Was the Pakistan-based internet technology firm Axact doing what a New York Times International report last week accused it of doing - selling fake university degrees online?

Whatever the answer, the report could not have rocked Pakistan like it did if it was not for the fact that Axact, a software company, was planning to launch a multi-platform print and electronic media group called Bol (Speak Up).
This now seems to have been compromised.
In a damning report on 17 May, the New York Times revealed what it called "a vast education empire" of hundreds of American universities and schools offering online degrees in various disciplines.
The strange thing about it was that all the "glossy and assured" websites of these institutions - at least 370 in number - existed only "as stock photos on computer servers", the report claimed.
The one real thing about this internet empire "is the tens of millions of dollars in estimated revenue it gleans each year from many thousands of people around the world, all paid to a secretive Pakistani software company", the report said.
Axact has denied the allegations. The company's CEO, Shoaib Sheikh, in a message posted on video sharing website Dailymotion called it a conspiracy "to break our resolve, to derail Bol, to shut down Axact".
The message, titled "Shoaib Sheikh's last message before getting arrested", was posted on Tuesday, hours before he was taken in by the Federal Investigation Agency.
Speaking in Urdu, Mr Sheikh said: "They say we sell fake degrees and diplomas, but we only offer an educational platform, which integrates with our partnersâ€¦ If those partners own universities which are legitimate entities within their respective jurisdictions, then it is perfectly legitimate for us to manage their call centre services, their chat services and their document management services."
But despite the denials, the ground appears to be slipping from under Axact's impressive multi-storey office building in Karachi's upscale Defence area.
One apparent factor is the scale of the alleged fraud.
"There have long been rumours in IT and business circles about Axact's business model and quite how it was able to generate massive amounts of cash that the company appeared to be making," says a Dawn newspaper editorial on 22 May.
It further says: "No plausible explanations were offered by the company, and it routinely dismissed the allegations as nothing more than rivals' jealousies. Clearly, that status-quo is no longer tenable."
With the arrest of the five top executives of Axact, the apparent insinuation at the time appears to be that the multi-million rupee Bol empire is being funded by the fake degree scam.
But while investigations into this scam may be a top priority with the FIA, all eyes are on what happens to Bol.
The minute the NYT report hit the stands on 17 May, Pakistani TV channels went into overdrive in an apparent bid to drag down Bol, a menacing looking potential rival that Axact bosses said would change Pakistan's media landscape.
It was an uneasy reminder of the convulsive media wars of last year when most news channels ganged up to drag down Geo TV.
These wars are in turn a throwback to the lawyers' movement of 2007, when the media and protesters ganged together in common cause to weaken, and subsequently oust military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Flushed with that power, the electronic media spawned larger-than-life talk show hosts with immense clout in political and military circles, often assuming the role of power brokers and arbiters of disputes.
More than two years ago some of these star journalists started to leave their channels and seemingly pass into oblivion.
They were actually gathering at Bol - a high profile print and electronic media arm of Axact which had not yet gone on air.
But despite being off camera, they were being looked after very well.
Those in the leading roles were offered hefty salaries, houses, cars and fringe benefits that included fees for gyms, swimming clubs, medical cover and retirement support.
Nearly all of the more than 2,000 members of staff that Bol had hired until last week drew salaries that were three to four times greater than those holding equivalent positions elsewhere.
These staffers manned Bol's various TV channels (news, documentaries, entertainment etc), Urdu and English language newspapers, and Urdu and English language websites.
The momentum set by investigations into the fake degree scam finally caught up with Bol on Saturday when President and Editor-in-Chief of Axact's media group, Kamran Khan, tweeted he was quitting.
This triggered turmoil and confusion, and many more announced they were leaving.
Some of them said they were doing it for "principles", others said they had been blinded by the glitter and now realised the dark side of it, but few said they were quitting because they feared a financial crunch.
But this is what most of them are being criticised for on social media now.
All of those who have quit so far are "star" journalists, who were placed in leadership roles. Most of them were instrumental in poaching 2,000 subordinate staff from rival media houses to fill positions such as desk editors, camera crew and support staff.
So while they have jumped the ship, they are seen by many as having abandoned their crew to an uncertain fate.


A Coleraine woman who was trolled online by her partner's ex-girlfriend has spoken out about the impact the abuse had on her.

Yvonne Hegarty, a special needs teaching assistant, described the abuse she received on a fake Facebook account as "horrendous".
Maureen Curoe, 42, was sentenced at Coleraine Magistrates' Court to four months in jail.
Curoe, of Pilot Street, Belfast, was released on bail ahead of an appeal.
Ms Hegarty said an initial post on Facebook in February 2013 related to her partner, Adrian.
Several months later, a Facebook profile was set-up under the name Gillian Morgan, which contained nothing but photographs of Yvonne Hegarty, her family and friends.
She told the BBC's Talkback programme: "Below nearly every photograph was a status saying: 'This is an alcoholic, this is a drug abuser, look at her with her pupils out drinking, she shouldn't have those children in her arms.'
"It was just endless. It was an absolute assassination of my character throughout my community.
"The police were notified at that time. A few weeks later I got death threats to my phone, again I went to the police and non-molestation orders were served."
Despite having a "great circle of friends and fantastic family" and receiving "fantastic support" from the community, Yvonne did worry that people would believe what was being written.
"There were times when I thought, well somebody's going to think there's something about this that's correct and real because here we have someone who is continually writing 50 posts a day about me and someone going to say 'well there must be something absolutely behind that'," she said.
"No-one would ever realise that there isn't actually anything behind it.
"It's just a completely vindictive person who obviously has so little in her life and became so consumed with mine that that was her occupation. I do believe her jealously became her weakness."
It also impacted on Ms Hegarty on a professional level.
"It was awful when she started to write that I had taken my disabled pupils out drinking. I have a good relationship with most of my pupils and their parents," she said.
"Then she started to contact parents from the school to tell them I was a drink and drug abuser. I had parents meet me in the street and in Asda to tell me she had contacted them privately by Facebook messenger.
"At one point she was writing so much stuff about me that we had to close down the school website for a week."
Ms Hegarty did not have a Facebook account but believes Curoe took photographs off the profiles of her family and friends.
She had little joy when she contacted Facebook about the fake Facebook profile.
"Adrian and I spent a lot of money contacting Facebook by phone and email and then we did it via solicitors and nothing, no response, to this very day posts that she wrote are still on her fake Facebook account," she said.
When Curoe was sentenced to four months in jail, Yvonne Hegarty said she was shocked and relieved.
"I just thought this has really ended. Everybody who was in the court will know and will have seen my reaction, it was just complete shock," she said.
"Words can't really explain the impact it had on my life.
"I think I used to be a lot more bubbly and outgoing than I am... I'm not really a social butterfly as I used to be.
"I know I've done nothing wrong and my community knows I've done nothing wrong."


An appeal has been launched to save a 17th Century artwork by a woodcarver famed for the realism of his work.

A total of £300,000 is needed to save the piece by Grinling Gibbons, which depicts King David playing a harp.
Staff at York's Fairfax House, who launched the Save the King appeal, have raised £240,000 and are appealing for public help to raise the remainder.
They say it will secure the future of the artwork, which has until now remained in private collections.
More on this and other local stories from across Yorkshire
Fairfax House director Hannah Phillip said Gibbons achieved immense fame during his career and was renowned for his ability to make his artwork come to life.
Gibbons, whose statue stands alongside the likes of JMW Turner and John Constable on the facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, is known as the Michelangelo of wood.
"This precious artwork is believed to be the earliest known work by Grinling Gibbons and is the only known sculpture from this master craftsman's time in York," she said.
She added the appeal aimed to secure the future of the artwork, which recently went on the international art market and was due to be sold.
However, its owners have offered to withdraw it from sale if Fairfax House - part of the York Civic Trust charity - can raise the necessary funds to acquire it.
Gibbons spent his formative years from 1667 to 1671 in York, perfecting his craft; his later career saw him becoming master-carver to Charles II.
His carving will feature in a forthcoming exhibition at Fairfax House, and will remain on permanent public display if the necessary funds are raised to acquire it.
To date, Fairfax House has raised just over £240,000 towards the appeal with £100,000 coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £100,000 from Art Fund and £42,500 from Arts Council England.


The cost of repairing Aberystwyth promenade and other locations in Ceredigion severely damaged by storms in early January has topped £1.5m.

Ceredigion council said the final cost could well be higher as it prepares for another high tide on 2 February.
The council has started talks with the Welsh government on submitting a bid to help fund the seafront's restoration.
On Tuesday, Welsh ministers said £2m was available to repair flood defences damaged by the storms.
Aberystwyth was one of the towns that was hardest hit by the heavy rain, strong winds and high tides that battered the Welsh coast between 3 and 6 January.
A Grade II-listed shelter partly fell into a hole after its foundations were washed away as massive waves pounded the seafront.
The 1920s landmark was badly damaged and has been dismantled for repair.
More than 200 volunteers armed with buckets and shovels helped start the clean up operation on the promenade on 11 January.
A Ceredigion council spokesman said; "The estimated costs associated with the immediate necessary work of clearing-up and repairs to assets amount to at least £1.5 million.
"We are in the process of collating all of these costs and the final figure could well exceed this estimated sum once all the information has been received."
The spokesman added that the local authority could access funds from three Welsh government sources but would have to match fund the money from its own reserves.
Meanwhile, promenade repairs are ongoing with workers trying to shore up defences due to fears that storms during a high tide on 2 February could cause more damage.
Tides of up to 7.8 metres (25ft), the second highest of the year, are forecast for the start of February.
The council aims to completely reopen the promenade to the public by Easter.


