Lecturers at colleges in Glasgow will not take part in two planned national strikes next week.

Article: Soldier Bradley Manning has been held for three weeks without formal charge.
The US is investigating claims that he passed confidential information to Wikileaks.
Site editor Julian Assange told BBC News that, so far, the US authorities have not yet been in touch with him.
He said that lawyers representing Wikileaks have been in touch with the US administration but that neither the Department of State nor the Department of Defense had made any attempt to approach the site.
In spite of the silence from the US, Mr Assange said he felt it was "important to have a channel open in these matters".
No conversations could take place which might reveal the identity of any source, he added.
Mr Manning was identified as an alleged Wikileaks source after former hacker Adrian Lamo, in whom he had confided, contacted the authorities.
During a series of conversations conducted online, Mr Lamo claims that Mr Manning revealed he had passed 260,000 US diplomatic cables and two confidential military videos to Wikileaks.
US state department spokesperson PJ Crowley has said that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security was examining one or more hard drives used by Mr Manning in Iraq.
Wikileaks said it did not know whether Mr Manning, who had served in Iraq as an army intelligence analyst, was the source of the leak as the website does not keep personal records of the people who approach it.
One of the videos he allegedly leaked was released by Wikileaks in April.
It contained footage from a 2007 attack by US forces in Baghdad in which 12 people died including two Reuters employees.
In the immediate aftermath of Mr Manning's exposure as the alleged source, reports appeared online claiming that the Pentagon was actively seeking Julian Assange.
On Monday he appeared as a panelist at a seminar on free speech held in the European Parliament and organised by the Alliance of Liberals And Democrats for Europe.
At a press conference ahead of the seminar Mr Assange spoke about the risk of action against Wikileaks by the US.
"The signals from the...

Summary: Whistleblower website Wikileaks has made contact with the US government over claims that an American serviceman is one of its sources.
###
Article: Production from all Dunlin cluster fields will shut down in mid-June ahead of the decommissioning process.
Dunlin Alpha will remain "fully manned and operational", exporting third-party oil into the Brent system pipeline in the meantime.
Fairfield cited the depressed oil price and "challenging operational conditions" as reasons for the move.
The decommissioning process, which requires regulatory approvals, is expected to cost about Â£400m.
The Dunlin field started production in August 1978, with production peaking at about 120,000 barrels per day in 1979.
The oil field is situated 300 miles north-east of Aberdeen in the East Shetland basin, just a few miles from the Norway boundary line.
It was originally operated by Shell but Fairfield acquired the Dunlin, Dunlin SW, Merlin and Osprey fields in 2008.
Earlier this year, Royal Dutch Shell began consulting on its plan to remove the first of the iconic Brent platforms in what will be the biggest North Sea decommissioning project to date.
Like the Dunfield field, it was originally projected to last 25 years but produced oil for 37.
The decommissioning of oil and gas installations in the UK sector of the North Sea could cost Â£40bn over the next 35 years.
According to industry body Oil and Gas UK, there are 113 oil platforms and 189 gas platforms in the UK Continental Shelf.
Fairfield said its subsidiaries Fairfield Betula and Fairfield Fagus, along with joint venture partner MCX Dunlin, would launch the Dunlin decommissioning programme, subject to regulatory approvals.
The phased process is expected to take a number of years, with "high offshore activity levels maintained throughout".
Fairfield chief executive David Peattie said: "The Dunlin asset has now achieved maximum economic recovery.
"Taking into account the asset's lifecycle, the depressed oil price and challenging operational conditions in the North Sea, starting the decommissioning process is the most appropriate action.
"Our investment programme has prolonged the life of Dunlin leading to a notable...

Summary: Fairfield Energy has announced plans to decommission its Dunlin Alpha platform in the North Sea.
###
Article: He will give evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee, which is investigating doping in the sport.
Before the hearing, committee member Damian Collins MP said: "There needs to be more humility from the IAAF."
Russia was banned from international events after an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report alleged "state-sponsored doping".
Collins said that Coe "needs to recognise that there have clearly been problems with the way doping issues have been dealt with in the past".
The Conservative MP said he wanted to hear whether Coe will "set up an independent body to manage doping as cycling has done".
Coe ended an ambassadorial paid role with US sportswear giant Nike last week after conflict of interest claims.
It follows the awarding of the 2021 World Athletics Championships to Eugene, Oregon - which has close connections to Nike - without a bidding process.
On Monday three Kenya Athletics officials, including president Isaiah Kiplagat, were provisionally suspended by the ethics commission of the IAAF, which is looking into allegations of "subversion" of the anti-doping process in Kenya and "improper diversion" of funds received from Nike.
Coe was elected International Association of Athletics Federations president in August, succeeding Lamine Diack who is being investigated by French police over allegations he took bribes to cover up positive drugs tests when in charge of the sport's governing body.
Media playback is not supported on this device
The IAAF president will be questioned about the organisation's response to doping allegations, including Lord Coe's claim that a Sunday Times investigation into suspicious blood results amounted to "a declaration of war on my sport".
Coe's delay in ending a 38-year association with Nike is almost certain to be discussed, while Collins says "there are still questions to answer about the awarding of the Eugene 2021 World Championships".
A BBC investigation on 24 November revealed emails suggesting that when Coe was vice-president of the IAAF,...

Summary: IAAF president Lord Coe is to be questioned by MPs on Wednesday about blood doping in athletics.
###
Article: Prof Venki Ramakrishnan said the science of genetic modification had been misunderstood by the public and it was time to set the record straight.
He said it was inappropriate to ban an "entire technology" and products should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
But opponents say GM crop technology is untested and the ban should remain.
Prof Ramakrishnan said that the blanket ban on GM crops by European countries was misconceived.
His comments coincide with a guide published by the Royal Society, which describes itself as the UK's independent scientific academy, for the general public.
"GM is simply a technology for introducing a particular set of traits into a plant. And you have to decide on a case-by-case basis which of those traits are appropriate or not," he told BBC News.
"You should regulate each product, which should be properly tested for its health and environmental effects."
GM foods are not on sale in supermarkets and nor are they commercially grown in Europe for human consumption.
The Royal Society guide sets out to answer 18 key questions that it obtained from focus groups. These include:
The answers have been produced by an expert group of researchers who have drawn on evidence from scientific studies. The answers acknowledge areas of uncertainty and some of the technology's drawbacks.
The guide's stated intent is to provide clear, unbiased information on the science of GM crops.
It states that GM crops are safe to eat, though it acknowledges that they can cross breed with non-GM varieties and there might be unexpected and untoward side-effects.
Prof Ramakrishnan acknowledged there were some "legitimate worries".
One he said was the fear that a small number of multinational corporations would monopolise food production.
This could in turn lead to the loss of thousands of varieties of fruits, vegetables and cereals unless the technology was properly regulated.
"We should not conflate the issue of GM's reputation with its potential," he said.
"I hope the whole thing gets put on a more rational...

Summary: The ban on GM crops by European countries should be reassessed, the president of UK science body the Royal Society says.
###
Article: It follows a decision by the city's three further education colleges to join a national pay bargaining system.
Members of the EIS union at other colleges across Scotland are due to strike on Tuesday and Wednesday in a separate dispute over pay.
The Glasgow lecturers may now be balloted to decide if they join future action in the wider pay dispute.
The Glasgow lecturers had joined a one-day strike on Thursday, prior to the local pay bargaining dispute being settled.
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said a "U-turn" by the Glasgow colleges marked a "significant early victory in the campaign for fair pay in all Scottish colleges".
He said: "The Glasgow colleges had refused to sign up to the national bargaining process, in the mistaken belief that this would remove them from their obligations on a fair pay offer.
"The strike action by our members has forced a quick change of mind on the part of the Glasgow colleges, and the EIS welcomes this development today."
Mr Flanagan added, "While these Glasgow disputes are now settled the national action in pursuit of a fair national pay offer and pay equality in all colleges will continue.
"Two days of strike action in this campaign are planned for next week, and these will take place in all colleges where lecturers have been balloted as part of the national dispute.
"Lecturers in the three Glasgow colleges, who are not currently part of the national action, will now be re-balloted as soon as possible to allow them to join their colleagues across Scotland in future strike days as part of the national campaign for fair pay."

Summary:


British courts to hear US-style class actions.
The new law will allow British courts to hear US-style class actions.
The new law will allow British courts to hear US-style class actions.
The new law will allow British courts to hear US-style class actions.

The carriage which carried Sir Winston Churchill's coffin to his final resting place has been restored.

Article: Carl Habrel loves his commute to work.
The 48-year-old paddle boards from his home in Banavie to his work in Fort William.
The operations manager for the School of Adventure Studies at West Highland College UHI takes less than an hour to make the journey on Loch Linnhe.
He says: "I have been a paddle boarder for about two years and try to board into work about twice or three times a week if conditions allow.
"Most days it takes about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the wind and tide.
"I enjoy the peace and tranquillity of connecting with nature before heading to my desk for the day.
"And the wind down after work when heading back home again. It also adds a fitness dimension to the day."
But the outdoor pursuits professional says he is mindful of being safe on the water.
"I take spare clothes and sometimes wear a wetsuit when the water is cold in the winter and spring," he says.
"I also take a waterproof mobile and a VHF. The safety precautions are in the knowledge beforehand of the weather, tides and particularly the wind strength and direction."
He adds: "I tend to board in very calm conditions near to the shoreline where I am very unlikely to fall in."

