Police have warned the public not to approach a prisoner who has absconded from HMP Castle Huntly.

James John Boyle failed to return to the open prison near Dundee following a period of home leave
The 24-year-old was reported missing at 15:40 on Wednesday.
Police Scotland said it was understood that Boyle travelled to the Clydebank area for the home leave visit and has connections to the Drumchapel area of Glasgow.
He was described as being 5ft 8in tall, of medium build, and clean shaven with short brown hair.


People from blood groups A, B and AB are more at risk of heart disease than those with the more common blood type O, a study suggests.

Those with the rarest blood group, AB, are the most vulnerable - they are 23% more likely to suffer from heart disease than those with blood group O.
The researchers do not know why this is, but are now looking at how blood groups respond to improved lifestyle.
The findings are published in an American Heart Association Journal.
The study also found that for individuals with blood group B the risk of heart disease increased by 11%, and for blood type A, by 5%.
Lead author Prof Lu Qi, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said: "While people cannot change their blood type, our findings may help physicians better understand who is at risk of developing heart disease.
"It's good to know your blood type the same way you should know your cholesterol or blood pressure numbers.
"If you know you're at higher risk, you can reduce the risk by adopting a healthier lifestyle, such as eating right, exercising and not smoking."
The British Heart Foundation stressed it is important that we all look after ourselves to reduce the risk.
Doireann Maddock, a senior cardiac nurse from the charity said: "Nobody can influence what type of blood they are born with but a healthy lifestyle is something everybody can have an influence over.
"Eating healthily, getting active and stopping smoking are the types of things you should be worrying about, not your blood type.
"While these findings are certainly interesting we'll need more research to draw any firm conclusions about blood type and its role in heart disease risk."
The study did not look at why different blood types appear to have different risks of heart disease.
Prof Qi said: "Blood type is very complicated, so there could be multiple mechanisms at play."
However, blood group AB has been linked to inflammation, which plays an important role in artery damage.
There is also evidence that blood group A is associated with higher levels of the 'bad' type of cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), a waxy substance that can clog arteries.
While those with blood group O may benefit from increased levels of a chemical which helps blood flow and clotting.
The findings are based on two large US analytical studies - 62,073 women from the Nurses' Health Study and 27,428 adults from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. They were between the ages of 30 and 75 and followed for 20 years.
As this study group was predominantly Caucasian, the researchers say it is not clear if their findings would be reflected in other ethnic groups.
The work is published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, an American Heart Association journal.
The team is now looking at whether people with different blood groups respond differently to changes in lifestyle, such as diet, exercise, cholesterol intake.


The Venezuelan Supreme Court has ruled that a decree issued by President Nicolas Maduro last week declaring a state of emergency is constitutional.

The decree gives Mr Maduro extra powers to deal with Venezuela's economic crisis, including the right to impose tougher security measures.
The opposition-controlled parliament rejected the decree on Tuesday.
But the Supreme Court, which rarely rules against the government, said the decree was justifiable.
The court upheld the decree because of  what it called "the extraordinary social, economic, political, natural and ecological circumstances that are gravely affecting the national economy."
What has gone wrong in Venezuela?
On Friday, President Maduro declared a state of emergency for 60 days, accusing the business elite of boycotting the economy and the United States of plotting a coup against his socialist government.
In measures published in the government gazette on Monday, the armed forces and local committees now have powers to distribute and sell food.
Authorities will also be allowed to cut the working week in the private sector, as they have done in the public sector, to conserve electricity.
The new measures also allow the government to take control of basic goods or services, which analysts say opens the way to the expropriation of companies.
The opposition has rejected the new measures and is pushing for a referendum to removed Mr Maduro from power.
They began the process two weeks ago by handing in a petition signed by 1.85m people.
But Venezuela's Vice-President Aristobulo Isturiz has ruled out the possibility of a recall referendum against Mr Maduro.
Many Venezuelans blame Mr Maduro for the economic crisis the country is experiencing.
Its economy contracted by 5.7% last year and is expected to shrink further this year. Inflation is at 180%, according to official figures, and there are shortages of medicines and basic food items.


Leyton Orient have signed Chateauroux striker Ulrich N'Nomo on a one-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

League Two side Orient have an option to extend the 20-year-old's contract by a further year.
France under-20 international N'Nomo scored five goals in 23 games in the French third tier last season.
"I am very happy to be joining the club. It has also been a dream of mine to come and play football in England," he told the club website.
Meanwhile defender Sean Clohessy's contract has been cancelled by mutual consent.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Ministers have agreed to route a planned bypass around a 500-year-old oak tree in Powys.

Almost 5,000 people signed a petition in a bid to protect The Brimmon Oak, Newtown, in the path of the bypass.
The Welsh government has agreed to adjust the route to accommodate the oak with "minimal work" within a 15m (49ft) protected zone around the roots.
But opponents called for further assurances in a letter to the assembly petitions committee on Tuesday.
"We're not against the bypass, we just want them to move it over a bit," said campaigner Rob McBride.
Mervyn Jones, who owns the land the tree sits on, believes the roots will be damaged and it will die if the road is not far enough away.
The committee agreed to pass along the petitioners' concerns to the government.


A fund set up to support jockey Freddy Tylicki after he was paralysed from the waist down in a fall at Kempton on Monday has raised more than £100,000.

Tylicki suffered a T7 paralysis in a four-horse pile-up riding Nellie Dean.
James Fanshawe, who trained the Tylicki mount Speedy Boarding to victory in May's Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville, was among paying tribute.
"Freddy has a tremendous character and this will help him with the battle ahead," he said.
The sport was united in support for Tylicki, said Professional Jockeys Association chief executive Paul Struthers.
"Racing may have many issues and flaws but its biggest strength is how it pulls together in difficult, tragic times," he said.
"Freddy is one of the most popular members of the weighing room and will not lack for support, with offers already flooding in."
At The Races presenter Matt Chapman set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Tylicki's recovery, which has already far surpassed its target of £20,000.
He wrote on the page: "We all know the risks jockeys take, and we all know they know the risks. But when one gets badly hurt those of us who love the game, bet on the game, need the game, have the opportunity to come together and say: 'You know what? We can help this person.'
"Freddy Tylicki is going to need loads of help."
Steve Drowne, who avoided injury when his mount, Skara Mae, was brought down in the same incident, added: "He is everyone's friend and he loved doing what he was doing and had just had his best year ever, getting a couple of Group Ones in the book. But racing is probably the last thing he is thinking about now."
Emerging Newmarket-based trainer Charlie Fellowes said he would always be thankful to Tylicki for providing him with his first winner on a day that he described as the "happiest of my life".
Tylicki rode Barbary to victory in a seven-furlong handicap at Lingfield in February 2014.
Fellowes said: "He is the happiest, most genuine guy you will come across. He always came in with a smile on his face and he would never be in a bad mood."
Rod Millman, who employed Tylicki more than any other trainer this year, believes the rider's character will help him in the future.
"This was the news we were dreading all week and the whole yard is devastated. He does, though, have great spirit and I'm sure that will see him through," he said.
The stewards on duty at Kempton on Monday concluded the incident was accidental, and the British Horseracing Authority has no plans for a further review.
"Thankfully, incidents such as these are a rare occurrence but we are not complacent and the issue of racecourse safety is one that we keep under constant review," said a spokesman.


Police are treating a fire at a property in north Belfast as suspected arson.

It happened shortly after 17:00 GMT at a ground-floor flat on the corner of Ardoyne Road and Glenbryn Drive.
The fire, which caused significant damage, is believed to have started in a bedroom of the flat, but it is unclear how it was started.
Police cordoned off the area around the property and forensic officers examined it on Friday night.
A neighbour on the first floor had to escape through an upstairs window.
It is understood she was treated for minor injuries.
Neighbours also reported seeing four people running away from the flat at the time the fire was reported.
It is not clear if the ground-floor property was occupied when the fire took place.
In a separate, unconnected incident, a 52-year-old man was rescued from a fire at a house on Reid Street off the Cregagh Road in east Belfast.
Both fires are now under control.


An exhibition featuring the stories of Somerset soldiers in World War One has opened.

The Somerset Remembers exhibition at Taunton's Museum of Somerset opened earlier and will run until January.
Curator Sam Astill said: "Just to get up close to people's stories and people's lives - it's a great privilege."
The local war efforts, agriculture and the legacy of the war are also covered in the exhibition.
Thousands of Somerset men served in the armed forces during World War One and more than 8,000 of them were killed.
Mr Astill added: "We tried to choose individuals whose stories relate to a particular period of the war, or a particular aspect.
"For example we have Cpl Joseph Studeley - he's in the section which is called War, which tells the story of the Somerset Light Infantry and the opening battles of the First World War.
"He was killed quite early but he fought at the Battle of Le Cateau, one of the first engagements of the war on the 26th August, 1914."


UN officials have criticised Operation Triton, the EU's new policy towards migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe.

Vincent Cochetel of the UN refugee agency said it put the onus on merchant ships to rescue those in trouble, but that ships might avoid responding.
A UN special envoy told the BBC it was outrageous that some states, including the UK, had opted out of Triton.
Triton is much smaller than the Italian mission it is replacing.
While the Italian mission, Mare Nostrum, conducted regular search-and-rescue operations, Triton will be focused on patrolling within 30 nautical miles of the Italian coast.
Mare Nostrum officially ended on 1 November, though the Italian navy is continuing scaled-back operations for about two months.
This year has seen a surge of migrants risking their lives to reach Italy. About 150,000 migrants - mostly fleeing violence in the Horn of Africa and Middle East - have been rescued by Italian ships over the past 12 months.
"The big question mark is, now what's going to be the responsibility of private ship owners to rescue people in the high sea, because so far there was some sort of predictability with the rescue at sea on the Italian navy," Mr Cochetel told the BBC's Newsday programme.
The Italian navy "took the lead to save lives," he said. "Now that responsibility is going to be transferred to those private ship owners - will they switch on or switch off their signals when they get the call from the rescue centre in Rome?"
He cited an incident at the end of August in which there were 76 ships in the area of rescue.
"The call centre called them all, and within one minute there were only six ships left on the radar screen. All the others switched off their radar signal."
The UK has opted out of migrant rescues in the Mediterranean, saying such operations could encourage more people to risk dangerous voyages to Europe.
Peter Sutherland, the UN special envoy for migration, condemned such arguments.
"I think that it is an utterly outrageous statement to make that it is a good thing not to save lives because it may put other people off trying to travel across the Mediterranean," he said.
"I just find it incomprehensible that that argument could be considered to be morally justified."
The Italian navy has made it clear that, following international maritime law, it will still attend to an emergency or distress call from any boat, in any location.
But critics have warned that Triton's more limited resources may make it harder to rescue migrants in distress in international waters.
Operation Triton's budget, at 2.9m euros (Â£2.3m; $3.7m), will be a third of Mare Nostrum's. Run by the EU border agency Frontex, it will have six ships, four planes and a helicopter at its disposal, and a staff of 65.
The European Commission says 21 EU member states have pledged to participate.