The family of a man who killed himself at a jail with the highest number of suicides in England and Wales say the prison has not "learned any lessons".

HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes had five suicides in 2015.
Relatives of Kevin Scarlett, who killed himself in 2013, claim there were missed opportunities to prevent his death and "nothing has changed" since.
Prison minister Andrew Selous MP said the jail launched a review into the way prisoners at risk were supported.
A Prisons and Probation Ombudsman report into the death also highlighted a number of concerns at HMP Woodhill.
Mr Selous said: "We make every effort to learn from each death."
Mr Scarlett, who was from Milton Keynes, was charged with armed robbery and remanded at Woodhill in January 2013.
He killed himself on 22 May that year, aged 29.
Read more on this and other stories from Buckinghamshire
Lee Jarman, his step-brother, said Mr Scarlett had a history of mental health problems.
"Staff were missing key indicators such as self-harming and he had made attempts on his life while in prison," he said.
"The family is angry because three years on they still haven't learnt any lessons about how to save lives."
Ministry of Justice figures showed 89 people took their own lives in prisons across England and Wales in 2015, with Woodhill having the highest number with five, followed by four each at Exeter, Ranby and Winchester.
The Howard League for Penal Reform said its research showed there needed to be more non-custodial sentencing for criminals who had not carried out violent offences.
Frances Crook, its director, said: "We are locking up a lot of fragile people who have mental health problems alone for hours and it is very dangerous.
"Overcrowding is so bad, staff simply don't have time to talk to people and build relationships with prisoners."
Mr Selous said: "Following the death of Kevin Scarlett, HMP Woodhill reviewed the way prisoners at risk are supported and have introduced a number of measures to help prevent other self-inflicted deaths, including improved staff training and a new task force."


More should be done to help deaf people into work in Wales, a charity has said.

Action on Hearing Loss Cymru said its south east Wales support service is one-of-a-kind with nothing similar elsewhere in Wales.
It said "demand outweighs supply" for its two advisers and the referral process is "problematic".
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it had a number of relevant "tailored" services and funded others for those who need extra help.
Action on Hearing Loss estimates 4% of the Welsh workforce - about 84,000 people - are deaf or wear hearing aids.
The charity's employment service, which is funded by the DWP, has run for two years and received 29 referrals.
It has now been extended until December.
The charity told the Eye on Wales programme it had been "overwhelmed with demand" and, without it, there would be "no support for deaf people looking for work in Wales".
Richard Williams, director of the charity in Wales, said: "Demand is far outweighing supply and our two advisors are currently only able to support clients in the south east Wales area.
"No support is available throughout the rest of Wales for deaf clients.
"The referral process is also problematic; jobseekers must be referred by their Disability Employment Advisor (DEA) on the first Monday of every month by telephone call, which creates a further barrier for those people looking for work."
Of the 29 people referred so far, six have gone into long-term employment and several more are still on the programme.
Construction worker Jack Griffiths, 25, of Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, who was born profoundly deaf, found his confidence "ebbing away" when he struggled to find work.
"Nobody was keener to get into work than me. And when you hear 'no' all the time, constant disappointment - it becomes a hard struggle to keep on applying," he said.
But he managed to get a job at Willis Construction in Cardiff after getting help from the charity.
"I feel better about myself. I am learning," he said. "When you're not working, you're not learning or progressing."
The charity's research suggests people who are deaf or hard of hearing are four times more likely to be unemployed than a hearing person.
"Every month our advisors are approached by deaf people desperate for support in finding employment but did not make it through the referral system and will have to wait another month," Mr Williams said.
The DWP said it was "committed to helping disabled people" to find and stay in work.
"As well as tailored help available through the Personal Support Package and Access to Work, our Jobcentre Plus disability employment advisors are working with thousands of people every day to provide the extra support that they need," a spokeswoman said.
"We recognise there will be some people who need even more specialist help. That's exactly why we fund organisations such as Action on Hearing Loss in Wales through the Specialist Employability Support programme and we're currently considering how to extend this support in the future."
The Welsh Government said it was in the process of refreshing its Framework for Action on Independent Living, a programme designed to help remove barriers for people with disabilities, including on employment.
"We are working with the DWP to raise awareness amongst employers and disabled people of the Access to Work scheme, which provides equipment and other support, including communication support,  so deaf and disabled people can access the same employment opportunities as everyone else," a spokeswoman added.
For more on this story listen to Eye on Wales, BBC Radio Wales, at 12:30 BST on Sunday 9 July


Hungary's parliament has approved the automatic detention of all asylum seekers in container camps at the country's borders, prompting "deep concern" from the UN Refugee Agency.

The legislation was approved by a large majority of lawmakers.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was a response to recent terror attacks in Europe carried out by migrants.
Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for 450 new border police, he said Hungary was "under siege".
"The migration flow has only slowed, but it is not over," Mr Orban said. "We have gained time to strengthen our lines of defence."
He called immigration "the Trojan horse of terrorism", adding: "If the world sees that we can defend our borders... then no one will try to come to Hungary illegally".
The prime minister said the arrival of Muslim migrants endangers Europe's Christian culture and identity.
"Those readying for the journey do not want to live according to our ways and culture, but according to their own - only with a European quality of life," he said in Budapest.
Under the new measures, all asylum seekers entering Hungary - and those currently in the country - will be confined in camps built from shipping containers while their asylum applications are processed.
Appeals against rejected applications will be fast-tracked, and those denied entry may have to cover their own detention costs.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have raised grave concerns about the crackdown, calling it "xenophobic, fear-mongering propaganda".
"There are hardly 400 asylum seekers in the country," said a statement issued by seven groups, including Amnesty International Hungary, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, and MigSzol, the Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary.
Gauri Van Gulik, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Europe, said the move was "beyond the pale".
"These measures will even be applied to children, a flagrant violation of international and European law," she said.
"Dumping all refugees and migrants into containers isn't a refugee policy - it's avoiding one."
The UN Refugee Agency said it was "deeply concerned" about the detention of asylum seekers.
"This new law ... will have a terrible physical and psychological impact on women, children and men who have already greatly suffered," it said in a statement.
Hungary's nationalist prime minister has maintained a hardline stance on migration for some years.
In 2015, when the country became a transit state for asylum seekers en route to Germany and other EU nations, he responded by building razor wire fences on the borders with Serbia and Croatia.
Some 400,000 migrants passed through Hungary that year before the fences were in place.
A second, 150km (93 mile) fence on the Serbian border is scheduled for completion in May, equipped with night cameras and heat and movement sensors.
In October last year, Hungary held a referendum on whether to accept mandatory EU quotas for relocating migrants.
The EU had asked it to accept 1,294 refugees.
The referendum was ultimately invalid, as while 98% of those who took part wanted to reject the EU plan, the turnout fell short of the required 50% threshold.
In 2016, Hungary registered 29,432 asylum claims and accepted just 425 asylum seekers.
By contrast, Germany took in 280,000 in 2016.


Proposals for new laws to improve the way the NHS and social care services are run and work together in Wales have been published by the Welsh Government.

Plans include a "duty of quality" for health boards and replacing community health councils with stronger bodies for patient voices.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said it would "ensure our health and social care services are fit for the future".
A consultation will now run for the next three months.
The plans in a White Paper were published jointly by Mr Gething and social services minister Rebecca Evans.
They also include:
It follows criticism by an influential international body - the OECD -  which claimed health boards and social care services in Wales were not working well enough together.
The OECD also wanted a better system of inspection and regulation within the NHS and social care in Wales.
Mr Gething said he believed the proposals would "make a real difference" by putting people at the centre of how health and care services are delivered.
"It will also enable health and social care organisations to work together and across boundaries to ensure they deliver the very best care for people across Wales," he added.


Open University (OU) staff have voted to strike over up to 500 job losses and the closure of seven offices.

Regional centres in Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Gateshead, Leeds, London and Oxford are to shut.
Members may also strike at OU offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Manchester and Nottingham.
The University and College Union (UCU), said managers were alone in thinking the plans were a good idea.  The OU said it was disappointed over the vote.
It said it wanted to work with union members constructively.
A spokesman for the Milton Keynes-based university, said: "We do not believe industrial action will lead to anything positive, either for our staff or students.
"The proposals to replace seven smaller support centres in England with three larger centres would allow us to invest more in student support."
UCU branch members will meet next week to decide when the strike will take place and how long they would walk out.
A spokesman also said the meeting would decide if all OU branches would walk out or whether it would be confined to those due to close.
Pauline Collins, of the UCU, said: "The only people who still seem to think that axing 500 jobs and closing down seven regional Open University centres is a good idea are the senior managers.
"The academic body at the university rejected the plans at its senate meeting and now the staff have given an overwhelming mandate for strike action for the first time in its history.
"We hope managers will now see sense and work with us to deliver changes that will not be so devastating for the staff, students or future of the Open University."


Yorkshire have qualified for the One-Day Cup knockout stages despite a five-wicket defeat by Warwickshire.