Summary: All images are copyrighted.
###
Article: The body was found at a property on Carlton Road, Bordesley Green, at about 23.30 BST on Friday.
The man is yet to be formally identified but police said he was believed to be a 34-year-old from the Yardley area, reported missing on Thursday.
They said they believed the 11 people arrested were known to the man.
They are: Five men aged 45, 33, 28, 24 and 23, four women aged 50, 41, 25 and 19 and two boys, both aged 15.
A post-mortem examination is yet to take place.
West Midlands Police called on anyone who saw the man's car - a white Toyota Yaris registration FM64 PHU - in and around Carlton Road in the last two days to come forward.
The car was found about a mile away in Adderley Road on Friday.
Det Insp Warren Hines said: "We are currently treating his death as suspicious and we took swift action to arrest 11 people at the scene - who we believe were known to the man - on suspicion of his murder."

Summary: Eleven people have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a man found dead in a Birmingham shed.
###
Article: Lara, 29, originally from Northern Ireland, made a 3ft (91cm) sponge replica of Prince George that won gold in the Cake International competition.
"Prince George is one of the most famous children and I wanted to do my nod to the Royal Family," she told BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster.
If the royal parents would like him, she would be happy to oblige, she said.
"If they come on the blower and ask me for him, I'll ship him down there."
George, dressed in his red shorts and white shirt - the outfit he wore for his baby sister's christening - took about 30 hours to create.
He took gold at the competition at Birmingham's NEC arena at the weekend.
"I started to plan the cake a month ago, but I got married two weeks ago," said Lara, who now lives in Walsall, England.
"I spent about two hours a night after work on him."
He needed a strong structure, she explained.
"If we, as humans, did not have a skeleton,  we would be a big bowl of jelly on the floor. It is the same with my cakes. I start from the inside out. I make a structure, stack the cake up, it is quite a challenge.
"The internal structure is metal rods and wood and it is all covered in cling film. After that, it is cake, icing, butter cream, chocolate. Anything your heart desires - Willy Wonka on a plate."
In theory, you could eat George, but Lara is not so sure.
"If I cut into him, does that mean it is treason? I'm having a nightmare here. So I'm going to pop him in the window at my house and maybe put a Christmas hat on him and turn him into a decoration."
Cake baking is a part-time hobby for Lara, who works in customer relations.
But it is also a passion. She has previously won gold in the same competition with a 6ft high cake of actress Jennifer Lawrence, and her initial creation was actor Johnny Depp.
"He was my first big cake," she said, and that made parting a sweet sorrow.
"I put him in my mother in law's garage for a good three months. Eventually she just said; 'Right Lara I've had enough. I'm putting him in the bin.'
" You should have seen their...

Summary: Amateur baker Lara Mason has licked the competition with a life-size cake fit for a future king.
###
Article: The Consumer Rights Act 2015 will make it far easier for groups of consumers to seek compensation from firms that have fixed prices and formed cartels.
It introduces "opt out" actions where everyone affected is automatically a member of the "class" which is suing.
Consumer groups say it is a huge step forward in helping secure compensation.
Previously, when groups of consumers or small and medium-sized businesses wanted to take action against companies who fixed the price of goods or services, on - for example - replica football shirts or air fares, it was very difficult.
All of those affected had ether had to "opt in" to the action or bring a claim in their own name.  As individual losses were small and legal costs and risks high, few did.
Such were the problems with opt-in actions that there has only been one of note. This was when consumer body Which? sued JJB Sports which had taken part in fixing the prices of some replica football shirts.
The action was settled and consumers who joined it who had paid up to Â£39.99 for certain England and Manchester United football shirts, during specific periods in 2000 or 2001, received a payment of Â£20 each.
JJB Sports also agreed to compensate those who bought one of the shirts but did not join the claim.
They were entitled to Â£10 if they presented either proof of purchase or the shirt itself, with its label intact, at a JJB Sports store.
It was all a bit messy and many who bought the shirts did not join the claim and so did not get any money back.
Under the new law, everyone who purchased the overpriced goods can be automatically "in" the claim unless they opt out.
It means there will be strength in numbers and consumers could get their money back without lifting a finger.
"The new collective redress rules will give consumers more power against unscrupulous businesses that have been found guilty of anti-competitive practices," said Which? executive director Richard Lloyd.
"Now everyone who has been affected will be automatically included so more people should get...

Summary: A newly introduced law allows British courts to hear US-style class actions - where one or several people sue on behalf of a much larger group.
###
Article: Southern Railway luggage van No 2464 has spent four months being stripped and repainted at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum in Shildon.
The carriage transported Churchill's coffin from London to Oxfordshire in 1965.
Manager Gary Campbell, said the restoration was something a lot of people in the town were "proud of".
The newly restored carriage, which cost about Â£30,000, will now move to the National Railway Museum in York.
It will be joined by the locomotive which pulled it as part of an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the former Prime Minister's state funeral.
After the funeral in London, his coffin was loaded into the carriage which was then drawn by Battle of Britain locomotive Winston Churchill to Oxfordshire.
Thousands gathered along the route to pay their respects.
Churchill was laid to rest in the parish churchyard of Bladon, close to Blenheim Palace, where he was born 89 years earlier.
The carriage was built in 1931 and was used during World War Two on evacuation trains before being put into Pullman colours in the 1960s.
It was moved to Los Angeles in 1966 but returned to the UK in 2007 where it entered the Swanage Railway Collection.

Summary:

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Female Islamic clerics in Indonesia have issued an unprecedented fatwa against child marriage.

Article: In November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stunned the country by announcing that 500 ($7.47; Â£5.96) and 1,000 rupee notes were as good as garbage.
Despite his insistence that the ban was meant to curb black money and put terrorists out of business, many analysts said it was motivated by politics rather than economics, and done with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh - or UP - elections.
Since the rise of the regional Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the late 1990s, India's national parties - the Congress and Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - have been often relegated to third and fourth positions in the state.
This time around, the Congress has joined the governing SP as a junior partner in an alliance, and the BJP is making an all out effort to win back the state.
In the past few days, I've travelled through several districts in the state to ask people if the currency ban - called demonetisation by Indian authorities and economists, and simply "notebandi" (Hindi for stopping of notes) here - is an election issue.
The Indian election no-one can afford to lose
The "notebandi" has without doubt touched every life, in the big cities, smaller towns, and tiny villages, and everyone talks about the problems they've faced.
But will it impact the way people vote?
In the main market in Barabanki town, not far from the state capital, Lucknow, the trading community is seething at the "BJP's betrayal".
Traders have traditionally supported the BJP, and in the past they have also contributed generously to party funds. But this time, they tell me they will not vote for the party.
"Notebandi is the biggest issue here," says Santosh Kumar Gupta, who along with his brothers runs the family hardware store.
"The public has been really hassled. The government set limits on withdrawals and even those little amounts were unavailable because banks had no money."
Mr Gupta points out that in his address to the nation, the prime minister said the government had been planning for it for six months and...

Summary: As the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh holds a seven-phased election to choose a new government, the BBC's Geeta Pandey travels through the politically key state to see if the recent currency ban is an issue with the voters.
###
Article: The technology allows a convoy of lorries to travel just a few feet from each other, with just the driver at the front in control.
The initiative would cut fuel consumption, backers said.
However, the plan has been criticised by motoring groups which said such a fleet would be "intimidating" to other road users.
The Sunday Times reported that UK ministers had visited Sweden to see the technology in action, and that tests would be carried out next year.
However in a statement, the Department for Transport said: "No decision has been reached on a trial using this new technology.
"However, road safety remains of paramount importance and will not be compromised."
The technology still requires a driver to be in each vehicle in the event of an emergency, but for the most part drivers will be able to relax - the proposal suggested reading a book or having lunch.
The convoy will be controlled by the driver in the front, with each lorry communicating via wi-fi. Infrared cameras and laser sensors are also used to monitor vehicle movements.
Paul Watters, head of road policy for breakdown rescue service the AA, said the idea may concern normal road users.
"For the car user in particular it does pose worries about platooning lorries taking up a lot of space and blocking others out," he told the BBC, but added that perhaps a dedicated lane may solve that issue.
He questioned whether the notion that drivers could take up another activity while in the autonomous convoy was misjudged.
"They're suggesting that an autonomous lorry driver can do other logistics work while they're driving," he said.
"The thought of a lorry driver doing administration is, dare I say it, pie in the sky."
The plans follow the announcement that driverless cars will be tested in the UK next year. The news was met with some trepidation - 65% of people polled by the AA said they would prefer to continue driving as normal rather than allow a computer to take the wheel.
But the organisation noted that younger drivers appeared to be more open to the...

