyol) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Offside, Barcelona. Lionel Messi tries a through ball, but Neymar is caught offside.
Foul by Javier Mascherano (Barcelona).
Papakouly Diop (Espanyol) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Espanyol. Reyes replaces Pablo Piatti.
Goal!  Barcelona 3, Espanyol 1. David López (Espanyol) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Gerard Moreno following a fast break.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Substitution, Barcelona. Samuel Umtiti replaces Sergio Busquets.
Delay in match Jordi Alba (Barcelona) because of an injury.
Delay in match Pablo Piatti (Espanyol) because of an injury.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Substitution, Espanyol. Melendo replaces Felipe Caicedo.
Delay in match Papakouly Diop (Espanyol) because of an injury.
Rafinha (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Papakouly Diop (Espanyol).
Goal!  Barcelona 3, Espanyol 0. Jordi Alba (Barcelona) left footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner.
Goal!  Barcelona 2, Espanyol 0. Luis Suárez (Barcelona) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner.
Attempt saved. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Andrés Iniesta.
Substitution, Barcelona. Rafinha replaces Denis Suárez.
Felipe Caicedo (Espanyol) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Felipe Caicedo (Espanyol).
Foul by Jordi Alba (Barcelona).
Pablo Piatti (Espanyol) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Denis Suárez (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Papakouly Diop (Espanyol).
Foul by Sergio Busquets (Barcelona).


St Johnstone pair Richard Foster and Danny Swanson are suspended for Hearts' visit after being sent off following their spat against Hamilton Accies.

Striker Steven MacLean is available after being rested because of the artificial surface, while captain Steven Anderson is battling to recover from a hamstring injury.
Hearts midfielder Arnaud Djoum is likely to miss out again.
And defender Aaron Hughes faces another 10 days on the sidelines.
Fellow defenders John Souttar and Callum Paterson are long-term absentees, while Saints' Keith Watson, Ally Gilchrist and Chris Kane remain on the sidelines.
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "It was very disappointing on Saturday because of how we lost the game in almost the last minute and we put in an incredible effort with nine men.
"We have moved on from it as best we can. We'll draw a line totally under it.
"We've done extremely well against Hearts this season - we've beaten them twice - but we know it will be a difficult game.
"I thought they were excellent for 25-30 minutes against Celtic and they have a lot of quality in their squad.
"They've had a bit of a bad run at the minute and we're coming off a defeat.
"So we are looking to bounce back and Ian Cathro will be looking for his team to bounce back.
"At home, we have got to make sure we take the game to them."
Hearts head coach Ian Cathro: "It's a very important game.
"The opportunity for this club to be playing in Europe is a very important thing.
"The first step is for us to recover the position in the league, which has probably been the minimum normal for this club historically.
"It was more or less the position the club was in after the first game I had arrived.
"It's important we maintain that and we address that quickly. Where we set our objectives and targets, that can still be a little bit further down the line."


Trees that were blown down during a windstorm that struck the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) have been given new life as furniture.

The furniture was hand-crafted from trees destroyed when Cyclone Andrea struck in January 2012, with winds exceeding 100mph.
RBGE lost 34 trees and hundreds of plants in the storm.
It also caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage to buildings and glasshouses.
Now, nearly five years later, RBGE is to commemorate the dramatic event with a ground-breaking exhibition.
After the Storm, which opens on 3 December and runs until May, will include 14 unique tables, chairs, desks, cabinets and other items made from wood from the lost trees.
Ian Edwards, head of exhibitions and events at RBGE, said: "After the Storm will consider the legacy of the dramatic 'once-in-a-lifetime' event and its effect on the landscape.
"Dozens of trees were blown down in the garden. It was a pretty devastated site, but there is a silver lining to every storm.
"Some of those trees were suitable for making into furniture. Now we have given them a new lease of life.
"We're trying to show the positive effects of storms in encouraging regeneration and building up resilience."
Cyclone Andrea brought with it the strongest winds for a generation.
The storm left trees uprooted as well as damage to the Montane and Wet Tropics Glasshouses and the plants inside.
It took two years to hatch a plan to transform the logs into furniture.
The furniture has been hand-crafted by designer-makers in workshops all over Scotland, from the Borders to the Highlands, on the themes of rejuvenation and regrowth.
Craftsmen were selected with the support of the Scottish Furniture Makers' Association (SFMA) and the Forestry Commission, which has an interest in promoting the sustainable use of Scotland's hardwood timber.
Many of the pieces will be available for sale at the exhibition, as will a range of smaller items made from the wood, such as bowls and clocks.
Mr Edwards added: "The pieces demonstrate the masterly skills of Scotland's best craftsmen and highlight the beauty that can be found in disaster.
"They all reflect the theme in a different way. There is a personal story attached to each one."
The first exhibition of furniture, photographs and drawings will open in the John Hope Gateway, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, on 3 December and will run until 26 May 2017.
The furniture has been photographed standing in the spots where the original trees stood.