A bomb explosion on a bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta has killed at least 11 people and wounded a further 22, police say.

A senior police official in the western city told the BBC the device was planted on the roof of the vehicle.
The blast comes at a time of relatively diminished violence in Pakistan. No-one has said they carried out the attack.
Balochistan province suffers from separatist, sectarian and Islamist insurgencies.
There is a heightened alert against sectarian attacks in the region, as it is the Shia month of mourning.
Reports suggested the passenger bus was carrying workers from the centre of Quetta to their homes in the suburbs at the end of the working day.
"This is a cowardly act that has targeted innocent people," the provincial Interior Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti told Reuters news agency.
"We are fighting against terrorism here. And we will keep fighting until the last terrorist is killed."


When I first settled in Rome in the early 1970s, it was common knowledge among resident foreign journalists that you could get a much better exchange rate for the Italian lira from your dollars or pounds by visiting the Vatican's own bank, situated inside a medieval tower next to the Apostolic Palace inside Vatican City.

So, showing my press pass, I climbed the stairs into this strange Holy of Holies, where the only other clients in the marble-lined banking hall were priests and nuns.
I wrote out a cheque, which the bank clerk cashed after checking my identity. He handed me about 10% more lira than if I had made the transaction in one of the commercial banks just down the street in Italian territory. I had just discovered my very own offshore fiscal paradise.
Thus began my short-lived but instructive introductory course into Vatican banking. A few months later, someone leaked what was happening and I could no longer gain access to the Vatican's financial inner sanctum.
Then I got to know the Most Reverend Paul Marcinkus, a giant of a priest, who hailed from Chicago, and who had been appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1971 to head the Vatican Bank, the "Institute for the Works of Religion", or IOR in Italian.
Pope Paul wanted to show his appreciation of the archbishop's efforts as chief organiser of the first ever visit by a pontiff to the Holy Land in 1964, where he had been the Pope's constant bodyguard and translator.
I learned with some surprise that the archbishop had no previous specialist knowledge of international banking. In fact, upon his appointment he had been sent off to Harvard University for a six-week crash course to learn the rudiments of international high finance.
During the 1980s, the archbishop got involved in some shady dealings, first with a Mafia-linked Sicilian banker called Michele Sindona, and then with an Italian financier called Roberto Calvi, president of the Banco Ambrosiano, which eventually collapsed with huge debts involving losses of at least $250m (Â£165m) to the IOR, one of the Banco's shareholders.
Mr Calvi eventually ended up dead, hanging from a rope under Blackfriars Bridge in London, victim of a faked suicide. The archbishop was wanted for questioning by Italian prosecutors, not in connection with what turned out to be a Mafia murder, but over the Vatican Bank's losses incurred through the setting up of phony offshore shell companies in the Bahamas.
But the burly archbishop successfully claimed diplomatic immunity, taking refuge inside the Vatican at one point.
He had a sardonic attitude to his work. "When my workers come to retire, they expect a pension," he once told a friend of mine. "It's no use my saying: I'll pay you in 400 Hail Marys!"
Fast forward to the present. The Vatican Bank has once again been in the eye of a storm of scandal. It has been accused of money laundering and lack of due diligence in allowing non-religious, and even crony, businessmen to hold accounts in what amounts to an international offshore tax haven.
Pope Benedict XVI attempted in 2010 to bring the IOR back on course by creating a financial information authority to monitor its performance - but promises of greater financial transparency clearly failed to materialise.
A boardroom row erupted in 2012, and Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, an Italian economist then at the head of the bank, stormed out of a meeting chaired by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, and resigned.
Mr Gotti Tedeschi is the author of an economic textbook entitled Money and Paradise: The Global Economy and the Catholic World.
His post remained empty for nine months and then, on the very eve of Pope Benedict's retirement last February, the pontiff appointed a German banker, Ernst Von Freyberg, to head the IOR.
Now, another series of IOR bombshells have burst.
Paolo Cipriani, director of the bank, and his deputy Marco Tullio have resigned after the arrest by Italian tax police of a Vatican monsignore who used to work as a senior account manager in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which manages Vatican real estate holdings. The monsignore, Nunzio Scarano, is being questioned in jail over allegations of money laundering, corruption and fraud.
Pope Francis is scandalised and angry at the goings on behind the scenes at the IOR. He has decided to begin his planned clean-up of the Roman Curia, the central government of the Church, with a complete shakeup at the IOR.
Vatican security officers have been instructed to freeze any attempt to meddle with IOR documents, while an internal commission of inquiry with wide powers prepares a secret report on the current financial shenanigans, for the eyes of Pope Francis only.
The Vatican Bank is a damaged brand at a moment when the Pope is urging his flock to turn their attention to the plight of the world's poor. There has been speculation that one of Pope Francis' options could be to dissolve the IOR altogether and hand over the Vatican's entire banking operations to a reliable commercial bank.


The editor-in-chief of left-leaning French newspaper Liberation has resigned after a bitter row with staff over his plans to transform the paper into a social network.

Nicolas Demorand's restructuring plan was denounced by the paper's journalists in a front-page story at the weekend.
He had already suffered four votes of no confidence from its editorial board.
Mr Demorand had led the paper since March 2011.
In an interview with another newspaper, Le Monde, he said he hoped his departure would help "revive the dialogue needed to take the newspaper out of the crisis".
The dispute has caused turmoil at the paper, which was co-founded in 1973 by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Under the restructuring plan, the paper would have been turned into a social network, providing content for multimedia platforms.
The paper's headquarters would have become a cultural centre, with a bar, a restaurant, a TV studio and a start-up hub.
Key shareholders defended the plan as the only viable future for the ailing 40-year-old paper, which saw its sales slide 15% last year.
But journalists accused the management of wanting to turn Liberation into a brand and said the plan involved doing everything but journalism.
After staging a one-day strike, the journalists decided to return to work and use the pages of Saturday's edition to attack the plan.


It would be "foolish and disloyal" to consider a post-election leadership bid, Lib Dem MP Tim Farron has said.

The former Liberal Democrats president said he did not have the energy to "give any head space" to what happens after the general election.
Mr Farron was criticised by party grandee Lord Ashdown after saying the Lib Dems had been "tarnished" by entering a coalition with the Tories.
But Mr Farron said he was focused "entirely" on the election.
At the Lib Dem conference last month, Mr Farron - seen by some as a frontrunner to succeed Nick Clegg - was quoted in the Mail on Sunday suggesting the party's brand would be tainted for a generation by governing with the Conservatives.
That prompted Lord Ashdown to say Mr Farron lacked judgement and needed to show "a little more patience".
But Mr Farron told Sky News' Murnaghan programme: "My focus is entirely on making sure myself and my colleagues up and down the country win as many seats as possible because that's what matters for Britain."
Asked if he would stand to replace Mr Clegg if he was no longer leader, Mr Farron replied: "The election we're facing in 32 days' time is the biggest one for this country for many years - the hardest and toughest one for the Liberal Democrats in a generation.
"If I give any head space whatsoever to what happens afterwards then that is foolish and disloyal and I haven't got the energy for that."
Mr Clegg heaped praise on Mr Farron last week as he distanced himself from "bickering" by other senior colleagues and urged an end to the criticisms.
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A County Armagh horticulture company has said it has lost 70,000 lettuces to the rising waters of Lough Neagh.

Derrylard Nurseries near Maghery grows salads for all the major supermarkets in Northern Ireland.
Its premises are beside the River Bann where it flows into Lough Neagh at Bannfoot.
Over the period of a week the flood waters have reached one of its giant grow tunnels.
They have now covered tens of thousands of lettuces which had been planted in November and were due for harvest in March.
Owner Seamus Donnelly said the loss would run to thousands of pounds.
"They'll all have to be thrown out now. There's no way they could survive that," he said.
The level of Lough Neagh has been rising steadily since Christmas. It's now half a metre higher than it was on Christmas Day across its 383sq kms.
Questions have been asked about the management of the lough levels. The Rivers Agency is responsible for that.
It will appear before a committee of MLAs at Stormont on Tuesday to answer questions about the impact of the winter storms.


University of Aberdeen archaeologists have been awarded almost £1m to search for clues on what life was like in northern Europe after the Roman Empire.