Summary: Fleets of self-driving lorries could be tested on UK roads as soon as next year, according to reports.
###
Article: There were only 124 "disengagement" incidents last year, where a driver had to take control of a test vehicle on public roads, down from 341 in 2015.
The cars drove nearly 636,000 miles last year, compared with just over 424,000 in 2015.
Other states in the US do not require such reporting.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles published the annual reports on Wednesday.
Under law, every company that has a state permit to test autonomous vehicles in California must report how many times a driver had to intervene.
"Disengagements are a natural part of the testing process that allow our engineers to expand the software' s capabilities and identify areas of improvement," Waymo said in its report.
The most common reasons for interventions in Waymo cars were "software discrepancies, unwanted manoeuvres of the vehicle and perception discrepancies", according to the company.
Of the 124 incidents, only 10 were caused by the "reckless" behaviour of another road user.
Beyond Waymo's impressive results, the news was generally good.
Cruise, the start-up leading General Motors' autonomous driving development, upped its testing in San Francisco markedly. It went from driving fewer than five miles in June 2015, to nearly 400 in June 2016.
It reported 414 disengagements in almost 10,000 miles of driving in 2016 overall.
For some companies the records show a very small amount of mileage covered by the autonomous cars.
In other US states with self-driving regulations - including Nevada, Michigan, and Florida - there is no requirement for public disclosure of this type of data, which is why, for example, not much is known about Uber's autonomous vehicle testing.
Ford only reported 590 miles driven in 2016, all in the month of March. It only has two autonomous cars in California, but has a much larger fleet in Michigan, where reporting is not required.
Meanwhile BMW recorded one disengagement in its 638 miles of autonomous driving in March and April 2016, because lane markings on Highway 101 were not clear enough. The...

Summary: The number of human interventions in journeys made by driverless cars from Google company Waymo in California more than halved in 2016.
###
Article: It follows an incident at Castle View School in Canvey Island, Essex, when a boy was hit in the face by a flapjack.
Catering staff at the school have been told only to serve square or rectangular flapjacks.
The school said the "isolated accident" had led to a review of "the texture and shape of the flapjacks" provided.
How to cook flapjacks
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "We often come across half-baked decisions taken in the name of health and safety, but this one takes the biscuit.
"The real issue isn't what shape the flapjacks are, but the fact that pupils are throwing them at each other - and that's a matter of discipline, and has got nothing to do with health and safety as we know it.
"We're happy to make clear that flapjacks of all shapes and sizes continue to have our full backing."
Health and safety advisor Ray Hurst said he could not understand why triangular flapjacks had been banned, but not those cut into squares or rectangles.
"Anything that is thrown is likely to cause injury if it hits somebody, especially in the face or the eye," said Mr Hurst, former president of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.
"It does seem a little over the top to ban triangular flapjacks," he said.
Essex County Council said it did not give schools guidance on the shapes of foodstuffs.

Summary: A school's decision to ban triangular flapjacks after a pupil was hurt has been labelled "half-baked" by the Health and Safety Executive.
###
Article: The fatwa, which is not legally binding but will be influential, was issued after a three-day congress of female clerics in the country.
The clerics urged the government to raise the minimum legal age for women to marry to 18 from the current 16.
Indonesia is a majority Muslim country and has among the highest number of child brides in the world.
According to the UN's children office Unicef, one in four women in Indonesia marries before the age of 18.
Fatwas are issued regularly in Indonesia, but usually by the Indonesian Ulema Council - the highest Islamic authority in the country which is made up almost entirely of men.
Hundreds of women descended on Cirebon, on Java Island, for the Indonesian KUPI Women's Ulema Congress.
Most of the clerics - experts in Islamic sacred law and theology - were from Indonesia, but speakers travelled from as far away as Kenya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to take part in the conference, said to be the first major gathering of female Muslim clerics.
Female clerics, or "ulema", have existed in Indonesia for hundreds of years, but their role has been played down previously. Nowadays, they help empower their communities and lead educational institutes, organisers say.
It is hoped the congress will highlight the vital role they play.
Steering committee chairman Badriyah Fayumi told the BBC: "Through this conference, we want to state that female clerics exist, and have been proven to contribute, and this is the time to acknowledge their existence, and to give an appreciation for the... contribution of the female clergy."
The committee will now present its recommendations to the relevant groups - including the government - which will then decide on whether or not to take them any further.
The fatwa called underage marriage "harmful" and said preventing it was mandatory.
"Female clerics know the issues and obstacles women face, we can take action and do not just wait for the government to protect these children," Ninik Rahayu, the conference organiser, told Reuters.
The female clerics...

Summary:


Bestival has revealed an all-female line-up in its second wave of announcements for this year's Isle of Wight event.

Article: It matters in a symbolic sense in that it would be the first time, since the Bank of England was given control over interest rates, that it has missed the target on the downside.
Although it missed the target on the upside (that is inflation was over 3%) for month after pricey month from May 2008 to February 2009 and then from the beginning of 2010 to April 2012 (when it was at 3% or less only once).
To labour the point (as is my wont, yawn) it would be the first time that the rules put in place by Gordon Brown as Chancellor would oblige the Governor to write a letter explaining why inflation is too low - and what he and his colleagues intend to do about it.
But the more important question is whether inflation at less than 1% is actually bad for us - given that the implication of the Bank of England's mandate, that inflation should not be more than 1 percentage point above or below 2%, suggests it would be bad.
Well, the big reason that inflation has been falling - falls in food and oil-linked prices - should be good for most consumers and businesses, in that we have to buy these things and the drops make our money go further.
The lower prices are the equivalent of a chunky tax cut.
So in theory they will encourage us to spend more, and thus provide positive momentum for the economy, to offset - inter alia - the drag from the stagnating eurozone.
That said, there is also very little inflation in categories of discretionary spending, such as recreation, culture, clothing and furniture.
And, as I mentioned last week, we are likely to start shipping in deflationary pressures from the eurozone, as the European Central Bank responds to falling prices there by weakening the euro - which means we will pay less for imports from our important eurozone trading partners.
The point is that inflation is likely to remain well below target for many months, and if we all started to defer discretionary spending in the hope of buying cheaper later, falling inflation could turn into deflation and slump.
So although there is no...

Summary: If official inflation falls below 1% tomorrow, which seems more-or-less certain, would that matter?
###
Article: The Juno satellite is rapidly bearing down on the gas giant after a five-year journey from Earth.
It must slow itself to get captured by the gravity of the giant world.
This all-or-nothing job will be performed by its Leros-1b engine built by Moog-ISP in Westcott, Buckinghamshire.
"It's a tremendous thing for us," said Moog's chief engineer, Dr Ian Coxhill.
"The engine has to work for Juno to get into orbit; it has to burn at a precise time and burn for a continuous duration of at least 20 mins.
"There'll be some frayed nerves, for sure."
The Leros-1b was chosen to be the main engine on the Nasa satellite by its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.
Previous American space agency missions have also used the Westcott technology, including the Messenger probe that went into orbit around Mercury in 2011. So, there is high confidence this latest engine will be up to the task.
Indeed, Juno has already fired it during the epic journey to Jupiter.
Back in 2012, the Leros had to operate reliably twice to refine the trajectory of the spacecraft, and on each occasion the engine burned flawlessly for more than 20 minutes.
"In fact, things went so well that Lockheed Martin said initially they thought they had confused the real flight data on the engine burn with the simulation data. It was that accurate. So that's obviously really encouraging," Dr Coxhill told BBC News.
The Jupiter Orbit Insertion manoeuvre will be conducted in the early hours of Tuesday morning, British time.
Juno will turn and fire the Leros in the forward direction to try to remove about 500m/s from its velocity - enough so that it goes into a 53-day orbit around the gas giant.
No burn or a burn of insufficient length would send Juno into the oblivion of deep space.
The probe will send back a series of tones to update Nasa and Lockheed Martin engineers on the progress of the insertion.
The Leros should light at 04:18 BST (03:18 GMT) and terminate at 4:53 BST (03:53 GMT), for a full firing of 35 minutes in length.
These are what are called Earth-receive...

Summary: When the US space agency's latest probe to Jupiter tries to enter into orbit around the planet on Tuesday, it will be relying on a British rocket engine.
###
Article: That represents a substantial gain on alternatives that can struggle to run longer than a day.
The Geak Watch 2 models achieve the feat by using a hybrid screen that switches between a "high definition" LCD colour display and a "standby mode" battery-saving e-ink one.
One expert said this was "very clever".
"One of the big challenges that smartwatch manufacturers have had is that people stop using the devices, and one of the reasons they do so is that they have to be charged on a regular basis, whereby they are being taken off constantly," said Ben Wood from the tech consultancy CCS Insight.
"Anything that enhances the battery life is a big win.
"That's why we've seen people who have Pebble devices typically using them longer than some of the rivals with daily charging requirements."
Pebble smartwatches also promise "up to seven days" between charges thanks to the use of a black-and-white e-paper display, but lack the ability to switch to a colour LCD screen or run Android, restricting the amount of apps they offer.
The new smartwatches are made by Shanda, a Shanghai-based company that helped pioneer the sector with its first Geak Watch in 2013.
Reviews at the time indicated that the first-generation device lasted between 10 and 15 hours.
Early adopters are being rewarded with an offer to trade in the old watch for a free new one.
Shanda says:
Owners can alternate between the two display modes by pressing a power button.
Both watches feature a circular 1.3in (3.2cm) display offering a resolution of 254 pixels per inch when the LCD is in use - roughly the same specifications as LG's G Watch R, which does not include the e-ink component.
Shanda's Pro model features a metal, rather than plastic, bezel and also includes a built-in heart rate monitor.
The models are powered by Geak Watch OS, a proprietary "skinned" version of Android 4.3 that has its own app store and user interface, rather than Google's Android Wear software.
This helps it overcome the fact that Google Now - the anticipatory search service that...