Captain Ian Bell made 98, aided by Jonathan Trott (70), Sam Hain (55) and Rikki Clarke's unbeaten 44 as the Bears reached 284-5 with 15 balls to spare.
Earlier, Yorkshire lost Adam Lyth to Keith Barker (2-39) to the first ball of the game before Joe Root scored 83.
Tim Bresnan made 65 and Matthew Waite 71 but the hosts, led by Grant Thornton (3-63), restricted Yorkshire to 281-8.
Yorkshire slip to second, replaced at the top of the North Group by Worcestershire, who beat Durham, but their 10 points from seven matches means they cannot now slip outside the top three.
One-Day Cup holders Warwickshire, who had previously won just once in seven group games, made the perfect start when Lyth was caught behind for a golden duck.
Jonny Bairstow fell to Clarke for eight and when England team-mate Root was fifth man out for a 98-ball 83, Yorkshire were 149-5.
But Bresnan and Waite shared a sixth-wicket stand of 116 to push the visitors to respectable total.
In reply, Trott and Hain put on 124 for the first wicket in 20 overs before Bell, fresh from his first century in 13 months against Worcestershire on Friday, hit a much more rapid 98 from 85 balls, including three sixes and 11 fours.
Despite Warwickshire's struggles, Bell has been in fine form in the One-Day Cup. He has passed 50 four times in eight games, having scored 51 against Notts, 93 at Derby and 104 at Worcester.
Clarke's 49-ball unbeaten 44 eased Warwickshire home to move off the bottom of the North Group in their final game.
Warwickshire spinner Jeetan Patel told BBC WM:
"We have come off a run of a few really bad losses and some that were quite tight but credit to the guys for the way they came out.
"We wanted to bowl well, field well and bat well and those three knocks from Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Sam Hain were fantastic.
"Keith Barker bowled 10 really good overs up front and got us two crucial wickets and then Rikki Clarke got that third one for us.
"Grant Thornton bowled really well which is where we need to get to. We are an ageing teams with a lot of experience but we need to be able to trust the younger guys."
Yorkshire all-rounder Matthew Waite told BBC Radio Leeds:
"It was disappointing to lose but we are still in a good position. We have got Leicestershire on Tuesday so hopefully we can beat them at Headingley.
"I enjoyed my innings. It was just a shame we didn't win. But it was nice to get my first 50 for Yorkshire. I got 40 last week against Northants and that gave me a bit of confidence coming in.
"It's just nice to be in a side with six internationals and pleasing to know I that I can play in a side that good. Tim Bresnan has given me a lot of help. He just told me to stand still and hit the ball. Just that little bit of advice can make all the difference"


HSBC has announced plans to create 500 new roles in Scotland.

The banking giant said it was expanding parts of its Scottish operations, including its global risk business which was established in Edinburgh in 2015.
It will also create new posts in its centre of excellence for customer contact in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
The bank added that the jobs would be phased in over the next six to nine months.
The expansion programme will increase HSBC's headcount in Scotland to 4,500.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who visited HSBC's global risk operations in Edinburgh, said the move was "fantastic news for the economy".
She added: "This is testament to our skills and expertise and builds on HSBC's significant business presence here.
"Scotland remains open for business and this announcement further demonstrates our position as a prime location for investment and growth."
The announcement comes days after HSBC launched a Â£500m lending fund to support small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland.
Alison McGregor, chief executive of HSBC in Scotland, said: "This expansion programme spans different locations, skills and disciplines, supporting lots of communities in different ways.
"We are absolutely committed to helping businesses and individuals to achieve their ambitions.
"The successful establishment of our global risk function demonstrates that Scotland has the talent we need and HSBC is a place that talented people want to work."


You could easily grow fond of the retail mall in central Brasilia.

Even a visitor who detests shopping can admire the building's quirkiness, a semi-arch that seems almost to fall on to the pavement, embodying the modernist curves which define architecture in Brazil's capital.
This is a city that was constructed virtually from scratch in the 1950s and which is supposed to proclaim the new, progressive side of the country.
Yet the man I had come to meet at the mall had a story as old as his country's creation: "When you bid for a government contract in Brazil, they usually say 'what can you do for us? What can you do to make this contract a win-win for all of us?' They want a percentage of the contractâ€¦which means bribes."
His company designed software, successfully by all accounts. Yet the compromises required to win that all-important government business had driven him to despair and he eventually quit the industry altogether.
"I didn't want to play the game, but I knew the game would always be there."
Corruption has been in Brazil for a long time. Some historians trace it back to dodgy dealing during the slave trade, a business often conducted illicitly as well as immorally.
There is even a phrase in the local Portuguese dialect "Jeitinho Brasileiro" which loosely translates as "the Brazilian way of doing things".
This can be said admiringly to suggest an ability to solve problems creatively.
Underlying the phrase, however, is a sense that if a problem does have to be solved, it is OK to cut corners and perhaps break the law just to get things done.
And there have been an awful lot of corruption laws broken in Brazil, it seems.
Congress recently voted to proceed with impeachment of the President, Dilma Rousseff, following allegations that members of her ruling Workers' Party had siphoned cash from the state oil company, Petrobas.
However, many of those accusing the president are themselves being investigated for embezzlement, money laundering or other financial skulduggery.
In the midst of such rampant collective larceny, it might seem odd to find optimism among anti-corruption campaigners.
Yet Fabiano Angelico from Transparency International, an independent anti-corruption organisation, says that the sheer number of politicians facing investigation is a sign that the system is finally working.
"We have built strong institutions," he says. "The federal police, the federal prosecutors, they share information with other countries."
What also might sound surprising is that Congress itself is funding some ground-breaking anti-corruption initiatives - turkeys not only voting for Christmas, you might say, but paying for the festive meal as well.
In a collection of rooms directly under the parliamentary debating chamber, a project called "Hackers Lab" is developing new computer programmes and apps to detect corrupt behaviour.
It makes use of all the published data about politicians and their spending, and then cross-references this with other information, like who owns the companies which the government uses - from major contractors right down to the taxi companies which ferry them around.
"The Brazilian government is actually very transparent," says Cristiano Ferri, Hackers Lab's founder and director.
"All the information about how they spend their money is available online."
The problem, Ferri believes, is not one of deeds being hidden. Rather, he says, it is a matter of impunity.
"Everyone in Brazil knows how things are, but we don't have enough punishment."
The recent scandals have led to a few high-profile business figures receiving long prison sentences.
Politicians, however, are harder to prosecute, as membership of Congress confers immunity from normal legal process.
Indeed, cynics have suggested that more than a few have sought political office precisely in order to acquire such protection.
Members of Congress can be charged by Brazil's Supreme Court, though this is seen as a highly-politicised institution.
Many remain unconvinced that a prosecution would be successful, however strong the evidence of malfeasance.
If criminal cases against politicians do go ahead, no-one will be happier perhaps than Luma Poletti, a writer for the website "Congress in Focus".
They were digging up evidence of congressional mischief long before the current run of scandals, proving back in 2009 that members used public funds to buy airline tickets for their families, yet those they exposed held on to power.
"They stay in the Congress for decades - it's frustrating," Luma says, standing outside the Congress building.
She is another who sees signs of progress, the recent scandals, she believes, may prove a catalyst for more investigation and more prosecution.
Yet she fears the Jeitinho Brasileiro attitude is deep-rooted, and will not change any time soon.
"Corruption has been in our society for so many years, people have just gotten used to it."
And with that she walks back into Congress, to carry on digging.
@BBCPaulMoss


Wales striker Craig Davies struck a second-half brace as Bolton inflicted the worst home defeat on Cardiff City under Russell Slade.

After a goalless first half, Eidur Gudjohnsen fired the Trotters in front from 12 yards before Davies doubled their lead four minutes later.
He then scored his 10th goal of the season with a powerful shot as Bolton did the double over the Bluebirds.
It was the Wanderers' first win away from home in eight league matches.
Cardiff remain 13th in the table, three points above Bolton who are still 16th.
Both sides started the match brightly in an open first half.
Bolton midfielder Barry Bannan blocked Cardiff striker Eoin Doyle's goal-bound shot on the line.
At the other end, Bluebirds defender Sean Morrison headed Dorian Dervite's header clear with goalkeeper David Marshall beaten.
The breakthrough came 10 minutes into the second half. Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey chested the ball down to Gudjohnsen, who volleyed the ball into the top corner.
Heskey, 37, turned provider again four minutes later, sliding the ball through to Davies who fired a powerful low shot into the corner to make it 2-0.
The 29-year-old then latched onto Bannan's pass inside the area before bending the ball inside Marshall's left-hand post.
Marshall denied Davies a hat-trick, rushing out to block his goal-bound effort with his legs.
Cardiff manager Russell Slade:
"We're hugely disappointed because there haven't been many bad results in recent weeks.
"Even in the first half, many of us didn't see that coming but they were ruthless in the way they took their chances and when we had those windows of opportunity we weren't ruthless.
"They have a wealth of experience and their finishing was clinical which proved to be the difference today.
"We could say things could have been different if we still had Kenwyne Jones [on loan to Bournemouth] because we were getting balls into the box with quality."
Bolton manager Neil Lennon on strike duo Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey:
Media playback is not supported on this device
"You never lose the ability even if the legs start to go. But if you have got legs around them then it's OK.
"They've made a huge contribution to what we are trying to do, on and off the field. Heskey has been a model of consistency and Eidur still has plenty left.
"His motivation is to get back into the Iceland squad, he's done that and scored for his country which is a great story.
"It's a great example to a lot of players in the Championship, there were a few eyebrows raised and a few sniggers behind our backs when we brought these two in, but people aren't laughing now."


A new bill introduced in the US House of Representatives proposes to limit the entry of highly-skilled workers into the country to stop companies "replacing" American workers.