The cash will allow further digs at sites like Rhynie in Aberdeenshire.
There will also be digs as Burghead in Moray and sites in Ireland - Cashel in County Tipperary and Dunseverick near the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim.
The university said the project would be an investigation of the "lost kingdoms of Northwest Europe".
The five-year project is being funded by the Leverhulme Trust and will be led by archaeologist Dr Gordon Noble, from the University of Aberdeen's School of Geosciences.
He said: "In contrast to the study of the Roman Empire and its successors, first-millennium AD northern Europe is almost exclusively studied at a local and regional level.
"There has been very little detailed inter and intra-regional research, despite an upsurge in archaeological data.
"We will be able to investigate in detail the differences and similarities between Pictland in northern Scotland, Dál Riata - a Gaelic-speaking polity spanning County Antrim in Northern Ireland and Argyll and the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, and Gaelic kingdoms in Munster, Ireland."
Dr Noble said the project would bring together experts in archaeology, history, place name studies and paleoecology "to build a much fuller picture of these kingdoms".
"The project involves scholars from a range of fields which should give us an unprecedented opportunity to understand how these early kingdoms were created, developed and were ultimately transformed," he said.
"The areas outside the bounds of the Roman Empire have for too long played relatively minor and peripheral roles in the grand narratives of European history.
"We hope that this grant will enable us to begin to challenge that and to present a very different view of how society changed in the post-Roman period in these kingdoms at the 'periphery' of Europe."
Dr Noble and his team had already carried out excavations in Scotland at sites such as Rhynie in Aberdeenshire and found evidence which points to it being a sophisticated Pictish power centre which had trade contacts with Anglo-Saxon England, Frankia and the Byzantine world.
He added: "Our work at Rhynie shows how even modest programmes of archaeological investigation can illuminate the seats of power of these early kingdoms," Dr Noble said.
"This grant will allow us to conduct more extensive field investigations of sites like Rhynie and to compare them to other early medieval seats of power in Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland."


A new lifeboat will be dedicated to the memory of a former crewman killed in a crash on Anglesey.

Craig Steadman, 28, died after his motorbike collided with a vehicle near Llanfairpwll in August 2015.
He was a volunteer with Holyhead RNLI and a fundraising appeal was launched to pay for a new inshore lifeboat.
The Â£48,000 target has now been reached thanks to the efforts of Holyhead and Barmouth lifeboat stations and Mr Steadman's family.
His mother Sharon Steadman said it was "great to know his memory will live on helping save lives at sea".
She said her son loved being on the lifeboat crew and the family was looking forward to seeing the lifeboat "in pride of place in Barmouth" later this year.


The NHS needs more money to avoid a funding crisis, senior Conservative and Lib Dem MPs have warned.

Sarah Wollaston, Conservative chair of the Commons health select committee, said the NHS was facing "crunch time".
Her comments were echoed by Lib Dem former health minister Paul Burstow who warned the NHS could collapse within five years without extra money.
The Department of Health said it was confident of making £20bn in savings to reinvest in frontline care.
Mr Burstow put the level of extra funding needed for the NHS to function properly at £15bn over five years.
Dr Wollaston told the BBC the NHS was "coping remarkably well" but that future funding was "under immense pressure".
She said: "We have protected spending on health. It is rising in line - just above - background inflation, but inflation in the health sector is much higher because we have got an ageing population.
"So many more people are living with several long-term conditions and of course we have got amazing advances in technology and we need to be able to fund all those things."
Dr Wollaston said the service was not "doomed to failure" but added: "We know that over the next few years, we are going to run into a real crunch time with funding and what's necessary now is for NHS England to set out very clearly what can be achieved within various funding limits.
"In other words - are we going to be able to increase funding, or will something have to give?"
She added: "Personally, I'd like to see services continue to improve, so I think in order to achieve that we are going to need an increase in funding."
Dr Wollaston said it would be "key" to "get the best value out of the resources we have" over the coming years.
Stephen Dorrell, also a Conservative and her predecessor as chair of the health select committee, said he would be ashamed if the government failed to increase NHS funding when the economy was growing.
"I am in favour of the government not denying what 5,000 years of history tells us is true, which is that every time a society gets richer it spends a rising share of its income on looking after the sick and the vulnerable," he told The Observer.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We've taken tough decisions to protect the NHS budget, which is allowing us to strengthen family doctoring, reform out of hospital care, and improve GP access for 7.5 million people across the country.
"The NHS is also on track to make £20bn [in] savings this parliament to reinvest into frontline care and we are confident that it will continue to make the savings necessary to meet rising demand."
The MPs' comments on funding came as the health secretary spoke of plans to publicly name GPs with a poor record in spotting signs of cancer.
Jeremy Hunt said he wanted to expose doctors whose failure to spot cancer may delay patients receiving potentially life-saving scans.
Doctors found to be missing too many cases of cancer or with patients who are forced to make repeated visits before being referred for tests would be marked with a red flag. Those found with quick referral times for patients would be given a green rating.
The Royal College of GPs said it would be a "crude" system and one that could lead to GPs sending people to specialists indiscriminately. It warned this could result in flooding hospitals with healthy people.


French prosecutors have opened an investigation into claims Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) broke diesel emissions tests.

Industry regulators in the country have been looking into whether some FCA cars exceeded emissions limits.
FCA, already facing probes in the UK and US, said it noted the prosecutor's decision to look into "certain alleged consumer protection violations".
But FCA added that its diesel cars fully complied with emissions rules.
The move by French prosecuting magistrates comes after revelations in 2015 that German carmaker Volkswagen broke diesel tests in the US.
France's consumer affairs body passed a file on Fiat Chrysler to the courts for possible investigation in February.
Tests by French regulators last year, launched in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions test-cheating scandal, revealed pollutants from some Fiat Chrysler and other car maker's models exceeded regulatory limits.
The move by the French prosecutor is the latest indication that questions about diesel pollution tests extend beyond Volkswagen.
A French judicial source told Reuters that the Paris prosecutor had opened the investigation on 15 March, after the finance ministry's consumer affairs and anti-fraud body had referred the case to the courts.
"I can confirm that a judicial investigation has been opened into aggravated cheating," the source said.
FCA said in a statement that its diesel vehicles "fully comply with applicable emissions requirements" in Italy, where its European unit is based. But the company could not comment on which models were under further investigation in France.
However, it said that it would "continue to co-operate to any investigations by competent authorities and remains fully confident that the matter will be clarified in due course".
In the UK, the government is testing the emissions of the car maker's Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The UK Department for Transport has also asked for details of a probe by the US Environmental Protection Agency into Fiat Chrysler diesel emissions software.


Tennis Scotland has appointed Davis Cup-winning captain Leon Smith as its new performance director.

The 40-year-old Scot will continue his roles with the GB team and as LTA head of men's tennis.
Smith welcomed being handed the task of ensuring there is a legacy for Scotland when Andy Murray retires.
"I am passionate about assisting to deliver a structure and programme that will help to achieve the goals we all want," he said.
"There have been changes recently at Tennis Scotland and I do believe the sport is heading in the right direction, which is really exciting.
"I would like to contribute to this and work closely with the chair, the board and the staff to help influence the future for tennis in Scotland."
In his non-executive board position, Smith will lead Tennis Scotland's aims of improving facilities and driving up participation while Murray and brother Jamie are still active.
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Tennis Scotland chair Blane Dodds said: "This is a key role for us and I am convinced that the ambitious new plans we are making, and the support we are receiving, are beginning to show progress.
"It is a significant step forward for us for Leon to be joining Tennis Scotland and the objective is to deliver more in Scotland on the back of the world-class achievements that both Andy and Jamie Murray, and others, are delivering.
"We have ambitious plans for the future and having Leon on board to formulate and drive these plans with us will significantly help deliver the outcomes we all want.
"Our field team work tirelessly throughout the country and to have someone of Leon's stature complementing that work will be a massive boost all round."
Smith, who signed a deal in March to stay on as Davis Cup captain for the next three years, worked with Andy and brother Jamie as teenagers and last year led them to Great Britain's first Davis Cup success since 1936.
He has been in the position since 2010, when Britain were on the verge of relegation to the competition's bottom tier.
Smith has also spent time coaching British number two Aljaz Bedene this year.
Jamie Murray, presently the world's highest-ranked doubles player, welcomed the appointment.
"Leon, with his experience, not just with Davis Cup but working with juniors for quite a long time in Scotland and then in the UK - he has had several important jobs at the LTA - I am sure will be a huge benefit to Scottish tennis," he told BBC Scotland.
"We've talked about it a lot together and I think he is very passionate about it and wanting to make the most of the success that me and Andy have had and Leon with the Davis Cup team.
"I am glad that he is in a good position to influence things now."
Colin Fleming, who will join his fellow Scots in Team GB at the Rio Olympics, considered it "a brilliant appointment".
"Leon has been brilliant at whatever he has done," he said.
"He has been the head of men's tennis and he's done a good job there, as a coach, he is very effective and, as Davis Cup captain, he's been brilliant.
"Scottish tennis has some real figureheads, but up until now they have probably not been involved with the governing body."


Britain's Andy Murray picked up two wins on his final day of involvement at the International Premier Tennis League exhibition in the Philippines.

Murray helped Manila Mavericks beat Singapore Slammers 27-19 to claim their first victory of the event.
The Scot and Kirsten Flipkens beat Serena Williams and Lleyton Hewitt 6-1 in the mixed doubles.
Murray then saw off Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-5 in the singles, which was decided by a five-minute shootout.
It brought an end to the Briton's participation in the inaugural IPTL, and he will now head to Miami to begin his annual off-season training block.
"I think a lot of people were sceptical about it," Murray said of the IPTL.
"But if you look at the amount of people who have showed up here, there's been unbelievable support from Friday through to Sunday; it shows the people here love tennis. I hope we can come back next year and do it again."
After failing to register a victory over the first two days in Manila, Murray got on the scoreboard alongside Flipkens in a one-sided doubles as world number one Williams made her debut in the competition.
The American made amends in the following singles set with a 6-3 win over Flipkens.
It looked as though Murray's year would end with a defeat when he trailed the big-serving Kyrgios 5-4, but the former Wimbledon champion broke back to force a shootout.
With the 20-second shot clock driving the pace of play and the winner decided over the course of five minutes, Murray let a 4-0 lead slip and led 6-5 as the clock counted down.
A lengthy baseline rally had the crowd enthralled with victory up for grabs, and Kyrgios cracked first with a backhand into the net.
The four-team competition will now move to Singapore for three days, starting on Tuesday, before heading to Delhi and Dubai. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are among the players set to feature.


A skin cancer charity has exceeded its fundraising target the day after the death of a BBC presenter who backed its campaign.