Summary: One of China's leading tech firms has unveiled two Android-powered smartwatches that it says can last about a week between charges.
###
Article: He said critics who accused him of winning last month's elections through intimidation and fraud could "go to hell".
The West African regional body Ecowas said the electorate had been "cowed by repression".
Mr Jammeh, who took power in a coup in 1994, was re-elected with 72% of the figures, official figures show.
The 46 year old said he did not fear a fate similar to Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak or killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"My fate is in the hands of almighty Allah," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"I will deliver to the Gambian people and if I have to rule this country for one billion years, I will, if Allah says so."
The November poll was the fourth since Mr Jammeh overthrew The Gambia's first post-independence leader Dawda Jawara aged just 29.
Opposition candidates Ousainou Darboe and Hamat Bah took 17% and 11% respectively.
Mr Darboe called the results "bogus, fraudulent and preposterous".
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) refused to send observers, saying the polls would not be free and fair because voters and the opposition had been "cowed by repression and intimidation".
The media group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says there is "absolute intolerance of any form of criticism" in The Gambia, with death threats, surveillance and arbitrary night-time arrests the daily lot of journalists "who do not sing the government's praises".
In 2004, the editor of the privately owned The Point newspaper, Deyda Hydara, was gunned down, but no-one has been charged over his murder.
In the BBC interview, Mr Jammeh denied that the government's security agents had killed him.
"Listen to me: Is he the only Gambian who died? Is he better than Gambians who die in accidents, Gambians who die at sea, Gambians who die on their way to Europe?" Mr Jammeh asked.
"Other people have also died in this country. So why is Deyda Hydara so special?"
Mr Jammeh said he was not bothered by the criticism of human rights groups.
"I will not bow down before anybody, except the almighty...

Summary: The Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh has told the BBC that he will rule for "one billion years", if God wills.
###
Article: Charli XCX, Ella Eyre and Lianne La Havas will appear alongside The Chemical Brothers and Underworld.
Other festivals have been criticised for the lack of women on their bills.
Last week, music blog Crack in the Road posted images of edited posters removing all the names of male performers.
The rather blank-looking page was shared on social media, with the bills at Reading and Leeds, Download and T in the Park also a focus for criticism.
Neneh Cherry, Andreya Triana and Radio 1 DJ B.Traits are among other female acts to be announced by Bestival.
Organiser Rob da Bank said: "There are shed-loads of amazing people making some startlingly good music at the moment and look, lots of them are female."
This year's Bestival theme is Summer of Love.
It takes place at Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight between 10 and 13 September, with 25 stages on offer.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Summary:


Tributes have been paid to an "always smiling" toddler whose mother and stepfather have been accused of his murder.

Article: Problems were identified at Drumpellier Lodge, at Bargeddie in North Lanarkshire, by the Care Inspectorate.
Its owners, Clancare Limited, have been ordered to improve staffing levels and the standard of care to residents.
The Care Inspectorate said it would "not hesitate to take further action" if further checks found no progress on the problems identified.
A Care Inspectorate spokesman said: "We have clearly set out the areas which require swift improvement at Drumpellier Lodge so that the care provided to residents reaches a standard that they have a right to expect.
"We will inspect this service again soon to check on progress and to ensure that improvements have been made.
"If we are not satisfied that sufficient progress is being made quickly, we will not hesitate to take further action."
The Care Inspectorate said it had served a formal improvement notice on Drumpellier Lodge.
The notice states that it must demonstrate that it is making "proper provision for the health, welfare and safety of service users".
It calls for "a written personal plan for each resident" which is reviewed "at least every six months".
Residents must have access to "sufficient meaningful activities" and have "access to outdoor space and events".
The care home has also been told to review staffing levels to make sure residents are properly cared for and make sure that the staffing schedule is followed.
The Care Inspectorate previously called for improvements at Drumpellier Lodge after finding failings in 2014.

Summary: Inspectors have told a care home to make "swift improvements" or face having its registration cancelled.
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Article: EU firms wanting to export drugs such as the sedative sodium thiopental will now first have to ensure the product is not going to be used for executions.
The ruling could slow down the rate of executions in the US, where the drug must be used by law in lethal injections but is in short supply.
European rights groups welcomed the restrictions as a "positive step".
The European Commission - the executive arm of the EU - said it wanted to ensure that no drugs were being exported from the union for use in "capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
The death penalty is banned in all 27 EU states and the bloc has been calling for its abolition worldwide.
Sodium thiopental is legally required to be used in lethal injections in the 34 US states that still practice the death penalty.
It is the first of three drugs used for executions, intended to make the condemned person unconscious before deadly drugs are administered.
Earlier this year its only US manufacturer, Hospira, stopped making the drug.
It is still made in Britain, Italy, Germany, Austria and Denmark, but in April, an emergency export ban was imposed in the UK after the human rights group Reprieve sued the government.
Indian producer Kayem Pharmaceuticals has also said it will no longer sell the drug to US prisons.
The shortage in the US has already led to a marked decreased in the number of executions being carried out.
Some states have stockpiled sodium thiopental while others switched to using an alternative, pentobarbital, but that is also covered by the EU ban.
The Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, Lundbeck, has objected to the "distressing misuse" of its product, designed for epilepsy treatment, and introduced checks to ensure it is not shipped to US prisons.
The executive director of Reprieve, Clare Algar, said the Commission's ruling was an "important and positive first step".
"Any pharmaceutical company wishing to preserve an ethical reputation must take steps to ensure their drugs are not used...

Summary: The European Commission has imposed strict controls on the export of drugs used to carry out lethal injections.
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Article: The group's national executive board will meet to ratify the resolution on 27 July, the Boy Scouts said in a statement.
It is a major step towards ending a policy that has caused deep rifts in the group, which was set up in 1910.
In 2013, the BSA ended a ban allowing openly gay boys to become scouts.
Earlier this year, former US defence secretary Robert Gates, who is BSA president, told the group's national meeting that the ban on gay adults needed to end, saying it was no longer sustainable.
The selection of Mr Gates as president in 2014 was seen as an opportunity to revisit the policy since he helped end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred openly gay people from serving in the US military.
The resolution, which was passed by the BSA's 17-member executive committee on Friday, will become official policy if it is ratified by the 80-member executive board later this month.
It will allow scout units to set their own policy on the issue and mean they can select adult leaders without regard to sexual orientation.
It will, however, also allow units with religious ties to "continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own".
Several denominations that sponsor large numbers of scout units - including the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention - have been apprehensive about ending the ban on gay adults.
The resolution was hailed by Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout (the highest boy scout rank) raised by two lesbians who now heads the advocacy group Scouts for Equality.
"While this policy change is not perfect - BSA's religious chartering partners will be allowed to continue to discriminate against gay adults - it is difficult to overstate the importance of today's announcement," Mr Wahls said.

Summary: The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has unanimously approved a resolution to end the organisation's ban on gay adults working as leaders.
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Article: The number of people referred to rheumatology departments in Wales has risen by 66% since 2012, and arthritis societies claim treatment is not keeping up with demand.
As a consequence new patients are waiting longer to be seen and existing ones are lacking support, they said.
The Welsh Government said care is provided "as locally and quickly as possible."
A joint report by the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) found 12% of the adult population in Wales identify themselves as having some form of arthritis.
This is similar to the number of people identified as having a mental illness (13%) and higher than those with diabetes (7%).
The report also found just 22% of patients in Wales with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were seen within three weeks during 2016, compared to the national average of 37%.
Wales was said to have the lowest number of Early Inflammatory Arthritis clinics which leads to service delays.
But it was the best performing region of the UK for GP referrals, with 46% of newly diagnosed RA patients being referred within three days of first presentation, compared to the national average of 20%.
Patients who were already in the system faced problems, with 40% saying intervals between appointments were too long to keep their condition under control.
The societies are now calling for a paediatric rheumatology service to be set up in south Wales.
They told Newyddion 9: "There is no specialist paediatric rheumatology centre or full dedicated multidisciplinary paediatric rheumatology services in Wales - the only home national without such a centre.
"Arthritis Care, NRAS and the BSR believe children with arthritis in Wales deserve better."
The Welsh Government said health boards were responsible for meeting the needs of people in their areas suffering from conditions like RA.
A spokesman said: "Through the national primary care plan and the commissioning directive for arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions we continue to raise awareness and support...