Indian media organisations have described the move as a big setback to the IT industry and the Indian government has conveyed its concerns to the US administration.
H-1B is a type of US visa that allows skilled foreigners - mostly technology workers - to work in the US.
The applicants must have at least a bachelor's degree, with a master's degree required for 20,000 of the 85,000 H-1B visas issued annually.
This non-immigrant visa lets a firm employ foreigners for up to six years in positions for which they have been unable to find American employees.
The H-1B visa holders can apply for permanent residency in the US and buy property in the country.
In 2016, Richard Verma, then US ambassador to India, said an estimated 70% of these visas go to Indian citizens.
However, the demand for these visas is three times higher, and H-1B visas are allocated by a lottery system.
Several bills and a draft executive order are attempting changes to - or curbs on - the H-1B programme.
The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, introduced last week in the House of Representatives by California lawmaker Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat, calls for replacing the lottery system with a preference for companies that can pay the highest salaries.
It suggests raising the effective minimum wage for an H-1B visa holder to over $130,000, more than double the current $60,000 level established in 1989. Exemptions, though allowed, are rare.
The bill says the visa programme "has allowed replacement of American workers by outsourcing companies with cheaper H-1B workers" and aims to end the "abuse" of the programme.
"My legislation refocuses the H-1B programme to its original intent - to seek out and find the best and brightest from around the world, and to supplement the US workforce with talented, highly paid, and highly skilled workers who help create jobs here in America, not replace them," Rep Lofgren said on her website.
The proposed new legislation mainly targets companies not based in the US that bring in foreign employees on the visa quota.
The doubling of the minimum wage applies to "visa dependent employers" or companies with more than 15% of US employees on H-1B visas.
It excludes American firms such as IBM or Accenture, allowing them to bring in H-1B holders at the older minimum wage, because they would have less than 15% of US employees on H-1B visas.
This effectively targets Indian outsourcing firms and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has described it as "discriminatory".
"The new bill does not treat all IT companies with H-1B visa holders equally," Shivendra Singh, vice-president and head of global trade development at Nasscom, told the BBC.
"If the objective is to protect American workers, then this bill will defeat that objective. Companies that are not dependant on H-1B visas will continue to bring in skilled workers on lower wages which will nullify the whole objective of saving US jobs."
Amar Ambani, the head of research of India Infoline, said the bill would be bad news for the Indian economy as it "comes at a time when India's IT sector is already facing challenges to improve their margins and profitability".
With the new bill targeting "visa dependant employers", it is primarily Indian firms such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro which will be affected.
On Tuesday, stocks of Indian software exporters plunged - TCS's shares fell 4.47%, Infosys's declined 2% and Wipro's 1.62%.
American firms employing Indians on H-1Bs are excluded from the "visa dependant employer" definition.
Other countries such as China and Singapore may also be affected, but to a much lesser degree, and they may have other alternatives.
Singapore, for instance, has the H-1B1, similar to an H-1B but especially for citizens of that country under a free trade agreement between the two nations.
If the bill does become law, options before India could include retaliatory action, given that major portions of India's technology markets are dominated by American firms such as Google, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Apple, as well as consulting and services firms such as IBM and Accenture.
Experts say India will probably wait and watch for now, as this is simply a bill at this stage and chances of it becoming law are low, though not zero.
There could be lobbying by Indian associations or the government to pitch for a "level playing field" so any new norms apply to all firms employing H-1B workers, and not just Indian firms.
Any retaliatory action could impact American firms given the size of India's computer and smartphone market - India has a billion mobile phones, of which more than 300 million are smartphones, projected to double to over 600 million by 2019.
Also, in recent months, India has made a major push towards internet connectivity and digital payments which would mean more opportunities for American and global firms.
India and US have a joint target of $500bn bilateral trade and experts say it may not be easy for the US to ignore India's concerns.


This summer Newsround is marking the 70th anniversary of the partition of India, which led to the births of the separate nations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

We'll follow British children as they trace their family history and learn how their families were affected by partition.
We're looking for kids aged 6-13 who are keen to trace their family story, and could travel with Newsround to film in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
For more information, or if you would be interested in taking part, get a parent or guardian to email NewsroundPlanning@bbc.co.uk or call 0161 836 0648.


A group of Jewish people celebrating the Jewish New Year were allegedly threatened by a man wielding an axe, police have said.

Officers were called to Bury Old Road in Greater Manchester, home to a large Orthodox Jewish community, who were celebrating Rosh Hashanah on Monday.
A man, aged 45, was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated offence and possessing an offensive weapon.
He has been bailed until 31 October.


A Scottish worker deported from Kyrgyzstan has said police there warned him a joke about a traditional sausage could have led to war with the UK.

Michael McFeat from Perthshire was expelled by the Kyrgyz authorities after comparing the national dish with the private parts of a horse.
Speaking to the Sunday Post newspaper, Mr McFeat described how he was helped to escape "a lynch mob".
He has now been banned from Kyrgyzstan for five years.
Mr McFeat told the newspaper he actually believed the traditional Kyrgyz dish - chuchuk sausage - was a horse's penis, but the remark on Facebook angered his local colleagues.
He had been working at the Kumtor gold mine, but had to be smuggled away after the incident.
When he arrived at Manas Airport in Bishkek, he was arrested by police under race hatred laws.
Mr McFeat said: "The police told me my act could send Kyrgyzstan to war with the UK."
After appearing in court and making an apology for his remarks, Mr McFeat was put on a flight to Edinburgh.
He added: "I was told there was a 17-page petition demanding I be jailed and the mine went on strike after I left, so they were making an example of me.
"I've always been up for a joke but this was one time I wasn't joking and it's been blown out of proportion."


AMs will choose who will chair assembly committee in a secret ballot, Presiding Officer Elin Jones has announced.

Previously party groups or leaders chose which individuals chaired committees - a system that led to internal disputes.
This included the removal of Lord Elis-Thomas as environment committee chair after he criticised Leanne Wood.
The move follows calls for reform and brings the assembly into line with Westminster.
There, MPs elect the chairs of select committees.
Ms Jones said: "The business committee's decision to allow a secret ballot to elect assembly chairs is in keeping with my pledge as Llywydd [presiding officer] to safeguard the interests of all assembly members and treat them all equally.
"The decision not only demonstrates the business committee's commitment to upholding that principle, but also its intention to pursue procedural reform where necessary to ensure that the people of Wales get the democracy they demand and deserve."
Nick Ramsay, Conservative AM for Monmouth who himself has been sacked from a committee chairmanship in the past, tweeted that the move was a "step forward in strengthening scrutiny".


Rescuers have found all 26 children who went missing in the Brecon Beacons.

The children, in their mid teens and from St Albans, Hertfordshire, got lost around Llyn y Fan Fach, near Abercraf.
Andrew Evans of Western Beacons Mountain Rescue Team said a rescue helicopter located the missing groups and every child has either made their way off the mountain or are on their way down.
They have been taken to hospital for a precautionary check-up.
The alarm was raised at about 13:00 BST after the groups got lost in clouds while doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman said: "We are pleased to confirm that following the search and rescue operation on the Brecon Beacons this afternoon, all 26 members of the party involved have been accounted for."
The Welsh Ambulance Service said: "26 patients were taken to Ystradgynlais Community Hospital for a precautionary check-up. None of their injuries are believed to be serious."
Mark Moran from Central Beacons Mountain Rescue said his team had been in intermittent phone contact with the four groups before the first group was found.
Twelve rescuers from Western Beacons, Central Beacons and Brecon mountain rescue teams were involved in the search.
Mr Evans added: "This kind of thing does happen from time to time with groups doing their group Duke of Edinburgh."


Air strikes in northern Syria have killed at least 25 members of a prominent jihadist group, including senior figures, monitors say.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it is not clear who carried out the attack against the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, formerly known as Nusra Front.
Russia and Turkey say the group is not included in a ceasefire deal in Syria.
Meanwhile, rebel groups say they are halting preparations for peace talks.
A statement signed by a number of groups cited "many big breaches" by the Syrian government and its allies as a reason.
The ceasefire was brokered by Turkey and Russia last Thursday and has mostly held since then. Peace talks were planned for later this month in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The Syrian Observatory said it could not determine if the strikes, in the countryside of Idlib province, were carried out by the US-led coalition or Russia.
Among the dead were leading members of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was holding a meeting there, the Observatory added, without identifying them. Many others were wounded, it said.
Abu Anas al-Shami, a Jabhat Fateh al-Sham spokesman, said in a statement the attacks were carried out by the US-led coalition.
"The headquarters targeted by the international coalition a short time ago are a main headquarters for that area and contains a number branch offices, leading to the killing of the brothers," he said in a statement quoted by Reuters news agency.
Jabhat Fateh al-Sham changed its name last July and announced it was splitting from al-Qaeda.
Members of the group are currently operating as part of a rebel alliance that controls Idlib province, the main rebel stronghold after eastern Aleppo was retaken by Syrian government forces last month.
As well as the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the ceasefire deal excludes so-called Islamic State (IS) and the Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia, according to the Syrian army, but the exclusion  is disputed by the rebels.


A tribunal involving a charity worker sacked after his bosses saw footage of him wrestling a shark while he was off sick, will not go ahead.