A 152-year-old Swansea landmark could be given a new lease of life, with plans to renovate the city's Albert Hall.

It may not boast the heritage of its more illustrious London namesake, but speakers and performers at the Craddock Street hall included Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and David Lloyd George.
Swansea council has received a planning inquiry to convert the upper floors into student accommodation, with retail proposed for the ground floor.
The hall has stood empty since 2007.
The Grade II-listed building was first opened as a music hall in 1864.
Councillor Rob Stewart, leader of Swansea council, said: "Although the Albert Hall is a privately-owned listed building that we don't have responsibility for, we'll do all we can to help the private owners bring the building back into sustainable use.
"This is important because it's an historically significant building right in the heart of the city centre that we'd like to see preserved and protected for years to come."


Ricky Gervais has revealed there will be a big "revelation" in the final episode of his Channel 4 comedy, Derek.

The award winning show returns for a one-off special in December.
Gervais, who also wrote and directed the show, told Newsbeat there'll be a "big confession" from Derek's best friend Kev.
Once he's finished filming the finale, the 53-year-old comic will then concentrate on his next project, the David Brent movie.
Speaking about the final Derek episode the actor said: "It's always been my favourite episode, the finale of The Office, Extras and this is probably my favourite episode of Derek.
"There's a scene where Kev confesses something to Derek, that's quite shocking for him."
Could a hidden romance be on the cards?
"No that's not the confession! That would...no, no, no."
Once filming is complete Gervais will return to one of his most loved roles, that of office manager David Brent.
But this time the wannabe rock star will be starring in his own movie.
"It's half written. You get to see what happened after The Office, his life and what he went through," Gervais said.
The movie will see Brent working as a sales rep, selling cleaning products, and following him as he struggles to attract an audience to a self-financed UK tour.
"He thinks this film is like [Martin] Scorsese following The [Rolling] Stones round, but he soon finds out it's a more of a 'where are they now?' So it's quite sad, funny and tragic."
The multi-award-winning actor has already brought Brent back for a series of videos on YouTube called Learn Guitar With David Brent, which led to him bringing the character back to life for a series of unlikely gigs.
But he doesn't think people are getting tired of the character.
"I think if I went back to doing Brent in The Office, that would be a bit cringey," he said.
"I've purposefully taken it away from that because things move on.
"In the day and age when everyone wants to be famous, it's not out the question that someone out there is still trying to be a rock star and thinks that someone like Simon Cowell will come along and make him in to a star for 15 minutes.
"There's no sure thing. You should never be complacent, you should never be arrogant. However big a comedy icon David Brent is, you've still got to deliver. No one is going to watch a bad movie."
The film is set to shoot next year with no release date yet announced.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


Police are looking for record producer Suge Knight after a man was killed and another injured in Los Angeles.

He's suspected of running the men over after an argument on a film set.
"So far we have not confirmed it was him, driving the truck. So we're not saying Suge Knight was driving the truck at this time," said Lt John Corina, from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"Although we want to talk to him, since the truck supposedly belongs to him."
A lawyer for the Death Row Records founder seemed to confirm Knight had been driving at the time but claimed it was an accident and he was running away from attackers.
"He was in the process of being physically assaulted by two men and in an effort to escape he unfortunately hit two (other) individuals,'' lawyer James Blatt said.
"He was in his car trying to escape.
"We are confident that once the investigation is completed, he will be totally exonerated," Mr Blatt added.
Knight, 49, planned to turn himself in to authorities, he said.
Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt John Corina said: "From the people we've talked to so far, and we still have more witnesses to talk to, so far the people we've talked to say it looked like it was an intentional act.
"So we're handling it as a homicide."
Police say a red pickup truck hit the men while they were in the car park of a fast-food restaurant and then drove away.
A 55-year-old man died at a hospital and a 51-year-old man was injured but Corina did not have any more information about his condition.
The empty truck was found on Thursday night in a West Los Angeles car park.
It's been claimed that Marion "Suge" Knight drove to the fast-food restaurant car park after an argument on the set of a film about rap pioneers NWA.
Witnesses said another argument then occurred before the accident.
Mr Blatt said he had not yet spoken to Knight but that he planned to negotiate to surrender. There is no word yet on when that will happen.
Knight founded Death Row Records with Dr Dre in the 1990s but later declared bankruptcy and the company was auctioned off.
Last August he was shot six times at a nightclub in Los Angeles. No arrests have been made relating to that incident.
In November, he pleaded not guilty to a robbery charge filed after a celebrity photographer accused him of stealing her camera in Beverly Hills.
He could face up to 30 years in prison because of prior convictions.
The music boss has previously been convicted of armed robbery and assault with a gun.
He has also served time for violating probation.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