The Skcin charity aimed to raise £75,000 as part of the Colin Bloomfield Melanoma Appeal.
Sally Pepper, a BBC Radio Derby presenter who ran the London Marathon on Sunday, raised more than £13,000 for the appeal.
Sckin spokesman Richard Clifford said: "Colin would have been delighted."
Mr Clifford said: "Colin has left an amazing legacy - he was a great campaigner for greater awareness of the dangers of over-exposure to UV."
The charity's main aim is to provide equipment for schools and make students aware of overexposure to ultraviolet waves.
The presenter's openness and optimism as he battled the disease touched thousands of people.
Ms Pepper said after the race: "It has been utterly awesome - there were moments  along the way when I was digging deep when I said 'that guy went through so much pain that I can do this little bit'.
"It made it even more emotional and poignant to run it today when he passed away yesterday."
The appeal was set up to help educate children in Derbyshire and East Staffordshire about how to stay safe in the sun.
The original fund-raising goal of £45,000 was broken at the end of March after six weeks.
Bloomfield worked at BBC Radio Derby for more than 10 years as a news reporter, Derby County commentator and breakfast show presenter.


Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio has attacked Donald Trump for saying that Islam hates America, in a televised debate in Miami.

Mr Rubio, who faces a do-or-die contest in Florida on Tuesday, said Islam had a problem with radicalisation but said that many Muslims were proud Americans.
"Presidents can't just say whatever they want. It has consequences," he said, to cheers from the audience.
The four Republicans heeded pleas from party leaders to have a civil debate.
Unlike in the last TV event, which was littered with personal insults, this one was more substantive with a focus on policy.
"So far, I cannot believe how civil it's been up here," Mr Trump observed at one point.
But on the issue of Islam, there was clear distance between Mr Trump and the others. Mr Trump stood by comments he made earlier in the day when he said "Islam hates us, there's a tremendous hatred", and railed against political correctness.
But Mr Rubio said: "I'm not interested in being politically correct. I'm interested in being correct."
It's now clear that the remaining candidates in the Republican field have run out of ideas on how to stop Donald Trump's march to the Republican nomination.
In early debates the top-tier candidates largely ignored the New York billionaire, hoping he'd self-destruct on his own. In the past few showdowns, they've gone after him relentlessly.
Now, in this 12th event, they started by avoiding confrontation, then prodded him only ever-so-gently.
"I can't believe how civil it's been up here," Mr Trump said at one point.
Given that Mr Trump has a lead in convention delegates and is ahead in many of the states set to vote on Tuesday, a fireworks-free debate is nothing but good news for the front-runner.
While Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz tried to draw contrasts with Mr Trump on issues like foreign policy, trade protectionism and his reliance on anti-Islamic rhetoric, the enthusiasm just isn't there anymore. Mr Cruz, in particular, launched most of his barbs with sighs and head-shaking resignation, rather than ferocity.
This race isn't over yet, but Thursday night's proceedings show that - barring some sort of massive upheaval - the end is likely in sight.
Read Anthony's analysis in full
Obama: 'Don't blame me for Trump'
Who are the Muslims supporting Trump?
All three of Mr Trump's rivals distanced themselves from Mr Trump's statement in December that in the fight against terrorists "you have to take out their families".
"We've never targeted innocent civilians and we're not going to start now" Mr Cruz said.
When Mr Trump was challenged on the legality of targeting civilians, he said that America had to be able to fight on "an equal footing".
"We have to obey the laws, but we have to expand those laws", he said.
On Tuesday five large states will vote for presidential candidate in each party, with Ohio Governor John Kasich and Mr Rubio, a Florida senator, under pressure to win their home states.
Mr Trump picked up a key endorsement of Ben Carson, who last week dropped out of the race before the debate.
Debate highlights:
The candidates also clashed over President Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba next week.
Mr Rubio, whose parents were Cuban immigrants, said he was opposed to efforts to restore relations until Cuba improved its human rights record.
But Mr Trump said he was not opposed to a US-Cuba deal, but it should be on better terms for the US.
The other Cuban-American candidate on the stage, Mr Cruz, accused Mr Trump of supporting the Obama-Clinton policy on Cuba.
Mr Trump, a billionaire businessman from New York with no political experience, has dominated the news and the state primary contests so far.
On the Democratic side, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are battling for the party's nomination.
Mrs Clinton is leading Mr Sanders in delegate counts so far, though his campaign has proved more formidable than expected.
Both parties will determine their nominees at conventions in July, then Americans will pick their new president in November.
15 March: Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio Primaries
22 March: Arizona Primary, Utah Caucuses, Idaho Caucuses (Democratic)
26 March: Alaska, Hawaii, Washington Caucuses (Democratic)
1 April: North Dakota Caucuses (Republican)
5 April: Wisconsin Primary
9 April: Wyoming Caucuses (Democratic)
19 April: New York Primary


Manxman Dan Kneen will be out to repeat the form he showed on his debut in 2014 when he takes part in this weekend's Tandragee 100 road races.

Kneen, 28, won both Superbike events on his way to collecting the man-of-the-meeting award two years ago, and will ride for the Mar-Train Yamaha outfit.
Ryan Farquhar takes in the 'big bike' events on his BMW Superstock and the Supertwins class on his KMR Kawasaki.
Malachi-Mitchell Thomas competes after taking a treble at the Mid Antrim 150.
The Bolton rider is joined in the Cookstown BE Racing team by Dubliner Derek Sheils, who won the feature event at Mid Antrim on 2 April on his 1000cc Suzuki.
Farquhar struggled with the stability and electronics on his Superstock machine at Mid Antrim but emerged the victor in the Supertwins and won the opening Superbike race over the 5.3-mile Tandragee circuit last year.
William Dunlop is set to campaign his Supersport 600cc Yamaha at the County Armagh meeting, with Republic of Ireland competitors Derek Sheils and Derek McGee also in the mix.
The meeting features a nine-race programme, with practicing on Friday and racing on Saturday.


League Two side Accrington have signed former Dunfermline centre-back Ben Richards-Everton on a one-year deal.

Richards-Everton helped the Pars win promotion to the Scottish Championship in the 2015/16 season, having signed from Partick Thistle in June 2015.
The 25-year-old was released at the end of last season, having suffered a season-ending knee injury in October.
"The club's moving in the right direction and want to get out of this league," he told the club website.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Northamptonshire opener Ben Duckett extended his career-best score to within 18 runs of a triple century on 282 after another rain-interrupted day against Sussex at Wantage Road.

After resuming on 292-2, with Duckett on 178, the hosts progressed to 481-7 before bad light intervened.
Teenager George Garton has taken three wickets on his Championship debut.
But the Sussex bowlers have otherwise struggled, not helped by dropping Duckett twice.
After 82 overs on the first day, only 53 overs were managed on day two, during which 21-year-old Duckett reached eighth position in the all-time annals of best individual innings for the county, going past Wayne Larkins, Allan Lamb and Dennis Brookes on that list.
But, for all Duckett's dominance, Northants ended four runs short of a fifth batting point, having only reached 396-5 at the 110-over mark.


MSPs have voted for a motion saying the Scottish government is "failing teachers, parents and pupils".

Opposition parties backed Scottish Labour's view, arguing that the SNP had presided over a decade of failure.
Tempers flared during the debate, with Education Secretary John Swinney calling the motion "pathetically miserable" and "disgraceful".
However, his amendment was rejected by 63 votes to 62, before the motion was passed by the same margin.
Labour's Iain Gray put forward the motion titled "the Scottish government and education, 10 years of letting down teachers, parents and pupils".
It highlighted evidence received by the education committee that "many teachers have lost confidence in Education Scotland and the SQA", while noting disappointment with international survey results which showed a decline in reading, science and maths scores.
The motion concluded that the Scottish government's "stewardship of education is failing teachers, parents and pupils".
Urging Mr Swinney to "ditch" his planned reform programme, Mr Gray said: "Yes, our schools need reform. But, above all, our schools need more teachers with more support, more time and more resources to do their job.
"That is the core reform. Failure to deliver it is the defining characteristic of the SNP decade in charge of education."
Mr Swinney said Mr Gray's motion "says absolutely nothing good about Scottish education", calling it "disgraceful" and "pathetically miserable".
He tabled an amendment saying Holyrood "congratulates pupils and teachers on their achievements" and should note "a continued increase in the positive destinations for young people leaving school".
He said: "I am first to accept that there are challenges that exist within Scottish education and there is an opportunity for political parties in this Parliament to work with the government in taking forward the agenda and contributing to the agenda.
"What concerns me about the characterisation of Scottish education from Mr Gray today is the unwillingness to acknowledge the strength of performance that has been achieved."
The Scottish Conservatives, who have pledged to hold a "root and branch review" of the Curriculum for Excellence, said Mr Gray was right to flag up "the great difficulties" present in education, while noting that "there are of course very good things going on".
MSP Liz Smith said: "The Pisa scores show us exactly where we have to go to ensure that we are bringing up Scottish education, not just for those in the lower attainment group but for those in the highest attainment group as well."
She added: "We also know we have problems in teacher recruitment. And we learned last week that we have serious shortages in key subjects like English and maths. That's a serious worry for Scottish education."
Education committee convener James Dornan accused Labour MSPs of "negativity and defeatism".
He said their "depressing and negative attitude" and "constant criticism" was not helping education, adding that responsibility for teacher numbers lies at local authority level.
Ross Greer of the Scottish Greens welcomed Labour's focus on education, but said the motion should have contained more solutions.
And Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott said education needed "a change to the culture of conformity".
In the final votes, Mr Swinney saw his amendment defeated, while Mr Gray's was approved, handing the government its third defeat in the Holyrood chamber in seven days, after debates on the Scottish Funding Council and health services.