Summary: Concerns have been raised over services for arthritis patients in Wales.
###
Article: Jeremiah Regis, aged two-and-a-half, was found injured at an address in Wolverhampton on November 20.
Sindyann Regis and Chevaze Mcgregor appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday charged with murder.
The court heard Jeremiah was found with more than 100 injuries, including a bite to the chest.
A tribute released by his family said: "Jeremiah was a lovely, quiet, innocent little boy who was always smiling.
"He will be greatly missed by his Nanna and entire family."
At Friday's hearing, Ms Regis, 25, of High Street, Wednesfield, and Mr Mcgregor, 27, of New Road in Rainford, Essex, spoke only to confirm their names.
Judge James Burbidge adjourned the case until December and set a provisional trial date of 25 April.
Jeremiah was found with head and body injuries when police and paramedics were called to an address in High Street, Wednesfield, shortly before midnight on Sunday.
He was pronounced dead in hospital on 21 November.
A post-mortem examination showed he died of abdominal peritonitis caused by blunt force trauma.

Summary:


Warrenpoint Town say they are "shocked" by an IFA ruling that confirmed their relegation from the Premiership and saw Carrick Rangers stay in the top flight.

Article: The bombshell comes from a new court filing in an increasingly bitter battle between the actor and his ex-managers.
He's suing them for mismanaging his money and they're countersuing him.
Among their claims about his spending, they say he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to employ a sound engineer to read him his lines on film sets.
The actor has used the method "for years to feed him lines during film production", according to a court document that was filed on Monday.
"Depp insisted that this sound engineer be kept on yearly retainer so that he no longer had to memorise his lines," according to the papers, written by attorney Michael Kump on behalf of The Management Group's Joel and Robert Mandel.
Details of the court document have been reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, the New York Post and others.
A lawyer for the movie star responded by describing the allegations as "psychobabble".
A statement from Adam Waldman said: "This is how guilty people respond when confronted with the detailed results of a nine-month legal and forensic investigation conducted by four firms."
In the new document, The Management Group (TMG) said the Pirates of the Caribbean star may have "compulsive spending disorder" and needs "a mental examination".
He originally sued them for fraud, but in an amended complaint filed on Monday, the firm said they "did everything possible to protect Depp from his own irresponsible and profligate spending" before he fired them in March 2016.
According to the reports, they claim he spent more than $75m (Â£58m) to acquire and improve on 14 residences, including a chain of islands in the Bahamas, multiple houses in Hollywood and a 45-acre chateau in the south of France.
They also say he bought 45 luxury vehicles, 70 collectible guitars and enough Hollywood memorabilia to fill 12 storage facilities.
Depp spent up to $1.2m (Â£930,000) a year for a "personal on-call physician" and "millions more to employ an army of attorneys", they allege.
They say the lawyers bailed him out of...

Summary: Johnny Depp's former managers have claimed the star is fed his lines through an earpiece so he doesn't have to memorise his scripts, US media say.
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Article: The agreement, which is being brokered by the party's chief whip Rosie Winterton, would involve MPs being permitted to elect only a proportion of shadow cabinet places.
Progress had been made and "this will be sorted", one shadow minister said.
Reinstating elections has been a key demand of MPs who quit this summer.
Labour has also said a "not insignificant number" of MPs will return to the shadow cabinet next week - in advance of any formal agreement on elections - among them some "surprising names".
Some members of the NEC and the current shadow cabinet believe that Mr Corbyn cannot return to parliament in a couple of weeks time with continuing vacancies on his frontbench.
At the very start of this week's conference in Liverpool, speaker after speaker at a Labour First rally - filled to the gunnels by those who hadn't voted for Jeremy Corbyn - called for shadow cabinet elections as a way of bringing about unity between the pro and anti-Corbyn factions.
While on the surface no progress appeared to have been made since then at the conference or on the party's NEC, under the radar a parallel process was taking place involving the chief whip and members of Mr Corbyn's staff.
Whether the deal would be enough to bring back high-profile Corbyn critics remains to be seen. But there is some confidence that a deal is on the cards that could see some of those roughly 60 front bench positions begin to fill up.
Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson had made the case for MPs to have some say over who sits at the party's top table at a meeting of the ruling NEC last Tuesday.
No agreement was reached but Watson pressed Corbyn to agree to the demand at Saturday's night NEC meeting in Liverpool as a sign that he was willing to compromise but also to settle the issue swiftly so it didn't hang over the conference.
Instead, and despite the talk of unity, Jeremy Corbyn backed a demand to remove voting rights from NEC representatives appointed by the party's leaders in Scotland and Wales - neither of whom backed his re-election. The...

Summary: A deal paving the way for elections to Labour's shadow cabinet could be done well before the party's proposed review in November, the BBC has been told.
###
Article: Sorry, your browser cannot display this map
A total of 4,851 seats were up for grabs in 88 councils - all 32 in Scotland, 22 in Wales and 34 country councils and unitary authorities in England.
Local elections: Latest updates
The Conservatives have made gains while Labour, UKIP, the Lib Dems and the SNP have all lost ground.
Labour has lost more than 380 council seats, UKIP has suffered heavy losses and the Lib Dems have not made the gains they had hoped for.
The Conservatives appear to have been the main beneficiaries of a decline in support for UKIP.
The party is now in charge of 11 more councils having taken Derbyshire from Labour as well as Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, the Isle of Wight and Monmouthshire - all of which were previously under no overall control.
They also increased their total number of councillors in Scotland by more than 160.
Sorry, your browser cannot display this map
Meanwhile, it has been a much less successful day for Labour.
The party has lost control of seven councils, including Glasgow, as well as Bridgend and Blaenau Gwent. It also lost the metro mayor contests in the West Midlands and Tees Valley, a traditional Labour heartland, to the Conservatives - but former cabinet minister Andy Burnham scored a big win in Greater Manchester.
Sorry, your browser cannot display this map
The Lib Dems have had a mixed performance, with some seats won and others lost.
Lib Dem former business secretary Vince Cable said the night had been "neutral" for his party.
"We're in a relatively encouraging position, though there hasn't been a spectacular breakthrough," he said.
Sorry, your browser cannot display this map
UKIP suffered a bad night - losing 145 seats. It ended this year's local elections with a single councillor in Lancashire.
Sorry, your browser cannot display this map
The SNP comfortably finished as the largest party in the Scotland, but suffered modest losses, losing control of Dundee.
Conservative advances in Scotland came at the expense of Labour, with the party losing...

Summary: The Conservative Party has made major gains in local elections across Britain, fuelled by a collapse in the UKIP vote and poor results for Labour.
###
Article: A counter at thepiratebay.se shows a countdown to the 1 February, which is this Sunday.
The website, which provided links to pirated content, was taken offline following a raid in Sweden in December.
Police officers seized servers in Stockholm after a complaint was filed by a group called the Rights Alliance, which targets internet crime.
The police operation took place in an area in Nacka, south-east of Stockholm, with the area's cold weather used as a natural cooling system for computer servers.
The site was taken down in 2006 after another raid by police but reappeared online three days later.
The Pirate Bay is one of the internet's most-visited websites, and the film, music and software industries blame it for losses running into billions of pounds.
Internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK were ordered by the High Court to block access to the site in 2012.
In October Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Warg was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for hacking into computers and illegally downloading files.
Another co-founder, 35-year-old Peter Sunde, was arrested in Sweden last year after two years on the run and was sentenced to eight months in prison for violating copyright laws.
Meanwhile a third co-founder, Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij (known to hackers as TiAMO), was arrested while trying to cross into Thailand from Laos in November.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Summary: The Pirate Bay website could be relaunched at the weekend.
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Article: An IFA Disciplinary Committee opted not to impose any sanction after finding that Carrick did not properly implement manager Gary Haveron's touchline ban.
The committee said it would "exercise its discretion" in the matter.
A Warrenpoint Town statement argued that the decision "contradicted the IFA's obligation to apply objectivity".
"The board of Warrenpoint Town have read the IFA Disciplinary Committee determination regarding the breach of Article 23.1 of the IFA Disciplinary Code by the Carrick Rangers FC Manager," the statement began.
"We are shocked that the IFA having found Carrick guilty failed to implement the requisite admonishment as per established rules.
"The board will be meeting soon to discuss further this matter and the complaint we formally raised surrounding eligibility which is in abeyance."
Carrick faced a possible three-point deduction and relegation from the top flight, plus a possible fine of at least £350, if the outcome of the hearing did not go in their favour.
However in a statement released on Wednesday night, the committee indicated that "the interests of justice were best served by not imposing a sanction in all the circumstances".
As it stands, Ballinamallard United and Institute await a date for the second leg of their promotion-relegation play-off, the Mallards having won the first leg 2-1 at the Riverside Stadium on 6 May.
Haveron sat out a three-game ban handed out by the IFA, but was in the dugout for his club's match against Dungannon Swifts on 23 April when he should not have been.
"The club did not explain to the Committee's satisfaction the reasons why the start date for the suspension set out in the initial charge letter (18 April 2016)  was not complied with and therefore the challenge from Carrick Rangers was not upheld," read the IFA statement released on Wednesday night.
"The Committee took into account the points made on behalf of the club and decided to exercise its discretion under the overriding objective as outlined in Articles 1.6 and 1.7 of the Disciplinary...

Summary:


The AA has called for a "radical rethink" of the way the UK government funds road maintenance.
The AA has called for a "radical rethink" of the way the UK government funds road maintenance.
The organisation has called for a "radical rethink" of the way the UK government funds road maintenance.
The

The AA is calling on councils to "get to grips" with road maintenance after a survey found 39% of UK drivers reported pothole damage in the past two years.