A Brazilian man who broke out of a prison in the northern city of Manaus has been posting photos of himself on Facebook, bragging of his escape.

In the picture, Brayan Bremer, who is serving a sentence for robbery, can be seen amidst dense vegetation giving the thumbs up.
Behind him is another fugitive who police say has since been captured.
The men are among dozens who escaped on Sunday from two prisons in Manaus.
Bremer was among 72 inmates to escape from Antonio Trindade jail on Sunday in the northern state of Amazonas.
Hours later another 112 prisoners broke out of the nearby Anisio Jobim jail amidst a deadly riot which left 56 people dead.
Bremer was active on Facebook during his time in jail, despite a ban on prisoners using the internet.
But it was his posts after his escape which went viral in Brazil.
The first post shows Bremer in a Bayern Munich football shirt covered in mud alongside a fellow fugitive with the message: "On the run from jail."
Another showed Bremer with four others in a similar jungle location eating fruit.
While Bremer's Facebook account has now been deleted, a number of spoof accounts in his name have since appeared, such as @fugitivodoano (@FugitiveOfTheYear).
They show Bremer and his fellow escapee as the heroes in a variety of films such as prison escape drama The Shawshank Redemption, TV series Prison Break, and The Cold Light of Day, the Portuguese title of which translates as Ruthless Escape.
While Facebook users appeared to be making light of the mass escape, police in Manaus continued their search for the fugitives.
Officials said they had recaptured 40 so far, among them the man who appears in the selfie with Bremer.


Australian police have charged a man accused of punching a baby girl in her pram at a railway station in Sydney.

Police said the 16-month-old baby, who was outside a cafe at Central Railway Station on Thursday morning, suffered a cut to the face.
After the assault, the attacker ran away towards Elizabeth Street with the child's father chasing him, officers said.
A 28-year-old man has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He will appear at Central Local Court on Friday.


A school bus driver who was over the drink-drive limit as he drove pupils in Rhondda Cynon Taff was caught after being spotted with a can of cider as he stopped to buy more alcohol.

Jeffrey Owen, 44, from Maerdy, was stopped by police after a member of the public reported seeing him getting into a coach with a drink in his hand.
He was taking sixth-form pupils from Porth Comprehensive to Treorchy.
Owen was given an eight-week suspended sentence by Pontypridd magistrates.
He was also banned from driving for 16 months and ordered to undertake an alcohol rehabilitation course.
Pontypridd Magistrates Court heard police were called mid-morning by a member of the public who was concerned after seeing Owen drinking from a can of Strongbow, and then going into a shop to buy more alcohol before getting back on the bus and driving onto a busy road towards Porth Comprehensive.
He was stopped in Ton Pentre, where police found him in charge of a group of sixth-form students from Porth en route to Treorchy Comprehensive for lessons.
After smelling alcohol on the driver's breath, a police officer attempted to give a breathalyser test, but Owen replied: "I'm not giving you anything," and swore.
A sample taken found Owen had 118mgs of alcohol per 100ml of urine in his sample. The legal limit is 107mgs per 100ml.
Defending, John Griffiths said: "There have been a number of stresses and losses in Mr Owen's personal life with some bereavements of family members and close friends.
"A combination of these factors have come to the fore and pushed him over the edge on the day."


Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was recently filmed wiping tears from his eyes as he told the story of an Aboriginal mother singing a lullaby to her child.