The state should work with business to help the UK maximise the benefits of automation and other technological changes, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The Labour leader said he was not "one of the doom-mongers" who thought new technology would "inevitably herald an era of mass unemployment".
But he argued that adapting the UK for the jobs of the future "can't simply be left to the market".
A recent report suggested robots could affect 30% of British jobs by 2030.
The PwC study estimated that nearly a third of existing jobs in the UK were potentially under threat from automation, compared with 38% in the US and 21% in Japan, with manufacturing and retail at the greatest risk.
"Technological change, from automation to decarbonisation, means many jobs and industries will disappear or shrink in the coming years and decades," Mr Corbyn told business leaders in London.
"At every stage of economic and industrial history, jobs, industries and skills have been lost, replaced and transformed.
"But when that happens at huge social cost, as it did for example in the very early days of the industrial revolution... people in desperation opposed mechanisation and opposed the bringing in of machines because they got no benefit from it."
He added: "We can't simply leave it to the market."
Instead, the public sector should "work with business to manage the social and economic effects of rapid technological change".
Rejecting a pessimistic view of increasing automation, Mr Corbyn told the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference: "As with every other technological revolution, disappearing jobs will be replaced with new, as yet unforeseen forms of work."
In its election manifesto, Labour promised that if it won power all further education courses would be free as part of a new national education service, with fees for adult education courses scrapped.
Mr Corbyn called for a "step-change in skills and training", with anyone able to retrain at any point in their life.
He also said there had been a "deep-rooted historical snobbishness" towards technical subjects.
Mr Corbyn said there had been a "lost decade" in terms of wages and output and argued that businesses would prosper if education was "given laser-like attention by a committed government".
The Conservatives have set a goal of creating three million new apprenticeships by 2020 as part of efforts to address skills gaps which British business has warned is holding the country back.
To help pay for this, firms with a pay bill of £3m have had to pay an apprenticeship levy since April.
Among the other speakers was Education Secretary Justine Greening, who told the conference that technical and further education needed more support and investment.
"A skills revolution needs a technical education revolution," she said, calling on businesses to support so-called "T-level" technical qualifications in England and work placements.


German carmaker Volkswagen has seen its US sales decline sharply as a result of the continuing emissions scandal.

November sales were down by 24.7% from the previous year.
The company said the drop reflected "the impact of the recent stop-sale for all 2.0L 4-cylinder TDI vehicles as well as for the 3.0L V6".
VW was forced to stop selling 2 and 3 litre diesel engine cars after it was discovered they contained software that disguised emission levels.
Volkswagen sold fewer than 24,000 cars in November, with the Golf and Passat models seeing the steepest declines.
The company saw a very minor sales decline of 0.24% in October. The US is not a large market for Volkswagen. Even before the scandal it had struggled to gain traction in a market where larger SUVs and trucks are popular.
The carmaker has admitted to installing devices that lowered the emissions levels of diesel engine cars during testing, but that increased emissions during normal driving.
The company's head Matthias Mueller has previously apologised for the scandal and said, "My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group".
Other carmakers have seen a steady rise in US sales this year.
Sales of General Motors cars rose by 1.5% in November. Toyota and Fiat Chrysler each reported a 3% increase in their November sales compared with last year.


Midfielder Ross Draper and goalkeeper Ryan Esson have agreed contract extensions with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Draper, 27, is now committed to the Scottish Premiership club until the summer of 2019, having first joined from Macclesfield Town in 2012.
Esson, 35, has agreed a new two-year deal, having been back-up to Owain Fon Williams this season.
He first joined the Highlanders in 2008 and has not featured so far this term.
The stopper's previous clubs include Aberdeen, Rotherham United, Shrewsbury Town and Hereford United.
Draper, who previously also played for Shrewsbury, Stafford Rangers and Hednesford Town, has played 22 times in the current campaign.
Defender Gary Warren last week signed a contract extension until summer 2019.


Pakistan held their nerve to win a thrilling Asia Cup final against Bangladesh by two runs, denying the hosts a first major trophy.

Sarfraz Ahmed's battling unbeaten 46 from 52 balls helped Pakistan recover from 199-8 to post 236-9 in Dhaka.
"Their narrow loss in the final would have broken the hearts of thousands of Bangladeshi fans. But the Tigers, as they are known locally, showed their potential at last, knocking out India and Sri Lanka on their way to the final. The message from Bangladeshi fans in the last few weeks came across loud and clear - we are not minnows of international cricket anymore. We have arrived and others should treat us with respect."
Tamin Iqbal led Bangladesh's reply with 60, while Shakib Al Hasan made 68.
But Abdur Razzak fell to the penultimate ball of the game and Shahadat Hossain failed to score the boundary needed off the final delivery.
Hossain could only manage a leg bye and his contribution with the bat followed a painful final over with the ball as wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed plundered 19 runs to force the Pakistan total upwards.
While Iqbal and Al Hasan collected their runs at a decent rate in Bangladesh's reply, their momentum was checked by some laboured batting at the other end.
Opener Nazimuddin took 52 balls to make 16 before Nasir Hossain hit a sluggish 28 from 63 deliveries.
Bangladesh required nine runs off the final over and then four off the last two balls, but Aizaz Cheema crucially bowled Razzak to leave Hossain with too much to do.


University applications made by Northern Irish students have fallen by 5%, according to figures from the Universities and College Admissions Service (Ucas).

By January 2017, there were 19,470 university applicants.
This compared to 20,400 by the same period in 2016.
However, the proportion of 18-year-old NI university applicants remains the highest in the UK.
University applications show 5% fall
Almost half of 18-year-olds in Northern Ireland (47.5%) have applied to start a university course this autumn.
That contrasts with 37% in England, 33% in Scotland and 32% in Wales.
The main percentage falls in university application rates in Northern Ireland have been among older students.
Although the numbers involved are relatively small, there has been a 21% decrease in 2017 in the numbers of 25-29 year-old applicants.
Among the over-30s there has been a 12% decline in applications.
The Ucas admissions figures reflect the January application deadline for university courses starting in September 2017.
They also show that many more women apply to university in Northern Ireland than men.
For instance, more than 55% of all 18-year-old women (6,580) have applied this year, compared to under 40% (4,920) of 18-year-old men.
Veterinary Sciences and Computer Sciences were among the popular subjects that saw the biggest drop in applications.
Across the UK, the fall in applications in England of 6% has been three times greater than in Scotland at 2%, while applications from Wales fell most, by 7%.
However, there could be an upside for those who are seeking places this year, as long as they are open to taking a place at university across the Irish Sea.
Universities in England do not have their student numbers capped, meaning they are likely to be competing to attract students.
Ucas chief Mary Curnock Cook said this "tough recruitment environment for universities" would mean "unprecedented choice and opportunity for applicants".
NUS-USI President Fergal McFerran said the figures were "troubling".
"As we face an Assembly election in a matter of weeks I would urge all of our politicians to think carefully about whether their priorities reflect the hopes and aspirations of our citizens.
"Our young people are our greatest asset and we desperately need stable, transparent, devolved Government to deliver for them," he added.


Derby County midfielder Will Hughes has been ruled out for six months with a knee injury.

The 20-year-old damaged anterior cruciate ligaments in his right knee in the opening game of the Championship season against Bolton on Saturday.
Hughes got his foot caught in the turf and was taken off on a stretcher after 33 minutes of the 0-0 draw.
Manager Paul Clement told BBC Radio Derby: "He is still young and has fantastic career ahead of him."
England Under-21 international Hughes had surgery on Tuesday and is set to be sidelined until February.
"In the past these injuries could have been career threatening," Clement added.
"But George Thorne had the same injury and he has come back, look strong and fit and is playing really well
"Will can learn from him and would have seen first hand what George has been through.
"He will know what to expect. Will is obviously very sad but he can come back stronger and come back mentally stronger."
Hughes has played 138 games for the Rams since making his debut as a 16-year-old in November 2011.


A man in his 20s has died after his bicycle was in a collision with a car.

The crash happened just after 19:00 BST on Thursday in Christchurch, Dorset, and involved a grey Volkswagen Polo.
The cyclist, a local man, was taken to Royal Bournemouth Hospital where he died from his injuries.
The driver of the car, a 53-year-old Christchurch woman, was uninjured. The scene of the crash in Barrack Road was closed for several hours while police investigated.
Christchurch cycling campaigner Adrian Bowden has called for a lane to segregate cyclists from traffic following the crash.
Mr Bowden had previously launched a petition for segregated cycle lanes in Barrack Road.
He said: "Obviously, it's an incredibly sad situation. There's a family somewhere coming to terms with the loss of a loved one.
"This is one of the busiest roads in Christchurch, in fact it's one of the busiest roads in Dorset with one of the highest accident rates in Dorset."
Councillor Peter Finney, Dorset County Council cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and highways, said the authority was "deeply saddened" by the cyclist's death but added: "It would not be appropriate for us to comment on this specific case while we await the outcome of an investigation."
"The county council is committed to supporting improvements to all modes of transport that promote people's safety, health, independence and prosperity across Dorset," he added.


Kicking a ball around the schoolyard has been a right of passage for children all over the world, but for former Afghanistan women's captain Khalida Popal, playing football nearly cost her her life.