Article: The way Wales is funded from Westminster is just one of the familiar issues being debated behind-the-scenes in the 1980s.
Then the main arguments were prompted by a feeling within Whitehall that what was known then as "the territorials formula" (better known today as the Barnett formula) was too generous to Scotland. Margaret Thatcher ordered a review but the formula survives to this day.
The "north-south divide" was on the agenda, although the head of Mrs Thatcher's policy unit described it as a "myth". One suggestion was that Manchester could be projected more vigorously, although no-one used the phrase "northern powerhouse".
I was surprised by the extent of opposition within Mrs Thatcher's government to the Cardiff Bay barrage, although her Welsh Secretary Nicholas Edwards (now Lord Crickhowell) insists there is a full account in his memoirs (page 48).
The newly-released files show how officials thought he pursued his project - "the Edwards barrage" - without consulting colleagues or the Treasury. There is a sense that he was trying to bounce the cabinet into supporting the barrage. Mrs Thatcher's "the scheme just hasn't been worked out enough" note reveals her fear of "an elaborate and expensive presentation".
But the barrage was (eventually) built, and opened long after Thatcher and Crickhowell had left frontline politics.

Summary: Anyone covering 21st Century politics stumbling across the latest releases from the Thatcher government files will be hit by a strong sense of deja vu.
###
Article: Former Alliance and independent councillor Brian Wilson joined the Greens. He was elected in North Down in a significant breakthrough for the party.
The seat was retained by the party in the 2011 assembly elections by Steven Agnew.
Breaking the hold of traditional unionist and nationalist parties in Northern Ireland has been a challenge for non-aligned groups for many years.
In the 2009 European election, the Green Party in Northern Ireland took more than 3% of the vote with Mr Agnew as a candidate, polling 15,764 votes.
This was more than three times the Green Party's previous poll result. However, in the 2014 European election the Green vote fell to 10,598.
It is the only Northern Ireland party that does not accept corporate donations.
The Green Party in Northern Ireland works in co-operation with other Greens across the European Union, and has a close relationship with its counterpart in the Republic of Ireland.
The party has four councillors.

Summary: The Green Party in Northern Ireland first gained a foothold in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007.
###
Article: An algorithm processes data captured by 2D and 3D scanners and sensors positioned at the front of a van.
It identifies signs of "ravelling" - damage to the asphalt that leads to cracks and potholes.
Drivers claimed more than £3m compensation for pothole damage in the UK last year, according to the RAC.
The scanner system can distinguish ravelling from other textural differences on the road, such as oil spills, tyre marks and previous pothole repairs.
In a test, the device correctly identified 900 potential sites. It took 0.65 seconds to process the data, the researchers say.
While the technology would be adopted by paving specialists Dynatest, who collaborated on the research project, it would also be open-source, said Dr Senthan Mathavan, lead researcher and visiting fellow at Nottingham Trent University.
The sensors used on the device were the same as those developed to help robots perceive their environment, he said.
"These sensors are common to us and to civil engineers," he said.
"The technology is established, but we're using the data to look for much smaller defects."
Fellow researcher Dr Mujib Rahman added: "Dealing with road-surface damage like potholes in the early stages is cheaper in the long-term than reacting to potholes when they occur.
"This technology will also allow councils to plan ahead better and be more efficient with any programme of repairs.
"If councils know that there's likely to be a pothole in a certain part of a road in say three years' time, they can plan the repair before it gets to the point that an emergency repair is needed."
The research has been published in the journal Transportation Research Record.

Summary: Smart scanners that can identify the sites of potholes before they form are being developed by academics at Nottingham Trent University.
###
Article: The role will involve explaining cross-cultural misunderstandings in the use of the mini pictures, and compiling a monthly trends report.
Agency boss Jurga Zilinskiene said emojis were a "potential growth area" as "inconsistencies" had developed in their use.
Last year, a UK linguist said emoji was the country's fastest-growing language.
Emojis have been available on Japanese phones since the late 1990s but gained worldwide popularity after 2011, when iPhones started coming with emoji keyboards. They are now widely available on Android phones too.
They differ from emoticons by being coded little pictures rather than collections of punctuation points like :) or :'( or Â¯\_(ãƒ„)_/Â¯. (For emoticon newbies, the latter is a shruggie).
But like emoticons, emojis can be used to indicate tone or emotion in messages composed largely of text.
Ms Zilinskiene, head of Today Translations, needed someone to translate diaries into emojis for one of her clients, but could not find a specialist.
She says software translations can only go so far and a human translator was needed, so the agency posted an online job advert. She herself speaks Lithuanian, Russian and English and codes in the programming languages Python and C#.
With more than 30 applications so far, she is hoping to appoint somebody on a freelance basis by the start of 2017, with the potential for it to become a full-time post. Translation jobs will be paid by the word/emoji, while research into the changing trends in emoji usage will be paid at an hourly rate.
Waving hand - You might think this emoji is waving hello or goodbye. Well in China, it has a very specific meaning, along the lines of "bye, you're not my friend any more". Like a middle finger in Europe.
Poo - In Japan, the words for "poo" and "luck" sound similar, so it's tradition to send your friends a funny "poo" message before an exam or job interview. Now that the symbols have gone global, though, some people use the smiley-faced poo for its cuteness, others to indicate something rubbish.
So can...

Summary: A company in London has advertised for an emoji translator in what is thought to be the first such job worldwide.
###
Article: The motoring organisation also called for extra funding for road repairs in the chancellor's Budget next week.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said there was a £12bn backlog in road repairs that would take councils "more than a decade" to clear.
The UK government said it was providing "unprecedented levels of investment".
In an AA survey of 25,208 drivers, 39% said their tyres, bodywork or other parts of their vehicles had been affected after hitting a pothole in the past two years.
AA president Edmund King called on local authorities to "get to grips with fundamental road maintenance" such as poor drainage and crumbling surfaces.
He also said Chancellor George Osborne should allocate extra funding for road repairs to "reverse the toll on vehicles and their owners' pockets".
LGA transport spokesman Peter Box said current funding levels and the repairs backlog meant councils "can only keep pace with patching up our roads and filling potholes".
"Long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance is desperately needed," he added.
Road maintenance is devolved to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Transport Minister Andrew Jones said the government had allocated a "record £6bn to councils in England to improve local roads over the next five years".
"We topped this up with £250m last year specifically to tackle the blight of potholes," he said.
A Scottish Government spokesman said in the last financial year more than £220m was allocated for the maintenance of motorways and trunk roads, which it said was 20% more than five years ago.
The Welsh and Northern Irish authorities have been approached for comment.

Summary:


Hyundai Motor will defer payments due from US federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown.

Article: Legalisation on same-sex unions falls under state legislation, and a number of states have divergent rules.
Mexico City and the southern state of Quintana Roo allow gay marriages, while Coahuila allows same-sex civil unions.
Congress in Yucatan on the other hand banned same-sex marriage in 2009.
Seven out of ten authorities in Colima approved the constitutional change, which had been passed by the state's congress earlier this month.
Only two Congressmen voted against the change, arguing the state should legalise gay marriages rather than restricting same-sex couples to civil unions.
News of the change in the law in Colima came on the same day as Pope Francis told reporters that gay people should not be marginalised but integrated into society.
Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Brazil, the Pope reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not.
Gay marriage was legalised in Uruguay earlier this year, and in Argentina in 2010.
In Brazil, the Supreme Court in May voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing same-sex couples the same legal rights as married heterosexuals, effectively authorising gay marriage.
However, full legalisation of gay marriage in Brazil still depends on the passage of a law in Congress.

Summary: Colima has become the latest Mexican state to allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions after a majority of local authorities passed a change in the state's constitution.
###
Article: On Monday Chinese papers continued their admonishments, warning Ms Tsai and her DPP party against any move towards independence.
China sees the island as a breakaway province, which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.
Before her win Ms Tsai said she wanted to maintain the "status quo".
But some analysts say her rhetoric has hardened somewhat in the wake of her victory,  when she said that "any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations".
Her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party beat the ruling Kuomintang, which has overseen friendlier and ever-closer ties with China on Saturday.
Two days later, on Monday, Ms Tsai met former US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, and vowed to maintain close relations with the US in all areas, particularly the economy.
One report from the  Reuters agency said that DPP Secretary General Joseph Wu would be going to the US.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also congratulated Ms Tsai on her victory, calling Taiwan "an old friend".
She has already set up a taskforce to oversee the transfer of power, Taiwan's third transition of power in its democratic history.
Chinese state media lashed out swiftly in the wake of the victory, saying that Taiwan should abandon its "hallucination" of independence.
On Monday, a Global Times report said it wasn't Ms Tsai's pro-independence views that won her the vote but the "dissatisfactory performance of the incumbent Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou and his ruling KMT".
"I will, based on the existing ROC constitutional system, based on democratic principles, on the basis of the largest public opinion, promote cross-strait policy.
"I will make the greatest efforts to seek a way for Taiwan and mainland China to interact that is mutually acceptable to both sides.  I will not be provocative, there will not be any surprises."
"I also want to emphasise that both sides of the strait have a responsibility to find mutually acceptable means of interaction that are based on dignity and reciprocity. We must...