"The thing that's so sad is to imagine that mother singing that story to her at a time when you were losing culture and the last thing that baby was, was safe," Mr Turnbull told indigenous journalist Stan Grant.
A teary-eyed prime minister makes for easy news copy, and the video quickly spread across websites and social media.
But the story of this lullaby is not as simple as it first seems, and in fact it's one of many clues helping to revitalise a language.
Tyronne Bell and Glen Freeman are from the Ngunawal people, the traditional owners of the land on which Canberra's Parliament House stands.
The cousins, who once helped Mr Turnbull prepare a speech in Ngunawal, were the source of the story, the prime minister's office confirmed.
Mr Bell said Mr Turnbull was referring to an enigmatic figure named Black Maria, a Ngunawal woman who lived in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales in the 1800s.
In 1930, the Moss Vale Post newspaper interviewed a very old woman who remembered listening to Black Maria's singing as a child.
"Black Maria, as she was called by the whites, possessed a very attractive voice and seated on the ground she often entertained the white children with lullabies, beating time with two sticks," the article said.
Four lines, purportedly from Maria's favourite song, were transcribed phonetically into the article. Mr Bell said these lines did not make sense in Ngunawal, as the people who transcribed them did not understand the language.
The story is further complicated by the identity of the woman who recalled Black Maria's lullaby. Mr Turnbull, it appears, made the assumption she was Black Maria's daughter, but this is not mentioned in the newspaper article. It's entirely possible that she was one of the white children who listened to Maria's songs.
What we do know is that Maria's alluring voice still resonates almost two centuries later.
Although the meaning of the original lullaby cannot be discerned, those four lines of inaccurately transcribed text helped inspire Mr Bell's late father to publish a book in the Ngunawal language, based on the legend of Mununja the Butterfly.
It is a love story about a young girl who escaped marriage to the evil Gunga and stayed close to her family and country forever under the protection of a beautiful butterfly, Mununja.
Mr Bell's father envisioned that the book, which included the Black Maria story as source material, could be used in schools to lift awareness of the language.
In the 1800s, Aboriginal people displaced by increasing British colonisation were moved to missions. They were often forbidden from speaking their mother tongue or following cultural traditions, meaning many cultures were lost forever.
But now, even elders are learning their language "from scratch". Mr Bell, Mr Freeman and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (ATSIS) launched a pilot project to teach Ngunawal two years ago.
Mr Bell and Mr Freeman started their project after a list of 30 words in Ngunawal was found two years ago. Since news of the project travelled to others in the Ngunawal community, they have collected more than 300 words.
There is increasing awareness of the importance of protecting indigenous languages. When he made his address to parliament in Ngunawal, Mr Turnbull announced A$20m ($14.8m; Â£10.5m) in funding for language preservation programmes.
Dr Marcus Woolombi Waters, a sociology lecturer at Griffith University, is of the Kamilaroi people. He says embracing indigenous languages is not only vital for Aboriginal identity and belonging, but can help create much-needed understanding for non-Indigenous Australians.
"That's not just healing Aboriginal people, that's letting Australians become inclusive in thousands of years of connections themselves," Dr Waters said.


Toulon want to renew Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny's contract before he goes on tour with the British and Irish Lions next week, says the French club.

Halfpenny, 28, joined Toulon in 2014 from Cardiff Blues and his current deal runs out this summer.
The Top 14 side's owner, Mourad Boudjellal, wants to have the contract sorted "by the end of this week".
Toulon have made an offer reported to be worth £750,000 per year for the club's top points-scorer.
His former Welsh region, in conjunction with the Welsh Rugby Union had offered Halfpenny a national dual contract (NDC), but Blues chief executive Richard Holland admitted in March that it was "unlikely" the player would agree a return.
Halfpenny again proved his worth as Toulon reached the French Top 14 semi-finals, scoring a crucial late try in a personal haul of 21 points as they saw off Castres 26-22 last Friday.
Toulon will face La Rochelle in Marseille on Friday, 26 May for a place in the final, which will be Halfpenny's last game of the season for the club.
The Top 14 final is not until 4 June and Lions coach Warren Gatland has confirmed that Halfpenny will join up with the Lions squad immediately after the semi-final for the tour to New Zealand.


European Championship silver medallist and 2012 Olympian Roberto Pavoni has retired from swimming.

He came second in the 400m individual medley in the 2014 European Championships in Berlin, also taking bronze in the 200m individual medley.
Pavoni also reached three Commonwealth Games finals in 2014, and represented Great Britain at the London Olympics.
The 25-year-old will now move into coaching, where he has "the same passion as I had for my own career".
He added: "I would like to say a special thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all those who have been involved in helping me to achieve more than I had ever imagined possible."


Prince Charles has started his annual summer tour of Wales with visits to three family businesses.