Paul Marshallsea, 62, from Merthyr Tydfil, grabbed the shark by the tail as it swam towards children and dragged it to deeper water off Bulcock Beach, Australia, last year.
He hit the headlines but Pant and Dowlais Boys and Girls Club sacked him.
The two sides have reached a settlement but the details are not known.
Mr Marshallsea went on extended sick leave from his Â£18,000-a-year job with wife Wendy, 56, when the incident took place in January last year. They had worked at the club for 10 years.
The couple visited friends on a two-month break in Australia and were having a barbecue on the beach when a fin was spotted in the water.
Former coal merchant Mr Marshallsea ran into the sea where he was filmed dragging the 6ft-long (1.8m) dusky whaler shark into deeper water.
A dusky whaler shark is considered potentially dangerous to humans, according to experts.
At the time, Mr Marshallsea described what happened.
"When I got the shark to just over knee deep he turned on me and just missed me with a bite," he said.
"The shark nearly took my leg off in a split second - it was that quick."
The dramatic scenes on the Sunshine Coast were caught on video by an Australian TV news team filming nearby.
Mr Marshallsea added: "Where this shark actually came ashore, it is shallow for about five or six yards, and a lot of babies and toddlers splash about there - it could have been very nasty.
"My instincts took over and I just grabbed the shark by the tail.
"I know it was dangerous but it almost looked beautiful - you have got to have respect for a beautiful animal."
But Mr Marshallsea was stunned when he returned home from Queensland and found a letter of dismissal waiting for him.
It read: "Whilst unfit to work you were well enough to travel to Australia where you allegedly grabbed a shark by the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the way.
"The breakdown of the trustees' confidence and trust in you and your ability to perform the role is so great that we find that dismissal is the only course of action we can recommend."


Talent shows Let It Shine and The Voice went head to head last night in the battle for Saturday night television.

The Voice has moved over from the BBC to ITV this year and there were a couple of new changes to the line-up. Sir Tom Jones has returned to the show after a years absence while Oscar winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson and rock-star Gavin Rossdale are new additions.
The BBC have launched their new singing show called Let It Shine in which Gary Barlow is leading the search for the cast of a Take That musical.
We wanted to know if you tuned in to either of the shows last night and which one you think won the battle for Saturday night TV?
Your Comments
Last night I watched both Let It Shine and The Voice but by far I would rather watch Let It Shine as it is so different and I really enjoyed
Kitty, London
I preferred The Voice because there was a lot more talent and it was more interesting to watch.
Olivia, Staffordshire
I preferred Let It Shine as it has a new way of voting.
Charlie, Cheshire
I enjoyed watching Let It Shine but nothing can beat the spinning chairs on The Voice!!
Mia, Bournemouth
I was watching The Voice because it's amazing!
Dylan, Greater Manchester
I preferred Let It Shine because it was brand new and a lot better than the voice, which is just getting repetitive.
Marley, Hull
I watched Let It Shine because the Voice is not that interesting.
William, Cambridge
I was watching The Voice as it was more appealing but the commercial breaks did get annoying.
Tara, Leicester
I think that The Voice is better because it's really funny when all the judges start arguing over a contestant.
Ibrahim, Hull
I watched Let It Shine last night but normally I would watch The Voice
Lizzie, UK
I watched both of the shows. I preferred Let it shine last night. I think Let it shine won the battle for Saturday night TV.
Jack
I much prefer The Voice because I've seen it for 4 years and I really love it. I love it because I think it is really competitive and the singers have better voices than on the other shows.
George, Buckinghamshire
I preferred the voice last night, I'm so glad Sir Tom Jones's back!!
Daisy, Norfolk


This week, Newsround is looking at mental health problems and why it is really important to talk about how we're feeling.

27 March 2017 Last updated at 16:46 BST
Poet and author Michael Rosen explains how drawing helped him to open up about his feelings when his son died.
"I didn't really talk about it for quite a long time. It was kind of bottled up inside me," he said.
But he explains how drawing and writing helped him to get his feelings out.
"In a funny sort of way, I felt free and I felt better," he added.
To find out more about what a difference talking about our feelings can make, read this guide about why opening up about mental health can be difficult - but why it's really important to talk.


Debris found on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion is to be transported to France to find out whether it is from the missing flight MH370, Malaysia's prime minister has said.

Initial reports suggest the two-metre long object is very likely to be from a Boeing 777, Najib Razak said.
The Malaysia Airlines flight - a Boeing 777 - vanished while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.
The search has focused on part of the southern Indian Ocean east of Reunion.
Oceanographer David Griffin, of Australia's national science agency, told the BBC that the location of the find was "consistent with where we think debris might have turned up".
There were 239 passengers and crew on board the plane when it went missing.
Mr Najib said French authorities were taking the debris to the southern French city of Toulouse - the site of the nearest office of the French body responsible for air accident investigations (the BEA) - to verify it as quickly as possible.
He said the location was consistent with drift analysis provided to Malaysian investigators.
"As soon as we have more information or any verification we will make it public. I promise the families of those lost that whatever happens, we will not give up."
Malaysia has sent a team of investigators and other officials to Toulouse and another team of experts to Reunion - a French overseas department.
Will this solve aviation mystery?
Aviation experts who have studied photos of the debris found on Reunion on Wednesday say it does resemble a flaperon - a moving part of the wing surface - from a Boeing 777.
All aircraft parts carry a serial number which should aid identification.
On Thursday, a municipal employee found what appeared to be part of a very badly damaged suitcase on the Reunion coast, according to local media (in French).
The item was found at Saint-Andre, the same location as the earlier debris, and by the same man.
A French police helicopter is now scouring waters around Reunion for other debris.
Search efforts for MH370, led by Australia, are focused on an area west of the Australian city of Perth - about 4,000km east of Reunion.
The Australian government has described the discovery of the wreckage as "a very significant development".
The wife of the in-flight supervisor for the missing plane, Jacquita Gonzales, told the BBC that she was "torn" by the news.
"A part of me hopes that it is [MH370] so that I could have some closure and bury my husband properly but the other part of me says 'No, no, no' because there is still hope," she told the BBC by phone.
Missing Malaysia plane: What we know
After MH370 disappeared from radar screens, experts analysed data from faint "pings" the aircraft sent to satellites to narrow down its possible location.
More than half of those on board the plane were Chinese citizens.
A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said: "We have noticed the reports and are wasting no time in obtaining and checking the information."
A group of relatives of many of the Chinese passengers said in a statement that they wanted "100%" certainty about where the part is from, and that the search for the airliner should continue.
I am told that Boeing's engineers will be able to tell from the shape of the wreckage if it's from a 777 aircraft.
Second, it may have a data tag with a serial number. That will be directly traceable to MH370. Even if there isn't a tag, it should have a traceable manufacturer's stamp.
A very experienced investigator has told me it could have come off in a controlled ditching, where the pilot would have the flaps down and it would be vulnerable if it hit the sea. Equally it could have disintegrated at altitude.
Finally, there is some confusion over the serial number. Originally it was reported as BB670. Now it's suggested the number was BB657. According to the 777 maintenance manual that is the "right wing flaperon".
Follow Richard: @BBCwestcott
The tenacious deep-sea hunt for MH370


Lance Armstrong believes Brian Cookson has not delivered on his campaign promises since taking over at the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Cookson, the ex-head of British Cycling, beat Ireland's Pat McQuaid in a bitter election in late 2013.
But Armstrong is unimpressed with what he has seen of the president so far.
"If McQuaid had made the same decisions Cookson has made in his first year, he would have been lynched," said the disgraced cyclist.
"Do we like what we have got so far?"
Armstrong cited the decisions to "rush" through Team Sky's request for Chris Froome to get emergency steroid treatment for asthma after the Tour de Romandie's prologue and Cookson's handling of the Astana affair as failures to signal a new direction at the top of the sport.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Astana, the team for which Armstrong rode during his second comeback in 2009, have been mired in controversy ever since five riders in their system failed drugs tests in a matter of months last year.
Many observers expected the UCI to revoke the team's WorldTour licence but after weeks of speculation the Kazakhstan-based outfit were given another chance in December.
Run by Alexander Vinokourov, a contemporary of Armstrong's, Astana remain on probation and their anti-doping practices are being independently vetted, but the episode was widely seen as a challenge that Cookson ducked.
And with Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali riding for Astana, the sport had once again left itself vulnerable to ridicule.
Speaking to the BBC in his first TV interview for two years, Armstrong said "everybody thinks" Astana should have been thrown out, but he accepted that Cookson's hands might have been tied by the UCI's rules.
He was less understanding, though, on the 63-year-old's failure to force the likes of Vinokourov, Tinkoff-Saxo's Bjarne Riis and other controversial team managers still in the sport, to cooperate with the panel set up by the UCI to investigate the sport's murky past.
Armstrong has talked to the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (Circ) twice and is now waiting to see if his efforts will be rewarded with a recommendation that his lifetime ban from sport should be reduced.
That ban was given out by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) in 2012 when Armstrong failed to cooperate with its investigation into the teams with whom he won his seven Tour de France titles. He was also stripped of those victories.
Any decision on reducing the ban rests with Usada, which might mean Armstrong is left disappointed, but he is angry that his peers have not been compelled to talk to Circ.
"If I'm Brian Cookson, I would make it a deal point that you have to come in and talk," he said.
"So if Riis doesn't talk to you, or Vinokourov doesn't, there should be consequences. I don't know those to be examples, but I can imagine.
"If you don't come in to talk, you don't just get passed."
When asked for a reaction, Riis's team Tinkoff-Saxo said he has never refused to meet Circ and it wanted to respect the confidentiality of the process, while the UCI said it would wait until Circ's report is finished before commenting.
The three-man panel is expected to complete its year-long investigation in the coming weeks, with the UCI publishing it by the end of February.
While Armstrong is underwhelmed by Britain's takeover at the UCI, he is far more conciliatory to the British riders who have followed him as Tour champions, Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, particularly in relation to the doping questions they have had to face in his wake.
"I'm sorry, and I completely agree that because of the timing of things, it is down to me," he said.
"[Usada's reasoned decision] comes out after the Tour in 2012, so it's logical that in 2013 there's going to be a lot of questions. Especially in a year when Chris Froome performs exceptionally.
"Look, Froome won the Tour in 2013, that's 14 years after 1999. If in 1999 I was asked questions about the 1985 winner of the Tour de France, I'd be like 'What are you talking about? Why are you asking me about the mid-80s?'
"But the story was so relevant to people. When this went down, people were left with the impression, in 2012, that I was hanging blood bags six months earlier. That's not the case.
"So I feel bad for those guys, they shouldn't have been put in that position. I'm not sure why they were put in a position to answer 15-year-old questions, but it's unfortunate for all of us, especially for them."