Summary: Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen is preparing for a historic transfer of power after her sweeping victory, amid strident warnings from Chinese state media.
###
Article: The virtual currency reached $3,451.86 (£2,651) per coin in Monday trade, according to the Coindesk Bitcoin Price Index.
It had never crossed the $3,000 mark until the weekend. The market value of all bitcoins in existence has now surpassed $56bn (£43bn).
The surge followed the creation of a spin-off crypto-currency, Bitcoin Cash, last week.
The new asset is trading well below the peak price of $727.54 (£557) per coin it attained on 2 August.
However, Bitcoin Cash's future does appear to be more assured after Coinbase, one of the leading exchange and wallet services, promised to support it after previously refusing to give such a commitment.
"We are planning to have support for Bitcoin Cash by 1 January 2018, assuming no additional risks emerge during that time," it announced on its blog.
The value of the original Bitcoin experienced big swings in July. First there was concern that there might be a "civil war" over rival plans to speed up transactions.
That helped cause its value to dip to $1,938.94 (£1,485) on 16 July before a compromise scheme called Segwit2x gained favour.
Then a fresh plan to fork the currency emerged from a group of insiders unhappy with the Segwit2x initiative.
On 1 August, they offered investors a Bitcoin Cash token to match every original Bitcoin token they owned. The move created an incompatible version of the blockchain ledger, which keeps track of past transactions.
The initiative had the potential to undermine the original Bitcoin, particularly if many miners had jumped ship. Miners provide the computer processing power to authorise transactions, and Bitcoin Cash was designed to appeal to their interests.
However, it currently remains more profitable to mine the original Bitcoin's blockchain than that of Bitcoin Cash, and support for the new crypto-currency remains limited.
"What this has shown is that Bitcoin is much more resilient to forks than some people thought," commented Michael Parsons, a blockchain adviser.
"And it appears that there is room for more than one type of...

Summary: Bitcoin's value has jumped to a record high, following a month of turmoil.
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Article: The other, Gunsmoke, ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975 and holds the record for the most episodes, with 635.
The Simpsons, which began as a series of shorts in 1987, has more seasons to its name, but has fewer total episodes.
The animated comedy broadcast a Halloween special, Treehouse of Horror XXVI, to mark its 600th show.
The Treehouse of Horror instalments have become a staple of The Simpsons, airing every October and often featuring parodies of thriller and horror films.
Sunday evening's episode included parodies of The Hunger Games and the Colin Firth film Kingsman.
Assuming The Simpsons is renewed for another season, it will overtake Western drama Gunsmoke sometime in 2018, when episode 16 of season 29 airs.
The Simpsons started life as part of The Tracey Ullman show.
After proving popular with viewers, the cartoon was commissioned for a series of its own, which began airing in December 1989.
The show recently overtook Lassie, which aired 591 episodes, to become second longest-running scripted primetime series behind Gunsmoke.
Earlier this year, it was announced the first hour-long episode of The Simpsons would be broadcast in 2017.
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Summary: The 600th episode of The Simpsons has been broadcast in the US, making it one of only two scripted primetime shows to reach the milestone.
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Article: More than 700,000 employees face unpaid leave due to the shutdown which was triggered after the two houses of Congress did not agree on a new budget.
Hyundai said affected employees who currently own its vehicles will be given a payment relief "for as long as they are out of work".
Employees looking to buy a new car will be given a 90-day payment deferral.
"We recognize the impact on family budgets that the furlough will drive," John Krafcik, chief executive of Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement.
Hyundai had offered a similar scheme, the Hyundai Assurance programme, during the peak of the global financial crisis four years ago to help consumers who had lost their jobs.
Many analysts have said that the move had helped the South Korean firm win customer loyalty and boosted its sales in recent years.
The company said that its latest offer to help the federal employees was an addition to that programme and aimed at "helping workers at a time when they most need it".
"Like we did almost four years ago when we launched Hyundai Assurance, this is our way of saying 'We've got your back' during this uncertain time," Mr Krafcik said.
Under the latest offer, Hyundai will extend all auto loan and lease payments during the shutdown for current Hyundai owners who are put on unpaid leave.
The programme is available to all customers who have financed their purchase or lease through Hyundai Finance America.

Summary:


Thieves have been found guilty of using explosives to blow up cash machines in a series of raids which netted more than £130,000 across Aberdeenshire.

Article: Mr Obama, the first black US president, said ensuring economic opportunity was "our great unfinished business".
He also linked his own rise to the White House with the efforts of the civil rights protesters decades ago.
Members of Martin Luther King's family and veterans of the march also spoke.
Mr Obama gave his address at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC almost 50 years to the minute after Martin Luther King Jr culminated the march with his celebrated I Have a Dream speech
The time - 15:00 local time (19:00 GMT) - was marked by ringing bells.
Mr Obama began by honouring King, as well as the many African-American and white marchers who descended on Washington to protest for equal rights for black citizens 50 years ago.
"They assembled here, in our nation's capital, under the shadow of the great emancipator, to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress and to awaken America's long-slumbering conscience," Mr Obama said.
"Because they marched, city councils changed and state legislators changed and Congress changed, and yes, eventually the White House changed," Mr Obama said to great cheers. "Because they marched, America became more free and fair."
He praised "those maids, those labourers, those porters, those secretaries" who had transformed the US into the nation "our children now take for granted", in which individuals of different races mix freely in public and private life.
"To dismiss the magnitude of this progress," he said, "to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed - that dishonours the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years."
But Mr Obama argued "the very significance of these victories may have obscured a second goal of the march" - jobs and the promise of equal economic opportunity.
"They were there seeking jobs as well as justice," he said.
"We must remind ourselves that the measure of progress for those who marched 50 years ago was not merely how many blacks had joined the ranks of...

Summary: US President Barack Obama has linked the ongoing struggle for economic equality in America with the goals of the 1963 March on Washington, in a speech marking its 50th anniversary.
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Article: The Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales has increased their basic salary by £100 to £13,400, the equivalent of approximately 0.75%, from May 2017.
The UK's rate of inflation is 1.6% and the panel said the small increase is because of the "continuing constraints on local government spending".
Councils have warned of budget shortfalls despite an increase in central funding from Welsh Government.
The annual report said the panel had originally decided the basic salary payment would be aligned with the median gross earnings of all full-time employees resident in Wales, as reported in the Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings (ASHE).
It added: "Given the pressures on public expenditure it was not possible for this alignment to be maintained. If this alignment had continued the basic salary would currently be in the region of £14,700."

Summary: Councillors in Wales have been awarded a "modest" pay rise.
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Article: It uses an "emotional engine" and a cloud-based artificial intelligence system that allows it to analyse gestures, expressions and voice tones.
The firm said people could communicate with it "just like they would with friends and family" and it could perform various tasks.
It will go on sale to the public next year for 198,000 yen ($1,930; Â£1,150).
"People describe others as being robots because they have no emotions, no heart," Masayoshi Son, chief executive of Softbank, said at a press conference.
"For the first time in human history, we're giving a robot a heart, emotions."
The firm will deploy prototypes of the robot at two of its stores from Friday, allowing customers to interact with them.
Softbank said it planned to subsequently station Pepper at more of its stores nationwide.
Japan is one of the world's biggest robot markets.
According to some estimates, its overall robotics market was worth about 860bn ($8.4bn; Â£5bn) yen in 2012.
And with a rapidly ageing population, coupled with a falling birth rate, the demand for robots is expected to increase further.
The growth is expected to come not only from businesses looking to offset labour shortages and rising wage costs, but also from households seeking an alternative to paying for care workers for elderly relatives.
Japanese carmaker Honda has also been developing a household robot, Asimo. US President Barack Obama played football with it during his recent visit to Japan.
ActiveLink, a robotics research subsidiary of electronics firm Panasonic has also developed technology to help people carry out manual tasks.
Analysts said that development of household robots was likely to pick up, especially in countries like Japan that have an ageing population.
"Even if one can pre-programme such robots to carry out specific tasks based on certain commands or gestures, it could go long way in helping improve elderly care," said Rhenu Bhuller, senior vice president healthcare at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
"And with the technology improving fast - you could...

Summary: Japanese firm Softbank has unveiled a robot called Pepper, which it says can read human emotions.
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Article: Rangers used the scheme from 2001 until 2010 to give millions of pounds of tax-free loans to players and other staff.
In what became known as the "big tax case", HMRC claimed these were salary payments and subject to tax.
HMRC lost its appeals at tax tribunals in 2012 and 2014. Now three judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh have upheld their appeal.
The appeal was heard by Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord Menzies and Lord Drummond Young.
The judges ruled that if income was derived from an employee's services, in their capacity as an employee, it was an emolument or earnings and "thus assessable to income tax".
The decision is in relation to Murray Group companies including the liquidated company RFC 2012 and does not affect the current owners at Ibrox.
The tax authorities have not gone after Ibrox in its pre-collapse incarnation because Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has much interest in Scottish football. It is because it has been told to step up its pursuit of those who avoid tax.
The Employee Benefit Trust was used by around 5000 British companies, of all sizes, mostly as a reward for top earning rare talent, such as management or sport.
The question was whether the reward was part of income for work, or - as has been argued - the trustee would allocate money from the offshore, untaxed trust as a loan, each one apparently unconnected with the performance of the recipient.
The Court of Session judges have issued a very clear ruling that it is "common sense" and "self-evident" that payments were linked to work. They were merely "redirection of income", and should have been declared by the employer, with tax paid through Pay As You Earn.
If that were not the case, Lord Drummond Young observes "an employee could readily avoid tax by re-directing income to members of his family to meet outgoings that he would normally pay: for example to a trust for his wife... or to trustees to pay for his children's education or the outgoings on the family home".
The judges observe, caustically, that the principle...