"It was really dangerous, I can't forget that time or that moment, where I felt I may no longer be alive. It was the moment I became the leader of women's football in Afghanistan. My voice was stronger and stronger and I changed the nation, from just playing football to talking about women's rights and issues women are facing in the country.
"There were people who were really against my activities and against women's development. They didn't like me to be there, they didn't like to hear or to see women developing a strong voice. Women not obeying men's rules or women who want to be leaders and stand in front and encourage others. When men begin to lose their power to women, it gets very dangerous because men don't want to lose their power."
Popal began playing football as a teenager in Kabul behind closed doors after school.  In order to not get caught she and her friends would play in silence so the Taliban guards on the other side of the school wall would not hear them.
Despite the danger and difficulties, the 29-year-old still fondly remembers the first time she kicked a ball.
"It was a great day, it was raining and almost autumn. I remember one of my classmates and I had an old ball, a very old one and we took it and were kicking the ball with normal shoes. At that time there were no special football shoes.
"It was fantastic, we were laughing a lot and really enjoying the time playing football. We were wearing our school uniforms with scarves on and we were running like crazy and got so tired."
It was not too long before those post-school kickabouts were replaced by something that was going to take over Popal's life. "Very quickly the idea changed from just having fun to really taking the game seriously; when I began to face problems and ignorance, and some of the men started against me and against our game that we were playing.
"The community didn't want to accept us, we were playing what has always been thought of as a man's game in our country. The view was that women should always be at home, just be a machine that washes and were used by men, that is the culture of women in Afghanistan.
"It was just after Taliban had left the country, it was a really tough time for women, especially those who played football, studied or went to work."
The women who played football were accused of flouting Islam and called prostitutes by their detractors.
Popal continued: "Of course there is nothing in the Koran which says you shouldn't play football. The religion is apart from sports. Playing football is good for the women's health and is not against religion. Women against women playing sport is not sexual and is not against any kind of religion, let alone Islam."
Despite the difficulties that Popal and her team-mates faced, they were determined to try to inspire the next generation - and in 2007 the Afghanistan women's football team were formed. Their first game was against an International Security Assistance Forces team at the Ghazi Stadium in Kabul in the same year. Afghanistan won 5-0, but the match was about so much more than that, considering what had happened in the Ghazi Stadium in previous years.
Citing Sharia law, Taliban officials carried out lashings, stonings, amputations and executions  in public places such as squares, schools or sports grounds.
The sports stadiums in Kabul and Kandahar were notorious for such spectacles with thousands of people attending.
"I remember the time that we played in the same stadium in Kabul where women were shot.  It was kind of a revolution, a huge change.  I remember thinking that it was a huge change because before, women were shot in that penalty area and now I was kicking a football there," said Popal.
"It was emotional, but I was feeling the power, the power to change something, I was fighting for that woman who was killed and not to have to go back to a that situation when innocent women were shot."
In December 2010, Afghanistan's women played their first international, a 13-0 defeat by Nepal at the South Asian Women's Football Championship in Bangladesh.
"I remember we went to an international tournament and we stood under our flag," said Popal. "I remember the first time we heard the national anthem, it was emotional, we were all crying because it was such a great achievement for us.
"The first time I wore the national team shirt I was very proud, I felt like I won the fight I was battling for a long time. We fought for that jersey and for that uniform and finally we got permission to earn that moment."
In April 2011 Popal decided that she needed to leave Afghanistan for her own safety. With the help of a friend she fled to India, where she lived underground.
"At the time I needed the most protection, my country closed the door. I went to the government and I asked them to help me, but they didn't. It is my land, it is my country, it is my identity and when the time came when I, and others needed their help, they closed the door. You feel broken and it hurts really bad. When you are fighting you don't want to lose, but you have to accept you lost and the feeling that you left that battle, that nation."
Popal now lives as a refugee in Denmark, but remains very involved in Afghan women's football. She also worked very closely with the sportswear company Hummel to design a lightweight hijab, to make it easier for the players who choose to wear it.
"It will change the mentality of some of the families, who say it is against the culture for them to play. Wearing a hijab will open the door for them to play. Those who wear the new hijab have found that it makes playing easier, it is more comfortable and so much better than wearing a big scarf which slows you down."
Afghanistan have climbed to 108 in the Fifa world rankings and Popal remains very proud of what they have been able to achieve.
"It was worth it to take that step or that fight. It doesn't matter where I end up or where I am in the world. I will continue to participate and co-ordinate the programmes and help my country from far away. That is the thing that has kept me alive and happy and it motivates me to work hard for my country, because I  love my country."
Khalida Popal was speaking to the BBC World Service as part of the Elite to grassroots football series.


A man suspected of killing at least 10 people over more than 20 years has been arrested in the US city of Los Angeles.

Lonnie Franklin Jr, 57, is alleged to be the serial killer called the "Grim Sleeper" by California's media.
Most of the victims were prostitutes in Los Angeles who were sexually assaulted and then shot between 1985 and 2007.
The attacker was given his nickname because he apparently stopped killing from 1988 to 2002.
Detectives have spent years investigating the killings.
The apparent breakthrough came after Mr Franklin's son - who is currently in prison - was swabbed for DNA using a technique known as a "familial search". The convict's DNA indicated he was a close relative of the serial killer.
The prisoner's family tree was then drawn up, with his father eventually emerging as a suspect.
Detectives later swabbed a cup used by Mr Franklin at a restaurant to obtain a DNA profile to compare with DNA evidence found at crime scenes.


Andy Murray made a winning return to the ATP Tour after a month out with an elbow injury, beating Gilles Muller at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The Briton, 29, was broken in the first game of the match but soon asserted his class en route to a 7-5 7-5 win.
The world number one last played on the ATP Tour in Indian Wells on 12 March, though he contested an exhibition match against Roger Federer on 10 April.
The Scot, handed a first-round bye, meets Albert Ramos-Vinolas next.
Murray, the top seed in Monte Carlo, gave up three double faults in the first game, then hit long to gift Luxembourg's Muller the break.
In his first match of the year on clay, Murray continued to labour on his serve but somehow limited the damage, saving break point in the next game then fending off a set point at 3-5.
Muller's failure to capitalise on Murray's rustiness was then brutally exposed by the Scot, who broke the world number 28 in back-to-back games to claim the opening set, before recovering from an early break in the second to wrap up victory in one hour 55 minutes.
"It was a tough first match," Murray told Sky Sports. "I started slow and wasn't serving well at the start.
"I only started serving properly four, five days ago, so I knew it was going to take time but I didn't expect to start the match serving like like that."
Third seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland is also into round three after beating Czech Jiri Vesely 6-2 4-6 6-2. Fifth seed Marin Cilic and sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem also progressed.
Also on Wednesday, fourth seed Rafael Nadal begins his bid for a 10th Monte Carlo title against British number three Kyle Edmund.


Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said martial law on Mindanao island could last a year, while the army fights against Islamist militants.

The violence on the southern island has left three members of the security forces dead, officials say.
Mr Duterte earlier declared martial law for 60 days on Mindanao, where Muslim rebel groups are seeking autonomy.
Some of the groups, such as the Maute, have pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS).
After announcing martial law on Tuesday, President Duterte, a Mindanao native, warned that he would be harsh in dealing with terrorism.
"If it would take a year to do it, then we'll do it. If it's over within a month, then I would be happy," he said in a video posted online by the government.
Mr Duterte cut short his visit to Russia to deal with the violence.
During his talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he also said the Philippines needed more modern weapons to fight IS militants and other militant groups.
Martial law allows the use of the military to enforce order and the detention of people without charge for long periods.
The Philippine constitution says a president can only declare martial law for 60 days to stop an invasion or a rebellion.
Parliament can revoke the measure within 48 hours while the Supreme Court can review its legality.
This is only the second time martial law has been declared since the fall in 1986 of President Ferdinand Marcos.
The violence in Marawi, a city of about 200,000 people in Mindanao, erupted on Tuesday as the army searched for the leader of a militant group that had pledged allegiance to IS, the military said.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana identified the militants as members of the Maute group. They had occupied a hospital and a jail, and burnt down buildings including a church, he added.
Marawi is about 800km (500 miles) south of the capital Manila.
Mr Duterte had promised that finding a lasting peace on the island would be a top priority for his administration.
But the conflict is complex and deep-rooted, the BBC's Jonathan Head reports.
Solutions have eluded previous governments, and it is not clear that President Duterte's reliance on martial law will prove any more successful, our correspondent says.


Japan claimed their first win over Wales with a sparkling second-half display to win the second Test 23-8 in Tokyo and draw the two-Test series.

Craig Wing, an Australian rugby league convert, was a constant threat at centre and scored Japan's first try.
Home flanker Michael Broadhurst crashed over from close range, while Ayumu Goramaru kicked 13 points.
Wales had led briefly in the second half through Tom Prydie's try but rarely threatened Japan after that.
The visitors were missing 15 players on duty with the British and Irish Lions in Australia, while several other senior players were either rested or injured for the tour to Japan.
But that should take nothing away from Japan, who had lost last week's first Test 18-22 but bounced back impressively at the Chichibunomiya Stadium to split the series with Wales.
Biggar had missed an early long-range kick at goal, while Lou Reed almost scored an opportunistic try when the lock charged down Harumichi Tatekawa's attempted clearance.
But after the visitors had dominated the first 15 minutes, Japan broke upfield and, after they were awarded a penalty, Goramaru struck his first successful kick to open the scoring.
Biggar replied to level the game at 3-3 and Wales should have added at least one try as their backs started to click.
Lloyd Williams was bundled into touch just short of the right-hand corner flag as the scrum-half sniped down the blindside.
Then Harry Robinson broke through midfield, set free by Biggar who found the wandering wing with a sweet inside pass, but Japan scrambled back in numbers to avert the danger.
The visitors had lost centre Owen Williams to injury within the half-hour and his replacement Rhys Patchell, normally a fly-half but with the size and pace to slot into midfield, wasted the best opportunity of the half.
The Cardiff Blue broke the line on the right but ignored a two-man overlap, instead cutting inside and then losing the ball forward as he was tackled.
Instead Wales saw themselves fall behind as Goramaru kicked his second penalty after Bradley Davies was penalised at a ruck, giving Japan a slender 6-3 lead at half-time.
Kenki Fukuoka did well to drag rival wing Robinson into touch as Wales showed some adventure after the restart.
But the respite was only temporary as Wales at last ruptured Japan's defence to send Prydie over for an unconverted try.
Patchell took out two defenders and flicked the ball behind his back for Biggar on the loop, who then gave the ball air to find his left wing in acres of space.
Prydie, the youngest player to be capped by Wales and their youngest try-scorer, had not played for his country since June 2010 but made the most of his recall to claim his second Test try.
But for the first time in the match Japan started to find holes in the Welsh defence, with Wing in particular catching the eye with a string of clean breaks in midfield.
The centre deservedly put Japan back into the lead as the Cherry Blossoms hammered away at the Welsh line before creating a huge overlap on the right.
The right-footed Goramaru struck a superb conversion from tight on the right touchline and the full-back repeated the feat 11 minutes later when Japan struck again.
Hendrik Tui's initial break saw Japan move deep into Wales' 22, before flanker Broadhurst - a scorer last week in Osaka - powered through Rhys Gill from close range.
Some good scrambling defence from the likes of Andries Pretorius, the South African-born number eight making his Wales debut, along with Blues back-row colleague Josh Navidi, helped keep a now rampant Japan from crossing again.
But Goromaru underlined Japan's dominance with his third penalty to cap an historic first win over Wales.
The result is also a huge fillip for Eddie Jones' side as Japan build towards the 2015 World Cup and hosting the tournament in 2019.
Japan: Ayumu Goromaru; Toshiaki Hirose (capt), Male Sau, Craig Wing, Kenki Fukuoka; Harumichi Tatekawa, Fumiaki Tanaka; Masataka Mikami, Shota Horie, Hiroshi Yamashita, Hitoshi Ono, Shoji Ito, Hendrik Tui, Michael Broadhurst, Takashi Kikutani.
Replacements: Takeshi Itu, Yusuke Nagae, Kensuke Hatakeyama, Shinya Makebe, Justin Ives, Atsushi Hiwasa, Yu Tamura, Yoshikazu Fujita.
Wales: Liam Williams (Scarlets); Harry Robinson (Blues), Owen Williams (Blues), Jonathan Spratt (Ospreys), Tom Prydie (Dragons); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Blues); Rhys Gill (Saracens), Emyr Phillips (Scarlets), Scott Andrews (Blues), Bradley Davies (Blues, capt), Lou Reed (Blues), James King (Ospreys), Andries Pretorius (Blues), Josh Navidi (Blues).
Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Craig Mitchell (Exeter Chiefs), Andrew Coombs (Dragons), Dan Baker (Ospreys), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Rhys Patchell (Blues), Dafydd Howells (Ospreys).