Radical cleric Abu Qatada, who gave up his battle against deportation from the UK, has been described as a "truly dangerous individual" and a "key UK figure" in al-Qaeda-related terror activity.

The Palestinian-Jordanian, whose real name is Omar Othman, fought for eight years against deportation to Jordan. He was finally flown out of the UK in July 2013, Less than a year later he was acquitted in Amman's State Security Court of conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts in 1998.
His removal from the UK came after years of legal battles all the way to the European Court of Human Rights and back again. His initial defeat at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) in February 2007 had represented a major victory for the government's strategy of finding ways to deport terrorism suspects who it said could not be tried in the UK.
Abu Qatada then appealed to the higher courts saying that evidence extracted through torture would be used against him in Jordan, where he faced a retrial in relation to alleged plots.
That legal battle continued until May 2013, when the cleric accepted that his right to a fair trial in Jordan had been protected by a new treaty between the two countries. He agreed to drop his legal challenge, paving the way for his deportation.
The scholar, who is in his fifties, arrived in the UK in September 1993 and claimed asylum on the basis that he had been tortured in Jordan. He had been living in Pakistan near the Afghan border shortly before his arrival in the UK.
In 1994 he was recognised as a refugee and allowed to remain.
He was among a large group of Islamists who sought refuge in the UK during the late 1980s and the 1990s as they fled from despotic Arab regimes that they had been seeking to overthrow.
The deportation judgement in full
Abu Qatada became an important player in the London Islamist scene, later dubbed "Londonistan" by its opponents, because of his credentials as a scholar. He had developed militant views that put him firmly in the fold of hardline thinkers who provided the intellectual arguments for religiously-justified violence. Although his political relationship with al-Qaeda was never straight forward, his worldview became virtually indistinguishable.
During his early years in London, Abu Qatada preached at the Fourth Feathers community centre near Regent's Park and held meetings in his own home, both of which became a hub for exiled Islamists.
Abu Qatada advocated imposing Islamic government on Muslim lands. He said that Islamic law justified taking up arms against despots and foreign invaders because they were the enemies of Muslims.
As the UK's security agencies tried to make sense of the Islamist scene, MI5 approached Abu Qatada on more than one occasion to ask for his help in minimising the threat to the UK.
Security chiefs knew that his influence was broad, particularly among Algerian and Egyptian armed Islamists. His theorising went to incredible lengths in all areas of life. He once debated whether it was Islamically permissible to obey traffic lights in the West.
It was one religious opinion during 1995 which led to devastating consequences. Abu Qatada concluded that it was Islamically lawful to kill the wives and children of "apostates", those who have rejected Islam, to stop oppression in Algeria.
The practical effect was that armed Islamists in the country used his ruling to justify their attacks against civilians on the basis that anyone who was not with them was against them.
The authorities realised his views were hardening against the West, particularly after a sermon targeting Jews. And by 2001, the cleric issued rulings justifying suicide attacks, as seen in a BBC Panorama interview the same year.
A Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, described Abu Qatada as the "spiritual head of the mujahideen in Britain", so the question for the UK authorities was whether he now supported "martyrdom operations" against Western targets.
The Security Service and police concluded that Abu Qatada was a threat. In a court statement they said he was providing advice that gave religious legitimacy to those "who wish to further the aims of extreme Islamism and to engage in terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings".
The authorities said that a number of people arrested in connection with terrorism had described Abu Qatada's influence. Richard Reid, the would-be mid-Atlantic shoe bomber, and Zacarias Moussaoui, both jailed for involvement in terrorism, are said to have sought religious advice from him. The cleric's sermons were found in a flat in the German city of Hamburg used by some of those involved in 9/11.
When Abu Qatada was questioned in 2001 over his alleged connections to a German cell, police found Â£170,000 cash in his home, including Â£805 in an envelope labelled "For the mujahideen in Chechnya". No charges were brought.
But on the eve of a new law enabling the authorities to hold foreign terrorism suspects without charge or trial, he disappeared. He was later tracked down to a council house in south London and taken to Belmarsh Prison.
The Law Lords eventually ruled such detention illegal and Abu Qatada was among those subjected to a control order, a form of house arrest.
In 2005, he was rearrested and told he would be deported to Jordan, where he had been convicted in his absence of alleged involvement in a plot to target Americans and Israeli tourists during the country's millennium celebrations.
What is not publicly clear is exactly where he now stands. Some influential Islamists have in recent years rejected al-Qaeda, in particular Libya's largest jihadist group.
In December 2005, Abu Qatada made a video appeal to the kidnappers of British peace activist Norman Kember in Iraq. That recording, made inside Full Sutton prison, near York, where he was awaiting deportation proceedings, was broadcast in the Middle East. The question was whether this appeal was genuine, or simply tactical.
In 2008 he was briefly allowed out of prison on bail, while continuing his deportation legal battle. Mohamed Ali, who runs the Islam Channel on satellite television, has known the cleric for years and held talks with him during that period out of jail.
He told the BBC: "Abu Qatada has no links with terrorism [or] al-Qaeda and he never ever agreed or endorsed what was done in 9/11 in America or 7/7 in the UK.
"He said that if he had known that something was going to happen, he would lock them up.  He thinks that jihad is limited to either defending Muslim lands when invaders come to Muslim lands or if force is being used to overthrow dictatorship regimes.
"He believes that the covenant between any Muslim coming to this country and the government stands - and it should be honoured by both parties."
But Bob Quick, former head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, does not buy this argument.
He said: "I would describe Abu Qatada as very dangerous, a man with significant influence, significantly well networked in Europe and the Middle East with very extreme views, and prepared to promulgate those views and influence the views of others and their conduct.
"He was very well networked, very well connected, with al-Qaeda. He was an active supporter of terrorism and extreme Islamist objectives through terrorism.
"It might be dangerous at this stage to suggest his influence has waned.
"It may have waned because he's been in custody, mostly, for the last few years but to suggest that he couldn't operate and pick up contacts and reposition himself in the future is probably a bold assumption."
Such views were the reason that successive governments pursued Abu Qatada's deportation so doggedly - and he will never be allowed to set foot in Britain again.


The tantalising prospect of treating a range of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, all with the same drug, has been raised by UK researchers.

In a study,
          published in Nature
, they prevented brain cells dying in mice with prion disease.
It is hoped the same method for preventing brain cell death could apply in other diseases.
The findings are at an early stage, but have been heralded as "fascinating".
Many neuro-degenerative diseases result in the build-up of proteins which are not put together correctly - known as misfolded proteins. This happens in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's as well as in prion diseases, such as the human form of mad cow disease.
Researchers at the University of Leicester uncovered how the build-up of proteins in mice with prion disease resulted in brain cells dying.
They showed that as misfolded protein levels rise in the brain, cells respond by trying to shut down the production of all new proteins.
It is the same trick cells use when infected with a virus. Stopping production of proteins stops the virus spreading. However, shutting down the factory for a long period of time ends up killing the brain cells as they do not produce the proteins they actually need to function.
The team at the Medical Research Council laboratory in Leicester then tried to manipulate the switch which turned the protein factory off. When they prevented cells from shutting down, they prevented the brain dying. The mice then lived significantly longer.
Each neuro-degenerative disease results in a unique set of misfolded proteins being produced, which are then thought to lead to brain cells dying.
Prof Giovanna Mallucci told the BBC: "The novelty here is we're just targeting the protein shut-down, we're ignoring the prion protein and that's what makes it potentially relevant across the board."
The idea, which has not yet been tested, is that if preventing the shut down protects the brain in prion disease - it might work in all diseases that have misfolded proteins.
Prof Mallucci added: "What it gives you is an appealing concept that one pathway and therefore one treatment could have benefits across a range of disorders.
"But the idea is in its early stages. We would really need to confirm this concept in other diseases."
The study has been broadly welcomed by other scientists although many point out that the research is in its infancy.
Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at King's College London, Roger Morris, said it was a "breakthrough in understanding what kills neurons".
He added: "There are good reasons for believing this response, identified with prion disease, applies also to Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases.
"And because it is such a general response, we already have some drugs that inhibit this response."
Prof Andy Randall, from the University of Bristol, said: "This is a fascinating piece of work.
"It will be interesting to see if similar processes occur in some of the common diseases with such deposits, for example Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
"Furthermore, if this is the case, can modulating this same pathway be a route to new therapeutic approaches in these more prevalent conditions that afflict many millions of sufferers around the world? Ultimately only more research will tell us this."
Dr Eric Karran, the director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "The findings present the appealing concept that one treatment could have benefits for a range of different diseases; however the idea is in its early stages.
"The research focuses on the effects of the prion protein and we would need to see the same results confirmed in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to really strengthen the evidence."


Mental health services failed a teenage girl who had suicidal thoughts, her family has said following an inquest into her death.

