Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the party she leads would "never support independence".

25 February 2017 Last updated at 17:09 GMT
Speaking to delegates gathered in Perth, the MSP insisted: "The Labour Party I lead will never betray its values so easily.
"It will never turn its back on the idea that together weâ€™re stronger.
"That we can achieve far more working in partnership than we can alone."
Ms Dugdale went on to say in her keynote speech: "Conference, the Labour Party I lead will never support independence."


Millwall winger Gregg Wylde has had his contract terminated by mutual consent.

The 26-year-old joined the Lions last summer but made just 10 appearances and moved on loan to fellow League One side Northampton.
The former Rangers and Plymouth man played 12 times for the Cobblers before needing surgery on a groin injury.
"Unfortunately Gregg's opportunities here have been limited but I hope he can go on and succeed elsewhere," Millwall boss Neil Harris said.


One of the largest hospital trusts in England is to be put into special measures because of "serious failures" in patient safety.

East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of more than 750,000 people across five different hospitals.
Experts from health regulator Monitor also identified issues with safety, leadership and "a culture of bullying".
The trust said it would "work to make improvements to the services".
It was deemed inadequate by the independent watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, in August.
The trust runs the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford; the Kent and Canterbury in Canterbury; the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) in Margate; the Buckland in Dover; and the Royal Victoria in Folkestone.
Concerns were raised about a culture of bullying at the organisation and inspectors identified staff shortages in A&E, children's care and at night.
They found risks to patients and incidents involving patient safety were not always identified.
The inspection team also noticed that in a number of areas around the trust, buildings and equipment were "poorly maintained".
Monitor said it would be appointing an improvement director at the trust to provide support and to ensure it is making progress.
"The trust needs to urgently improve the safety of care for patients, and strengthen its management to better support frontline staff," said Paul Streat, regional director at Monitor.
"By putting the trust into special measures we can ensure they turn things around quickly.
"Senior leaders need to listen to and work with all staff to understand and tackle problems on their wards," he said.
Patients visiting the Kent and Canterbury Hospital on Tuesday said they had no confidence in the management.
Former cancer patient Ken Rogers, who quit in July as a governor, said: "I've argued with the trust over some of the performance results of what they've been doing to patients and they haven't listened."
Robert Watts, who was at the hospital with his wife and baby son, said: "You want the best. You want to be told the right things and hope that they do the best job they can.
"Sometimes they don't, they miss it. I just don't think that this hospital can do that."
The trust's chief executive, Stuart Bain, said: "We want to work with our regulator Monitor, our staff and our health partners to make improvements to the services we provide to the people of east Kent."
He said areas for improvement had already been recognised including the investment of an additional Â£2.9m to recruit 69 nurses where shortages existed.
An additional four general surgeons had also been recently appointed and a further three would be recruited shortly, Mr Bain added.
"In addition we identified the need to improve our appointment system some time ago and have just completed a public consultation on our outpatient services that will allow us to make improvements to the services we offer patients.
"New appointment booking systems, more flexible appointments, and an investment of Â£28m in improved facilities including a new hospital in Dover will start to address these issues," he said.
"The trust is committed to working with staff and health partners to produce an action plan to address the issues raised by the CQC and Monitor and to see us removed from special measures as soon as possible."


West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison has travelled to Italy with his club's consent in order to sign a pre-contract agreement with Lazio.

It had been reported the Hammers had blocked the former Manchester United player, 21, from making the trip.
However, it is understood the delay was down to training commitments.
If Morrison signs for Lazio, they would become the former England Under-21 international's sixth club in a career blemished by off-field issues.
Earlier this month, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges against Morrison over allegations he assaulted his former girlfriend and her mother.
Here BBC Sport looks at the ups and downs of Morrison's career.
Former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once claimed the 14-year-old Morrison was the most talented youngster he had seen at the club since Paul Scholes.
However, there was a sign of the problems to come when Morrison was cautioned for common assault in 2008.
In 2010, he made his first-team debut in the League Cup against Wolves despite regularly missing training sessions, according to Ferguson's assistant, Mike Phelan.
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"He had a tendency to disappear for the odd day or two, then we would manage to find him and bring him back," Phelan told Radio 5 live in October 2013. "One day he was there and then another he wasn't."
Morrison won the FA Youth Cup with United but only managed a further two senior appearances in the League Cup in the 2011-12 campaign.
Off the field, he also pleaded guilty to witness intimidation in February 2011 and was fined £600 three months later for throwing his girlfriend's phone through an open window during an argument.
With his contract set to expire in the summer of 2012, Ferguson's patience seemingly ran out.
The player was allowed to join West Ham in January of that year after Ferguson labelled his contract demands "unrealistic" and said he was "better out of Manchester".
Even before his debut for West Ham, Morrison was fined £7,000 by the Football Association for a homophobic remark on Twitter and warned about his future conduct.
After just one Championship appearance in the 2011-12 season, Hammers boss Sam Allardyce sent Morrison out on a season-long loan to Birmingham City.
Life in the West Midlands didn't get off to the best of starts, though, with Lee Clark, who was Birmingham boss at the time, considering terminating the loan because of the player's attitude.
However, Clark soon revised his opinion of Morrison after sitting down to chat with the player.
"The conversation we had a couple of weeks ago seems to have done the trick," Clark told BBC WM in October 2012. "Since then, he's been nothing short of brilliant in terms of his application and his attitude."
Morrison forced his way into Allardyce's team in the first half of the 2013-14 season and produced some eye-catching performances, scoring five goals in his first 12 games for the Hammers.
The playmaker's most memorable goal came in West Ham's 3-0 win over Tottenham in October 2013, when he glided through the Spurs defence before finding the net with a delicate chip.
Allardyce described the goal as a "bit of genius" and said Morrison had finally "sorted himself out".
Morrison was called up to the England Under-21 squad the same month but then fell out of favour with Allardyce, who claimed the player overstated minor injury problems.
"Ravel is still complaining about the problem that's he had from before Christmas, that he's got a rumbling groin problem," said Allardyce.
"He says he feels it occasionally. Instead of gritting your teeth and getting on with it... he's not the type."
Allardyce also denied allegations in the Guardian newspaper that his relationship had broken down with Morrison as a result of a disagreement over agents.
It was claimed Allardyce had put pressure on Morrison to change to the same agent - Mark Curtis - as a number of other West Ham players. It was an accusation Allardyce, West Ham and Curtis all said was untrue.
Despite Morrison's early season form for West Ham, which saw him talked of as a possible contender for England's 2014 World Cup squad and helped draw praise from Roy Hodgson, he was sent on loan to Championship side QPR in February 2014.
QPR boss Harry Redknapp said it was a "bit of a gamble", but it paid off.
Under Redknapp's management, Morrison played a key role in QPR's promotion-winning campaign and finished the season with  11 goals in 38 appearances for QPR and West Ham.
After Morrison's two brilliant goals in QPR's 2-0 win over Birmingham in March 2014, Blues boss Clark even labelled him "the best footballer since Paul Gascoigne".
A couple of appearances for West Ham at the start of the 2014-15 season suggested Morrison might be back in Allardyce's thoughts.
But he was then loaned out for a third time to a second-tier club in September 2014, joining Cardiff on a three-month deal.
Morrison revealed he had started to learn French while at the Welsh club, but returned to West Ham early for personal reasons.
He was cleared of threatening to throw acid in the face of his ex-girlfriend, have her killed and blow up her house in November 2014. Subsequent charges of assault were also dropped on 15 January.
Following Morrison's return to Upton Park, Allardyce said hated watching the 21-year-old "waste his talent".
If the move to Italy comes off, Morrison will be someone else's problem.
He would also become the first Englishman to play for Lazio since Paul Gascoigne's spell with the Italian outfit from 1992 to 1995.


Macedonia's interior ministry says police were partly responsible for a mass brawl that erupted inside and outside parliament on Thursday.

Interior Minister Agim Nuhiu, an ethnic Albanian, says he will resign.
More than 80 people were injured, including 25 police officers and three MPs. Protesters beat up MPs who had elected an ethnic Albanian as speaker.
Russia has accused Western countries of conniving with alleged opposition plans to create a Greater Albania.
Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev was among those injured. After elections in December he formed a coalition with two parties representing ethnic Albanians. But President Gjorge Ivanov opposes it, and politics is deadlocked.
Ethnic Albanians make up around a quarter of the country's population.
Mr Nuhiu said "certain police structures" had not done their job on Thursday and "must be held responsible".
There have been nightly protests by nationalist demonstrators backing the conservative VMRO party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
He condemned the violence but said protesters had been provoked by the election of Talat Xhaferi as speaker.
The crisis goes back further, to a phone-tapping scandal two years ago.
The nationalists fear moves to improve the status of Albanians threaten Macedonian unity.
Some of the 200 protesters were masked. Police fired stun grenades to disperse them and allow politicians to exit the parliament building.
Macedonia came close to civil war in 2001 after an Albanian uprising.
Macedonia is stuck in a big mess with no obvious means to get out, BBC Balkans reporter Guy De Launey says.
Thursday's violence has set back hopes of reaching a political deal and forming a functioning government, he adds.
A statement from the US embassy in Macedonia, published on Twitter, said: "We condemn the violence in the strongest possible terms.
"It is not consistent with democracy and is not an acceptable way to resolve differences."
The secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, tweeted that he was "shocked" by the "attacks".
"All parties should respect democratic process and engage in dialogue, not violence," he wrote.
"Violence has NO place in Parliament. Democracy must run its course," tweeted European Union Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
Russia's foreign ministry said the parliamentary speaker's election had been basically an attempt "to seize power... in violation of established procedures".
It accused EU and US officials of "blatant interference" in Macedonia's affairs. "The West is obviously pandering to the advocates of a Greater Albania," it said.
A Macedonian political commentator, Sasho Ordanovski, told the BBC that Russia was not orchestrating the chaos but "using the Macedonia crisis... to make the West spend its resources".
He dismissed the "Greater Albania" notion, saying "the region is totally pacified compared to 25 years ago".


Every school in London will be offered a metal detecting wand as part of new plans to reduce knife crime, Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced.

New community sentences will be introduced for those convicted of knife possession, while an extra £625,000 has been pledged for knife crime projects.
The mayor of London said the strategy "brings together" organisations and communities "to solve this problem".
But the Conservatives said Mr Khan's measures had come "far too late".
This year, up to 18 June, 24 people under the age of 25 have been fatally stabbed on London's streets.
On Monday the Met launched three separate murder investigations following stabbings in Canning Town, East Ham and Islington.
The extra money pledged will increase the total spending by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) on knife and gang projects to more than £7m.
Other measures announced as part of the strategy include:
Mr Khan said: "No young Londoner should have to accept crime and violence as a way of life.
"We are working to provide them with the skills, the resources and the confidence they need to turn away from knives and lead the life they deserve in our city."
However, Conservative London Assembly member Tony Arbour said it was "disappointing that we've had to wait over a year for the mayor to take action".
He added that while he supported the increasing use of stop and search, the strategy as a whole "contains too few tangible targets... so it will be hard to tell whether or not it's been successful."


Checkpoints on the Irish border would be "static and obvious" targets for dissident republicans, the PSNI Chief Constable has said.

George Hamilton was giving evidence to the NI Affairs Committee which is looking at the future of the border following Brexit.
Mr Hamilton said he did not think police checkpoints were likely, however.
He said any border controls were more likely to relate to customs.
He said the PSNI's Brexit priority was preserving information sharing arrangements with the Republic of Ireland and replacing the European Arrest Warrant.
He added that this may need new legislation or bi-lateral arrangements.


A woman from Torfaen said she was "gobsmacked" after a stranger donated £4,000 online to help buy her autistic son an assistance dog.

Naomi Haine Wilkins, 36, from Cwmbran, is hoping to raise £6,000 to train the dog for five-year-old Greyson, who was diagnosed when he was three.
Ms Wilkins has sent messages to thank the woman but has not received a reply.
She hopes a dog will be a companion for Greyson and reduce his anxiety.
Ms Wilkins said it began with a generous £50 donation from the stranger, and emailed her to say thank you.
"I have no idea who this woman is," she said.
"I asked her if there was any chance she could send me her address so I could send a little something to say thank you, with Greyson's hand print, something personal."
The woman did not respond, but the following day donated £4,000 with the message: "Go get your dog little man love to you and bless you
Ms Wilkins said: "Things like this don't happen to me of all people.
"I thought maybe it was an error, that she'd added an extra zero by mistake. I couldn't believe it, absolutely gobsmacked.
"She still hasn't replied to me so I guess the lady in question doesn't want a thank you or anything in return."
Ms Wilkins can now afford to put down a deposit for the dog.
She said: "He loves animals and he says he can't wait to play and dance with his dog.
"He has no perception of any dangers. He'll walk into ponds or in front of cars and a dog will be trained to guide him and respond to key words. It will also take some of the focus off me."


A major road remains closed following a crash which left a tractor hanging off a bridge in Wrexham county.

The A5 Chirk bypass shut in both directions between Halton roundabout and B5070 Chirk Road after the incident which involved two cars on Monday.
The bridge has been shut for repairs, with a diversion through Chirk.
A car driver was taken to hospital following the crash. The road is expected to remain closed on Tuesday, and possibly into Wednesday.


Peter Marete, a second-hand clothes dealer in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, is finding life very difficult without a mobile phone.

"My clients are unable to reach me - my business is being affected," he tells the BBC.
His phone was switched off on Monday by his mobile phone operator because his handset's IMEI number - the unique identifier for each phone - was not recognised by an international database and was therefore deemed to be "fake".
About 1.5 million Kenyans have been affected by the switch-off launched this week by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) to clamp down on counterfeit handsets, defined as "copies of popular brands and models made from sub-standard materials" that have not been licensed by the organisation.
They are sourced from China and other parts of Asia, as well as Nigeria and South Africa.
The CCK says the move is to protect consumers from substandard phones, safeguard mobile payment systems and prevent crime.
"They've become a menace to consumers from both the safety and security perspective," CCK head Francis Wangusi told the BBC.
"The fake mobile phones have been used frequently in trying to perpetuate criminal activities.
"It has been very difficult for the security agencies to trace these culprits."
During a big publicity campaign in the run-up to the deadline, all mobile phone subscribers were encouraged to check the status of their handsets by texting their IMEI number to a special number set up by the CCK which then let them know whether or not their phone was genuine.
But some people are angry and say the process has been flawed.
Nairobi music seller Simon Gitau was frustrated to find his phone unresponsive on Monday morning - unable to make or receive calls or even receive text messages from his customers and friends.
He bought his Nokia E63 from a mobile shop along in central Nairobi three years ago.
He had no doubt it was genuine and spent $300 (£185) on the handset.
For all this time the music seller has been using the mobile to carry on his business.
"On Sunday, I had received a message from CCK informing me that my phone was genuine and registered, and I had no cause no worry," the father of two said.
"But I was so shocked when suddenly my phone went off. I went to CCK offices where I was told it was among the fake phones that had been switched off.
"It is really bad because I cannot be able to reach my customers now and I am forced to communicate with them through Facebook and Twitter so that I don't lose out on business. This is really bad."
In response to such complaints, the CCK insists no genuine mobile handsets have been switched off - and any such complainants should get in contact.
The SMS message Mr Gitau received may have been a technical error, but the phone would have only been turned off if was fake, the CCK said.
There have also been reports that those who find their phones cut off have simply switched to a different operator.
But the CCK says this will prove fruitless. The counterfeit switch-off is set to take a week - at the end of which an audit will be made - and those hoping to find a loop hole will fail.
Kenya has 29 million mobile phone subscribers - and competition between the country's four operators is fierce.
However, Mr Wangusi says all the mobile operators agreed to comply with the government directive to implement the shutdown, signing a joint memorandum of understanding in which the CCK agrees to financial compensation for losses incurred.
As members of the GSMA - the association representing mobile phone operators worldwide - the operators have access to its IMEI Database, enabling them to check the authenticity of devices - and create a blacklist of their subscribers with counterfeit phones.
Their customers' SIM cards, which also must be registered, will continue to work in a genuine handset.
The permanent secretary in the communication ministry Bitange Ndemo says the government also intends to switch off phones with unregistered SIM cards, but the focus at the moment is the the counterfeit phone switch-off.
Mobile phone retailer Janet Munene told the BBC that her sales had sharply dropped because of the shutdown.
"On an average good business day, I would have sold about 20 handsets by now," she said.
"But look, it is midday and no single customer has walked into my shop.
"I think most customers are reluctant to buy mobile handsets because they are suspicious about their validity."
For Ms Munene, it is the Kenyan authorities who should shoulder responsibility for the flood of counterfeit phones on the market.
"The blame squarely lies with the government for allowing the importation of fake mobile handsets.
"What was the Kenya Bureau of Standards doing when these handsets found their way to the Kenyan market? They have the single responsibility to ensure that all goods entering the country are of high quality."
Kenya has strong anti-counterfeit laws with all the necessary provisions to deal with those selling fake goods.
Yet the country's economy remains a big dumping ground for counterfeits including music, computer software and even foodstuffs.
Counterfeit handsets are said to cost Kenya's economy millions of shillings in evaded taxes each year.
The big shutdown is also likely to impact negatively on the millions of Kenyans who rely on Mpesa mobile phone money transfers.
Many people use Mpesa for quick financial transactions both locally and internationally.
Mr Marete says he is now looking for money to purchase another handset, which could cost him about $20 for a simple handset and up to $1,000 for the latest smartphone.
But according to the CCK, once he does get one, he should enjoy a better service as fake phones degrade the networks and often cut calls mid-conversation.


Borussia Dortmund moved level on points with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich after victory over mid-table Freiburg.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang marked his 100th Bundesliga game with his 59th goal, a tap in after Ousmane Dembele's cutback shortly before half-time.
It looked all over when Lukasz Piszczek drilled home from inside the area to double Dortmund's lead.
Max Philipp's composed finish reduced the deficit before Raphael Guerreiro sealed the points.
Dortmund, who have won four of their first five league games, twice hit the woodwork through Emre Mor and Aubameyang.
Thomas Tuchel's side have 12 points - the same number as Bayern Munich, who are away to struggling Hamburg on Saturday.
Dortmund host European champions Real Madrid in the Champions League next Tuesday.
Match ends, Borussia Dortmund 3, Sport-Club Freiburg 1.
Second Half ends, Borussia Dortmund 3, Sport-Club Freiburg 1.
Offside, Sport-Club Freiburg. Georg Niedermeier tries a through ball, but Onur Bulut is caught offside.
Corner,  Borussia Dortmund. Conceded by Georg Niedermeier.
Attempt saved. Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Sebastian Rode.
Goal!  Borussia Dortmund 3, Sport-Club Freiburg 1. Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund) left footed shot from the left side of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Gonzalo Castro.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Caglar Söyüncü (Sport-Club Freiburg).
Attempt missed. Sokratis (Borussia Dortmund) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Raphael Guerreiro with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Borussia Dortmund. Conceded by Nicolas Höfler.
Corner,  Borussia Dortmund. Conceded by Georg Niedermeier.
Foul by Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund).
Janik Haberer (Sport-Club Freiburg) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Caglar Söyüncü (Sport-Club Freiburg).
Substitution, Borussia Dortmund. Sebastian Rode replaces Ousmane Dembélé.
Offside, Borussia Dortmund. Roman Bürki tries a through ball, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is caught offside.
Offside, Borussia Dortmund. Marcel Schmelzer tries a through ball, but Ousmane Dembélé is caught offside.
Attempt missed. Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund) left footed shot from outside the box is too high from a direct free kick.
Caglar Söyüncü (Sport-Club Freiburg) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Caglar Söyüncü (Sport-Club Freiburg).
Attempt missed. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Christian Pulisic.
Corner,  Borussia Dortmund. Conceded by Alexander Schwolow.
Corner,  Borussia Dortmund. Conceded by Georg Niedermeier.
Attempt blocked. Gonzalo Castro (Borussia Dortmund) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Corner,  Sport-Club Freiburg. Conceded by Roman Bürki.
Attempt saved. Onur Bulut (Sport-Club Freiburg) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Vincenzo Grifo.
Foul by Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund).
Christian Günter (Sport-Club Freiburg) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Borussia Dortmund. Raphael Guerreiro replaces Mario Götze.
Sokratis (Borussia Dortmund) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Sokratis (Borussia Dortmund).
Florian Niederlechner (Sport-Club Freiburg) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Amir Abrashi (Sport-Club Freiburg).
Sokratis (Borussia Dortmund) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Florian Niederlechner (Sport-Club Freiburg).
Substitution, Sport-Club Freiburg. Florian Niederlechner replaces Maximilian Philipp.
Offside, Borussia Dortmund. Ousmane Dembélé tries a through ball, but Mario Götze is caught offside.


Protesters angry at plans to allow Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year-rule have set fire to parliament.

Correspondents say the city hall and ruling party headquarters are also in flames in the capital, Ouagadougou.
A huge crowd is surging towards the presidential palace and the main airport has been shut.
MPs have suspended a vote on changing the constitution to allow Mr Compaore to stand for re-election next year.
Five people have been killed in the protests, among the most serious against Mr Compaore's rule, reports BBC Afrique's Yacouba Ouedraogo from the capital.
The military fired live bullets as protesters stormed parliament, our correspondent says.
Journalists are now gathered outside the defence ministry awaiting a statement from the military, he says.
Witnesses say dozens of soldiers have joined the protests, including a former defence minister, Gen Kouame Lougue.
The main opposition leader, Zephirin Diabre, has called on the military to side with "the people" and has demanded the resignation of the president.
Mr Compaore's whereabouts are unknown, but he has appealed for calm via Twitter.
He first took power in a coup in 1987, and has won four disputed elections since then.
I am in an area where many MPs live and  I have seen two of their homes set ablaze and smoke coming out of another two or three homes. Hotel Azalai, one of the main hotels in the city, is also on fire.
Two helicopters flew over my house -  the president's and a normal helicopter. I cannot confirm whether the president was in one of them.
No-one knows what is going to happen next. It is chaotic and tense. We hear sporadic gunfire.
There is no TV anymore. So we are depending on internet access and phone calls. The 3G network and the texting system are blocked.
The opposition has called for a campaign of civil disobedience to demand that he steps down in elections next year.
"October 30 is Burkina Faso's black spring, like the Arab Spring," opposition activist Emile Pargui Pare told AFP news agency.
State television went off air after protesters stormed the building housing it and ransacked it, Reuters quotes a witness as saying.
About 1,500 people breached the security cordon at parliament, according to AFP.
Protesters were setting fire to documents and stealing computer equipment and cars outside the building were also set on fire, the agency says.
A massive crowd has also converged on the main square in Ouagadougou and is marching towards the presidential palace, which is about 5km (three miles) away, our reporter says.
A government helicopter flying overhead was firing tear gas at them, Reuters reports.
There are also reports of protests in the south-western city of Bobo Dioulasso.
The government has been forced to suspend Thursday's parliamentary vote on a constitutional amendment that would have lifted the limit on presidential terms so that Mr Compaore could run for office again in 2015.
It is not clear whether the government intends to hold the vote at a later stage, correspondents say.
Mr Compaore is a staunch ally of the US and France, which uses Burkina Faso as a base for military operations against militant Islamists in the Sahel region.
Both France and the European Union (EU) have called on him to scrap the proposed constitutional amendment.
The EU said it could jeopardise Burkina Faso's stability. The US has also raised concern about the proposed amendment.


Oscar Pistorius secured his first gold medal of the 2012 Paralympics by anchoring a South African T42-46 4x100m relay victory.

The South African team won in a new world record time of 41.87 seconds.
Brazil and defending champions USA pressed hard, but both nations were disqualified which meant China and Germany took silver and bronze.
Earlier Pistorius, the defending 100m champion, qualified with the second quickest time for Thursday's T44 final.
South Africa's record-breaking 4x100m relay team:
Samkelo Radebe
Zivan Smith
Arnu Fourie
Oscar Pistorius
It was the 25-year-old's first appearance on the track since a surprise T44 200m defeat on Sunday, where he had to settle for silver behind Alan Oliveira.
Pistorius raised concerns over the length of his opponent's blades, claiming they were "not running in a fair race".
But the South African later apologised for the timing of his outburst and looked focused for the 100m despite the controversy he raised, crossing the line in 11.30 seconds.
However, Great Britain's world record holder Jonnie Peacock underlined his status as event favourite with the fastest time of 11.08 secs.
World champion Jerome Singleton finished behind Peacock, but his time of 11.46 secs was the slowest of the automatic qualifiers.


The British and Irish Lions will be 80 minutes from "immortality" when they face New Zealand in Saturday's deciding Test, says hooker Jamie George.

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Victory in Auckland would secure only the Lions' second series win over world champions the All Blacks, who have not lost at Eden Park since 1994.
"We are fully aware of what is at stake," said England's George, 26.
"It is going to be a fantastic occasion on Saturday and one again that we will never forget."
The Lions, whose only series win in New Zealand came in 1971, were comprehensively beaten 30-15 in the opener in Auckland, but edged a thriller 24-21 in Wellington on Saturday.
That was the All Blacks' first defeat at the Westpac Stadium in seven years, while they have not lost successive matches anywhere since 2011.
George said: "We knew the importance of what Saturday was to get ourselves back level.
"I have said it before and I will say it again - we cannot get carried away with the emotional side of the game.
"We have got to make sure that physically we are on it, mentally we are on it, that we know our stuff and we can go into the game with clear heads and really attack it, because sometimes you can get overawed by the whole occasion.
"Thinking about making history and all that, I don't think we can think about it. We just think about play by play, minute by minute."
Sean O'Brien is available for the Lions after being cleared of dangerous play in the second Test.
New Zealand will be without centre Sonny Bill Williams, who was banned for four weeks for a shoulder charge on Anthony Watson.
Despite winning 17 England caps, George has never started a Test, yet has been in the starting XV for the Lions in both Tests on this tour under coach Warren Gatland.
George's parents will not see him in action in the deciding Test, having flown home for work commitments.
He said: "They are gutted. They were trying to change their flights but they cannot make it.
"I have jut said my goodbyes now and they were a little bit more teary again. I don't think they expected me to play.
"My parents have got to go back to work and stuff but I am sure they will be there in spirit."
BBC Radio 5 live rugby reporter Chris Jones in Auckland
The All Blacks don't lose very often, especially in New Zealand.
While they were beaten by Ireland as recently as November, that was in the relative anonymity of the American city of Chicago, not in their own backyard.
The Kiwi public is loyal, but expectant. They haven't lost successive matches since 2011, before head coach Steve Hansen took charge.
Lose to the Lions on Saturday and the public inquest really will begin.


The UK has seen its highest monthly level of new car sales this century.

March saw 492,774 new cars registered, 6% up on the same time last year and the best monthly figure since August 1998, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The UK car industry has been growing for three years in a row, helped by a strong export market.
March is typically a strong month for car registrations, as it is when new number plates are released.
Sales were buoyed by low interest rates and sales of new offerings such as fuel-efficient cars.
The best selling model in March was the Ford Fiesta, with 27,034 sold.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "The best month this century for new car registrations is a welcome boost for the UK's thriving automotive sector.
The challenge for a new government and industry will be to maintain this momentum and to strengthen Britain's manufacturing capabilities through continued investment, innovation and policies which maintain our global competitiveness.
"Whatever the general election result, the new government must keep up the commitment to the sector, which is delivering at home and abroad."
Privately registered petrol cars continue to make up most of the cars sold, although there has been a 62% rise in alternatively fuelled vehicles compared with 2014.
In 2014, the UK made £26.2bn from car exports.


Several EU leaders have criticised Turkey, amid a growing row over the Turkish government's attempts to hold rallies in European countries.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Germany and the Netherlands of "Nazism" after officials blocked rallies there.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte called his comments "unacceptable", while Germany's foreign minister said he hoped Turkey would "return to its senses".
Denmark's leader has also postponed a planned meeting with Mr Erdogan.
Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he was concerned that "democratic principles are under great pressure" in Turkey.
He added that he had postponed the meeting because: "With the current Turkish attacks on Holland the meeting cannot be seen separated from that."
The rallies aim to encourage a large number of Turks living in Europe to vote yes in a referendum expanding the president's powers.
However, planned rallies in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands were blocked after officials cited security concerns or said the rallies could stoke tensions.
A gathering in France however went ahead after local officials said it did not pose a threat.
Ties between the Turkish and Dutch leaders became particularly strained at the weekend after two Turkish ministers were barred from addressing rallies in Rotterdam, with one of them escorted to the German border.
Mr Erdogan likened the Netherlands to "a banana republic", demanded international organisations impose sanctions on the Netherlands, and accused countries in the West of "Islamophobia".
"I have said that I had thought that Nazism was over, but I was wrong. Nazism is alive in the West," he added.
On Sunday, Mr Rutte demanded Mr Erdogan apologise for likening the Dutch to "Nazi fascists".
"This country was bombed during the Second World War by Nazis. It's totally unacceptable to talk in this way."
The Netherlands would have to consider its response if Turkey continued on its current path, he added.
Meanwhile, German ministers also appeared to harden their rhetoric against Turkey.
Despite Chancellor Angela Merkel saying her government was not opposed to Turkish ministers attending rallies in Germany, as long as they are "duly announced", her interior minister said he was opposed to Turkish political gatherings in Germany.
"A Turkish campaign has no business being here in Germany," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told local media.
Separately, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Turkey had "destroyed the basis for further progress in co-operation".
Reports say the owner of a venue in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, also cancelled a pro-Erdogan rally on Sunday that was to have been attended by Turkey's agriculture minister.
Sweden's foreign ministry said it was not involved in the decision and that the event could take place elsewhere.
Turkey is holding a referendum on 16 April on whether to turn from a parliamentary to a presidential republic, more akin to the United States.
If successful, it would give sweeping new powers to the president, allowing him or her to appoint ministers, prepare the budget, choose the majority of senior judges and enact certain laws by decree.
What's more, the president alone would be able to announce a state of emergency and dismiss parliament.
There are 5.5 million Turks living outside the country, with 1.4 million eligible voters in Germany alone - and the Yes campaign is keen to get them on side.
So a number of rallies have been planned for countries with large numbers of eligible voters, including Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Many of the countries, including Germany, have cited security concerns as the official reason.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said Mr Erdogan was not welcome to hold rallies as this could increase friction and hinder integration.
Many European nations have also expressed deep disquiet about Turkey's response to the July coup attempt and the country's perceived slide towards authoritarianism under President Erdogan.
Germany in particular has been critical of the mass arrests and purges that followed - with nearly 100,000 civil servants removed from their posts.


West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels has been banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months because of an illegal action.

Match officials reported the off-spinner, 34, during his side's first Test defeat by Sri Lanka in October.
An independent assessment revealed his elbow extension exceeded the permitted 15 degrees while bowling.
He was handed a year-long ban because he had already been banned from bowling his faster deliveries in December 2013.
An International Cricket Council statement read: "As this report constitutes the player's second suspension within a two-year period, he is now automatically suspended from bowling in  international cricket for a 12-month period.
"Samuels is entitled to appeal any procedural aspect of the independent assessment that has led to this automatic suspension. However, only after the expiry of this one-year period will he be entitled to approach the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action."
Samuels, who bats in the top order, has taken 145 wickets in 279 matches for his country across Test, one-day and Twenty20 formats, but may continue to play as a specialist batsman.


Former Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop received a bigger-than-expected pay-off as the firm finalised the sale of it handset business to Microsoft.

Mr Elop got 24.2m euros ($33.5m; Â£20m) - 30% more than the initial figure.
A large part of that was awarded in Nokia shares, which have risen after the sale of the unit was agreed.
When first reported, the pay-off had sparked angry reactions in Finland, not least because Nokia's business declined under the leadership of Mr Elop.
The country's economy minister, Jan Vapaavuori, had reportedly said at the time that he found it "difficult to understand the merits of this bonus".
Mr Elop, a Canadian, became the first non-Finn to run the company when he took charge in September 2010.
Over the next three years, Nokia's fortunes plummeted as it was hurt by growing competition from rivals such as Apple and Samsung.
The company was eventually displaced by Samsung as the world's biggest mobile phone maker in 2012.
As its sales declined, its share price also dropped - falling by more than half between September 2010 and 2013.
Nokia eventually sold the handset business to Mircosoft last year for for 5.44bn euros ($7.5bn; Â£4.5bn). The deal was completed last week.
However, Nokia has said that Mr Elop was entitled to the pay-off as part of his contract.
The company said that 70% of the pay-off was funded by Microsoft.


Maria Sharapova will feature alongside eight of the world's top 10 if she accepts a wildcard for next month's Aegon Classic in Birmingham.

Britain's Johanna Konta will play, along with Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber, who will return to world number one on Monday.
BBC Sport understands Sharapova will be offered a wildcard for Birmingham.
The Russian, who returned from a 15-month doping ban last month, lost to Eugenie Bouchard in Madrid on Monday.
Her involvement in Spain, courtesy of another wildcard, ended in the second round courtesy of a 7-5 2-6 6-4 defeat to the Canadian, who had been critical of the Russian, calling her a "cheat" and saying she should never have been allowed to play again.
She also received a wildcard for Stuttgart in April, where she reached the last four.
The line-up for Birmingham is the strongest ever seen at the grass-court event.
Of the current top 10, only Svetlana Kuznetsova and Serena Williams, who recently announced her pregnancy, are missing.
The event runs from 17-25 June and is one of three tournaments - along with the Aegon Open in Nottingham and the Aegon International in Eastbourne - in the lead up to Wimbledon in July.
Sharapova, who has not played a Wimbledon warm-up event since she reached the final in Birmingham in 2010, remains some way adrift of direct entry into the Wimbledon main draw.
She will need to reach the semi-finals in Rome next week to make sure. A first-round defeat could cost her a place in qualifying unless the All England Club offers her a wildcard.


GP shortages across north Wales are reaching crisis point, a senior medic has warned.

Dr Eamonn Jessup, chairman of the local medical committee, said the majority of the region was at risk of losing their family doctor.
He has written an open letter to cross-party AMs calling on them to help fight the "recruitment plight".
The Welsh Government said sustaining high quality primary care across the whole of Wales was a priority.
Since 2015, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) has taken over the running of seven GP practices across north Wales after they terminated their NHS contracts.
The board also opened a GP hub in Prestatyn after three other surgeries handed back their keys.
Four more practices, Criccieth, Rysseldene in Colwyn Bay, and Borras and Forge Road, both in Wrexham, are due to terminate their contracts in the coming months.
The health board said it was continuing to work hard to find solutions to the challenges.
Dr Jessup said GP bodies had warned of the upcoming crisis for years, but the number being taken over by the health board seemed to have "picked up significant speed" recently.
He said many family doctors were retiring early due to high workloads, and practices were struggling to fill vacancies.
"We have moved from the position that it was a minority of areas in north Wales that were at risk of losing their GP to the majority of areas now being at risk.
"Since we last raised the issue of this potential collapse there seems to have been little recognition that north Wales has issues more acute than down south," he added.
In Wrexham, BCUHB runs four GP practices after they terminated their contracts, while there are issues in Colwyn Bay, Conwy, Llandudno, and the Llyn Peninsula.
Dr Jessop claimed it cost approximately a third more for BCUHB to run the services than the practices.
A Welsh Government spokesman said changes to the GP contract for 2017-18 meant investment in primary care had increased by about Â£27m.
Ministers are working with health boards and the British Medical Association to support practices vulnerable to closure.
He added: "Through our successful This is Wales: Train, Work, Live campaign, designed to market Wales and NHS Wales as an attractive place to work, we are successfully recruiting more GPs to work in Wales."
BCUHB said the issue was affecting primary care across the UK and it was working with partners to "deliver the best possible care for patients across north Wales".
"We've seen considerable success in using new models of working, and will continue to work hard to find solutions to the challenges identified," a spokesman said.


UK consumer spending fell for the third month in a row in July, according to research from credit card firm Visa.

Compared with the same month a year ago, spending fell by 0.8%,  slightly faster than the 0.2% decline in June.
Spending has now dropped for the past three months, marking the longest falling streak in over four years.
Transport and communications spending, which dropped by 6.1% year-on-year, and clothing and footwear, which fell by 5.2%, saw the biggest decreases.
Food and drink spending was down by 0.5% annually, while spending on household goods fell by 4%.
Household goods spending has either fallen or stagnated each month since last December, Visa said.
Bucking the downward trend, spending in hotels, restaurants and bars rose 6% year-on-year.
Visa UK & Ireland managing director Kevin Jenkins said the increase suggested "an  early surge in summer staycations, as the weak pound made holidaying at home more attractive."
But overall, he said the June figures were further evidence that households are feeling the squeeze from rising prices and stagnant wage growth.
"The drop in spending was felt across a broader range of retail sectors last month, with clothing, household goods, food and transport among the worst hit," he added.
As well as hotels, restaurants and bars category,  recreation and culture also saw a return to growth (+1.3%) after a slight fall in June.
The figures are compiled for Visa by IHS Markit.


An unexploded World War Two bomb discovered on a building site in north-west London has been defused.

A 300m cordon was set up when the 500lb (227kg) device was found in The Avenue, Brondesbury Park on Thursday morning.
Police said bomb disposal experts had successfully defused the device and it had been moved away from the area.
Homes and schools had been evacuated and rail services were disrupted, but all roads in the area have now been reopened.
How much of a threat are unexploded WWII bombs?
Twenty-seven nearby schools, nurseries and parent and toddler groups were closed on Friday.
People living within the cordon were asked to leave their homes and a centre for people who were unable to return home was set up.
Nearly 80 people were moved to a hotel in Wembley on Thursday night.
London Overground was also closed for part of the morning between Willesden Junction and Camden Road.
After cordons were set up on Thursday one local resident told the BBC that "these things do happen" as London was bombed heavily in the war, but "it's just now inconveniencing me massively".
"I understand it's for security reason but it's just annoying", another resident said.
Supt Nigel Quantrell of the Metropolitan Police said specialist teams had been "working very hard to resolve the situation".


Relatives of missing man Lachlan Simpson have been told a body found at a harbour in Aberdeenshire could be his.

Mr Simpson, 22, from Embo, near Dornoch, has not been seen since he left the Dornoch Show dance on 26 July.
The body was found in the water more than 70 miles around the coast at Whitehills near Banff on Wednesday.
Police said "early indications" were that it may be Lachlan Simpson but the body had not been formally identified.
Mr Simpson's family said in a statement: "Police Scotland has kept us informed of the discovery of a body yesterday and they will continue to keep us updated on progress.
"We want to thank the public for their support during the search for Lachlan and would ask that our privacy be respected whilst these enquiries are carried out."
Mr Simpson's family and friends used social media networks and posters to raise awareness about his disappearance.
Posters were put up at the Belladrum Music Festival near Beauly and appeared at other venues in the Highlands.
Police also continued to make searches in and around the area where he was last seen.


A Dundee bus company whose vehicles were targeted by stone-throwing youths has produced a video warning of the potentially fatal consequences.

Xplore Dundee was forced to temporarily suspend three services in the Whitfield area last November after its buses came under attack.
The company said it made the decision as a result of the "extremely dangerous and totally unacceptable" incidents.
It has now released a film that was previously shown in Dundee schools.
A Stone's Throw Away is a 15-minute film showing the recreation of a brick attack on a double decker bus and its aftermath.
It includes interviews with emergency services workers and is based on actual events.
PC Scott Menmuir, of Dundee Community Safety said: "We are well aware of the impact this has on our community and those travelling through Whitfield.
"Throwing stones at buses is not a bit of harmless fun - it is reckless, extremely dangerous and has the potential to cause serious injury."
PC Menmuir said police were carrying out high-visibility and plainclothes patrols to provide reassurance to the local community.
He said: "As a passenger or driver on the bus, this can be a very frightening experience and it is extremely fortunate that no-one travelling on the buses has been injured so far.
"We are also working with Xplore Dundee to trace those responsible and we are working together with partner agencies to identify opportunities to prevent further incidents."


Fighting is continuing in Kabul where militants have staged a wave of co-ordinated gun and rocket attacks.

Foreign embassies, Nato's HQ and the parliament were hit in the first major attack on Afghan capital in more than six months.
The attackers also struck in the provinces of Logar, Paktia and Nangarhar. The Taliban said it was the start of a "spring offensive" .
Two Afghan security force members and 17 militants were reportedly killed.
A further 17 Afghan police officers and nine civilians were injured, the Afghan interior ministry said.
In pictures: Afghanistan attacks
The last attack on Kabul on this scale was in September 2011 when heavily armed insurgents took over an unfinished high-rise building and opened fire on the US embassy and Nato headquarters. That attack left at least 14 Afghans dead.
The Taliban said Sunday's attacks marked the start of a "spring offensive". Their "fighting season" tends to begin when the warmer weather melts snow in mountain passes along the border with Pakistan, allowing fighters to cross into Afghanistan.
Among Sunday's targets was the British embassy, with two rockets hitting a guard tower and a rocket-propelled grenade fired at a house used by British diplomats, but no staff were hurt, the Foreign Office later confirmed.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he "strongly" condemned the attacks, and praised Afghan government forces for responding "bravely, promptly and effectively".
Reports of explosions and gunfire in Kabul continued to come in 12 hours after the attacks began around 13:15 local time (08:45 GMT).
Insurgents still holding out in the city could be heard shouting "We will fight to death", Afghan officials told BBC News.
They are said to be fending off Afghan security forces with hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades in the diplomatic quarter.
The attackers focused their assault on Western embassies in the central diplomatic area and around parliament but also attacked international troops in the east of the city.
The Taliban listed as targets the German and British embassies, the Kabul Star hotel, the headquarters of the Nato-led international force (Isaf), and parliament house.
By Bilal SarwaryKabul
The Taliban have said they are behind the attacks. Last week they       warned that a new offensive would start soon. The last major attack in Kabul was last September when insurgents attacked.
This is a large-scale attack, right in the heart of Kabul. Many questions remain unanswered. How did a large group of heavily armed insurgents, with a huge amount of weapons, manage to get inside Kabul and inside the central district of Wazir Akbar Khan?
In their defence, Afghan intelligence officials say they did have prior intelligence about attacks on several locations in Kabul, which helped prevent bloodshed.
But today's attacks have shattered the confidence of Afghans once more. The insurgents have once more shown that they can strike right in the heart of Kabul.
The list also included the ruined Darul Aman palace outside the capital.
A spokesman for the domestic security service, Lutfullah Mashal, said one of the targets was Afghan Vice-President Mohammad Karim Khalili.
But the attackers were captured before reaching Mr Khalili's home, he said.
At the parliament, a number of MPs joined the fight against the insurgents, Kandahar lawmaker Naeem Hameedzai Lalai said.
Speaking to the Associated Press news agency, he said he had climbed the tower of the parliament building and fired on insurgents with an assault rifle.
"I shot up to 400 or 500 bullets from my Kalashnikov at the attackers," he said. "They fired two rocket-propelled grenades at the parliament."
Large explosions rattled the diplomatic quarter where a Reuters correspondent spoke of black smoke rising from embassies as rocket-propelled grenades whizzed overhead.
Residents could be seen running for cover as sirens wailed. Some insurgents reportedly took up firing positions in a building under construction.
Mohammad Zakar, a 27-year-old mechanic who has a shop near a building commandeered by the militants, told AP he had seen two Land Cruisers pull up and two militants jumping out.
"They opened fire on an intelligence service guard and killed him," he said. "They also fired and killed an Afghan policeman and then they jumped into the building. All the shops closed. I ran away."
Afghan security officials told BBC News two "security guards" had been killed.
Some damage was reported to the embassies of Germany and Japan but Russia denied reports that its mission had been hit "despite the close proximity of the fighting".
In eastern Kabul, in the Camp Warehouse area, a convoy of French troops returned fire after coming under attack.
Greek and Turkish troops manning a nearby base also came under heavy attack and responded with machine-guns, AP reports.
Afghan security forces captured two suicide bombers alive before they were able to reach their intended targets, according to Isaf.
Isaf said Afghan forces had taken the lead in repelling the attacks, which it dismissed as "largely ineffective"
.
However, images from Kabul and the provinces appeared to show Isaf and US troops and aircraft in the area of fighting.
Late on Sunday, Kabul's police chief, Gen Ayub Salangi, told BBC News that fighting in the Camp Warehouse area had ended, but there was continuing violence both in the diplomatic quarter and close to parliament.
Eleven police officers and five civilians were wounded in Kabul while four insurgents were killed, police say.
Suicide bombers attacked a US air base near the eastern city of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province.
Four civilians were wounded and seven insurgents were killed, police said. The dead reportedly include four suicide attackers dressed in burqas and women's clothes, who  were shot dead while making an attack.
According to officials
Mirwais Yasini, an MP from Nangarhar, told BBC News: ''This shows the Taliban don't want peace."
The MP said it was clear an intelligence failure had occurred.


Divisions among world leaders on ending the war in Syria have been laid bare at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

The US and France insisted Syria's President Bashar al-Assad must go, but Russia said it would be an "enormous mistake" not to work with him to tackle Islamic State (IS) militants.
After meeting Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin said Russia might be willing to join air strikes against IS.
But, he said, the air strikes must be backed by the United Nations.
Mr Putin also ruled out Russian troops ever taking part in a ground operation in Syria.
The two leaders met for 90 minutes on the sidelines of the UNGA in talks that Mr Putin called "very constructive, business-like and frank".
It was their first face-to-face meeting in almost a year, with the Ukraine war also on the agenda.
In his speech to the UNGA, Mr Obama said compromise among powers would be essential to ending the Syrian conflict, which has claimed more than 200,000 lives and forced four million to flee abroad.
"Lasting stability can only take hold when the people of Syria forge an agreement to live together peacefully," he said.
"The US is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict. But we must recognise that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo."
Mr Putin, who was not in the assembly hall for Mr Obama's speech, said it was an "enormous mistake to refuse to co-operate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face-to-face".
He also called for the creation of a "broad anti-terror coalition" to fight IS, comparing it to the international forces that fought against Nazi Germany in World War Two.
The US and Russian leaders have long differed on Syria: the US opposes President Bashar al-Assad remaining in power, while Russia has been a staunch ally, and has recently stepped up military support.
Some Western leaders have recently softened their stance towards the Syrian president, conceding that he might be able to stay on during a political transition.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to reflect that in talks this week.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, a key Syrian ally, said his country was prepared to help in "paving the way for democracy" in Syria.
But French President Francois Hollande said that, while he was prepared to work with Iran and Russia, he would explain to them that "the route to a solution does not go through Bashar al-Assad".
What's the human cost?
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and one million injured in four and a half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war.
And the survivors?
More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes, four million of them abroad, as forces loyal to President Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from IS. Growing numbers of refugees are going to Europe.
How has the world reacted?
Regional and world powers have also been drawn into the conflict. Iran and Russia, along with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, are propping up the Alawite-led government. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are backing the Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.
Syria's civil war explained
Diplomatic goals behind Putin's Syria build-up
Migrant crisis: Fleeing life under Islamic State in Syria
The battle for Syria and Iraq in maps
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said five countries - Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran - were key to finding a political solution in Syria, but unless they could compromise, it would be "futile" to expect change on the ground.
Moscow has suggested there are plans to form an international contact group involving all the countries Mr Ban mentioned plus Egypt.
The threat of IS extremists and the flow of Syrian refugees to Europe has added urgency to the search for a deal to end the civil war.
Observers also continue to report attacks on civilians by government forces.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that regime aircraft fired missiles at a market in the eastern town of Mayadeen on Monday, killing at least 23 people, including eight children.
A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq for more than a year.
The UK announced this month it had carried out a drone strike against two British citizens in Syria, but has yet to fly manned operations in Syrian airspace.


Worcester director of rugby Dean Ryan says that he is "honoured" to have been asked to coach the Barbarians against England at Twickenham on 1 June.

England are likely to name a weakened side - just a week before Test matches on successive weekends in New Zealand.
I'm incredibly honoured that they even thought to pick up the phone and ask me
But, after a forgettable season with relegated Worcester, the former England forward has received a big fillip.
"I'm incredibly honoured that they even thought to pick up the phone and ask me," Ryan told BBC Sport.
"The Barbarians are a special entity and have been so for me right back to when I was 18 or 19, when I was a young player at Saracens, and had the thrill of someone picking me, long before I'd played international rugby.
"It's appreciated. I've been coaching now for 16 or 17 years and I like to think I've conducted myself well and been fairly successful, which is still the intention here at Worcester.
"But, at the end of the season, it is nice to get the chance to be able to step outside and do something like this and I'm very grateful for the support of the club in letting me do so."
England play New Zealand in three Tests on successive weekends in Auckland (7 June), Dunedin (14 June) and Hamilton (21 June)
The famous invitational side have already named 14 of the team who will play - half of whom are New Zealanders, former All Blacks Ali Williams, John Afoa, Carl Hayman, Hosea Gear, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Rene Ranger and Jimmy Cowan.
England's Steffon Armitage has also been picked, along with three Australians, Matt Giteau, James O'Connor and Drew Mitchell, and three Frenchmen, Julien Bonnaire, Francois Trinh-Duc and Aurelien Rougerie.
But the tradition, as Ryan found out himself a quarter of a century ago, is to pick one uncapped player in the Barbarians team.
Worcester complete their Premiership season on Saturday against Ryan's old club Gloucester, looking to finish on a high note by claiming only their second win.


Facebook has attacked a report that said its privacy policy may be in breach of EU laws.

The report, produced last month by academics at the request of the Belgian privacy commission, said that the site tracks people without their consent.
An annexe to that report, published last week, added details of Facebook's tracking and prompted fresh criticism.
Facebook said the report was "inaccurate" and complained that it was not contacted before its publication.
"This report contains factual inaccuracies," a spokesperson said.
"The authors have never contacted us, nor sought to clarify any assumptions upon which their report is based. Neither did they invite our comment on the report before making it public.
"However, we remain willing to engage with them and hope they will be prepared to update their work in due course."
The report's authors have said that they stick by their findings.
"To date, we have not been contacted by Facebook directly nor have we received any meeting request," Brendan Van Alsenoy and Gunes Acar said.
"We're not surprised that Facebook holds a different opinion as to what European data protection laws require.
"But if Facebook feels today's releases contain factual errors, we're happy to receive any specific remarks it would like to make."
Facebook is regulated by the Irish Data Commissioner and says it has passed two audits of its data protection policies.
On 27 March, the report's authors - who include researchers from KU Leuven university and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium - published a separate paper about Facebook's use of plug-ins to track people.
A plug-in, such as the follow button that Facebook provides to direct users to a company's Facebook page from its own website, can also act as a tracker, following the sites a person visits.
However, many online companies use plug-ins, as well as cookies, for tracking internet use.
Facebook was also criticised for not offering opt-outs on location data collations.
The authors said this may put Facebook in breach of EU laws that demand explicit consent from individuals for website tracking and the use of cookies.
Facebook updated its policies in January but the researchers said the changes were not significant.
"To be clear: the changes introduced in 2015 weren't all that drastic," they wrote in their original paper.
"Most of Facebook's 'new' policies and terms are simply old practices made more explicit."
The terms stated that Facebook could track its users across websites and devices, use pictures uploaded for commercial purposes and collate location data.
The report also claimed that the platform "places too much burden" on site members by presenting them with a "complicated web" of settings.
Facebook, however, has defended its approach.
"Cookies have been an industry standard for more than 15 years," said a spokesman.
If people want to opt out of seeing advertising based on the websites they visit and apps they use, they opt out through the EDAA [European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance], whose principles and opt out we and more than 100 other companies comply with.
"Facebook takes this commitment one step further: when you use the EDAA opt out, we opt you out on all devices you use and you won't see ads based on the websites and apps you use."


Calls for the Severn Bridge tolls to be scrapped have been made in the House of Commons as MPs debate their future.

The UK government is consulting on plans to cut the tolls by more than half to £3 for cars in 2018 after the bridges return to public ownership.
Labour MP Jessica Morden said the tolls were an "unfair tax" on commuters and businesses in her Newport East seat.
Transport Minister John Hayes said a balance should be struck on how much taxpayers or users paid for the upkeep.
Leading the debate on Tuesday, Ms Morden said: "The Severn crossing is a key link, the gateway to Wales, allowing access to markets in the UK.
"But the Severn toll is a tax on Welsh businesses and commuters."
Ms Morden claimed some of her constituents had turned down job offers in Bristol as "the cost of the toll is the equivalent of an hour's pay on the minimum wage".
Ceredigion Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams claimed the tolls were an example of double taxation.
"The people of Wales already pay their taxes and that money goes towards things like the repairing of roads - so why should Wales have to pay twice?" he asked.
Newport West MP Paul Flynn said it was the "unanimous view of the assembly that the toll should be scrapped," and asked how the UK government reached the figure of £3 for the future toll.
Mr Hayes said the consultation was under way and the UK government "does not have any predestined conclusions".
He said the toll cut would be "welcomed widely" and he agreed with Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies that "a balance must be struck between how much the Exchequer contributes to the upkeep and how much the user contributes".
Mr Hayes said the £3 figure was "designed to reflect the cost of running the crossing  - the operational cost, the running costs and the capital cost".


Lewis Hamilton says winning his second world title is the start of "something special" for himself and Mercedes.

He joined Mercedes in 2013 after non-executive chairman Niki Lauda promised they would make him world champion.
After winning Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to clinch the title, Hamilton, 29, said: "I wanted to be part of something building and growing.
"I feel this is just the beginning. What this team has put together is something incredibly special."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Hamilton won the title by 67 points after a tense season-long battle with team-mate Nico Rosberg.
He is one of seven men to win the championship twice, leaving him one behind three-time victors Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel are the only four-time winners, Juan Manuel Fangio has five, while Michael Schumacher leads the way with seven.
Hamilton continued: "We've got great people in their right positions and me and Nico will continue to push the team forward.
"As will the boss of Mercedes, who has been so committed and building the best engine. These guys know just as much as I do, it's been phenomenal this year.
"It's really important the steps we take moving forwards to continue improving and I 100% believe the team will do that."
Team-mate Rosberg signed a new contract with Mercedes until at least the end of 2016 in May this year, while Hamilton has a contract with Mercedes until the end of next year.
He and the team delayed negotiations over a new deal until the title had been decided so Hamilton could concentrate on his racing.
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Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has said they will sit down in the coming days and discuss the new deal and both Stevenage-born Hamilton and his team expect to continue together into a new contract.
Hamilton said: "I definitely don't feel I am looking for a new challenge. We have a year to go, so there's no particular rush but this is my home and I'm very happy here."
Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda added: "I asked him to leave McLaren and come to Mercedes and he said 'when are we going to be competitive'. I said I could guarantee him a world championship and in the second year here it is.
"We are going to do this [contract] in the next two weeks. He's happy, we're happy, I don't see any issues."


A UK holiday firm specialising in travel to Turkey has gone into liquidation, blaming the country's political situation.

Jewel in the Crown Holidays, based in West Sussex, has been trading for 29 years and claimed to be the largest independent tour operator to Turkey.
The company, which sent up to 18,000 holidaymakers a year to the country, ceased trading on Friday.
It said there were currently no passengers overseas.
A statement on the Crawley company's website said the business to Turkey had been challenging for the last two years.
"We had hoped that the political situation in Turkey would improve but sadly this has not happened," it said.
"The directors of Jewel in the Crown Holidays Ltd would like to apologise to both our UK and overseas staff."
It said it had holiday bookings for this summer but they could not be honoured because negotiations with airlines had failed.
All 11 staff  have been made redundant.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises the threat from terrorism in Turkey remains high.
It says that over 2,500,000 British nationals visit Turkey every year and it is generally safe to travel.
But, visitors are advised to take additional safety precautions, be alert to their surroundings and remain vigilant in crowded places popular with tourists.
The FCO advises against all travel to within 10 km of the border with Syria and the city of Diyarbakir and against all but essential travel to adjacent areas.
Customers or travel agents were advised to submit a claim under the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or to their credit card providers.
The CAA said travel agents who held bookings with Jewel In The Crown Holidays Ltd should not issue refunds but wait for instructions from Atol.
Joint liquidator Richard Keley said: "Tourism to the region has been badly hit as a result of the political instability.
"This has severely affected the business's cash flow and its ability to continue trading."


Some fans will remain suspended even when Celtic reopen the Green Brigade section of their stadium after Saturday's league opener.

The Glasgow club announced a two-game closure of a 900-capacity section of the safe-standing area at Celtic Park.
That followed "serious incidents of unsafe behaviour" at previous games.
"The club is continuing to investigate events from the matches against Hearts and Linfield and a number of fans remain suspended," said Celtic.
"Celtic will continue to liaise with these supporters as well as the relevant stadium safety authorities.
"Our objective is to work towards re-opening the section in full, something which can only be achieved by ensuring a safe environment which meets the requirements of the safety advisory group.
"Celtic is responsible for the safety of every supporter entering Celtic Park. We can never and will never compromise on safety."
Fans in the area housing the Green Brigade ultras-style group held a pyrotechnic display in the final home game of last season and Celtic were fined around £20,000 by Uefa for "blocked stairways" and "illicit banner" charges relating to the European game against Linfield.
The Green Brigade section was closed for last week's Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg.
It will also be closed for Saturday's opening Scottish Premiership game of the season, against Hearts, but re-open thereafter.
"The club is now in the process of writing to those supporters to inform them of this decision and to confirm the control measures which are in place to allow the area to be reopened and operated safely by the club," Celtic added.
"We fully understand that this has been a difficult period for those affected."


"If these dams are built, everything will end," says Lamberto Painha, one of the chiefs of the Munduruku tribe in Brazil's Amazon region.

"That village over there will be flooded," he points. "Monkeys, birds, Indians - we'll all lose our homes."
Over the last few months some 13,000 Munduruku have been protesting against government plans to build a series of hydroelectric dams that will flood part of their land on the upper reaches of the Tapajos river.
After a week-long meeting back in April, the caciques (chiefs) from more than 60 villages issued a statement, demanding that the government listen to them before it presses ahead with the five dams planned for the river.
Women have not traditionally been fighters among the Munduruku, but now Maria Leusa Kaba Munduruku, the leader of a new group of female warriors, says that everyone must be involved.
"The government must recognise our rights, not just those of others," she stresses.
Despite vociferous opposition from indigenous and environmental groups, construction is already well under way for the gigantic Belo Monte dam on the Xingu river.
Now the new frontier for Brazil's hydropower expansion has moved to the Tapajos River - a huge tributary to the Amazon that lies further to the west.
Opposition here is fierce as the region has some of the richest biodiversity in the world.
Adrian Barnett, a British biologist working in the area, says that - even by the high standards of the Amazon basin - the Tapajos is an area of extreme biological richness.
Of the 1,837 species of bird that occur in Brazil, 613 can be found in the Tapajos, he points out.
The government plans to award the contracts for the first of these dams, Sao Luiz do Tapajos, later this year.
Along with the next dam, Jatoba, it should come on stream by 2020.
As well as flooding 552 sq km (213 sq miles) of land, the dikes will change the river flow, disrupting the lives of indigenous and numerous fishing communities.
The dams will have an installed capacity of 8,471 megawatts and will generate as much electricity as Belo Monte.
To mitigate their environmental impact, the government is copying the oil-rig system used in the North Sea, bringing in workers by boat for two-week work shifts rather than building roads.
The authorities are adamant that they need to tap into the huge hydropower potential of the Amazon if Brazil is to have the energy to fuel its ambitious development programme.
Claudio Salles, director of the Acende Brasil energy think tank, says that of the 19,000 additional megawatts the government plans to have by 2021, 16,000 will be generated in the Amazon.
"This gives you an idea of just how important this energy is for us," he says.
But some analysts believe that Brazil needs to rethink its development plans.
Celio Bermann, a lecturer in energy and the environment at the University of Sao Paulo, says Brazil is providing big subsidies for electricity-hungry sectors, such as the smelting of bauxite in the Amazon to make aluminium, without thinking whether this is really in the country's long-term interests.
"We are exporting a tonne of aluminium for $1,450-1,500 (Â£855-884) while importing manufactured aluminium goods at twice the cost.
"It makes no sense. I think it is absolutely undesirable for the country's aluminium output to double over the next 10 years," Mr Bermann adds.
Brazil, he points out, is going back to being a producer of primary goods, without adding value.
"And it is precisely the production of primary goods that needs a lot of energy and generates few jobs."
Preparatory work for the construction of the Teles Pires dam to be built on the Teles Pires river, a tributary of the Tapajos, has already led to the bulldozing of land around the Sete Quedas (Seven Waterfalls) - an area considered sacred by the Munduruku and other indigenous people.
In an open letter, Munduruku leaders complained: "There are funerary urns there, where our ancient warriors are buried. There is also a portal, only seen by spiritual shaman leaders, who can travel through it to another, unknown world."
"Why have they destroyed this?" one cacique asked.
For others, however, progress cannot be halted.
Joao Francisco Vieira, a local councillor in the town of Jacareacanga, told the BBC: "The Indians don't want to go back 300 years. They want to evolve, as the river flows to the sea. They want mobile phones. They want the internet."
Maria Leusa Kaba Munduruku agrees that they want modern goods.
"But we want them while conserving our culture. That is possible and we will fight for it."


A murderer with a history of violence against women has been jailed for life for killing his ex-partner.

Joe Storey, 27, was last week found guilty of murdering Kerri McAuley and will serve a minimum of 24 years.
Judge Stephen Holt revealed Storey had 11 previous convictions, eight of those for offences against four women, and had been subject to restraining orders.
He described Ms McAuley's death as one of the worst cases of domestic violence Norwich Crown Court had seen.
Ms McAuley was found dead at her flat in Southalls Way, Norwich, on 8 January 2017.
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Storey initially managed to delay his sentencing after convincing prison staff he did not need to return to court for a hearing.
Simon Spence, prosecuting, said Storey had a "history of violence towards Kerri" and a restraining order had been made in October 2016.
Judge Stephen Holt, jailing Storey for life with a minimum term of 24 years, said it was "one of the worst cases of domestic violence" the court had seen.
He told Storey: "You preyed on a warm-hearted and kind woman.
"She was posting pictures of her injured face on Facebook for all to see but you pressed your way back into her life," said Judge Holt. "It's a deeply sad feature of this case."
My heart bears the deepest break from which it will never heal.
I can no longer look at a photo of Kerri or even think about her in happy times as all my mind sees is that image of my beautiful girl lying on the floor, hair matted with blood, face distorted and swollen.
I can't imagine the fear and pain that my daughter endured that night at the hands of that monster, the man who claimed to love her.
I don't know how to accept that this nightmare I am now living will never end.
There have been times when all I want is to be with Kerri and when I look at the faces of Kerri's sons I see her face looking back at me and my heart breaks all over again.
She had so much to live for, so much unfulfilled promise.
Storey had been in a relationship with Ms McAuley for eight weeks before the violence began, and each time she tried to leave him he "plagued her and pestered her" with texts to keep the relationship going.
The court heard Storey had also been made subject to restraining orders in respect of four other former partners, and had been convicted for violence, including punching a pregnant ex-girlfriend in the stomach.
Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said the murder of Ms McAuley was not premeditated and that Storey had admitted manslaughter before he was found guilty of murder.
Storey, formerly of Murrells Court, Norwich, nodded to the judge as the sentence was read out, and there was a shout of "bye" from the public gallery.


When a migrant ship capsized in the Mediterranean on Sunday, with 700 people on board, it was near a merchant ship, the King Jacob.

The ship was the only one to save anyone from the sea - 28 people were taken on board.
It was not the first time it had carried out a rescue - earlier in the week, it took 480 migrants to Sicily.
Reports in the Italian press said the Portuguese ship had carried out rescues on at least two other occasions.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) estimates that merchant ships rescued 40,000 people from the Mediterranean in 2014. It expects that number to increase substantially this year.
But shipping companies feel they are being made to play too large a role in bringing people to safety - and say governments should pay for better surveillance of the seas.
Merchant ships are legally bound to rescue those in need, under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Stopping to help those in distress is also seen, as the IMO says, as "a longstanding maritime tradition" as well as a moral obligation on the ship's master.
However, ships are not compensated for helping in rescues or if they are fined for arriving late at port with any deliveries.
One vehicle carrier that helped the search for survivors on Sunday, the Maltese-registered City of Lutece, saw its delivery to Pasajes, in Spain, delayed by more than 36 hours.
Ships are also at risk of being in breach of their safety certificates by taking on board more passengers than have been legally agreed upon.
Andrew Linington, a spokesman for Nautilus, a maritime trade union, said: "These days, a merchant ship operates with an average crew of 20.
"So if you go to the rescue of sometimes several hundred people, it can compromise the safety of the entire ship. There is no accommodation for them, the ships are sailing with a minimum amount of food and there are not enough life-saving appliances."
A further issue, Mr Linington said, is the design of the ships.
"Most ships are designed to pick up only a limited number of people in distress," he said.
"A lot of the ships that go to the Mediterranean have been in the Middle East and have been through problem areas like Somalia, so they are actually equipped with stuff to deter people from coming on board."
A spokesman for the Allianz insurance firm, that specialises in insuring ships, said vessels were covered under the 1982 UN Convention, and that companies would be recompensed if the ships were damaged during a rescue.
But the issue of whether merchant ships are insured to carry migrants is a grey area. Maritime insurance companies told the BBC that it depends on ships' individual insurance agreements.
Also unclear, they said, is where liability would fall should migrants die or be injured while being rescued by a merchant ship's crew.
Michael Kingston, a maritime lawyer and partner at the DWF law firm in London, said the law was clear about merchant ships' duty to rescue. But he said there was a need for a wider enforcement programme.
He said: "The Italian government have to be commended for what they are trying to do, but I find it staggering that other countries from the EU can't immediately meet to discuss the loss of over 1,000 lives in a week.
"From a funding point of view, there's an obligation on everyone. These migrants are no different to migrants in the past, who were forced to leave their country."
In the mid -1970s, while working on a merchant ship in Asia, Allan Graveson helped rescue a group of boat people fleeing Vietnam.
He sees parallels between now and then - when almost 800,000 Vietnamese nationals were resettled after fleeing the Communist victory at the end of the Vietnam War.
"I looked down into the boat and all they wanted to do was hug me," he said.
"There were five of them - four hadn't made it and they'd put them overboard. It was the children who were the first to die.
"We picked them up. It's what you did, there were no questions."
Mr Graveson says a similar response is needed now.
"Back then, the UN High Commission for Refugees had camps in Singapore - people landed there, they were given money and sent to new countries. That can work today.
"It took a while to get camps going then. There was prevarication, like now. A lot of what's being said now was being said then. But it worked."


Major League Soccer (MLS) side Portland Timbers have signed DR Congo international Larrys Mabiala from Turkish club Kayserispor.

The 29-year-old centreback will officially become a Timbers player when the transfer window opens next month, pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate.
Mabiala has played in Turkey since 2012, first for Karabukspor before switching to Kayserispor in 2015.
He also played in France's top flight with PSG and Nice.
"We are pleased to acquire a player of Larrys' quality and experience, and we are excited that he has chosen to join the Portland Timbers," said Gavin Wilkinson, general manager and president of soccer for the Timbers.
Caleb Porter, head coach of the Timbers, said:  "Larrys Mabiala is a player that will bring a strong, physical presence to our team.
"His experience and leadership will be key and we expect him to make an immediate impact once he is fully transitioned."
Capped nine times by the Leopards since making his debut in 2008, Mabiala has been brought in as cover for Nigerian defender Gbenga Arokoyo who tore his Achilles in January.
The Timbers are hopeful that Mabiala will help shore up a defence that has conceded 28 goals this season, the fourth worst in the MLS.
Wilkinson said in a statement: "This has been a positional need since losing Gbenga Arokoyo to an injury and while it took longer than we would have liked, we are delighted to add a proven central defender with the right profile to help the team.
"We are pleased to welcome Larrys to Portland and look forward to his contributions to the club."


The first-ever person to have a face transplant, Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire, has died, French doctors say.

In 2005, surgeons gave her a new nose and mouth after she was disfigured by her pet dog.
But heavy use of immunosuppressant drugs weakened her and she succumbed to cancer in April at the age of 49, the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says.
News of her death, announced by a hospital in Amiens, was delayed to respect her family's privacy.
She told the BBC in 2009 that when she looked in the mirror she saw a mixture of herself and the donor.  "The donor is always with me," she said.
Figaro newspaper said she had suffered another transplant rejection. The strong anti-rejection treatment she was receiving led to two cancers, it added.
In her BBC interview she said her disfigurement by her dog had come as a result of an attempt to end her life.
After taking an overdose of sleeping pills, she awoke lying beside a pool of blood, with her pet Labrador at her side. The dog had apparently found her unconscious, and desperate to rouse her, had gnawed away at her face.
The injuries to her mouth, nose and chin were so extreme that doctors ruled out a routine face reconstruction. Instead they proposed a ground-breaking face transplant.
She was happy with the surgery but expressed distress at the attention from the media and passers-by that the operation brought her.
In recent years, face transplants have been performed in several countries, including the US, Spain, Turkey, China and Poland.


Children are packing in so much sugar at breakfast that half their daily allowance has already been eaten before school, Public Health England says.

It warns that sugary cereals, juices and spreads are all damaging to health.
Rotting teeth, ballooning waistlines and long-term health problems like type 2 diabetes are caused by unhealthy diets.
Officials are encouraging parents to use an app that reveals the sugar content of food and drink.
Around a quarter of five-year-olds have tooth decay and nearly a fifth of children are already obese by the time they leave primary school.
Sugar is the prime culprit with the National Diet and Nutrition Survey showing four- to 10-year-olds consuming twice as much sugar as they should be.
A survey of 200 parents with children aged four to 10 revealed the problem starts at breakfast.
It found children were eating more than 11g of sugar or nearly three sugar cubes, on average, at breakfast alone.
That adds up to more than 1,000 cubes of sugar at breakfast over the course of a year.
age 2 - less than 13 grams or 3 cubes per day
age 3 - less than 15 grams or 4 cubes per day
age 4 to 6 - less than 19 grams or 5 cubes per day
age 7 to 10 years - less than 24 grams or 6 cubes per day
A small bowl of sugary breakfast cereal contains around two cubes of sugar, spreading chocolate spread on toast racks up three sugar cubes and a glass of fruit juice has a whopping five cubes in it.
Dr Alison Tedstone, the chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: "Children have far too much sugar, and a lot of it is before their first lesson of the day.
"It's crucial for children to have a healthy breakfast, but we know the mornings in a busy household can be fraught."
The survey also showed that 84% of parents thought they were giving their children a healthy start to the day.
So Dr Tedstone is encouraging people to use the Be Food Smart App, which has been updated since its launch last year and lets you scan barcodes to find out the sugar content of your meal.
Alex Whittenbury, who tried it in January last year, commented on the BBC News Facebook page: "Having just scanned my daughter's cereal and juice choice for breakfast, it appears she has already consumed her daily allowance of sugar.
"It certainly gives us food for thought."
Source: Change4Life


A primary school teacher who secretly filmed pupils undressing, showed a "breathtaking breach of trust," a judge has said.

Gary Ellins, 45,  was jailed for 12 months at Manchester Crown Court after admitting offences of voyeurism and possessing indecent images of children.
Ellins, formerly of Vernon Drive, Marple, was caught when police searched his father's home in November.
Michelle Brown, defending, said Ellins recognised his need for treatment.
The court heard police seized pen drives and computer hard drives belonging to Ellins, which had two videos of children, some as young as eight, together with images of naked, pre-pubescent girls.
His father Jerry has also admitted separate offences involving indecent images of children and will be sentenced later this month, the court was told.
Ellins, who qualified as a teacher eight years ago after a career in commerce and property, committed the offences between 2010 and 2012 in his first teaching job at Micklehurst All Saints CE Primary School in Mossley, Tameside.
The court heard he installed a static camera via a laptop webcam to capture two classes who were getting changed for PE lessons.
Judge Martin Rudland told him: "The images clearly show you in a calculated way setting the camera up and leaving the room while the children in your care quite innocently and happily were allowed to change to prepare for gym class.
"So it was for your own personal sexual gratification you were able to obtain images in that way in a complete and  breathtaking breach of trust placed in you, not only by the parents of those children but also your employers."
Ellins received eight-month jail terms, to run concurrently, for two counts of voyeurism, and four months for six counts of possessing Category C indecent images of children.
He will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.


Irish police have said they expect DNA results later to confirm the identity of human remains found in the Grand Canal at Sallins in County Kildare.

Kenneth O'Brien's dismembered torso was found on 16 January in the canal near Ardclough in Kildare.
Detectives believe his murder is connected to the activities of a criminal gang.
Bags containing more remains were found on Sunday night in the Grand Canal at Sallins.
Another bag was recovered as part of the investigation from the same canal at Fonthill in Dublin.
RTE is reporting that police are also examining other items, including a power tool component, which were taken from the water during searches by the Garda (police) underwater unit.


Hamburg winger Nicolai Muller will miss the next seven months after he ruptured a knee ligament in celebrating a goal.

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Having scored eight minutes into Saturday's 1-0 home win over Augsburg, Muller performed a series of helicopter whirls before launching himself into a jump as he punched the air.
He landed awkwardly, and was clearly in pain as his team-mates ran to join in.
Hamburg coach Markus Gisdol said it was "certainly a downer, I have never experienced anything like it before".
Muller, 29, joined Hamburg from Mainz in 2014 and has twice played for Germany, most recently in 2013.
He ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, with his club confirming he is expected to be out for "approximately seven months".
Hamburg's sporting director Jens Todt said: "The diagnosis is a huge shock for us, a big blow for the start of the season and of course extremely bitter for Nicolai.
"We wish him a good recovery and will help him with that as well as we can."


Two teenagers have gone on trial charged with carrying out a double murder in West Lothian.

Paul Erskine and Andrew Moran, both 19, are alleged to have killed 65-year-old Harry Reekie in Lothian Street, Bathgate, on 16 September last year.
They are also accused of murdering Steven Mitchell, 31, in the town's Marmion Road on either 16 or 17 September.
They both denied the charges at the High Court in Glasgow.
The trial heard that Mr Reekie's upstairs neighbour George Campbell had called the emergency services after being woken by shouts for help.
Mr Campbell said Mr Reekie had previously told him he had stomach problems so he initially thought that was what was wrong.
When he went to help, Mr Campbell said he could not open Mr Reekie's door but saw the kitchen window was wide open, which he thought was strange.
Mr Campbell said he could see Mr Reekie sitting in a chair facing towards the television. He was holding his body and neck and his top and shorts were "saturated in blood".
The witness said: "I was shocked when he said he was stabbed."
Asked to describe how Mr Reekie was, he said: "Very weak, if he had stood up he would have collapsed because he had lost so much blood."
The court heard that Mr Reekie was saying "hurry up" and groaning as they waited for paramedics to arrive.
Mr Reekie was taken to hospital, where he remained until he died in January.
Shortly after being admitted to hospital he was visited by Mr Campbell, who said he had given him some more information about the incident.
Mr Campbell told the jury: "He didn't say who did it, he just said there was a thin one and a heavy built guy. He said he could have taken the thin guy on but he couldn't have taken the heavy guy, but no names were mentioned."
Paramedic Kenneth Bonner told the court Mr Reekie said "two young laddies" carried out an attack on him.
He said that he saw three stab wounds on Mr Reekie's torso and further wounds on his groin and his left arm.
The paramedic also said that there was "gaffa tape" tight round his neck that Mr Reekie asked him to take off of him, and tape around his right wrist.
Paul Erskine's 46-year-old father, also Paul Erskine, denies attempting to defeat the ends of justice by concealing blood stained clothes and a knife that's claimed to have been used.
The trial continues.


Oxford United boss Michael Appleton is glad his side's FA Cup fourth-round tie against Newcastle United has not been chosen for live television coverage.

"We don't turn up when the cameras are on," he told BBC Radio Oxford ahead of Saturday's sell-out home game against the Championship high-fliers.
"I was quite pleased when I found out we weren't going to be live," he added.
"But, there's no doubt about it, if we can cause an upset, we'll be a pretty big deal in the media the next day."
League One Oxford welcome the Magpies to the Kassam Stadium knowing their FA Cup exploits last season accounted for another big name, after beating Premier League Swansea City in round three.
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But Appleton feels knocking out Rafael Benitez's side, who are second in the Championship, would rank far higher in terms of achievements.
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"For me, if Newcastle were in the Premier League right now, they'd be a top 10 team," he said.
"They've got a fantastic manager, are a great club with a winning mentality and have fantastic support behind them.
"We want to make sure we can compete with them on the day. If we're in the game after 70 minutes, we need to give ourselves a great opportunity of creating an upset.
"If we can, it will be one of those games people won't forget for a long time."