Every summer the prince and the Duchess of Cornwall spend a week at Llwynywermod, their farmhouse home in Carmarthenshire, and make a series of visits around Wales.
The theme this year is "celebrating Wales, past, present and future".
He began in south west Wales, touring a food firm using traditional techniques, a woollen mill and a cheese factory.
The prince was shown how staff at Cnwd Food Company at Cross Hands prepare and smoke sewin, which are caught locally from coracles using traditional methods.
The company makes products sourced from ingredients found in Carmarthenshire.
Next, the prince moved on to Melin Tregwynt woollen mill near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, in his role as patron of the Campaign for Wool, where he also met staff.
The heritage site has been adapted for modern use and employs 30 people in textile production.
He also attended an event celebrating the growth of the rural heritage and textiles industries in Wales, organised by Creative Skillset Cymru.
He rounded off day one with a tour of the Caws Cenarth cheese factory at Lancych, Carmarthenshire, which he last visited in 1998.
Highlights of the week include the royal couple commemorating Wales' coal mining heritage with a visit to the Welsh national mining memorial at the scene of Britain's worst pit disaster.
They will lay a wreath on Thursday at the memorial in Senghenydd near Caerphilly where an explosion killed 439 miners and a rescuer at Universal Colliery in 1913.
The memorial was unveiled last year on the site of the colliery, exactly 100 years on from the disaster.
Monday, 30 June
Tuesday, 1 July
Thursday, 3 July
Friday, 4 July


A new world record for the longest football match has been set at St Mary's, the home of Southampton FC, after a 102 hour-long charity game.

The 36 players, from the Testlands Support Project, a Southampton charity, played on until 00:30 BST on Friday to break the previous record, of 101 hours.
The players took turns to take breaks to eat, get physiotherapy and sleep.
They began the 11-a-side match at 18:30 on Sunday, scoring over 1,600 goals.
The Reds went on to beat the Whites 910-725.
Organiser Luke Newman, who was also one of the 36 who took part, said: "The last time I slept was the night before last night and that was probably about an hour.
"Monday night was so bad - I think it must have rained from about eight or nine o'clock in the evening, through to about 11 o'clock in the morning - it was just solid rain.
"We had to play for a 12-hour stint so we couldn't change our clothes.
"The tents all got absolutely soaking wet. The clothes inside and the sleeping bags were just drenched."
After reading about their plight on Facebook, supporters arrived with dry sleeping bags and supplies.
Each squad was allowed 18 players, but if the number on the pitch at any one time fell below eight, their successful attempt to set the new official world record would have failed.
Sports massage therapist Julie Monteiro said: "The ground is quite hard so they've been having a lot of knee issues from the impact of the ground. Monday was the worst day."
Player and event manager Ryan Ship said: "It's been one of those challenges where you just think, you're only going to do it once, so you've got to just live it."
The match was organised to raise money for Testlands Support Project's summer activities for the city's underprivileged children.
It is believed the event has raised funds in the region of Â£20-25,000.


Footballer Ched Evans has been jailed for five years for raping a 19-year-old woman, while another player, Clayton McDonald, has been cleared.

Wales and Sheffield United striker Evans, 23, was convicted by a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court.
Both he and Port Vale defender Mr McDonald, also 23, had denied rape at a Premier Inn near Rhyl, Denbighshire.
The men admitted having sex with the woman on 30 May 2011, but said it was consensual.
Court proceedings were disrupted after Mr McDonald was acquitted, prompting a brief adjournment.
Mr McDonald, of Crewe, Cheshire, looked elated when his not guilty verdict was delivered, and family and friends shouted: "Yes, yes".
One man left the public gallery and could be heard screaming outside the court.
Judge Merfyn Hughes QC rose and the public gallery was cleared.
Mr McDonald remained in the dock with Evans, 23, of Penistone, South Yorkshire, who held his head in his hands and cried.
Mr McDonald hugged Evans and the two footballers banged heads together.
When the judge returned to the court, the jury foreman gave the guilty verdict against Evans.
The Sheffield United centre forward threw the headphones he was using to follow the trial on the floor and then looked shocked.
In sentencing him to five years in prison the judge said: "The complainant was 19 years of age and was extremely intoxicated.
"CCTV footage shows, in my view, the extent of her intoxication when she stumbled into your friend.
"As the jury have found, she was in no condition to have sexual intercourse.
"When you arrived at the hotel, you must have realised that."
He told Evans that he might have been used to receiving attention from women in the past due to his success as a footballer, but this case was "very different".
The judge said the sentence took into account that there had been no force involved and the complainant received no injuries.
He also said the complainant was not "targeted" and the attack had not been "premeditated".
"You have thrown away the successful career in which you were involved," he told Evans before sending him down.
During the trial, the jury saw video interviews in which the woman, now 20, said she could not remember what happened and feared her drinks were spiked.
She could not remember travelling to the hotel, but woke up in a double bed.
"My clothes were scattered around on the floor," she said.
"I just didn't know how I got there, if I had gone there with anyone. I was confused and dazed."
The court heard that Evans, whose mother lives in Rhyl, had invited Mr McDonald and others for a bank holiday night out in the seaside town on 29 May.
Because there was not enough space at Evans' mother's house, he booked Mr McDonald in to the hotel.
The court heard that Mr McDonald met the woman and took her back to the hotel room, sending a text to Evans stating he had "got a bird".
During Evans' evidence, he told the jury he had gone to the hotel, let himself in to Mr McDonald's room and watched his friend and the woman having sex.
It was claimed Mr McDonald asked if his friend could "get involved", to which the woman said yes.
The prosecution claimed that while the attack happened, Jack Higgins, an "associate" of the footballers, and Ryan Roberts, Evans' brother, watched through a window.
The court heard the defendants had known each other since they were aged 10 and shared accommodation when they played for Manchester City's youth academy.
Evans, a striker, has scored 35 goals for League One club Sheffield United this season and has 13 caps for Wales.


Fifteen people had to evacuate their homes after a fire broke out at high-rise flats in Glasgow.

Emergency crews were called to the 24-storey Cheviot Court building in Knightswood at about 05:50.
One man was treated for concussion at the scene but did not require hospital treatment.


Mining giant Rio Tinto is investing $200m (Â£150m) in an expansion of iron ore operations in Western Australia - less than two weeks after a row over a proposed mining tax was settled.

Rio said the money would be used for works at its Cape Lambert port to boost output in the Pilbara region.
It had threatened to trim investment if a 40% mining tax was imposed.
But after Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as Australian prime minister, a fresh deal was thrashed out.
The announcement came as Rio reported a 2% fall in iron ore production between April and June, compared with a year earlier.
The firm also expressed concern about the impact on its business of a possible double-dip recession in many developed nations and a slowdown in Chinese growth.
The compromise tax agreement has reduced the rate to 30% for coal and iron ore miners from 40%.
Several of the mining giants had threatened to halt or cancel projects because of Mr Rudd's proposal, which they said seriously risked Australia's international competitiveness.
The deal was struck just a week after Ms Gillard had swept to office and the mining tax had become highly political.
When Mr Rudd announced the tax plans earlier this year, he said he expected to raise 9bn Australian dollars (Â£5.2bn) a year.
The revised plan would raise A$1.5bn less, the government said, but cuts to company tax rates that were to be paid for by the mining tax would still go ahead.


A man has been stabbed through an open window by a pair of attackers on a scooter who then broke into the house to continue the assault, police said.

The 26-year-old was stabbed through a ground floor window on Astbury Chase, Darwen at about 22:35 BST on Wednesday.
He fled upstairs with a hand injury, but the two men broke in and left him with further wounds to his head, back, shoulder, torso and chest.
He was left "extremely shaken", said Lancashire Police, and is in hospital.
Det Con Rachel Norris said it was "crucial we find the individuals responsible for the attack".
"We believe someone must know something and we would urge anyone with information, no matter how insignificant, to contact us," she added.


Hundreds of UK troops are to be sent to Poland and Estonia as part of the Nato response to concerns over Russia.

A 500-strong battalion will be deployed to Estonia and 150 troops will go to Poland to "reassure" these countries, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
It is part of a Nato commitment made after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 to have four new battalions on its eastern flank.
Mr Fallon said it aims to "deter Russia from any further aggression".
Eastern Nato countries "feel enormous pressure from Russia doing large exercises on the border, flying over their airspace and so on," said the defence secretary.
"This [the deployment] is something Nato's been planning for a while, that countries like Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have made clear that they want."
Four multi-national battalions will be deployed to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - led by the UK, the US, Germany and Canada - and these are due to be in place in early 2017.
A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said UK troops have previously been deployed in the Baltic states for military training exercises, but this is the first time they will be based there permanently.
UK armed forces are already deployed in more than 80 countries across the world in a range of roles, including 450 soldiers in Afghanistan and more than 275 military training personnel in Iraq.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who is at a Nato summit in Warsaw, said: "This summit is a chance for us to reiterate our strong support for Ukraine and our other eastern allies to deter Russian aggression.
"Actions speak louder than words and the UK is proud to be taking the lead role, deploying troops across Eastern Europe.
"It is yet another example of the UK leading in Nato."
Writing in the Financial Times, US President Barack Obama said: "Russia's aggression against Ukraine threatens our vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace...
"We need to bolster the defence of our allies in central and eastern Europe
Mr Obama said he expects the UK to remain a major contributor to European security and that it will be able to agree an "orderly transition" with the EU, following the Brexit vote.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia's use of force against Ukraine "has really changed our security environment. Nato has to respond".
Russia has held large military exercises near Ukraine's borders since the Crimea annexation in March 2014 and the uprising by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Nato has also complained of aggressive behaviour by Russian warplanes in the Baltic region.
Russia, meanwhile, objects to Nato operating close to its borders, seeing the alliance as an aggressor.
Mr Fallon said Russia President Vladimir Putin was "trying to change international borders by force".
"I think he is flexing his muscles," he said.
"He wants Russia to be treated as the world power it used to be and that's why an alliance like Nato is very, very important, that we stand together."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would be watching the Nato summit "very closely".
"Nato soldiers are by our borders and Nato planes are there, we're not the ones getting closer to Nato's borders," he said.
The BBC's defence and diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus said tensions between Nato and Moscow were "growing again".
"The aim at this summit is to try to convince the Russians that Nato means business; that after years of being more focussed on 'out of area' operations - Afghanistan and so on - Nato nations are now serious about their collective defence," he said.
"That means money and presence."
The UK is also to take over the leadership of Nato's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2017, which will see 3,000 troops based in the UK and Germany join a 5,000-strong unit ready to move with as little as five days' notice.
It will involve the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade, an armoured infantry battle group from the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment and a light infantry battle group from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.
The prime minister is also to announce that Britain is to extend the deployment of four RAF Typhoon fighters with the Baltic Air Policing Mission.
And Mr Cameron, who is to stand down in September following the UK vote to leave the EU, will use his final Nato summit to underline the government's continuing commitment to meet the alliance's target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.
Formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-war communist expansion as the Soviet Union sought to extend its influence in Europe, Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation - is the world's most powerful regional defence alliance and has a membership of 28 countries.


Britain's Chris Froome retained the leader's yellow jersey as Colombian Rigoberto Uran won an action-packed stage nine of the Tour de France.

Frenchman Warren Barguil cried tears of joy after thinking he had won but a photo finish showed Uran nicked it.
Geraint Thomas, one of Froome's key helpers, crashed out of the race, breaking a collarbone.
Race contender Richie Porte also crashed on a descent and suffered a fractured collarbone and pelvis.
The Australian's fractures were non-displaced, would not require surgery and would normally require four to six weeks' recovery, said his BMC Racing team in a statement.
"His condition was stable from the beginning, he was responsive, and he remembered everything that happened before and after the crash," said team doctor Max Testa.
Sunday's stage comprised seven climbs - three of them in the hors categorie denoting the most difficult type in the race.
Sections of the 8.5km climb up the Grand Colombier were at 22%, while the descent down Mont du Chat where Porte crashed was regarded as extremely treacherous.
No wonder many had predicted that the 181.5km stage from Nantua to Chambery would be the toughest stage of this year's Tour - and it certainly claimed its share of victims.
The stage wasn't all that old before Dutchman Robert Gesink - who finished second on Saturday - and UAE Emirates rider Manuele Mori abandoned after crashing.
Thomas - who wore yellow for the first time in the Tour after winning the opening time trial in Dusseldorf - crashed on the descent of the Col de la Bliche after a surprising but effective attack off the front from the AG2R La Mondiale squad of general classification rider Romain Bardet threatened to blow the race wide open.
Word had come through that Thomas had broken his collarbone by the time the race had reached the treacherous down slopes of Mont du Chat.
Porte was travelling at 72km/h when he got his line wrong and skidded across the inside of a left-hand bend before bouncing into the path of Dan Martin and bringing down the Irish rider.
While Porte lay on the ground receiving medical attention, Martin remounted and carried on with the descent.
And while 193 riders started the stage, there will be just 181 at the start of stage 10 after eight missed the time cut, finishing the stage almost an hour after Uran.
They included French national champion and stage four winner Arnaud Demare, who has been struggling with illness, Dimension Data's Mark Renshaw and Quick-Step Floors rider Matteo Trentin, who was caught up in the crash that ended Thomas' race.
It wasn't a perfect day for Froome, who lost his key lieutenant in Thomas, but he fended off the few attacks launched against him and eventually extended his overall race lead to 18 seconds.
A large group broke away from the off and the scattered remains held off until their resistance was finally broken on the final climb and subsequent descent of the stage.
Froome was in a group of five that eventually caught Warren Barguil with 2km to go and they powered to the line, with Colombian Uran claiming the narrowest of wins, despite his gears malfunctioning.
But Froome collected four bonus seconds for finishing third and took time out of his major rivals, including Nairo Quintana, while two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador, who struggled badly towards the end, now trails by more than five minutes.
Froome's most alarming moment came when Italian Fabio Aru, who is now second overall, launched an attack on the climb up Mont du Chat.
The race leader could be seen furiously signalling for his team car while Aru - and several of the other general classification contenders - shot up the road.
But it is regarded as poor form to capitalise on a mechanical failure and the others refused to help Aru, with Froome soon rejoining them.
"I want to thank the other riders, who did not attack," said Froome.
"Richie Porte was quite instrumental in slowing that group down, saying this is not the time to attack the leader of the race, so thanks to Richie and I hope he makes a speedy recovery."
Aru denied trying to take advantage of Froome's mechanical problems.
"Today, we planned to attack, we had to do it far from the top of the final climb. Thus, I found a good moment on the Mont du Chat and attacked," said the 27-year-old.
"Honestly, I did not see the moment when Froome had a mechanical problem. I was fully concentrated on my attacking moment.
"Later, I was told by radio that Froome had to stop because of a mechanical. So, I stopped as well to wait for him."
Shortly after Aru's attack, Froome had a slight collision with the Astana rider, but the Briton said it was simply a balance problem, rather than retribution.
"I didn't see him attack there, I just lost the handlebars," he said.
After nine stages that have taken the riders through four countries, over countless lumps and bumps and across 1,596.5km, the riders get a day off on Monday.
The Tour transfers from the Jura mountains in south-east France to the Dordogne in the west before resuming on Tuesday with a largely flat 178km race from Perigueux to Bergerac. It should be ideal for the sprinters.
This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser
Stage nine result:
1. Rigoberto Uran (Col/Cannondale) 5hrs 07mins 22secs
2. Warren Barguil (Fra/Sunweb) Same Time
3. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky)
4. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R)
5. Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana)
6. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana)
7. George Bennett (NZ/LottoNL) +1min 15secs
8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Team Sky) Same Time
9. Daniel Martin (Ire/Quick-Step)
10. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar)
Selected:
11. Simon Yates (GB/Orica)
General classification after stage nine:
1.  Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky)      38hrs 26mins 28secs
2.  Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana)             +18secs
3.  Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R)          +51secs
4.  Rigoberto Uran (Col/Cannondale) +55secs
5.  Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana)      +1min 37secs
6.  Daniel Martin (Ire/Quick-Step)   +1min 44secs
7.  Simon Yates (GB/Orica)          +2mins 02secs
8.  Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar)   +2mins 13secs
9.  Mikel Landa (Spa/Team Sky)         +3mins 06secs
10. George Bennett (NZ/LottoNL) +3mins 53secs


Opponents of an overhead cables scheme across parts of rural Denbighshire and Conwy have won the right to a judicial review.

In July, UK Energy Secretary Greg Clark approved SP Manweb's proposal for 17km (10.5 miles) of power lines linking Clocaenog wind farm to a substation at Glascoed.
This followed a public inquiry into the plans last year.
SP Manweb said the decision to have a review does not change their programme.
The High Court hearing will take place in Llangefni in April.
The Pylon the Pressure group are campaigning for the cables, which will carry supplies from four windfarms in the Clocaenog and Brenig areas, to be laid underground.
The group's chairman, Dyfrig Hughes, said the scheme will "blight one of the most beautiful and historic landscapes of north Wales".
He added: "Unfortunately for us, the UK government agreed with them [SP Manweb] and granted permission despite underground cabling costing no more than overhead lines over the lifetime of the connection."
During the inquiry, then UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey said the additional Â£16m cost to lay the cables underground would be disproportionate.
Campaigners also had concerns the pylons would spoil a 16th-Century farmhouse near Llannefydd.
But the examination authority has said the visual impact on the building over the power lines' 30-year lifetime would be minimal.
A spokesperson for SP Energy Networks said: "We are aware of the judicial review, and we will monitor developments and continue to work closely with our clients.
"This decision does not impact on our programme, and work to develop our plans will continue.
"The decision to approve our proposals to connect two new wind farms in north Wales followed four years of detailed planning and consultation."