Jose Riga has resigned as head coach of relegated Championship side Charlton following their 3-0 defeat by Burnley.

Riga, 58, returned for his second spell at The Valley in January on an 18-month deal after the sacking of Karel Fraeye.
But the Addicks won only five of their 19 games under the Belgian, and they were relegated to League One in April.
Fans held a sit-down protest outside the ground before Saturday's game, the latest in a string of demonstrations against owner Roland Duchatelet.
Riga had previously spent three months as Charlton boss during the 2013-14 season, helping them avoid relegation before being replaced by Bob Peeters.
He rejoined the Addicks with the club 23rd in the table and on a 10-match winless run, but could only lift his side up to 22nd, finishing nine points adrift of safety.
"The club would like to thank Jose for all his hard work over the last few months and wish him the very best in the future," a club statement said.
"An announcement regarding a replacement will be made in due course."


Delayed discharge and poor community provision are to blame for problems that mental health patients in England have accessing hospital beds, an inquiry has found.

Bed closures are not behind the difficulties, the independent commission report concluded.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists says the whole system of mental health care provision needs to be improved.
A spokesman for NHS England said it was determined to improve services.
A mental health taskforce had been established for that reason, he added.
The commission was set up earlier this year by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to look into concerns about a shortage of acute adult psychiatric beds.
Since 2011, more than 2,000 psychiatric beds have been closed across England.
The interim report found that 92% of wards were treating patients who could be cared for in community settings if they were available, while 16% of inpatients were well enough to go home but could not because other services, like appropriate housing, were hot available.
Lord Crisp, chairman of the commission, said: "There is undoubtedly a problem with finding beds for some patients, and the commission has heard awful stories of people having to be moved many miles from their homes in order to find the care they need.
"However, as our survey and other research shows, this appears to be largely due to there being significant numbers of patients ready for discharge but with nowhere else to go and others who have only been admitted because there weren't suitable alternatives for them outside hospital.
"Inpatient services play a vital role in mental health and the commission has been impressed by the determination and skills of many staff who care for patients within these wards. However, it is essential that these important services are used as effectively as possible."
The report says the problems with acute care have led to many patients feeling excluded from the system, while some staff are said to be demoralised, trapped in a constant process of crisis management.
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "While this report highlights well-known inadequacies of facilities and support when people are treated in the community, it underplays the real crisis, which is the lack of effective psychiatric inpatient care, the incredible loss of beds and the hidden closures of units.
A person in mental crisis still may be taken hundreds of miles across the country for treatment, or could face being detained in a police cell if no bed is available.
"Far from 'bed blocking' being the issue, people in distress and in need of continuing care are given no alternative and often left neglected, either in unsuitable wards, at home or in unsupported housing."


Microsoft has cancelled this month's Chinese launch of the Xbox One, two days before it was due to take place.

The console was due to be formally launched and go on sale in China on 23 September.
So far, Microsoft has not given any reason for the cancellation or given a date for when the launch will go ahead.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are gearing up to enter the Chinese market after a 14-year ban on foreign consoles was lifted in January.
"Despite strong and steady progress, we are going to need a bit more time to deliver the best experiences possible for our fans in China," said Microsoft in a statement given to games industry news site CVG. It said the launch would take place before the end of 2014.
People who pre-ordered the console and were expecting to receive it this week would get an "added bonus" said Microsoft's general manager in China Enwei Xie.
When it goes on sale the console is expected to cost 3,699 yuan (Â£370, $600) without the Kinect motion detector, and 4,299 yuan with it. Launch titles were expected to include Forza Motorsport 5, Zoo Tycoon and Max: The Curse of Brotherhood.
The delay comes as Microsoft is being investigated by Chinese authorities who have accused it of violating its anti-trust laws.
The delay might mean that Sony is the first to launch a console in the country though it too has yet to name a launch date for its PlayStation 4.
When China lifted its ban, it said anyone wishing to sell consoles in the country had to team up with a local manufacturer to make the gadgets locally. Microsoft signed up with BesTV, and Sony struck a deal with Shanghai Oriental Pearl.


Carlisle United will sign winger Nicky Adams on a free transfer from League Two champions Northampton Town, with the two-year deal activated on 1 July.

The Cumbrians have also agreed a one-year deal with 23-year-old Greenock Morton midfielder Joe McKee.
Adams, 29, joined the Cobblers from Bury at the end of the 2014-15 season and made 45 appearances in his one year at Sixfields, scoring three goals.
"We wish Nicky well," said Northampton manager Rob Page.
"He had already requested the opportunity to move back nearer to his family before my arrival, and after further discussion we felt it was the right thing."
United boss Keith Curle told the club website: "Nicky's a player we first looked at bringing through the door in January and it's good that we've been able to follow it up.
"He is an excellent player with a lot of good attributes and we are very much looking forward to working with him."
Wales Under-21 representative Adams, who lists Leicester, Rochdale and Crawley among his former clubs, has won back-to-back promotions with Bury and then Northampton in the past two seasons.
Fellow signing McKee will move to Brunton Park after a three-season spell with Morton at Cappielow Park, during which time he helped the club into the Scottish Championship in 2014-15.
The Scotland Under-19 international, a former Burnley and Bolton player in the English league, has an option of an extended deal.
Meanwhile, Northampton have signed midfielder Shaun McWilliams on a two-year professional contract. The 17-year-old has been with the club since he was 14.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Scott Rendell was on target against Woking for the second time in six days as Aldershot snatched a 2-1 injury-time win.

Rendell - who left Woking for the Shots in the summer and hit a hat-trick against them in the 4-0 win on Boxing Day - headed in a cross from Anthony Straker in the 63rd minute.
But less than two minutes later Woking hauled themselves level through Max Kretzschmar's lob over goalkeeper Jake Cole.
However, Aldershot won it a minute into stoppage time when Rendell helped the ball on in the area and Idris Kanu bundled it in at the far post.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Woking 1, Aldershot Town 2.
Second Half ends, Woking 1, Aldershot Town 2.
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Will Evans replaces Idris Kanu.
Frankie Sutherland (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
Goal!  Woking 1, Aldershot Town 2. Jake Gallagher (Aldershot Town).
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Jim Kellerman replaces Kundai Benyu.
Substitution, Woking. Frankie Sutherland replaces Max Kretzschmar.
Substitution, Woking. Anthony Edgar replaces Fabio Saraiva.
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Matt McClure replaces Shamir Fenelon.
Goal!  Woking 1, Aldershot Town 1. Max Kretzschmar (Woking).
Idris Kanu (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card.
Goal!  Woking 0, Aldershot Town 1. Scott Rendell (Aldershot Town).
Kane Ferdinand (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
Cheye Alexander (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card.
Second Half begins Woking 0, Aldershot Town 0.
First Half ends, Woking 0, Aldershot Town 0.
Nathan Ralph (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
Fabio Saraiva (Woking) is shown the yellow card.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.


The funeral has taken place for a detective killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

Det Con Elaine McIver was among 22 people who died in the explosion at an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May.
The 43-year-old, who worked for Cheshire Police, was off duty when Salman Abedi detonated a home-made device in the venue's foyer.
Some of Ms McIver's colleagues formed a guard of honour outside Chester Cathedral as the coffin arrived.
The private service opened with words from the Very Reverend Prof Gordon McPhate, Dean of Chester.
Ms McIver's sister Lynda and Det Insp Karen Jaundrill read tributes and the service included Peace Poem and Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream by John Denver.
In a statement, Ms McIver's family said it had been their "worst nightmare" but they have been "overwhelmed and humbled" by the support they have received.
Ms McIver's partner Paul, who was seriously hurt in the blast, "continues to improve physically but it is a long road ahead", they said.
"We will sing her to sleep one last time and say night, night sleep tight beautiful little sister."
By all accounts, Det Con Elaine McIver was a dedicated, passionate and diligent police officer, who rose quickly through the ranks at Cheshire Constabulary and was lauded for her work in bringing down complex organised crime networks.
Away from work, her family and friends described her as "bubbly" and "positive", while Cheshire's chief constable said she was "full of life".
Her funeral was a very private affair, with tributes from speakers including two police chaplains and a detective inspector.
Land of Hope and Glory and Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer were sung among the hymns.
As uniformed officers filed into Chester Cathedral in sombre silence, the service was another reminder of how the emergency services themselves have suffered throughout this atrocity.
Not only in the way they responded to such horrors on the night of the bombing - for which they were universally praised - but by losing one of their own.
Speaking after the service, Cheshire's chief constable Simon Byrne said it had been "a difficult hour, but a fitting tribute".
"She was clearly a person who meant so much, both to her family and the force. She was full of life, always seeing the bright side of life."
In work, Chief Con Byrne said Det Con McIver had worked on very complex and "specialist" cases as part of the force's economic crime unit.
Her work using complex legislation to bring criminals to justice earned her praise in a letter from the prime minister, he said.
"She always went the extra mile for victims to have people brought to book."
The chief constable said he had been "very moved" by the spontaneous applause that broke out as the coffin was carried into the service.
"I thought it was a lovely touch and a mark of appreciation for the wider police force," he added.
He said Cheshire Police has been inundated with tributes from forces around the world, with a flag from New York Police Department present at the service. The Metropolitan Police also offered to send officers to the region to cover for colleagues attending the funeral.
GMP had also shown their support "not withstanding the awful events they have had to deal with and come to terms with".


Usain Bolt emphatically confirmed his status as the greatest sprinter in history as he retained his Olympic 100m title in peerless fashion.

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Bolt, doubted by many after a season dogged by defeat and injury, ran the second-fastest time ever to beat fellow Jamaican and training partner Yohan Blake into silver and American Justin Gatlin into bronze.
9.58secs: Usain Bolt - Berlin, 16 Aug 2009
9.63secs: Usain Bolt - London, 5 Aug 2012
9.69secs: Usain Bolt - Beijing, 16 Aug 2008
9.69secs: Tyson Gay - Shanghai, 20 Sept 2009
9.71secs: Tyson Gay - Berlin, 16 Aug 2009
Bolt's 9.63 seconds, just 0.05 seconds slower than his own staggering world record, was a new Olympic best and capped a race in which seven men went under 10 seconds, with only the injured Asafa Powell failing to break that mark.
"I was happy when I went out in the first round, I felt I could do this," said the 25-year-old Bolt. "I was slightly worried about my start. I didn't want to false start again, so I sat in the blocks a little bit.
"It wasn't the best reaction in the world but I executed it and that was the key. My coach said 'stop worrying about the start because the best part of your race is the end'. It worked.
"I said it on the track, people can talk, but when it comes to championships, it is all about business for me - and I brought it."
He also praised the crowd inside the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"It was wonderful," he said. "I knew would be like this. I can feel that energy and I am extremely happy."
Bolt had been beaten by Blake at the Jamaican trials in July and clocked his slowest-ever 100m time at senior level earlier in the season.
When he admitted both his back and hamstrings were troubling him and said he was only "95%" fit, there were those who felt he was more vulnerable than at any time since his Olympic gold in a world record four years ago, a feat which took him to the pinnacle of his sport.
If this was 95%, then his world record of 9.58secs, set in Berlin in 2009, could have gone had he been fully fit.
He had been worried all season about his start. But there was to be no repeat of the false start that cost him his world title and aura of invincibility at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu.
"Those gigantic strides opened up and that was the Usain Bolt show. If we were to be picky it was a terrible start but it doesn't matter, he just needed to be in striking distance. The guys opened up a metre on him but he was close enough, he stayed relaxed, used that stride and it was a fantastic run."
His reaction time of 0.165secs was significantly better than that of both Blake and Gatlin, and although former world champion Tyson Gay got out fast, Bolt was into his long stride quickly.
At 40m Gatlin - banned twice for doping offences - held a fractional lead but Bolt, as so many times before, was about to pull away as no other sprinter in history has.
In Beijing he had eased up in the final 15m, punching his chest with delight, but here he went hard to the line and dipped with a grimace.
Blake (9.75secs) and Gatlin (9.79secs) both set new personal bests while Gay's 9.80secs was good enough only for fourth.


Plans to turn Cirencester's centre into a "shared space" for pedestrians and cars have been approved by councillors.

The town council wants to make the Market Place more pedestrian-friendly by closing it to through traffic and pedestrianising part of it.
The scheme, which could cost up to Â£1.5m, was approved by Cotswold District Council.
Mayor of Cirencester Joe Harris, said: "It's been a long time in the making - so it's great news."
Mr Harris said numerous schemes to regenerate the town centre had been "bandied around" over the past 50 years.
The latest scheme has been nearly seven years in the planning and includes closing the area off to traffic to create a "sizeable open space".
Flagstones and bollards will mark out "pedestrian-prioritised shared space" and the northern side of the square will be pedestrianised.
"What we're doing is making it a nicer area for pedestrians to walk through, with drivers at the mercy of pedestrians and the priority always with the pedestrian," said Mr Harris.
"I'd like to see something start in 18 months' time but we'll need to get the funding together."


(Close): US stocks were mixed on Tuesday after a fall in Apple's shares helped drag the Nasdaq lower.

The tech giant's shares hit $133.89, beating its previous peak of $133, before closing 1.6% lower at $130.56.
The fall helped nudge the tech-heavy Nasdaq into a loss, closing 0.1%, or 4.8 points, lower at 5,055.42.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones closed up 0.4%, or 72.17 points, at 18,110.14, while the S&P 500 jumped 5.84 points, or 0.3%, to 2,114.76.
"Apple's numbers were phenomenal, but yet the stock is down. I think people were expecting a blowout quarter ... so it's kind of a sell-the-news situation," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
Shares in Twitter also weighed on markets, plunging 18.2% after the social media firm's first quarter results were released earlier than expected.
The unexpected announcement, while markets were still trading, gave investors a chance to react to the worse-than-expected sales figures.
Whirlpool was one of the other biggest fallers. Its shares dropped 7.1% to $183.7 after the firm cut its profit forecast for 2015, blaming the strong dollar and Brazil's weak economy.
On the upside, shares in drugs firm Merck rose 5% after it reported better-than-expected results.


A 10-month-old baby died after his nanny "dangerously and excessively" shook him, the Old Bailey has heard.

Joshua Paul was being looked after by Viktoria Tautz at his home in Haringey, north London, on 29 August 2014.
Almost 30 minutes after his mother left for work, he collapsed and was taken to hospital. He died on 1 September after being moved to Great Ormond Street.
Ms Tautz, 34, of Holly Park Road, Barnet, denies one charge of manslaughter.
Jurors were told Joshua died "because of a head injury that caused bleeding in his brain, eyes and other spinal injuries".
At the start of Ms Tautz's trial on Monday, prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC added: "On that day, for whatever reason... something snapped in the defendant and for a short while she lost her temper with Joshua and assaulted him, causing all those injuries.
"Her account of what happened whilst she was looking after Joshua does not explain Joshua's various injuries and therefore something else occurred - we suggest a dangerous and excessive shaking of Joshua - which the defendant has not revealed."
Ms Tautz was arrested on 5 September and in police interviews said she had played a horse-riding game with Joshua. She said he had not had any accidents and she denied shaking him.
When paramedics arrived at the flat at 09:11, she told them the boy had been crying in his cot, and that he "shook twice" when she picked him up, before he went floppy and stopped breathing.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street said Joshua had suffered "a devastating and irrecoverable brain injury", his brain was not showing signs of activity, and his heart could stop at any time.
In a statement read in court, Ms Paul said she paid Ms Tautz Â£3.60 an hour, her son was "happy with her", and that she "never saw her lose her temper".
The court heard that Joshua, who was born about 10 weeks early, had a large head for his age and was being monitored.
The trial continues.


An 18th century cup made by a celebrated silversmith which was stolen 30 years ago has been returned to the museum it was taken from.

The silver dram cup was pinched from Hull's Wilberforce House Museum in 1986 and was lost until last year when it resurfaced in London.
It was identified when an antiques collector took it to an 'opinions day' at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The cup was then offered back to the original museum free of charge.
Tom Goulder, assistant curator of Hull Museums, said the cup was bought in 1969 with a grant from the Art Fund.
He said: "It's really important to Hull because it's a work by Abraham Barachin and he was the last Hull silversmith to use the Hull makers' mark."
The Barachin cup was originally thought to be a medical 'bleeding bowl', used to collect blood during bloodletting but is now thought to have been used to measure and drink small volumes of liquid.
The cup is engraved with an image of the Roman god Mercury holding a caduceus, or staff, along with the initials of its previous owners, 'M.A.R'.
Councillor Terry Geraghty said: "We are looking forward to having this piece returned and back in its rightful home for visitors to view and admire."
No one has ever been arrested in connection with the theft.


An undercover officer has described how secret agents found a bomb in the car of a convicted terrorist.

The officer, known as Vincent, told the court how he infiltrated the group, known as the Three Musketeers.
Naweed Ali, 29, from Sparkhill in Birmingham, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of preparing terrorism acts along with three other men from the West Midlands.
They were arrested on August 26 after a pipe bomb was found in Ali's car.
Both Ali, of Evelyn Road, and his co-accused Khobaib Hussain, 25, also of Evelyn Road, have previous convictions for attending a terror training camp.
The officer said he had posed as the boss of a courier firm which had employed Ali to travel around the country delivering parcels.
On Ali's first day, he left his Seat Leon at the depot in Birmingham city centre and took a van on a delivery run to Luton, the court heard.
Meanwhile, British security services searched Ali's car.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Vincent said they found what appeared to be a pipe bomb and a handgun inside a JD Sports bag in the car.
He said he and another officer had eased the contents of the bag on to a ground sheet and carried it into a different room.
Vincent told jurors the bag contained a black self-loading pistol with an empty magazine strapped to it, chrome-coloured pipe, a hatchet knife, gunshot cartridges and a single 9mm bullet.
There were also latex gloves, a roll of gaffer tape and some napkins, he said.
Jurors have previously heard the pipe bomb turned out to be only partially constructed and the pistol was an imitation firearm.
Ali and Hussain, Mohibur Rahman, 32, of High Lane, Stoke-on-Trent, and Tahir Aziz, 38, of of Wulstan Road, Stoke-on-Trent, deny the charges.
The case will resume on Monday.