Summary: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has won a judgement that Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) broke tax rules.
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Article: Joseph McHale, 38, Kevin Schruyers, 42, and Robin Vaughan, 43, all from Liverpool, were part of a gang who targeted ATMs.
The gang struck in the early hours of the morning at machines in Stonehaven, Inverurie, Aberdeen, New Deer and Ellon between August and November 2013.
Sentence was deferred.
They used oxygen and acetylene to get to the safes behind the ATMs.
At the High Court in Glasgow, McHale and Schruyers were convicted of blowing up the cash machine at Scotmid in North Deeside Road, Bieldside, Aberdeen and stealing £112,000.
They were also found guilty of blowing up an ATM at the Royal Bank of Scotland in New Deer and stealing £21,020.
The pair were also convicted of blowing up four ATMs in Ellon, Stonehaven, Inverurie and Aberdeen and attempting to steal from them, and stealing a quantity of clothing, golf equipment and money from the golf professional shop at the Paul Lawrie Centre in Aberdeenshire.
The duo were also found guilty of attempting to break into a cash machine in Mintlaw by using a crowbar.
Vaughan admitted blowing up the ATM in New Deer and Bieldside. He also admitted trying to force open the ATM in Mintlaw using a crowbar.
The focus of the investigation led to Liverpool after a number of Scottish banknotes started to circulate in the Mersey area.
Many of these notes had edges cut off in a bid to remove the signs of dye which went on to them.
Others had some red dye on them even though the gang had tried to remove all traces of it.
The court heard they duped Francis Clark - brother of actress and model Sophie Kennedy Clark and grandson of singer Calum Kennedy - into providing them with a hideaway after a meeting at a party.
The court heard that Mr Clark was originally a suspect in the case, but appeared during the trial as a witness.
Lady Scott deferred sentence until next month at the High Court at Livingston.
Ch Insp Graeme Mackie, of Police Scotland, said afterwards: "This was a complex police enquiry.
"I would like to commend the effort and work undertaken by all the officers...

Summary:


The England centre, who has been linked with a move to the club, has been told he is not for sale.
"I have been at Leicester for a long time and I am very happy here," said Tuilagi.
"I have been at the club for a long time and I am very happy

Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill believes other clubs are offering big money to Manu Tuilagi.

Article: By 2020 every home should have a digital meter, which communicates directly with energy suppliers and can allow more efficient energy usage.
Smart Energy GB said government was "not good" at such projects and warned it it could cost more than the budgeted Â£11bn without private sector input.
The government has rejected the call.
The last Labour government announced plans in 2009 for every home in Britain to be installed with smart meters, which the government and energy firms believe could lead to savings of an estimated Â£17bn.
But Smart Energy GB fears that with 1.6 million of the proposed 26 million smart meters currently installed, the timetable could slip and end up costing consumers more than the budgeted Â£11bn.
Baroness Margaret McDonagh, the chairman of Smart Energy GB, said that the installation of smart meters throughout the UK was a giant infrastructure project, and was similar in scope to the building of the HS2 rail line and the Olympic venues.
"As we know from experience, governments are not good at big infrastructure projects because it's not their business," she said.
"To do these things well, you need to be doing them all the time. When a body can focus on these things with a date in mind - like the Olympic delivery - they can achieve it on time and on budget."
She is calling for the government to appoint a chief executive from the private sector to run the project.
But the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has rejected the idea.
"Last year, an independent review on the smart meters programme backed the current delivery model, which is going to deliver the benefits of smart meters at the lowest possible cost to billpayers," said a spokesperson for the DECC.
It is hoped that smart meters will encourage consumers to be more selective on how they use energy by choosing, for example, to run the washing machine at a time when electricity charges are lower.
In the near future this will be even easier as the "internet of things" takes hold.  This means new devices will come onto the...

Summary: The UK-wide rollout of smart meters needs to be run by someone outside of government, the company set up to promote the project has said.
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Article: Robinson, 48, had been in charge of the club since 2006, winning two County Championship titles and four one-day trophies during his spell in Hove.
South Africa-born Davis, 44, spent five years playing for Sussex before joining the coaching staff in 2005.
"I'm very excited and honoured to be taking over," he said.
Robinson has previously spent time coaching England Lions and says leaving Sussex, with whom he ended his playing career, "is going to be a wrench".
He will join England women next month ahead of their tour to South Africa in early 2016.
"I'm obviously hugely excited about my new opportunity, but it goes hand in hand with a lot of sadness too," said Robinson.
"The club and the supporters will always have a special place in my heart and I wish the club stability and every success for the future."
Sussex were relegated from Division One of the County Championship last season, dropping into the second tier of first-class cricket for the first time since 2010, and the club appointed Luke Wright as their new captain last month.
Davis, who took 188 wickets and scored over 2,000 runs for Sussex between 2001 and 2005, is looking forward to "exciting challenges ahead".
"I'd like to thank Mark for everything and wish him well for his future role," he said.
"We will be working hard to continue with the values that Sussex stands for and to ensure that the county competes at the forefront of English cricket.
"We have a fantastic squad which has a good mix of youth and experience."

Summary: Sussex have appointed Mark Davis as their new head coach after cricket manager Mark Robinson left the club to become head coach of England women.
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Article: Wales has 735 of the councils handling over Â£43m of public money but only an estimated 30% received qualified audit opinions on their last accounts.
The warning comes as community councils are being asked to take on more services by cash-strapped county councils.
The auditor has had to warn some councils for "serious weaknesses."
"The accountability and scrutiny that comes with the use of public money is growing ever tighter," said Huw Vaughan Thomas, the Auditor General for Wales.
"Community councils are responsible for over Â£43m worth of funds and are likely to be devolved more responsibilities."
Community councils represent the first tier of local government in Wales, and are equivalent to parish councils in England.
They can hold the purse strings for local community buildings, parks, cemeteries, allotments and toilets.
The auditor's report suggested councils should:
The auditor's fifth annual report tells councils they are to implement a financial code of conduct and sets out what councils must to be compliant with regulations.
"I would urge them to undertake an investigation into their current practice to ensure they are compliant with their legal requirements before the 2016-17 audit reviews," added Mr Thomas.
"It is worrying to see that a number of councils have qualified opinions which are easily avoidable."
Nick Ramsay, chairman of the assembly's public accounts committee, said: "It is essential that these councils have robust and effective arrangements in place for financial management and governance.
"While many councils have good arrangements in place, the Auditor General's report shows that there is still much work to do to raise standards of financial management and governance across the sector."

Summary: Community councils have been urged to improve their financial management by the Auditor General for Wales.
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Article: The court said regulators were right to condemn the cost of its interchange fees - the fees retailers pay banks to process card payments - and has rejected an appeal.
Mastercard was investigated last year for the amount it charged for card transactions in Europe.
The company's president said the ruling was "disappointing".
Javier Perez, president of MasterCard Europe said despite that, the ruling would have "little or no impact on how MasterCard operates".
He said: "We will continue to comply with the decision as we have been doing for a number of years.  This means we would maintain our European... cross-border consumer interchange fees at a weighted average of 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit."
Mastercard is the second-largest credit and debit card company after Visa.
UK retailers welcomed the court's decision. Helen Dickinson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "We are delighted with this historic ruling.
"Capping these excessive and anti-competitive fees will support the UK retail industry and others, boosting our ability to invest and innovate while continuing to deliver lower prices and value for customers."
The decision ends MasterCard's seven-year battle against a decision made by the EU's competition watchdog.

Summary: The European Court of Justice has upheld a ruling that fees charged by Mastercard were anti-competitive.
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Article: The England centre, 24, whose deal at Welford Road runs out next summer, is attracting interest from several sides.
"We are having some very positive discussions with Manu and and we are very positive about him staying here," Cockerill told BBC Radio Leicester.
"Manu is world class. Clearly people are trying to lure him to smaller clubs by offering him huge amounts of money."
Reports had suggested Tuilagi had been offered £1.6 million over three years by Worcester Warriors, although Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan said on Wednesday there was no truth in the claims.
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young also said his club have made no move for the England centre, but Saracens, Bristol and Toulouse are also thought to be interested.
Samoa-born Tuilagi, who joined Leicester as a youngster and has since won 25 caps for England, has been offered a new deal by the Tigers.
"I didn't think other clubs were allowed to speak with him until 1 January, so that surprises me," Cockerill added.
"Manu is a sensible lad and I am sure we will come to a sensible conclusion and all indications are that it's the case.
"I am confident that Manu will stay. He has a lot of rugby left in him.
"He is a good lad. We have looked after him very well and we are confident he will stay a Leicester player."

Summary: