Afghan Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum tried to fly back from Turkey late on Monday but was denied permission to land, officials say.

It is unclear who stopped the landing but a source close to President Ashraf Ghani told the BBC the return had not been co-ordinated with the government.
Gen Dostum left for Turkey in May amid claims he ordered his men to kidnap, beat and rape a political rival.
He denies wrongdoing. His spokesman said he went for a medical check-up.
Atta Mohammad Noor, the powerful governor of northern Balkh province, was waiting at Mazar-e Sharif airport to meet Gen Dostum on Monday night, the Pajhwok news agency reported.
More than 1,000 people accompanied the governor to receive the former warlord at the airport, which is near his home province of Jowzjan.
Witnesses said some Dostum supporters held posters with slogans such as "Welcome back our dear leader," Reuters news agency reported.
But the plane was diverted to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.
Early reports suggested German forces were behind the move. However, Nato later denied this, saying such decisions were a matter for the Afghan authorities.
A source close to President Ghani told the BBC's Afghan service that Gen Dostum's decision to return without consulting the authorities in Kabul had caused suspicion.
"We wanted him to come to Kabul... because we wanted to have a clear understanding of what's going on," the source said.
"There are no legal hurdles for him to return, the government has no issues, but he has to take the right route."
Gen Dostum, Atta Mohammad and Mohammad Mohaqeq, another influential ethnic leader, recently formed an opposition group calling for major political reforms. They want to trim the powers of the president, whom they accuse of accumulating power.
Gen Dostum's officials have denied he was on the plane that was turned away.
But one of the men tasked with preparing for his return confirmed to the BBC that Gen Dostum had spoken with his men from Ankara on Monday morning. He had directed them to co-ordinate with Atta Mohammad and Mohammad Mohaqeq and to organise a major event to launch the new coalition.
The vice-president is a former warlord with decades of experience in Afghanistan's turbulent political arena.
He has been blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the country's long-running civil war, but joined its national unity government in 2014.
The allegations against him come from Ahmad Eshchi, a former ally, who says he suffered days of severe beatings and sexual abuse at Gen Dostum's command.
He said the vice-president and 10 other men assaulted him while he was forcibly kept at Gen Dostum's residence in November 2016.
The ex-warlord denies the claims and has said that Mr Eshchi was detained by the country's intelligence service.
In 2008 Gen Dostum went to Turkey amid similar allegations that his personal militia had abducted, beaten and sexually assaulted a political rival in Kabul, then fired on police who responded to the incident.


The deaths of two babies at St Thomas' Hospital in London are the subject of a criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

The investigation into the deaths in June is focusing on the production of intravenous feeds.
Officers have been liaising with Cambridgeshire Police about a third baby who died in what the Met called "similar circumstances".
NHS trust staff are not part of the inquiry, the police have said.
The third death occurred at the Rosie Maternity Hospital, Cambridge.
The Met investigation into the two baby deaths in London was launched on Thursday after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Met said it was not investigating the trusts involved and was working with "a number of agencies" to progress its inquiries.
The families of the two babies have been informed of the investigation.
Public Health England (PHE) said in June that 22 babies were being treated for blood poisoning in connection with a suspected contamination of hospital feed.
All the infected babies were being fed a liquid mixture of nutrients directly into their bloodstream, which happens when newborns are unable to eat on their own.
PHE said the babies developed septicaemia or blood poisoning from the Bacillus cereus bacterium, which has been "strongly linked" to an intravenous fluid supplied by ITH Pharma.
Many of the babies were premature.
Nine-day-old Yousef Al-Kharboush died from the suspected contaminated hospital feed, at St Thomas' Hospital, on Sunday 1 June.
The second baby was not named.


A lifeboat crew member who has volunteered for RNLI Rhyl for more than 30 years has been appointed an MBE in the New Year Honours.

Martin Jones, coxswain since 2010, has been on more than 700 call-outs from north Wales' busiest lifeboat station.
An RNLI flood rescue team volunteer, he helped save 74 people in Cumbria during the storms of December 2015.
Mr Jones said he was "extremely proud and thankful".
He added: "To be honest, this award isn't just for me - it's recognition of the lifeboat station, the local community, and most importantly it's for my family, who have allowed me to drop everything and leave important events when the pagers go."
Flintshire secondary school headteacher Rosemary Jones was appointed an OBE for her contribution to education.
The head of Buckley's Ysgol Elfed High, who has taught in the area for more than 30 years, led the school to an "excellent" Estyn rating in 2015.
Mrs Jones said she was "surprised and delighted".
"I feel privileged to work with young people, their families and educational professionals across Wales, and look forward to contributing to the further development of education in the country," she said.
Joan Aird, secretary of the Hawarden, Ewloe and Mancot branch of the Royal British Legion, was also recognised with a BEM for voluntary service to the community in Deeside, Flintshire.


The Six Nations has announced there will be a bonus-point system in the 2017 championship to "encourage and reward try scoring and attacking play".

Last season it was two points for a win, but that will become four - plus a bonus point for four or more tries.
A losing team could pick up two bonus points - one if they score four or more tries and another if they lose by fewer than seven points.
A team that wins the Grand Slam - all five games - gets three extra points.
Teams that draw will now get two points each with a similar bonus point available for high scoring.
Feature: Overdue modernisation or unnecessary meddling?
The system - already used in the World Cup, English Premiership, Pro12 and the National Rugby Championship in Australia - will also be trialled in the the Women's Six Nations and the Under 20s Six Nations championships.
The first game of this season's men's Six Nations is Scotland against Ireland at Murrayfield on 4 February, followed by holders England against France at Twickenham on the same day.
England won their first Grand Slam in 13 years in last season's competition.
John Feehan, chief executive of Six Nations said: "The drama and excitement of the last weekend of the Six Nations championship is unique and is, more often than not, driven by a number of teams on equal championship points all competing for first place on the table.
"It is important for us to ensure that any bonus point system which is implemented would not, in any way, take away from this unique dynamic.
"At the same time, we are also conscious that we must reward try scoring and an attacking style of play that will deliver more tries and greater rewards for fans and players alike."
The trial will be "evaluated" after next year's competitions.
If the new bonus-point system was applied to the results in last season's championship, each side would remain in the same finishing position...


The 'hot steppers' are the fast-footed strike runners who light up the pitch with their dazzling footwork.

There are many ways to beat your man in rugby - throwing a dummy, burning them for pace or simply trampling them underfoot if you have the power - but few are as thrilling to watch as a supreme stepper leaving his man grasping at thin air.
Think of the all-time Six Nations greats - like Jason Robinson and Shane Williams - and for all their other gifts what we remember most is that ability to beat a man in a telephone box.
So here - in reverse order - are the six men who are BBC Sport's 2016 Six Nations 'hot steppers'. Do you agree with the players on our list? Outraged about who we have missed out? If you want to have your say, please join the debate below.
The only man currently rocking a rat's tail in international rugby, Exeter's Nowell complements his all-round skill with some delicious footwork.
Unable to step off his right leg 18 months ago because of a chronic knee injury, an operation means the 22-year-old is back stepping both ways - and he is a threat wherever he pops up in the field.
The lack of extreme top-end speed means he's not quite the most explosive stepper around, but he's not far off and is well worth a place in BBC Sport's 2016 selection.
Another 22-year-old, Thomas is probably the least known of the 'hot steppers' - but that is unlikely to be the case for long.
Injury means he has only five France caps so far, but anyone who saw him side-step Australia scrum-half Nick Phipps on his way to a spectacular solo score in November 2014 knows this is a talent to rank with the very best.
Recalled to face Ireland after less than a full game after his latest return to action, the Racing 92 man adds pace and power to the dazzling footwork, and once he's got a few more Tests under his belt he'll be climbing up this list for certain.
At just 21 Bath flyer Watson has already earned 17 caps and his combination of all-round footballing talent, sizzling pace and footwork that makes Michael Jackson look pedestrian mean he is surely on course for many more.
A step that left France winger Brice Dulin with twisted blood in a World Cup warm-up was as sharp as anything seen on a rugby pitch, while Watson's electric kick returns mean opponents know they have to be accurate with their boot or risk the wing stepping his way through the entire defence ranged against him.
Into the top three and a player who manages to shine despite playing for a team that has lost nine Six Nations games in a row.
Stuart Hogg has "some of the slickest footwork in the world", according to former Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips and we're not going to disagree.
The Scotland full-back, a product of the famous old Hawick club in the Scottish Borders (it is compulsory to read that in the voice of the late, great Bill McLaren), gives the struggling boys in blue a cutting edge that can turn a game in an instant - who can forget that spectacular interception score against Italy in 2013 when the 23-year-old's footwork took him through the Italy defence before his pace did the rest?
If this list was about power then North would win hands down and it is tribute to his phenomenal athletic skills that he's even in the running, let alone second.
At 6ft 4in (193cm) and knocking on 17 stone (108kg) he dwarfs many of his rivals, but he allies impressive footwork to his undoubted power and pace. Still only 23 but already with 60 Test caps, North's movement belies his size and he has beaten the most defenders (six) and made the most metres (177) of any player in this year's Six Nations so far.
He carved up Scotland last weekend but it is the brilliant solo score he produced for the British and Irish Lions in the first Test against Australia in 2013 that best illustrates why he is a big cat on a hot tin roof.
North may lead a couple of stats categories, but England centre Joseph tops the most important of them all after two rounds of the Six Nations following his hat-trick against Italy.
However, it is a try the 24-year-old Bath centre scored against Wales last year - the explosive power and footwork that took him past his man, a regular occurrence over the past 12 months for England - that shows why we rate Joseph the hottest stepper of them all.
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Hundreds of new homeowners are said to be living on unfinished housing developments and residents claim they are powerless when left with incomplete roads, sometimes without streetlights or pavements.

Keith Beattie moved into his new house in Haydock, Merseyside, in February 2014 but the road outside is still unfinished. He said it often floods. "If we have really bad rain the water will just pour down into the estate," he added.
He said cars have been damaged, pavements are blocked off and there are no streetlights.
"It is pitch black, you can't see anything. It is just not a safe environment," he added.
Keith and his neighbours have tried to get their developer, Bolton-based Westby Homes, to finish the work, but are still waiting: "We're powerless - what can we do as homeowners?"
There are concerns that some councils are failing to use powers available under highways regulations, which require builders to complete works.
Councils can ask builders to sign a Section 38 Agreement, under the Highways Act 1980, to ensure that the roads are built to an acceptable standard and will eventually be adopted. They are backed with a bond to cover the cost of the work in case it is not completed, or the builder goes out of business.
The developer on the Haydock development, Westby Homes, did not enter a Section 38 Agreement. They declined to comment on the matter.
St Helens Council told 5 live Investigates that developers should enter into these agreements if they want the council to adopt the road - but councils can't force them to.
Councils can serve a notice, called a Section 220 notice, which gives them the power to prosecute a developer if the work is not guaranteed, but the fine limit is set at Â£1,000.
"Unfortunately, the level of the fine is only a small deterrent when compared to the value of a housing site," said a St Helens Council spokesman.
Jim Codd of The Resident Adoption Action Group supports homeowners in this situation. He says he is aware of around 100 roads across England and Wales where work has been left incomplete and says there may be many more out there.
"There are problems all over the country," he told the programme.
"But as it stands there is no legislation to force developers to get new roads adopted by the council."
Even where these agreements are signed, residents have to rely on a council enforcing them when work is left unfinished.
Residents in Robinson Fold, in Barnoldswick, have been waiting for eight years for Lancashire County Council to enforce the Section 38 Agreement on their unmade road.
The developer, Nottinghamshire-based Orchard Holdings PLC, declined to comment, but the county council said it had made "every effort" to work with the developer, but no progress had been made.
The council said it was now enforcing the Section 38 Agreement.
For the residents of Millfields in Kings Lynn, the problem was a developer which went bust before the roads, pavements and street lights were finished. There was no Section 38 in place so they raised the money themselves - all Â£250,000 of it.
Again, Norfolk County Council told us there was little they could have done to force the developer to enter into one of these bond agreements. Its solution was to help the residents fund their work.
So should councils be doing more?
The Home Builders Federation said its members were keen to get their finished developments adopted by councils as soon as possible and said it was working with government to find a way to ensure local authorities can adopt roads in a timely manner.
The Local Government Association said it was up to developers to get roads to a suitable standard before being adopted by the council.
"It is important that developers strive to honour these commitments to local communities," a spokesman said. "Councils will try and do what they can to chase down developers on the behalf of households, but funding pressures will reduce their capacity to do so."
5 live Investigates is on BBC Radio 5 Live at 11:00 GMT on Sunday 25 October. Listen online or download the programme podcast.


Luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton saw an 18% rise in revenue in the nine months to September - to €25.3bn ($28.7bn; £18.74bn) - compared with the nine months prior.

It posted organic revenue growth of 7% for the three months to September, against forecasts of about 5.5%.
Organic revenue growth strips out the effects of currency movements.
A weaker euro as well as strong wine and spirits sales boosted third quarter revenue.
The firm noted overall growth in Europe and the US as well as an "acceleration" in Japan.
Overall revenue for the three months to September rose 16% to $9.76bn.
The French company is the world's biggest luxury group.
It sells the likes of Louis Vuitton handbags, several Champagne brands, Hennessy cognac and fashion labels Fendi and Marc Jacobs. It also sells perfumes, cosmetics, watches and jewellery.
Wine and spirit sales in China, which had been hurt by the country's anti-corruption drive, saw a "notable acceleration in the third quarter", the firm said.
"Hennessy cognac ...benefited in the third quarter from a strong rebound in shipments to China and continued excellent momentum in the United States," it stated.
Sales in the giant's fashion and leather business were slower than expected.
The firm does not publish quarterly profit figures.


US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is expected to name his vice-presidential running mate soon - possibly within days.

The choice of a running mate is one of the most crucial decisions a candidate will make during a presidential run.
He is looking for a number two who can balance his weaknesses, appeal to new voter constituencies, persuade independent voters to give him a second look, and campaign effectively on his behalf.
All the while, Mr Romney will need a partner who will not outshine him on the stump or otherwise detract attention from him.
The perfect VP pick will also need to convince voters he or she is ready to assume the presidency if anything happens to Mr Romney - to be just a heartbeat away from the Oval Office, as the American political adage goes.
As Mr Romney nears a decision, here are some of the top possibilities:
Paul Ryan, 42, has made a name for himself as the top Republican on budget issues, calling for a dramatic reduction in entitlement programmes and other government spending and in taxes.
The Wisconsin congressman, chairman of the House Budget committee, is seen as a persuasive surrogate with the capacity to take the Romney campaign on the offensive on issues that are likely to dominate in this election year - such as jobs, the economy and the deficit.
He is also a staunch conservative from a state that both parties consider to be up for grabs in the coming election.
Since becoming chairman of the House Budget committee in 2007, Mr Ryan has worked on shaping an alternative vision for the federal budget.
But Mr Ryan's budget proposals are seen as so severe and conservative that they could pose a problem for Mr Romney among independent voters less keen to slash taxes and cherished social programmes.
Mr Ryan studied at Ohio's Miami University and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 at the age of 28. He is currently serving his seventh term.
Rob Portman, 56, is a veteran of Washington, having served in the House of Representatives for 12 years and in White House roles under both Presidents Bush.
In selecting him, Mr Romney would hope to pick up votes from the crucial battleground state of Ohio, while also having a competent veteran of Washington on the ticket.
But Mr Portman's strengths are also his weaknesses. Often portrayed as dull, he brings little excitement and pizzazz to the ticket. His years in Washington would detract from Mr Romney's effort to run as a political outsider. And his role in the second Bush White House could turn off both independent voters and hard-core fiscal conservatives angered by Mr Bush's expansion of government spending and his widening of the federal budget deficit.
Mr Portman was born in Cincinnati and educated at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan law school. Later, he worked in legal roles in George Bush Sr's White House. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, when George Bush Jr appointed him US Trade Representative.
In 2006, Mr Bush appointed him director of the Office of Management and Budget, a role in which he helped formulate White House budget and tax policy. He left that job in 2007.
In 2010 he was elected to the Senate, succeeding Republican George Voinovich.
Tim Pawlenty, 51, is seen as a "Sam's Club Republican" for his supposed appeal to working and lower-middle class voters (Sam's Club is a chain of giant discount stores run by Wal-Mart).
Mr Pawlenty made his own brief run for the Republican nomination, but quit the race in 2011 before a vote was counted when he failed to gain traction with voters or the media.
He could help balance Mr Romney's wealthy, patrician image and certainly brings enough political experience to the table. Currently without a full-time job, he has been an effective surrogate for Mr Romney on the campaign trail, and the men get on well personally.
But he is seen as lacking charisma, and he does not bring to the ticket a geographic constituency - Minnesota is a solidly Democratic state, having last voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 1972, and before that, in 1956.
Mr Pawlenty has also broken from current Republican orthodoxy on a number of issues, including on energy and environmental policy (although he later renounced his backing for "cap and trade" plans), and with a call for universal health insurance for children.
Mr Pawlenty grew up in a family of modest means in South St Paul, the son of a trucking company worker. He studied law at the University of Minnesota and was elected to the state House of Representatives from a suburban district in 1992.
He rose in the state House, winning the role of Republican majority leader in 1999. In 2002, he was elected governor. He was mentioned as a possible vice-presidential running mate to John McCain in 2008.
Marco Rubio, 41, is everything Mr Portman and Mr Pawlenty are not: He is young, handsome, energetic, and a gifted and engaging public speaker and television presence. He is a darling of the conservative populist Tea Party movement, giving him a grassroots appeal Mr Romney's other options lack.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Mr Rubio could conceivably dent Mr Obama's overwhelming advantage with Hispanic voters. And he could help carry the crucial state of Florida for the Republican ticket.
But Mr Rubio also brings drawbacks. At 41, he is younger than Mr Obama was in 2008, and he has less experience on the national political stage than the president did when he launched his run for the White House.
When Mr Rubio was young, his family briefly attended a Mormon church, which would risk alienating some evangelical Christian voters already suspicious of Mr Romney's Mormon faith.
And it is unclear the extent to which Mr Rubio could win Hispanic votes from the Democrats. The majority of Hispanic Americans have a Mexican background and are unlikely to identify with a Cuban American merely because they speak the same language.
Mr Rubio, a lawyer by training, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000 and rose through the leadership to become House speaker in 2008. In 2010 he was elected to the US Senate.
Bobby Jindal, 41, was the first Indian American elected governor. In choosing him, Mr Romney would hope to broaden his appeal beyond non-Hispanic white voters - or at least soften the party's image among independent voters.
Mr Jindal is a die-hard social conservative and is leading the Republican governors' charge against President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law. Those attributes could win Mr Romney support on the Republican right-wing.
Mr Jindal is also fiercely intelligent, attending Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar.
Mr Jindal's first foray into national politics fell flat - he was chosen to give the Republican rebuttal to Mr Obama's 2009 State of the Union address - and he was dismissed as not quite ready for prime-time.
His national profile subsequently rose in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, when he positioned himself as a bold leader in dealing with the disaster and a critic of the Obama administration's response.
Before entering politics, he worked briefly for consulting firm McKinsey and Company in Washington DC.
While in his mid-20s he was appointed to lead the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and soon was running the national Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. Under President George W Bush, he was assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr Jindal was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, and became governor in 2008.
John Thune, 51, has been seen as a giant-killer by fellow Republicans since he ousted the Senate's Democratic majority leader to claim his seat in the chamber in 2004.
The two-term Senator has become a familiar face on US talk shows and is a prolific fundraiser within the party, using extra cash from his own coffers to bolster the campaigns of other Republican Senate candidates.
Mr Thune's staunchly conservative voting record, especially on social issues, could be an asset for Mr Romney, who has struggled to convince his party's base that he is conservative enough for them.
In 2010 Mr Thune toyed with the idea of running for president himself but ultimately decided not to, saying in February 2011 that he preferred to serve in the "trenches" of the Senate.
Mr Thune is the son of a Norwegian immigrant and hails from Murdo, a small South Dakota town west of the Missouri River. He studied at Biola University in California and the University of South Dakota's business school.
He served in the House of Representatives from 1997 to 2003.


British divers Jack Laugher and Chris Mears won 3m synchronised springboard gold to continue the hosts' incredible European Championships in London.

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The pair scored 456.81 to finish ahead of Russia (445.23) and Ukraine (439.86).
Earlier, Tonia Couch and Georgia Ward secured silver and bronze medals respectively in the individual 10m platform final.
It takes Britain's total to seven medals with two days still remaining.
Laugher and Mears won World Championship bronze together last summer but had their pre-season disrupted after Laugher suffered a foot injury in training.
They showed impressive form at the final World Series in Kazan in April - where they won silver - but Laugher had been disappointed with his individual silver on Thursday after struggling with cramp.
"That's a personal best score for us and it means everything to get this result with my best mate," Laugher told BBC Sport.
"If anything the silver just added to the fire and I wanted it even more tonight."
Mears added: "We haven't had a huge amount of preparation coming into this event, but a score like that really sends out a message to the rest of the world."
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Despite a near 10-year professional career, Couch's silver was her first individual 10m European honour.
"This means so much to me," she said. "I had a terrible start and needed a real talk with myself, but I managed to pull it back and I'm so proud of that result."
Ward, who is competing as a senior British diver for the first time this season, secured Team GB a berth in the event for Rio 2016 earlier this year.
"I'm in shock really," she said. "I am loving every moment and diving in front of my home crowd was amazing but I need to keep this going to secure an Olympic place."
On Saturday, Ward will return alongside Matty Lee in the mixed synchronised 10m platform final - having won 3m bronze together on Monday.
Sunday's final day will see 10m Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley as well as Commonwealth 3m champions Rebecca Gallantree and Alicia Blagg battle for honours.


Israeli airline El Al has been banned from asking women to switch seats if ultra-Orthodox Jewish men object to sitting next to them, a court has ruled.

Passenger Renee Rabinowitz, who is in her 80s, brought a damages case against the airline, after she was asked to move.
Jerusalem Magistrate's Court said such requests break discrimination laws.
The airline says it never pressures passengers to swap seats.
Ms Rabinowitz, a Holocaust survivor, was flying from Newark in the US to Tel Aviv in 2015, when the air steward made the request.
She said she felt "humiliated".
Many strictly Orthodox men avoid accidentally touching women other than their wives in order to guard against extra-marital attraction, a concept in Jewish law known as negiah.
Civil rights group Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), which was representing Ms Rabinowitz in the case, said the win was "a huge victory" in a "long fought battle against gender segregation in the public sphere".
Similar requests for seat swaps have been causing problems and delays on fights, according to The Jerusalem Post, "due to the refusal of such men to take their seats before take off".
The ruling "ends years of uproar over the policy led by rights groups who say it is discriminatory," it said.
El Al argued in court that it opposes any form of discrimination against passengers, said The Times of Israel.
The court ordered El Al to inform staff that such requests are illegal.
It awarded Ms Rabinowitz 6,500 shekels ($1,800; Â£1,450) in damages.
"I'm thrilled because the judge understood the issue," she told The New York Times. "She realised it is not an issue of money; they awarded a very small sum. She realised it's a matter of El Al changing its policy and that's what they've been ordered to do."


Welshman Elfyn Evans finished sixth as Jari-Matti Latvala won the second round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Sweden.

Alongside co-driver Daniel Barritt, Evans equalled their result from the opening round in Monte Carlo.
Evans, 28, experienced a puncture on day two but completed the 18 stages in the DMACK M-Sport Ford Fiesta.
Toyota's Latvala had a 29 second advantage over M-Sport's Ott Tanak who finished in second place.
Reigning champion Sebastian Ogier completed the podium in third while Evans was once again the best-placed British driver.
The Welshman drove for M-Sport in the top class for two seasons in 2014 and 2015, but was demoted to the WRC2 class in 2016.
He made his return to the top class in January 2017 after a 12-month absence.
The third round of the WRC starts in Mexico on 9 March.


A new NHS trust set up to run Stafford's hospital requires improvement, inspectors have said.

The verdict came from the Care Quality Commission's first inspection since the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust was created in November.
The hospital was at the centre of a Â£6m public inquiry into care failings.
But despite the CQC's overall finding being critical, the trust said it was "highly complimentary" about the standard of care in some areas.
Inspectors visited County Hospital, formerly Stafford Hospital, and Royal Stoke University Hospital, also run by the trust, in April. They carried out unannounced inspections in May.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which ran Stafford, was dissolved in November after a report concluded it was not "clinically or financially sustainable".
700,000
People served by the hospital trust
194,954
Combined A&E visits to the two hospitals (2013-14)
1,508 Beds provided across the two sites
8,848 Equivalent full-time staff employed by the trust
The NHS in Staffordshire was given almost Â£300m to create the new trust and relocate some services in the county.
The CQC said it recognised "that the leadership of the new trust has had the significant task of bringing together two organisations at a challenging time. We have seen that progress has been made but there is still more to be achieved".
The trust was rated as good overall for how caring its services were, but told it required improvement to ensure safe, effective and well-led services. It received an inadequate rating in relation to whether services were responsive.
Several initiatives within children and young people's services at Stoke were rated as outstanding in relation to whether they were caring.
Outstanding work was also seen in the specialised neurological unit at County Hospital, inspectors said.
But the trust was told it must address high waiting times in its emergency department, and inspectors noted the Royal Stoke had "consistently and frequently failed the four-hour waiting time target".
It also said the trust should review capacity and adequacy of critical care services, and communication between senior management and frontline staff.
Mark Hackett, trust chief executive, said: "Less than a year ago there were serious concerns about the sustainability, and therefore the safety, of services at County Hospital, but the CQC has now given the hospital 23 good ratings and just one inadequate rating."
He said the trust was addressing the areas for improvement the CQC identified.


Double Paralympic rowing champion Pam Relph has announced her retirement from the sport.

The 27-year-old Briton created history in Rio by becoming the first rower to win two Paralympic golds when she helped the mixed coxed four to glory.
She was also part of the same boat which triumphed at Eton Dorney four years earlier.
"I'll miss being part of the best rowing team in the world but am excited about life after sport," she said.
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"I have had the pleasure of rowing with some amazing athletes during my rowing career and I feel so proud to have been able to represent my country for the past six years."
As well as her Paralympic golds, Relph has also won four world titles since she started her international career in 2011.
She now plans to run the London Marathon in April.


A new investor has been secured to take over a troubled scheme to build a large-scale leisure complex in Swindon.

Plans for a ski centre, hotel and cinema at the existing Oasis leisure centre stalled after previous developers Moirai failed to meet key targets.
However, the local authority has agreed a deal with Seven Capital Investments Ltd to take over the project.
Seven Capital said it expects the £270m complex to open in 2021.
Following a period of due diligence the developer has taken control of the 1,000,000 sq ft North Star site and is in the process of working on a planning application.
The new scheme will include an indoor ski centre, IMAX cinema, bowling alley, climbing wall and trampoline centre.
A hotel complex and a mix of bars and restaurants also forms part of the plan.
Seven Capital director John Watkins said: "This is a long-awaited development for the people of Swindon, and a very exciting project for Seven Capital.
"Not only will it bring a host of new leisure activities and brands for residents to enjoy, it will also help to attract many more visitors to the area."
Swindon Borough Council's cabinet member for the economy, skills and regeneration, Garry Perkins, added: "More than a quarter of a billion pounds will be invested in the site, which will give a huge boost to our local economy, not to mention the hundreds of jobs the scheme will bring, as well as greatly enhanced leisure opportunities."


A pair of panda cubs born in Toronto Zoo in Canada have officially received names that pay tribute to the country of their birth.

8 March 2016 Last updated at 15:47 GMT
The male cub is named Jia Panpan, meaning Canadian Hope, while the female cub is named Jia Yueyue, meaning Canadian Joy.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the pandas represent the growing bond between their country and China, where they'll eventually be returned.


Hopes are fading for more than 80 miners buried in a landslide on Friday in Tibet.

Chinese media said the first body had been found - but only 36 hours after the landslip - and that the chances of finding survivors were slim.
The miners' camp, 70km (45 miles) east of Lhasa, was destroyed by thousands of tonnes of rock.
Rescuers have been hampered by freezing weather, altitude sickness and risks of further landslides.
Xinhua news agency said that as of 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) no survivors had been found and later reported that the first body had been discovered at 17:35 local time.
"The miners' survival chances were slim due to the scale of the landslide," it quoted one rescue worker as saying.
The landslide took place at 06:00 local time on Friday at the mine, which lies at an altitude of 4,600m (15,000ft), burying 83 workers.
Some 2,000 police, firefighters and doctors have been sent to the disaster site, setting up temporary accommodation at a safe distance. About 200 bulldozers have been deployed to shift rock.
Xinhua said cracks on nearby mountains suggested there could be further land slips.
"Temperatures as low as -3C have affected the sniffer dogs' sense of smell," it added.
More than 300,000 cu m of debris had been removed by midday on Saturday.
The mine in Maizhokunggar county, which produces copper, as well as some silver and gold, is operated by a subsidiary of state-owned China National Gold Group, China's biggest gold producer.
President Xi Jinping is said to have ordered authorities to "spare no efforts" in the rescue operation.
Most of the workers were ethnic Han Chinese from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, with two reported to be ethnic Tibetans.
Police said the area that collapsed was up to 4 sq km (1.5 sq miles).
Chinese officials believe the Tibetan plateau has huge resources, including millions of tonnes of copper, lead, zinc and iron ore.
Critics claim that Beijing's interests are driven by a desire to exploit the region's rich mineral wealth.
The government argues its investment brings modernisation and better living standards for local Tibetans.
The landslip came on the same day as a gas explosion at a coal mine in north-eastern Jilin province.
Some 28 people were killed at the Babao mine in the city of Baishan.
Another 13 miners were rescued after the explosion.


One of the Large Hadron Collider's huge experiments has been given what's described as a "heart transplant".

Officials said the replacement of a key component inside the CMS experiment represented the first major upgrade to the LHC - the world's biggest machine.
Engineers have been carefully installing the new "pixel tracker" in CMS in a complex and delicate procedure on Thursday 100m underground.
It should boost the hunt for signs of new physics phenomena.
The LHC is a particle accelerator that pushes two particle beams to near the speed of light and smashes them together so that scientists can look for signs of new physics phenomena in the debris - including new sub-atomic particles.
More than 1,200 "dipole" magnets steer the beam around a 27km-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border. At certain points around the ring, the beams cross, allowing collisions to take place. Large experiments like CMS and Atlas then record the outcomes of these encounters, generating more than 10 million gigabytes of data every year.
360-degree tour of the LHC
The CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) pixel tracker is designed to disentangle and reconstruct the paths of particles emerging from the collision wreckage.
"It's like substituting a 66 megapixel camera with a 124 megapixel camera," Austin Ball, technical co-ordinator for the CMS experiment, told BBC News.
In simple terms, the pixel detector takes images of particles which are superimposed on top of one another, and then need to be separated.
As the LHC's performance has been boosted in the past few years, "rather than having 25 or 30 protons collide with each other, yielding 25 or 30 superimposed pictures, we're now expecting to have to deal with 50 or 60 superimposed pictures", said Mr Ball. This required a "step up" in technology, he explained.
"There are limits to the camera analogy - it's a 3D imaging system. But the point is that the new system is more powerful at disentangling the effects of having multiple collisions superimposed on top of each other," the CMS technical co-ordinator said.
"We were looking ahead when we decided to build this device and install it now. But as it turns out, the performance of the accelerator has improved so rapidly over the past couple of years that this is the time we need to make the change to exploit the accelerator's full potential - for new physics, and the study of existing physics."
Engineers began pulling apart the experiment's structure just before Christmas, when the LHC shuts down for the winter. A delicate and painstaking process, it took the team until last week to be in a position to replace the pixel detector. It also allows for some spectacular views of the technology that makes up CMS.
One half of the pixel detector was installed on Tuesday. On Thursday morning, the second half of the device - which weighs a few tens of kilos - left its cleanroom to be picked up by a crane and lowered 100m into the cavern hewn out of the local Molasse sandstone to house the CMS experiment.
At the bottom, it was placed on a platform with slide mechanisms that allow access to the central part of CMS. At around 09:00 GMT (10;00 local time), engineers began the roughly hour-long process of inserting the hardware into its final location inside the experiment. After that, engineers connect the cooling system that keeps the detector at its operating temperature below -10C.
CMS and its counterpart Atlas are the two "multi-purpose" experiments at the LHC. Staffed by separate - and competing - teams of physicists, they provided the crucial evidence that led to the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson, announced in 2012.
The Higgs was the last major jigsaw piece in the theory of particle physics known as the Standard Model (SM). But the hoped-for signs of physical phenomena beyond the Standard Model, such as evidence for dark matter or supersymmetry - a theorised extension to the SM which invokes a range of new sub-atomic particles - have taken longer than expected to reveal themselves at the LHC.
The change to CMS should help physicists in that endeavour, said Mr Ball: "We have to make sure that our detectors can keep up with what's being thrown at them... we're trying to access rarer processes, and to do that you need to produce and record more collisions between protons."
"Very often, only slight deviations from theoretical predictions are the clues to new things we should be looking for."
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The number of short-finned pilot whales who have died after they were stranded on a beach in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has risen to 73, officials said.

Thirty-six whales were rescued and pushed back into the sea at Tuticorin on Tuesday, but 28 of them floated back to the shore and died on Wednesday.
Earlier, 45 whales died after 81 of the animals were stranded on Monday.
The last time such an incident occurred in Tuticorin was in 1973 when 147 whales died.
Local fishermen, helped by officials, have been using mechanised boats to float the stranded whales back into the sea, but many of the animals have returned to the shore, BBC Hindi's Imran Qureshi reports.
"This is a well known phenomenon. When there is mass stranding, whales return ashore. Pilot whales are very social animals and they live in groups. They are very aware that some of their group members are in distress on the shore, possibly dead, so they don't wish to go back into the sea," whale expert Dr Kumaran Sathasivam said.
The dead whales are being buried near the shore at Tuticorin, officials say.


Mercedes plan to let team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battle for the title again next season.

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Hamilton beat Rosberg to the World Championship by 67 points, but there were several flash points, notably at Monaco, Hungary and Belgium.
Team boss Toto Wolff said: "I'm very optimistic we can continue the way we have done this season - if we can stay on top of the situation.
"If you can't then you need to change the strategy."
Wolff said the relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg "deteriorated a lot" after the first incident in Monaco, when Rosberg went off the track on his final qualifying lap to prevent Hamilton from challenging for pole.
Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, a triple world champion, said there had been a "big argument", but no-one was able to prove whether Rosberg had deliberately sabotaged Hamilton's qualifying lap.
"Nico said: 'I braked too late and that was it'," Lauda told the BBC's F1 review show, to be screened on BBC One on 27 December at 1300 GMT.
"Lewis said: 'Listen, you braked 10 metres too late. This is on purpose. You brake two metres too late, I can agree with you.'
"It was a difficult time because Lewis did not believe Nico."
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Hamilton said that his disappointment at missing out on pole was compounded when he saw Rosberg's lap data which showed the way he behaved on the track.
"Having seen the data made it a little harder to swallow," said Hamilton. "That was how I felt and I honestly feel I had the right to feel that way."
He also said he could not understand why the race stewards had acquitted Rosberg of wrongdoing following an investigation.
"I don't - and I still don't," Hamilton said. "The decision came as a bit of a surprise, but it is what it is and there's nothing I can do about it."
In his version of events, Rosberg said the data proved it was a "mistake".
He added: "It's pretty straightforward. I was little bit behind on my split times, so I started to push a little bit more because pole is everything in Monaco.
"I locked my rear wheels a little bit more into that corner, caught the first part and then was looking OK.
"Then I locked up again a second time and I wouldn't have made the corner anymore. In the last moment, I had to steer out to not hit the wall."
The programme also reveals more about the collision and subsequent row between Hamilton and Rosberg at the Belgian Grand Prix.
At the start of lap two, Rosberg touched the back of Hamilton's car, causing the Englishman to puncture.
Hamilton scrambled back to the pits but eventually retired with five laps remaining.
After the race, Wolff and Lauda were both critical of Rosberg, while Hamilton claimed his team-mate admitted in a private meeting that he caused the collision to "prove a point".
Lauda said he "made a mistake" by taking issue with Rosberg before speaking to him about the incident.
"He told me in Vienna this was unfair and I apologised," added the Austrian. "I should have talked to him and then made my criticism.
"He argued that he needs to make a point against Lewis, because Lewis is one of the best overtakers and he can pass people in places you think you can't get through.
"I told Nico there are some drivers who take chances and they get away with it and some don't. Lewis is an expert on this so your try on the outside made no sense. He understood my language and it was OK."


A superb double from 19-year-old Patrick Roberts helped Celtic to a convincing win over third-top Hearts.

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Jamie Walker gave the visitors a stunning and deserved lead early on, but that was cancelled out shortly after by Gary Mackay-Steven.
Roberts scored with two fine strikes, one in each half, while Hearts' Juwon Oshaniwa was sent off late on.
The win edges Celtic closer to the title and puts more distance between them and second-placed Aberdeen.
With Tom Rogic's last-minute winner against Kilmarnock having eased some of the pressure on manager Ronny Deila, the stuttering reigning champions knew they had to build on the feel-good factor that followed the Australian's precious Rugby Park strike.
The healthy home support inside Celtic Park was evidence of that and of the edge that's always attached to this fixture.
But it was the small band of Hearts fans who were celebrating in the Glasgow sunshine after only six minutes.
Spanish striker Juanma held off Dedryck Boyata just inside the Celtic box and slipped the ball to Jamie Walker, who smashed a shot high into top left hand corner of Craig Gordon's goal.
The Celtic defence could have dealt with it better, but it was a fine strike from a player in top form.
The visitors were ahead for just 10 minutes, though, and the strike to level was as impressive as the opener.
Leigh Griffiths' fierce free-kick was palmed behind by Neil Alexander, but the ball broke to Mackay-Steven from the resulting corner and he lashed the ball left-footed low past the outstretched arm of the goalkeeper from just outside the box.
An engrossing battle for the upper hand followed, but it was Hearts who saw more of the ball and almost took the lead when Alim Ozturk's curling 25-yard free-kick bounced off the Celtic crossbar.
However, 10 minutes before the break, Roberts raised the roof with a sumptuous goal to give Ronny Deila's side the lead.
Rogic's tenacity on the right hand side paid off and when he knocked the ball through to Roberts, Celtic's young Manchester City loanee delicately lobbed the ball over Alexander from eight yards.
With both teams fully committed, it threatened to boil over following a clash of heads between Rogic and Oshaniwa - Griffiths and Buaben had to be separated and both had their names taken by referee Bobby Madden.
Less than five minutes into the second half, the on-loan hot shot was at it again with his second and Celtic's third.
Griffiths fed Stefan Johnansen deep inside the Hearts half and, when the Norwegian's flick found Roberts, the 19-year-old skipped into the box and curled the ball left footed low past Alexander.
Hearts looked deflated for a spell after that and, while they continued to enjoy long periods of possession, it was Celtic's Griffiths and Callum McGregor who went closest to scoring.
The visitors' misery was compounded in stoppage time when Oshaniwa was sent off for a second yellow card.


Private schools saw a dip in top A-level results this year, largely reflecting national trends, figures released by the sector suggest.

The proportion of private school A-level entries gaining grade A or better was 48.7%, down from 49.3% last year, says the Independent Schools Council.
This is still almost twice the national average of 25.8%, itself down slightly from 25.9% in 2015, says the ISC.
Council chairman Barnaby Lenon called the figures encouraging.
Overall, the 2016 A-level grades, published earlier this month, showed a marginal fall in top grades for the fifth successive year - but the Joint Council for qualifications described outcomes as relatively unchanged.
The ISC figures, for 495 UK independent schools offering A-levels, reflect the results of 36,992 candidates and suggest:
Overall the pass rate for private school A-level students was 99.1% - one percentage point better than the national average, says the ISC.
And three-quarters (75.2%) of grades were B or higher, it adds, compared with 52.9% nationally
According to the ISC, more private schools are choosing to offer the International Baccalaureate, with the number rising by 5% on last year.
The ISC says the figures show academic success is still a "top priority" at independent schools, with a strong focus on good grades in the subjects preferred by the most selective universities.
"A concerted effort to halt grade inflation in recent years has seen the top grades both nationally and in independent schools level off and fall slightly, so it is encouraging to see the headline A* and A figure remain solid," said Mr Lenon.
"Of particular note is the number of students achieving ABB grades, which will see many of them moving on to the university of his or her choice, a high number to the top institutions."


Crucial DNA evidence in the case of the murder of two British backpackers cannot be retested because it no longer exists, Thai police have told the BBC.

The evidence is central to the prosecution case against two Burmese migrants on trial for killing David Miller, 24, from Jersey, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Norfolk.
The defence had wanted it re-examined.
It comes as Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, who both deny murder, rape and robbery, appear in court for a second day.
The judge in the trial had been due to make a decision on whether the DNA evidence could be independently verified.
The tourists' bodies were found on a beach on the island of Koh Tao last September, sparking a major police investigation and intense local and international pressure to find those responsible.
Thai police claim DNA they gathered and tested in a police laboratory links both men to Miss Witheridge's body.
Speaking to the BBC, Lieutenant Colonel Somsak, who led the original investigation, said some of the original DNA samples had been "used up".
A hair sample found in Miss Witheridge's hand was among samples that were lost, he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Somsak said all police could offer the court was documentation of the results.
"There's nothing left. It was used up when we tested the first time," he said.
BBC Myanmar/Burma correspondent Jonah Fisher, who is in Koh Samui for the trial, said the DNA evidence had seemed like the strongest piece of evidence in a complex and confusing case - and now it could not be independently verified.
The news would support the argument of those who believed the accused had been framed by the Thai authorities, our correspondent said.
On the opening day of the trial the first police officer to reach the murder scene described how the bodies were found a few metres apart, and were unclothed.
Mr Zaw and Mr Wai (also known as Win Zaw Htun), both 22, were arrested several weeks later.
They are said to have confessed to the crime but later retracted their statements.
The defendants have repeatedly stated their innocence over the murders, which happened on 15 September last year, with the defence alleging they were framed.
Verdicts in the case are not expected until October.


Ethiopia has lifted a ban on diplomats travelling more than 40km (25 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa without permission, state media report.

The ban was imposed under last month's state of emergency and has been lifted because relative peace and security has been restored, Defence Minister Siraj Fegessa was quoted as saying.
Ethiopia has recently faced an unprecedented wave of violent protests.
But Mr Fegessa said the situation nationwide was now much more stable.
He said the travel ban - imposed for the safety of diplomats - was being lifted because it was "unthinkable" that the security threat was so serious.
Ethiopia last month declared a six-month state of emergency after a wave of deadly anti-government demonstrations by activists in both the Oromia and Amhara regions.
The deaths of at least 55 people at an Oromo religious festival on 2 October triggered fresh unrest, including the targeting of some foreign-owned businesses.
Rights groups say that at least 500 people have died during the protests overall.
Some of the things restricted under the state of emergency included social media, broadcast media, protests, gestures, freedom of movement and guns.


Ian Cathro is the new head coach at Hearts after agreeing to leave his post at Newcastle.

He will be joined by Austin MacPhee, the Northern Ireland assistant coach.
The 30-year-old Cathro has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at Tynecastle and will take charge of Saturday's Scottish Premiership match at Rangers.
He replaces Robbie Neilson, who left last week to take over at MK Dons, along with assistant Stevie Crawford.
New assistant MacPhee, 37, had been in contention for the role of Performance Director at the Scottish Football Association, but has elected to join Cathro at Tynecastle.
He will continue to be a member of Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill's backroom staff, combining that role with his new position at Hearts.
Cathro had been an assistant coach at St James' Park since June 2015, serving Steve McClaren and then Rafa Benitez.
"This is a step I've wanted to take, one I've prepared for and I think the circumstances are perfect," he told Hearts TV.
"What will the fans get? A team that wants to win. A team that when the first whistle goes - irrespective of the circumstances, the opponent, home, away, rain, sun, no matter what - when the first whistle goes we will expect to win.
"And we will work to find a way in which we believe that we can win.
"We're going to want to use the ball, we're going to want to be incredibly energetic, we'll want to attack and score goals. We want to be aggressive and be as close to the opponent's goal as we possibly can.
"We'll make it an exciting place to come. Will it always be perfect? No it won't. But everybody will be at maximum all the time. It could be an enjoyable ride."
During his time as manager of Dundee United, Hearts director of football Craig Levein employed Cathro as a youth coach.
Cathro worked with the academy at Tannadice for four years before a move to Portugal with Rio Ave, where he was assistant to manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
The duo then moved to Valencia, steering them to a fourth place finish in La Liga before Cathro returned to the UK with Newcastle.
"We are delighted to have secured the services of Ian Cathro and are confident he is the ideal candidate to take our club forward," said chairwoman Ann Budge.
"He is widely regarded as one of the brightest young coaches in the game and has amassed a great deal of experience both at home and abroad.
"He may only be 30 years of age but we are convinced that he has all the tools required to be a successful head coach."
Hearts sit third in the Scottish Premiership after Saturday's 2-2 draw at Ross County, two points behind Rangers.
Benitez will not move to replace Cathro immediately, with the Newcastle boss saying: "I would like to wish Ian the very best success with his first head coach role.
"When a coach has the opportunity and the desire to progress his career in management, it is always very important to allow them the freedom to move on and develop themselves."


Hundreds of police monitored traffic in Paris on Monday after high pollution levels prompted the French government to impose major restrictions.

Only motorists with odd-numbered number plates were allowed to drive.
Those with those even-numbered plates will be allowed to travel on Tuesday after the success of Monday's initiative led to a fall in pollution.
Ministers acted after air pollution exceeded safe levels for five days running in Paris and surrounding areas.
But the environment ministry said lower traffic levels during throughout Monday and a change in weather conditions had significantly improved the smog which has descended on Paris over the past week.
The smoggy conditions have been caused by a combination of cold nights and warm days, which have prevented pollution from dispersing.
By Hugh SchofieldBBC News, Paris
It is not hard to spot even-numbered registration plates on the streets of Paris.   Plenty of people seem to have decided to chance it.   Either they reckoned their journey was too important to cancel,  or  the risk of a 22-euro (Â£18) fine was not enough to concern them.
But overall it seems Parisians are playing the game.    Most cars on the roads are indeed odd-plated,    and traffic seems lighter than usual.    Fewer vehicles means fewer particles,  so presumably the measure is having an effect.
It is hard to criticise a measure whose aim is to protect people's health.  But there are legitimate questions over the timing of the alternate driving scheme.  Pollution levels peaked at the end of last week, and were already falling. So why now?
Could the Paris mayoral elections next weekend possibly have anything to do with it?  Surely not.
The measure has been tried once before, in 1997. Paris air quality monitoring body Airparif says it had a noticeable impact on improving air quality, although critics have disputed its findings.
Motorcycles were also covered by the ban, which ran from 05:30 (04:30 GMT) to midnight. There were exceptions for taxis, commercial electric and hybrid vehicles and for cars carrying three or more passengers.
Those flouting the restrictions faced a small fine. There was free parking for those with number-plates ending in an even number.
About 700 police ran nearly 180 control points around the Paris region, correspondents say, handing out tickets to offenders. Police were reported to have ticketed nearly 4,000 people by midday on Monday, and 27 drivers had their cars impounded for refusing to co-operate with officers.
Delivery companies are already complaining of lost income, BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield says. Politically the stakes are high, with elections for Paris mayor due to start next week.
Opposition leader Jean-Francois Cope complained that the ban lacked "coherence, explanation and on the ground it's really panic".
On Friday, public transport was made free of charge for three days in an attempt to encourage people to leave their cars at home.  This measure continued on Monday.
The capital's air quality has been one of the worst on record, French environmental agencies say, rivalling the Chinese capital, Beijing, one of the world's most polluted cities.
On Friday, pollution levels hit 180 microgrammes of PM10 particulates per cubic metre, more than double the safe limit of 80.
PM10 particulates are emitted by vehicles, heating systems and heavy industry.
Officials say one heavy rainfall would have more effect than a one-day ban.


A golden eagle that was found injured on the Isle of Mull has been released back into the wild after almost eight months of care by an animal charity.

The bird, named Bud, was found with a damaged wing on Mull last August and rescued by the Scottish SPCA.
The charity worked with Raptor World and the RSPB to help it overcome the injury and a subsequent leg break.
Bud was freed on 13 March - the first time the Scottish SPCA has returned an injured golden eagle to the wild.
Colin Seddon, manager at the charity's National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Clackmannanshire, said the juvenile golden eagle had been found by a farmer on Mull.
"Bud was found to have soft tissue damage to his wing which took a long time to heal and unfortunately once he had fully recovered he broke his right leg in a freak accident," he said.
"The break was repaired by a vet using an external fixator and as the healing process was very long Bud was kept with us over winter.
"We had to carefully choose the best time and place to release Bud and following discussions with David Sexton of the RSPB and Stewart Millar from Raptor World, we decided to take him back to a location close to where he was found."
Mr Seddon said they had to wait for a "reasonable weather window" to release Bud.
"We didn't want to release him in a period of heavy rain as he may not have been able to hunt," he said.
"We also had to avoid strong winds because, as an inexperienced flyer, Bud would have been blown away from the release site where support food and monitoring is being provided by the RSPB."
Mr Seddon added: "Bud is the first ever golden eagle we've been able to release back into the wild and everyone involved is extremely pleased with the outcome.
"It is rare for us to rescue golden eagles as there are so few of them in Scotland and because they tend to live in remote areas they often die before they are found if they become sick or injured."


Scientists have begun the most detailed analysis ever carried out on a Stegosaurus skeleton.

Researchers hope to learn how much it weighed, how it moved and what it used its iconic back plates for.
A UK team has scanned each of its 360 bones into a computer and has digitally reconstructed the dinosaur.
The specimen, nicknamed "Sophie", has been acquired by the Natural History Museum in London.
Although Stegosauruses are one of the most well known dinosaurs, they are among those that scientists know the least about. There are only six partial skeletons of the creature, which lived around 150 million years ago.
It could grow to the size of a minibus and the gigantic plates which ran along its back were its most distinctive feature.
Surprisingly, it was 100 years ago that the dinosaur's skeleton was properly assessed and scientifically described. Now, using medical imaging techniques and 3D modelling, researchers at the Natural History Museum hope to learn much more about this iconic creature.
Prof Paul Barrett, who is leading the research, said that they were particularly interested in finding out what stegosauruses used their plates for.
"We want to find out whether they were used for defence or whether they were used as a radiator to help the animal pick up or lose heat," he told BBC News.
Sophie is 80% complete and is thought to be the most complete specimen in the world. Dr Charlotte Brassey, who is working with Prof Barrett, helped to scan in its 360 bones and digitally recreate it on her computer as a detailed 3D model.
"I reconstructed the skeleton to see what it might have looked like and then began to reconstruct the muscles and how they connected with the skeleton. From that we can begin to say how effective its muscles were and eventually in the future we would like to reconstruct how it moved," she told BBC News.
Among the mysteries the researchers would like to solve is how the species was able to walk with such small front legs and such large back legs.
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People who buy houses through the a 'Help to Buy' scheme could be penalised for making basic home improvements, fear assembly members.

Some have written to Communities Minister Lesley Griffiths asking for clarity on the Welsh government's shared equity loans.
They claim homeowners may have to repay bigger than expected debts because of confusion about the rules.
The Welsh government said it gives Help to Buy customers clear guidance.
Launched in Wales in January 2014, the scheme has helped 1,200 people buy their homes.
The buyer has to find a deposit of at least 5%, with the Welsh government lending 20% and a mortgage covering the rest.
Major improvements such as building a conservatory are banned, but one buyer told the BBC's Sunday Politics Wales he had to install flooring in a newly-built house to cover a bare concrete floor.
Martin Fidler Jones from Hawthorn near Pontypridd borrowed £37,000 through the Help to Buy scheme in October 2014 to help pay for his £185,000 home.
After installing the flooring, he claimed he faced a "tax" on making the house habitable, as he would have to pay back 20% of its increased value when he eventually sells it.
"I think there'll be a great number of families along the line who'll get a significant bill from this without necessarily signing up to that in the first place," he said.
A Welsh government spokesperson said there was nothing to prevent Help to Buy owners from undertaking "small DIY jobs to make their homes more comfortable".
But the spokesperson added that "significant home improvements" were not permitted, "to protect customers from making investments which would increase the value of their property and, as a result, also increase their debt to the Welsh government".
Sunday Politics Wales is on BBC One Wales at 11:00 GMT on Sunday 15 March.


Eighty residents have been moved from a block of flats after it was found in breach of fire safety regulations.

Inspectors found Metro Court in West Bromwich did not have a working fire alarm, while doors and insulation to stop fire spreading did not meet safety standards.
Sandwell Council and the fire service are pursuing a prosecution against leaseholder First Job Ltd.
The BBC has been unable to contact the leaseholder.
See more stories from Birmingham and the Black Country here
First Job Ltd is responsible for failing to meet building and fire safety regulations when the building, owned by Metro Court Ltd, was converted from offices to flats.
Sandwell Council Deputy Leader Councillor Syeda Khatun said: "Our inspectors found a long list of problems in this building, including the fire alarm not working properly.
"If there had been a fire, the building would have been incredibly dangerous."
The council has offered temporary accommodation to 14 families with children until they find somewhere else to live and is seeking to close the building.
West Midlands Fire Service said officers made a number of visits to Metro Court and identified several fire safety deficiencies.
"In spite of our prohibition notice and follow-up visits, the building stayed in residential use," Gary Jones, from the Fire Safety team, said.
"We will pursue cases to court where necessary and this one will come before Wolverhampton Magistrates next month," he added.


An SDLP MLA has said he will have to review security at his constituency offices after one of his staff was threatened by a member of the public.

Daniel McCrossan, who represents West Tyrone, said the incident happened at his office in Omagh on Monday morning.
He said a woman entered began "shouting and hurling offensive" abuse about him at the worker, who was on her own.
He added unrelated abusive incidents have been happening at his offices on almost a monthly basis for a year.
The police said inquiries into Monday's incident are ongoing.
Mr McCrossan told BBC News NI his member of staff had been left frightened and shaken by the woman, who he said "kept shouting and roaring, slagging off me, SDLP representatives and the party generally".
He claims the incident lasted for up to 20 minutes before his staff member was able to get the woman to leave.
The MLA revealed they had been the target of a spate of abusive incidents over the past 12 months, but said he does not believe there is a specific motive behind them.
He said windows at his offices in Omagh and Strabane have previously been smashed, staff have received abusive phone calls and people have come into the offices to confront staff directly.
"There is no reason in particular, there are a number of elected representatives and offices from an array of parties who get this," said Mr McCrossan.
"Largely, most of us have stayed quiet, but we've had enough.
"I accept public representatives are going to face some level of aggression, but when people come to abuse a member of my staff it's entirely unacceptable."
The SDLP MLA is due to meet with his team on Tuesday evening to discuss reviewing security measures at constituency offices.
"My offices in Omagh and Strabane are very accessible, but if this continues we are going to have to look at putting security buzzer systems on doors," he added.
Mr McCrossan said, however, that because of budget constraints on office expenditure, he will have to consider raising money in order to ensure that staff are protected.
Last week, the head of the standards watchdog said British politics was at a "dangerous moment", with the level of personal abuse aimed at politicians and candidates reaching a "tipping point".
It followed a move by the government announcing an inquiry into intimidation received by MPs.
Mr McCrossan said he wanted to see a conversation taking place about abuse and threats received by representatives in the UK's devolved assemblies as well.
"There needs to be some consideration given to all elected representatives, and constituency staff on the frontline who are always in the office even when MLAs and MPs aren't," he said.
"It's time MLAs and elected representatives spoke out against this, it shouldn't be happening no matter who they are."


"Bank faces big fine" is a story so worn out it would almost struggle to make the headlines after years of bad bank behaviour and big misconduct penalties.

But there are big fines, and BIG fines, and RBS is about to be hit by the biggest one in its troubled history.
RBS is one of the last big banks to settle with US authorities over its role in mis-selling risky mortgages, the scandal at the very heart of the great financial crisis of 2008/9.
According to RBS shareholders the BBC has spoken to, if the US Department of Justice (DoJ) slaps a fine around the $10bn mark, there will be drinks all round at RBS HQ and the share price will probably go up.
RBS itself is loath to offer an estimate as it's worried it may antagonise the very regulators with whom it is in tense and high stakes negotiations.
It has good reason to be cautious. Deutsche Bank tried to create a consensus around a figure of $5bn for its own settlement, only to see the Department of Justice get the hump and hit them with a bill for $14bn.
That riposte saw Deutsche Bank's share price tumble as a fine of that size was nearly 85% of the bank's market value at that time. The two sides eventually settled on a figure of $7.2bn.
RBS had a much bigger share than Deutsche of the sub-prime mortgage market and analysts estimates of the ultimate bill cluster around the low teens of billions. If it is much higher than that, some shareholders think RBS should refuse to settle and instead take the matter to court.
That was the approach taken by Barclays who balked at a figure (thought to be around $5bn) for their comparatively small role in the market, feeling that foreign banks were being disproportionately punished by US regulators compared to American banks. For example, Goldman Sachs was a much bigger player than Barclays in this market and settled for just over $5bn.
A Barclays insider told the BBC: "If the gap between what the DoJ was asking and what we thought reasonable could have been bridged, we would have done it but the gap was just too wide."
Barclays decided it would take its chances fighting the US regulator in court - an option no bank takes lightly. We won't know if that was the right call for many weeks or months.
That is the same dilemma facing RBS. If the DoJ comes back with a number in the high teens of billions - should it pay or fight?
Many shareholders agree that foreign banks are being unfairly punished and would back the bank if it refused to cough up.
One told the BBC: "Justice is not the guiding star for the Department of Justice. You might as well call it the Department of legalised extortion. The US authorities are shaking down the only investment banking competitors to the big US banks."
The Department of Justice declined to comment.
But remember, the DoJ is about to get a new boss appointed by a new President. His preferred choice is Republican Senator Jeff Sessions who has courted controversy for his hardline views on immigration but is fairly inexperienced in financial regulation.
So the gamble is this. Settle with this lot - who have shown themselves to be tough on European banks - or hope you get an easier ride with the new administration who may - or may not - look more favourably on UK institutions.
Whatever choice RBS takes, it will be a massive body blow to a bank already punch drunk with its various regulatory maulings. It was the only UK bank to fail the Bank of England's stress tests in November - in part because of the cloud of this imminent fine.
The Bank of England was satisfied that RBS had a credible plan to bolster its finances further but a particularly vicious upper cut from the US won't help.
This is the last big impediment between RBS and its attempts to return to normality. Just today we saw Lloyds announce that the UK government was no longer its biggest shareholder.
RBS is still 73% owned by the government and is years away from that, but putting all the misconduct and litigation to one side, this is a bank capable of making a billion pounds a quarter in profit.
Many may find banks making profits unpalatable but the truth is economies function better with healthy banks that can get on with the job of being their bloodstream, delivering credit to where it is needed.
Getting this matter settled will be like having a tumor (size TBC) removed. The operation may well be painful, but only when it's done can RBS truly begin to heal.


Imagine your doctor knocking at your door to give not just you, but your whole family, an annual health check-up.

As well as taking blood pressure, checking hearts and asking all sorts of questions about your job and your lifestyle, this doctor is also taking careful note of the state of your home, assessing anything which could be affecting the health of you and your family.
This is what happens in Cuba and although it might not go down well everywhere, it's a pro-active approach to healthcare that yields some impressive results.
In terms of having healthy people, the Cuban health service outperforms other low and medium income countries and in some cases, outperforms much richer ones too.
Despite spending a fraction of what the United States spends on healthcare (the World Bank reports Cuba spends $431 per head per year compared with $8,553 in the US) Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the US and a similar life expectancy.
So how do they do it, and could other countries, rich and poor, learn from the Cuban example?
World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan certainly thinks so.
She has praised the preventative nature of the Cuban health system and called on other countries to follow the Cuban example.
Healthcare in Cuba is free and universal, enshrined in the Cuban constitution as a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the state.
And the foundation of their preventative health care model is at primary care level, the family doctors who oversee the health of those who live around the clinic.
And Cuba does have lots of doctors.
To serve its population of 11 million, the country has 90,000 of them. That's eight for every 1,000 citizens - more than double the rate in the US and in the UK (the US has 2.5 doctors per 1,000, the UK 2.7 per 1,000 according to the World Bank).
And many of these doctors are based in neighbourhood medical centres and, along with a nurse and support from visiting specialists, they monitor closely the health and wellbeing of every single Cuban.
Tanya Rosa de la Cuevas Hill is a specialist in comprehensive medicine and she runs a neighbourhood clinic in Old Havana. Along with her nurse, she looks after 334 families who live in the surrounding streets.
"Being a family doctor, I love it," she says. "The first mission we have is to prevent illness. That's the wonderful thing about my job. Prevention of diseases, prevention of accidents, that's what I like best".
Key to the prevention model is the annual health assessment, a full health check-up which every single one of their 1,287 patients will undergo, often at their homes.
And there's no getting out of it either.
"My nurse knows where they live," Dr Quevas Hill jokes. "They can run, but they can't hide!"
The data from this check-up allows the family doctor to put her patients into categories according their "risk". If they're healthy, the annual check-up is enough. But if they're showing signs of ill-health, if they drink too much, smoke or have a continuing health condition, they're seen much more regularly.
It's an integrated, whole-person approach to healthcare, perhaps too intrusive for some, but widely accepted within Cuba.
The aim is to stop people getting ill in the first place.
According to Gail Read, executive editor of the international health journal, MEDICC Review, Cuba had to focus on prevention precisely because it is a poor country.
"It's much more cost-effective to treat hypertension by exercise than to do a coronary by-pass", she says. "It makes sense to go upstream, to catch the problem before it begins or very soon afterwards."
So in this highly centralised country, data is gathered at the local level, fed up to the second tier of healthcare, the neighbourhood policlinic.
Here, health trends are spotted and decisions taken about how best to intervene.
The model has worked well and produces impressive results. But the health successes that Cuba has achieved have, paradoxically, brought a new set of health challenges, and the preventative approach is being tweaked to tackle them.
Cubans no longer die of infectious diseases because of a hugely successful vaccination programme, so people live longer. And an ageing population presents what one minister described as a "colossal challenge for the nation".
Ageing, an increase in obesity and problems with tobacco and alcohol mean Cuba's citizens are now dying of the same diseases claiming lives in higher income countries: heart disease, stroke and cancer.
It's been said that "Cubans live like the poor, and die like the rich", a reference to the fact that Cuba is a relatively poor nation, yet its disease profile matches that of richer countries.
And certainly patients with heart attacks, angina, diabetes, stroke and cancer are seen daily by neighbourhood family doctors.
The response from the Cuban government to these new health challenges is a huge investment in public health education around smoking, alcohol, diet and exercise.
Those delivering the message, overseeing, encouraging, inspiring healthy living, will be the local family doctor and nurse. And they'll be delivering it, in person, straight to the door.


Mexican singer Chavela Vargas has died of respiratory failure aged 93.

The popular performer was born in Costa Rica but was closely linked to the Mexican cultural scene.
Open about her homosexuality when it was frowned upon in Catholic Mexico, Vargas was a friend of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, with whom she said she had been in love.
She performed Mexican "ranchera" songs dressed in men's clothes while smoking cigars and drinking on stage.
Her friend and biographer Maria Cortina said Vargas died in hospital in the city of Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City.
Vargas moved to Mexico as a teenager after having a loveless childhood in Costa Rica.
"I never got to know my grandparents," she once said. "My parents I got to know better than I would have liked.
"They never loved me and when they divorced, I stayed with my uncles - may they burn in hell!"
In Mexico, Vargas originally started singing in in the streets before finding fame when she was in her thirties.
By then she had embraced the Mexican genre of "rancheras" and made it her own.
Until then rancheras - traditional songs about love and loss - had mainly been performed by men.
Singing in a deep and rugged voice and often swigging from a bottle of tequila, Vergas refused to change the pronouns in love songs about women.
Many of her versions of the passionate Mexican folk songs are considered definitive and her unique style caught the attention of the country's intelligentsia.
As well as Kahlo, she became a close friend of muralist Diego Rivera and the writers Juan Rulfo and Federico Garcia Lorca.
In 2011 she released a new album of Lorca's poems and received standing ovations while performing on stage in a wheelchair.
She appeared in the 2002 film Frida, about her old friend, singing the eerie song La Llorona or The Crier.
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, who has featured her music in many of his films wrote: "I don't think there is a stage big enough in this world for Chavela."
While her liaisons with women were known throughout her life, Vargas did not publicly come out as a lesbian until she published her autobiography, You Want to Know About My Past, at the age of 81.
"Homosexuality doesn't hurt," she said. "What hurts is when you're treated like you have the plague because of it."
While singing in the hotels of the Mexican resort town of Acapulco, she became popular with Hollywood stars holidaying there.
In 1957 she performed at the wedding of Elizabeth Taylor to her third husband, the film producer Michael Todd.
Vargas recorded 80 albums and performed until late into her life, making her debut at New York's Carnegie Hall when she was 83.
In 2007 the Latin Recording Academy gave her its Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also honoured as a "distinguished citizen" of Mexico City and received Spain's Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic.
As a youth, she suffered from polio and attributed her recovery to the shamans she consulted.
On Sunday her doctor, Jose Manuel Nunez, said she had refused to accept breathing tubes or other measures to keep her alive as she "had to have a natural death".
Her friend Cortina said she was conscious to the end and "went with great peace. She never complained."
Only recently she said in an interview that she did not fear death. "I don't owe life anything and life doesn't owe me anything," she said. "We're quits," she said.


A phone app has been launched for train passengers to report people who they think might be at risk near the railway.

Rail505.com is being piloted in parts of London and Kent covered by rail firm Southeastern, Network Rail said.
After the pilot, Network Rail will review the system and look at whether it could be rolled out across the UK.
Programme manager Ian Stevens said: "Passengers are the eyes and ears of the railway."
He said people were encouraged to speak to staff if they saw something they felt worried about, but could use the app if that was not possible.
Mr Stevens added: "It could be that someone has been sitting on a platform for a long time, appears distressed or looks to be too close to the tracks. As soon as we receive a report, help will be sent to the person to find out more."
British Transport Police Inspector Pippa Smith said the app would help people to be more aware of fellow passengers and take action if they had concerns.
She said: "By using the app the right help at the right time can be given to someone who might be at risk."
All reports received through the app will be kept confidential and people using it do not have to register or leave contact details.


MPs say the HS2 rail link needs a "realistic timetable" and believe the current schedule is "overly ambitious".

The Public Accounts Committee says "it is not convinced" that the first phase of the £56bn rail line - linking London and Birmingham - will open at the end of 2026 as planned.
It also urged the government to clarify the route and costs for the second phase, linking to Manchester and Leeds.
A government spokesperson said the project was "on time and on budget".
"We are keeping a tough grip on costs, and pressing ahead with plans for Phase Two - with further details due to be announced this autumn," the spokesperson for the Department for Transport added.
HS2 - waiting for clarity on phase two
HS2 boss quits to join Rolls-Royce
New transport secretary backs HS2
In its report the committee acknowledged there had been "considerable progress" on HS2 since its first report on the project in 2013.
However, committee chair Meg Hillier said both parliament and the public were "still in the dark about crucial details - not least when the railway will open, how much it is expected to cost and precisely where it will go".
The biggest question hanging over HS2 is quite basic really.
Where's it going to go?
The route for phase one linking London to Birmingham has been nailed down, but the part that forks off to Manchester and Leeds is still up in the air.
We were meant to get details in 2014. That slipped to 2015. Now it's "by the end of the year".
The latest proposal, announced just a few months ago, cuts through hundreds of homes on a brand new Doncaster housing estate which isn't even finished yet.
Local MP Ed Miliband (remember him?) is furious about it.
Three years ago I interviewed a Cheshire farmer called John Keleher who wasn't sure if the line would cut through the middle of his land.
He got back in touch recently saying, "obviously we know nothing more today than we did when you were with us nearly 30 months ago, as the decision for HS2 Phase 2b has been put off yet again".
The government's under a lot of pressure to remove at least some of that uncertainty from ordinary people's lives.
The committee said the cost estimates for the second phase for the rail link were "volatile", and £7bn higher than the agreed £28.5bn funding.
It noted that £9bn of potential savings had been identified, but said it was unclear whether these could be made without "adversely affecting the expected benefits of the programme".
HS2's recent recommendation of a new route through South Yorkshire, scrapping a proposed station in Meadowhall in favour of a stop in Sheffield city centre, was cited by the committee as an example of the "significant uncertainty that remains about plans for phase 2".
"Lack of clarity over plans for HS2 in South Yorkshire highlights what is at stake for communities and local economies, and why government must explain its intentions and the basis for its decisions in a transparent manner," added Ms Hillier.
HS2, the firm building the route, said in a statement that it was "making good progress in building confidence in our programme plan, and will continue to do so over the coming months".
The report comes just days after HS2 announced that current boss Simon Kirby would leave the firm to take up a senior post at Rolls-Royce.


When 1,000 people have died in less than three months, when civilians cower in basements and tens of thousands more flee their homes we can no longer speak of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

It is a fiction. All that has happened is that the front lines have remained static. There are no big offensives going on - for the moment.
In light of the evident failure of the ceasefire, talks are today scheduled to take place between military representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the rebels to discuss a new peace deal in the Donetsk region.
Despite an apparent truce called at Donetsk Airport on Monday night, fighting there is continuing.
In a separate announcement, the rebels of the neighbouring Luhansk region said they had agreed with the Ukrainian military to cease fire on 5 December "in principle".
But all the morbid facts of war - the killing, maiming, terrorising - go on every day and night in the east.
On the fringes of Donetsk airport the rebels and Ukrainian forces exchange artillery fire. Rifles and machine guns rattle away in the freezing mist.
Artillery spotters on both sides watch for movement and call in strikes from the guns and multiple rocket launchers. As we crouched in a trench, shells whistled over and exploded to our rear.
We could not tell where they landed. Loud enough to shake the ground and make us hug the earth but far enough away not to shower us with shrapnel.
Earlier rounds had shredded trees in the small wood where we were now taking cover. Mud had been thrown onto the road by the detonations.
Civilians are frequently killed by artillery strikes. While we were in Donetsk a 12-year-old boy was decapitated and a 55-year-old woman killed in a rocket barrage.
Locals blamed the Ukrainian army for that attack. Both sides have caused civilian casualties. The war is being fought mainly in urban areas like Donetsk or the other rebel capital, Luhansk.
In Donetsk we saw rebel armour parked next to a basement that was sheltering around 20 elderly people.
Among most people we met there was a fervent desire for an end to all fighting.
Lyubov Vasilievna was with her two grandchildren when they were caught in an artillery strike on the first day of the ceasefire last September.
They lived in the village of Lebedinskoye between the government lines at Mariupol on the Sea of Azov and the rebel positions further east.
The children - Nikita, 12, and Karolina, 6, - were killed. Lyubov, who was trying to hurry them to safety, was wounded herself.
I met her in hospital on the day of the tragedy. Back then she was still struggling to believe what had happened. Now she is deeply traumatised.
"It is difficult. It is very difficult. Because every day and night, I see the image in front of my eyes as though it were yesterday," she says.
"And I go to bed at night and I think maybe it could have ended differently because it is really, really difficult. Every day I remember it."
She remembered how in the mornings when the children woke they would call out to her. Nikita, who was severely disabled, was her "little sunshine" and Karolina would ask her for a hug.
"My soul aches because I'll never see them again. They'll never say again that they love me. I miss my grandchildren."
Her daughter, Tatiana, aged 29, was the children's mother. She lives a few yards from where the shell killed Nikita and Karolina.
She stares into the distance as she talks, a young woman lost and shuffling through the days, wrapped in disbelief.
"I don't believe it even now. People in the village have said that there is something wrong with my mind because I still don't believe that they are goneâ€¦I keep on thinking they will come home soon, that they are in a hospital or in a nursery."
Nobody has investigated the deaths of Nikita and Karolina. There has been no accounting for what was done to them at a time when a ceasefire was supposed to be in operation.
Of course nobody will formally declare the ceasefire over. For different political reasons the rebels, the Kiev government, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the West have decided to live with the fiction.
The government struggles with a collapsing economy, constant political crisis and an army that is still too weak to take on the might of Russian-backed rebels.  That army is also bolstered in the east by far right militias accused of serious human rights abuses.
The rebels are faction-ridden and depend on Russia for their survival. They faced defeat at the government's hands last autumn until Moscow made a decisive intervention.
For now they have the firepower to sustain the stalemate, but their two republics - in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - are illegal under international law and fertile ground for warlords and criminals.
The European Union - still divided over its policy - and the White House place their hopes in sanctions against Russia.
But it is a theoretical hope.
There is no realistic expectation that President Putin will stop providing the rebels with their military strength.
For now sanctions are a price he is willing to pay to impose his will on Ukraine and confront the West expansion to Russia's borders.
Sanctions may limit the possibility of an escalation in fighting or an overt Russian invasion of the east.
But nobody can be absolutely sure of that. The last nine months have been defined by Vladimir Putin's refusal to play by the West's idea of logic.
Having encouraged Kiev to embrace the idea of EU and Nato membership, the Europeans and Americans were utterly unprepared for President Putin's counter-strikes - first in Crimea and then eastern Ukraine.
There was a complacent assumption that Vladimir Putin would confine himself to rhetorical opposition to western expansion to his borders, and that he would rely on diplomacy to respond to the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow president in Kiev.
The fallacy of that belief is exposed in the airport suburbs of Donetsk and in the hospitals where the wounded and dying are taken.
This European war is no longer in the daily headlines but it grinds on, dangerous and unpredictable, a testament to a toxic combination of political failure and ruthlessness.


A police investigation has been launched into allegations of physical abuse by staff at a Powys residential school for young people with learning disabilities.

Dyfed-Powys Police are investigating the claims at Womaston Children's Home and School at Walton, near Presteigne.
Its owner, the charity MacIntyre, said the school is to close in July.
A spokeswoman said a worker raised concerns with the principal about some staff's behaviour in March.
The principal had immediately suspended the staff and informed the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) who agreed that police should be notified, she added.
A Dyfed-Powys Police spokeswoman said they were working closely with the Local Safeguarding Children Board and CSSIW in their investigation.
"Due to the nature of the enquiry and complex needs of the victims this investigation may take many months," the spokeswoman said.
"Throughout this time the police will work closely with all agencies involved and the alleged victims and families of those affected will receive ongoing support.
"The safety, welfare and protection of vulnerable adults and children will be the absolute priority of all the organisations involved."
Womaston is a residential school for pupils between 11 and 19 with severe learning disabilities including autism and challenging behaviour.
Currently it has 12 students.
The school employs 72 staff, including managers, and care, education, maintenance, and domestic employees.
Principal Belinda Manning said "We are co-operating fully with the police investigation and have agreed with them not to comment until it is concluded.
"Our first priority is the safety and well-being of our students. The parents and carers of all the students have been informed as have the local authorities.
"We have kept the school open because the parents, carers, local authorities and CSSIW are satisfied that the children are safe, happy and well looked after.
"The school voluntarily agreed with CSSIW not to take any new students during the investigation, which is expected to take some time.
"As some students are 'graduating' at the end of the school year anyway, leaving only seven, a decision has been made to close the school."
The school is expected to close in July with pupils being found new placements by September.


Cricket Australia has defended its policy of asking women players to declare if they are pregnant when they sign a central contract.

CA's chief executive James Sutherland says the organisation has not broken any anti-discrimination rules and the policy is a "health and safety issue".
He added: "We are fully aware of our obligations as an employer."
The England & Wales Cricket Board says it does not have a "notification of pregnancy" rule for women cricketers.
"As employees of the ECB, England women's centrally contracted players are supported by the full terms of maternity conditions, as per any other female non-playing ECB employee," an ECB statement read.
"They are not required to declare if they are pregnant before they sign their contract."
It is unlawful to ask a woman if she is pregnant before employing them, under Australia's Sex Discrimination Act.
Sutherland insists that the organisation has not breached any regulations, and says CA has a policy of paying out the whole contract should a centrally-contracted cricketer become pregnant.
"We are fully aware of our obligations as an employer and any anti-discrimination issues. This is not about a matter of us trying to take a higher ground on discrimination," he told ABC Grandstand.
Sutherland says cricketers are required to inform Cricket Australia if they are pregnant when they sign a central contract, so the organisation can then work with the player to ensure the health of both mother and baby.
"We are asking the lady to declare to the doctor on a confidential basis so the doctor who services the team that she plays for can be aware and if anything untoward happens on the cricket field or at training or whatever, the needs of health and safety can be serviced," he said.