Sofia Legg's family was told there was a six-month waiting list for therapy despite an urgent GP referral for help.
The inquest coroner in Taunton recorded a conclusion the 14-year-old had taken her own life by hanging.
Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said it had apologised to the family and improvements had been made.
The inquest heard Sofia, a student at Kings of Wessex Academy in Cheddar, had been suffering from low moods, was self-harming and was expressing thoughts about taking her own life.
She was referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Services (CAMHS) in March 2015, but did not meet the criteria for specialist support.
In February 2016, her GP made an urgent referral to CAMHS, after Sofia confessed to having suicidal thoughts.
But after being seen twice by CAMHS in July 2016, she was told there was a six-month waiting list for cognitive behaviour therapy.
Her family found her body when they returned home on the evening of 20 September.
On the day before she died, a CAMHS worker met Sofia and her mother, giving a crisis plan stating her mother Sandy Legg needed "to watch her and keep a close eye on her".
But investigation reports stated Sofia had to be "supervised at all times".
"If constant supervision was necessary then this should have been stated directly to me before I left with Sofia," her mother told the hearing.
Speaking after the inquest she added: "As a family we will forever mourn the loss of our kind, bright, beautiful daughter.
"Sofia was failed by the system and we, as a family, feel badly let down."
Somerset coroner Tony Williams said he would be following up his concerns about the death with the trust.


A bride who booked a Gary Barlow lookalike for her wedding was shocked when the real Take That star turned up.

Bride Anita Morrissey-Booth and her groom Alex Morrissey were serenaded during their wedding reception at Knowsley Hall in Liverpool on Friday.
The star said in January he would sing at the weddings of three fans in 2015 - and received thousands of requests.
Mrs Morrissey-Booth, from Hyde in Greater Manchester, said on Twitter that "dreams do come true".
"In 2015 I want to sing at 3 weddings," the singer posted to his 3.7m followers on the social media site earlier this year.
Barlow received thousands of requests after saying he would only pick "huge fans" who "stalk" him on the social networking site.
He performed Take That's 1992 hit "A Million Love Songs" at the latest wedding reception.


Thomas Pieters holed a 31-foot birdie putt at the last to take a first-round lead at the Bridgestone Invitational.

Belgium's Pieters, 25, scored a five-under-par 65 at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio and is one shot ahead of Scotland's Russell Knox.
Jordan Spieth was a shot further back, alongside Rory McIlroy, who was competing without caddie JP Fitzgerald.
McIlroy ended a nine-year partnership with Fitzgerald this week, with Harry Diamond taking his place temporarily.
Northern Ireland's world number four carded five birdies and two bogeys, the second coming at his final hole.
"It was good, a little weird at the start," McIlroy said.
"I'm taking a little bit more responsibility on myself and there were a couple of times where I probably should have hit another club, but that's on me, not anyone else.
"I'd much rather be frustrated at my own decision than someone else's. It's great to have my best mate on the bag and we're just having a good time.
"It was strange the first couple of holes but I stuck to it today and played pretty well. I guess it's the start of the next chapter in my career and we'll go from here."
Defending champion and world number one Dustin Johnson is one shot behind McIlroy after carding a two-under-par 68, while former Masters champion Danny Willett's miserable form continued with a 76.
McIlroy split with Fitzgerald after winning four majors together, saying "sometimes to preserve a personal relationship you have to sacrifice a professional one".
He has brought in Diamond, a friend since childhood, for the Akron tournament and next week's major, the PGA Championship in Charlotte.
"I just needed someone that knew me and that's why I took Harry for the next couple of weeks," he said on Wednesday.
"If something doesn't work out and Harry and I say two weeks is enough, I'll need to find someone else but I've got 10 days between the end of the PGA and the start of the Northern Trust to do that."


Blackpool moved to within a point of the League Two play-off places with a win at Newport which deepened the hosts' relegation worries.

Bright Osayi-Samuel's curling effort put the visitors ahead, and they had chances to extend their lead as Mark Cullen hit the bar and post.
Cullen scored with a penalty, before Alex Samuel bundled in to give Newport hope.
Osayi-Samuel broke to score a late third for Blackpool.
He scored after home keeper Joe Day had gone up for a corner.
Despite a first loss of caretaker manager Mike Flynn's reign, Newport stay second from bottom and seven points adrift of safety.
Newport County caretaker manager Mike Flynn told BBC Radio Wales: "I can't fault the boys' effort again. We gave away a poor first goal and I don't think it was a penalty.
"Their keeper made a great save at 2-1 that would have made it 2-2. I just think we needed to be on the move a little bit more in the box and anticipating more instead of reacting.
"We went for the equaliser an wanted to salvage something and they went and nicked the third."
Match ends, Newport County 1, Blackpool 3.
Second Half ends, Newport County 1, Blackpool 3.
Goal!  Newport County 1, Blackpool 3. Bright Samuel (Blackpool) left footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the centre of the goal following a fast break.
Corner,  Newport County. Conceded by Dean Lyness.
Attempt saved. Alex Samuel (Newport County) header from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the top left corner.
Bright Samuel (Blackpool) is shown the yellow card.
Dan Butler (Newport County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Dan Butler (Newport County).
Bright Samuel (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Blackpool. Will Aimson replaces Jordan Flores.
Foul by Mark O'Brien (Newport County).
(Blackpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Newport County. Conceded by Dean Lyness.
Attempt saved. Sean Rigg (Newport County) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top left corner.
Ryan Bird (Newport County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Nathan Delfouneso (Blackpool).
Foul by Jaanai Gordon (Newport County).
Clark Robertson (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Newport County. Conceded by Dean Lyness.
Attempt saved. Sean Rigg (Newport County) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt blocked. Alex Samuel (Newport County) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Blackpool. Ian Black replaces Neil Danns.
Substitution, Newport County. Jaanai Gordon replaces Tom Owen-Evans.
Attempt missed. Ryan Bird (Newport County) header from the centre of the box is too high.
Goal!  Newport County 1, Blackpool 2. Alex Samuel (Newport County) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Sean Rigg.
Substitution, Blackpool. Jamille Matt replaces Mark Cullen.
Scot Bennett (Newport County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Mark Cullen (Blackpool).
Mickey Demetriou (Newport County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Mark Cullen (Blackpool).
Goal!  Newport County 0, Blackpool 2. Mark Cullen (Blackpool) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Penalty conceded by Mickey Demetriou (Newport County) after a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty Blackpool. Bright Samuel draws a foul in the penalty area.
Attempt missed. Tom Owen-Evans (Newport County) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Tom Owen-Evans (Newport County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Mark Cullen (Blackpool).
David Pipe (Newport County) is shown the yellow card for hand ball.
Hand ball by David Pipe (Newport County).
Sean Rigg (Newport County) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Clark Robertson (Blackpool).


A burst pipe that created a sinkhole in a Birmingham road is now being repaired, Severn Trent Water has announced.

Thousands of gallons of water flooded Harborne Lane in Selly Oak after a water main burst in November.
Around 10 homes were damaged as water gushed through doors, with numerous cars trapped.
Severn Trent said repairs have begun and are expected to be finished by mid-February.
More on this and other stories across the West Midlands
Engineers are aiming to fix the pipe while maintaining water supplies across the city.
Paul Baldwyn, area operations manager, said once the pipe is repaired work will begin on fully reopening Harborne Lane, which is expected to last until the end of next month.
"We absolutely understand the frustrations of those affected by the burst and the subsequent road diversion, and we know it's been going on for a long time, but we want to reassure everyone that we have been working hard on this in the background constantly since the burst happened," he said.
"We know that this is really inconvenient for everyone and we can only say sorry for this."


The population of Northern Ireland is projected to rise by 5.3% to 1,938,700 by 2024.

The figures come from a report produced by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).
It uses assumptions about births, deaths and migration to project population changes.
It predicts that the working-age population will rise by less than 1% but the population aged 65 and over is projected to increase by almost 26%.
The report also assumes that the level of migration to Northern Ireland will continue to be very low.
It breaks down population changes by local government district and predicts the largest rise of 10.4%, or 21,400 people, in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon.
The smallest increase is predicted for Derry City and Strabane, up by 1.5% or 2,200 people.
Derry City and Strabane is one of seven out of 11 areas projected to see a decline in their work-age populations.
Over the longer term, the population of Northern Ireland is projected to reach two million by mid-2034.
By mid-2038, annual population growth is projected to fall below 0.2% for the first time since mid-1999, due to a falling number of births and rising number of deaths as a result of an ageing population.
The population aged 65 and over is projected to increase by 74.4%, or 498,500 people, from mid-2014 to mid-2039, with the result that one in four people (24.7%) will be in this age category.
The report does not attempt to predict the impact that future government policies or changing economic circumstances might have on demographic behaviour.


President Obama's foundation has announced his presidential library will be built in Chicago in the city's struggling South Side neighbourhood.

"All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama worked there as a community organizer and also represented the area as an state senator.
The plan for the $600 million project beat out a rival proposal from Hawaii, the president's birthplace.
The library will store his papers and help frame his legacy as president.
Long the centre of Chicago's black community, the South Side has struggled with poverty and high crime rates.
The president's foundation wants the library to give the South Side an economic boost. The University of Chicago will be a major contributor to the Centre, which will be entirely funded by the Obama Foundation.
Nearby the future library is the University of Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology and multiple museums.
"Not only will we be able to encourage and affect change locally, but what we can also do is to attract the world to Chicago," said Mr Obama in a video released on Tuesday.
The video accompanying the announcement profiled residents of the South Side who are working to build the community up.
One University of Chicago study from 2014 found that the annual economic impact of the Centre could be $220 million per year, mostly due to an influx of new visitors to the city.
First lady Michelle Obama was raised in the South Side and the couple first met in the neighbourhood.
"I'm thrilled to be able to put this resource in the heart of the neighbourhood that means the world to me," Mrs Obama said in the video. "Every value, every memory, every important relationship to me exists in Chicago. I consider myself a South Sider."


An Indian army officer has been arrested for looting smuggled gold in the north-eastern state of Mizoram.

A senior police officer in the state told BBC Hindi that Colonel Jasjit Singh had been arrested on Thursday.
He is accused of directing his men to loot gold worth 140m rupees ($2.1m;Â£1.8m) that was being smuggled into Mizoram from Myanmar in December last year.
Mizoram shares an international border with Myanmar.
The police official told BBC Hindi that eight other army personnel were also arrested from the state's capital Aizawl for their role in the robbery.
Mr Singh knew about the smuggling of gold on this route and ordered his armed men to loot the vehicle, he said.
The police took action after the driver of the vehicle, C Lalnunfela, filed a complaint with the police on 21 April.
Mr Lalnunfela said he had earlier been too worried about his safety to complain, but decided to go the police after his friends and family talked him into it.
The Indian army has also started its own investigation into the matter.


The world's papers have come up with a slew of imaginative front pages to illustrate the political earthquake of a Trump presidency.

Editorials speculate on what Donald Trump might deliver once the dust of the election campaign has settled.
The front page of the French paper Liberation carries the stark headline "American Psycho". The French news website Atlantico.fr opts for a somewhat wordier headline: "Donald Trump's bet that he will save those left behind by globalisation will probably be more difficult to win than the election".
An editorial in France's Le Monde calls for a "Europe First" policy to be adopted in response to Mr Trump's "America First" policy. The paper says that "the foreign policy of the United States will from now on be guided by the defence of American interests, and nothing else. For Europeans, the only answer is unity."
In Russia, the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda predicts that Mr Trump will get along fine with President Vladimir Putin, as the two men are "mentally very similar: both have a reputation of being some kind of macho".
Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung believes Mr Trump will carry out his threat to overturn President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. The paper says that the agreement "is hated by both Trump and the Congress. Together, they could actually terminate it."
The government-owned Iranian daily Iran may have such a move in mind when it says: "Our country's diplomatic apparatus should closely monitor the new situation so that it can isolate Trump's irrational America and minimise the upcoming potential threats."
The reformist Iranian daily E'temad conveys its fears over the impact Mr Trump's victory is likely to have on the rest of the world with the cartoon shown below.
Indian papers also take a pessimistic view of the likely impact of a Trump presidency. In a piece headlined "Deal with Him", The Indian Express urges the country's leaders to beware as "nationalism, anti-globalism and xenophobia play out as policy in the US and across the world".
The Turkish press reaches a similarly gloomy conclusion. The centrist Milliyet predicts that "From this day forth… such concepts as rights, freedom, human rights, democracy will be put on the back burner... Money, power, discipline, economy, authoritarian administration, banging one's fist on the table will be prioritised... The US will start to be managed like a company."
And the centre-right Hurriyet says: "We can already say now that, with such a president, the world will not be a better place to live in... There are a lot of reasons to be scared. Putin in charge of Russia, Trump in charge of America! Like a nightmare."
In the Middle East, several Saudi dailies give prominence to the message from King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud who told Trump "we look forward to consolidating our relations and achieving stability" in the region.
But Iraqi private Al-Alam newspaper warns of a "decline of US power" in the region. "If the USA wants to regain its prestige, it has to end its alliance with those who breed extremist thought because sectarian regimes can never succeed in leading nations."
Israel's centrist Yediot Aharonot, on the other hand, is hedging its bets: "Trump is a total opportunist... This can be very dangerous because opportunists know no bounds; this can succeed because opportunists enjoy a wider space for manoeuvring."
The Chinese press is on the whole confident that once he is in the White House, Mr Trump will behave in a more moderate way and row back on some of his campaign promises.
The Global Times predicts that he will jettison his more "ridiculous" vows, pointing out that "if his goal is to bring jobs back to the US, his first and foremost job is not to be tough on others, but to improve the US economy and industries first."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.


A group of Swindon Town fans are hoping to buy the football club's County Ground stadium from the local council.

Trust STFC said it has met with Swindon Borough Council about its Â£1.1m offer - which it argues could also help the authority's finances "in times of austerity".
The trust is due to discuss the issue at its AGM, which is being held later.
Swindon Town FC said there is a rolling lease on the land and discussions about a long-term deal are still ongoing.
Director of Trust STFC, James Phipps, said the fans want to improve the long-term health of the club.
He said the ground had been "practically the same thing for decades" and was unlikely to be changing
"We feel the ground needs improving... and has a reluctant owner in some ways in the council, which is cash-strapped through austerity measures."
The stadium is part of a parcel of land left to the people of Swindon "for recreational purposes" and managed by the council.
Mr Phipps said: "We'd like to take it away from them to try to see if we can work on investment plans to make it a fit-for-purpose stadium for the next 50 to 100 years and create a financial stability around the club."
Swindon Town is currently in the League One relegation zone. Under the proposal, owner Lee Power would continue to run the club.
"This in an innovative idea to deal with one of Swindon's longer term problems - redeveloping the County Ground.
The main Arkell's Stand was built in 1971 and is showing its age - most notably in the lack of corporate boxes and other facilities to indulge sponsors in the manner to which they are accustomed in the 21st century.
Early responses from fans range from the positive to concerns after the trust's previous unsuccessful efforts to get a roof put on the Stratton Bank end of the ground.


Chapecoense have won their first game since most of their team were killed in a plane crash on 29 November.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Seventy-one people, including 19 players and staff, were killed as the Brazilian team travelled to Colombia for the final of the Copa Sudamericana.
The club have since signed 22 new players and appointed a new manager.
They beat Inter de Lages 2-1 in the state competition they won last season, with goals from Niltinho and Wellington Paulista at the Arena Conda stadium.
It was only their second competitive game since the crash.
The team drew 0-0 with Joinville in the Primeira Liga - a different competition - on Thursday.
Chapecoense were awarded the Copa Sudamericana trophy following the disaster, a move backed by Colombian club Atletico Nacional, who were scheduled to face them in the final.
Defenders Neto and Alan Ruschel and goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, who had his leg amputated, were among the six survivors of the crash.
They received the trophy and medals alongside families of the victims at Chapecoense's first game since the crash, a friendly on 22 January.


A Ukrainian nationalist group has said it was behind the deaths of two public figures in Kiev earlier this week.

Oleg Kalashnikov, a former MP, and Oles Buzyna, a writer and former newspaper editor, were gunned down in separate attacks within hours of each other.
A group calling itself the Ukrainian Insurgent Army claimed it carried out the killings in an email to political expert Volodomyr Fesenko.
Both of the victims were known for their strong anti-government views.
Kiev officials immediately questioned the authenticity of the claim.
The email received by Mr Fesenko was addressed to members of the Opposition Bloc, the successors to former President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions. It fell apart after Mr Yanukovych fled the country last year.
In it, the group also said it was to blame for the deaths of several other politicians and officials linked to Mr Yanukovych, some of which were believed to be suicides.
The Insurgent Army, which is named after controversial Ukrainian nationalist partisans who fought during World War Two, said it was giving those it considered guilty of "anti-Ukrainian" activity until Monday to leave the country.
"We are unleashing a ruthless insurgency against the anti-Ukrainian regime of traitors and Moscow's lackeys. From now on, we will only speak to them using the language of weapons, all the way to their elimination," Mr Fesenko quoted the letter as saying.
Mr Kalashnikov, a former MP from Mr Yanukovych's party, was found dead from gunshot wounds in his apartment block on Wednesday evening.
Hours later two masked assailants gunned down Oles Buzyna in the courtyard of his building.
Olena Bondarenko, a former MP from the Party of Regions, said Ukraine's interior ministry had agreed to provide her with security guards, after she received anonymous threats.
But Markiyan Lubkivsky, a spokesman for the security services, said "the authenticity of the email and the author's intentions" were questionable.
He said the email was sent from an address in Germany and contained grammatical mistakes not typical for a native Ukrainian speaker. This could not be independently verified.
Mr Lubkivsky also claimed that the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) did not exist.
Others disagreed. Anton Shevkhovtsov, a Ukrainian expert in far-right groups, said on Facebook that although he could not say who killed Mr Buzyna and Mr Kalashnikov, a group calling itself the UPA did indeed exist back in January, 2014.
Mr Shekovtsov said it was a "small radical nationalist group" among a number of organisations that had occupied Kiev City Hall. He also claimed he had interviewed its representatives.
Ukrainian officials have promised an open and thorough investigation to track down the two men's killers.
But they also have already voiced a number of accusations, for which, they admit, at the moment they have no proof.
These include the prospect that Moscow was behind the murders, as a provocation. Russian officials deny the charge.
One scenario, in which they seem less interested, is the possibility that Mr Buzyna and Mr Kalashnikov were targeted after their personal information was published on a local website, just days before their shootings.
The site, called "The Peacekeeper" collects information on people who, it says, are "pro-Russian terrorists, separatists, mercenaries, war criminals, and murderers".
However, Anton Geraschenko, a top advisor to the Ukrainian interior ministry, played down the theory.
"I think it's a coincidence," he said, noting that the site gives information on thousands of people.
However, Gerashchenko is also a strong supporter of the site, having encouraged his Facebook followers to send information to it on suspected "terrorists and separatists".