Blackberry has launched what it calls a "no-nonsense" smartphone, the Blackberry Classic.

The device has a full "Qwerty" keyboard, resembling the design which made Blackberry a market leader before it was overtaken by competitors.
Analysts said the firm was going "back to its roots" in order to appeal to business customers.
But some warned that while this tactic would help retain business, it might not attract new users.
"This is more about avoiding more people leaving than necessarily winning many over," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Kantar Worldpanel.
"I have a hard time thinking that people who grew up on touch[screens] will see this as an exciting 'retro' trend and embrace it."
The Classic has an eight-megapixel camera on its reverse and, as well as the physical keyboard, the device can be controlled via its 3.5-inch touchscreen.
Blackberry has had a challenging year, albeit one showing at least some positive signs for the company formerly known as Research in Motion.
News in March of annual losses of $5.9bn (Â£3.5bn) highlighted the company's slip from being a major smartphone player.
However, after significant cost-cutting, and with higher profit margins, the company was able to overcome a drop in revenues to post a profit of $23m (Â£14m) for the three months to the end of March 2014.
More recently, the company impressed technology enthusiasts with the Blackberry Passport, a distinctive smartphone which, like the Classic, made use of a physical keyboard.
"Knowing your strengths and recognising your weaknesses could be Blackberry's way back from the brink," said Rob Kerr, mobiles expert at Uswitch.com.
"Like its Passport phone, the mobile maker has gone back to its roots with the Classic - furnishing it with the physical keyboard that so many appreciate in the touchscreen era.
"Keyboard phones were always its strong point and this true return to form hails back to Blackberry's glory days.
"Although this handset is unlikely to capture the once strong youth market, businesses might once again come back to the fold."
Blackberry's executive chairman, John Chen, said the Classic was built after gathering feedback from "dedicated" users.
He added: "By bringing back the trusted functionalities, incorporating our latest operating system and building a speedier browser, our users can feel confident they are using the best communications tool out there."


A watchdog has ruled that Police Scotland broke rules to obtain details of a journalist's sources.

The Interception of Communications Commissioner said the force had obtained communications data without judicial approval on five occasions.
Sir Stanley Burnton said the "failures", which affected four people, could "properly be viewed as reckless".
Police Scotland said it had taken "robust and rigorous steps" to comply with requirements in future.
The Interception of Communications Commissioner's Office (IOCCO) launched an investigation in July to determine whether Police Scotland had contravened a new code of practice for communications data introduced earlier this year.
The review is understood to relate to the murder of Emma Caldwell in 2005. A re-investigation of the case had been ordered in May this year.
The watchdog said it was "evident" that police had made applications to access communications data in order to determine a journalist's source, or an intermediary between a journalist and a source.
The report said Police Scotland's applications "failed to satisfy the requirements of necessity and proportionality" or to give due consideration to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Police said none of the four people identified as being affected was a journalist.
Police Scotland's response to the IOCCO investigation was overseen by Assistant Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson.
He said there was no evidence that the breaches had been "an intentional act".
He said: "A detailed action plan was put in place as soon as the issue was highlighted by IOCCO and no further recommendations have been made to Police Scotland.
"IOCCO has also commented on the robust and rigorous steps Police Scotland has taken to ensure processes for all applications for communications data are fully compliant with the Code of Practice and all legislative requirements."
Scottish justice secretary Michael Matheson said HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland had been asked to review "the robustness of procedures around Police Scotland's counter-corruption practices".
He said: "Any breach of the Code of Practice in this area is unacceptable and I expect Police Scotland to comply fully with any recommendations made by IOCCO.
"A free press is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and we are committed to protecting the privacy of all law-abiding members of the public, including journalists."
Journalist Eamon O Connor was working on an investigation into the Emma Caldwell inquiry in April 2015 when the breaches occurred.
He spoke to former police officers in the course of his investigation, and said the breaches struck at the heart of journalistic freedoms.
He said: "I'm extremely concerned that any source I've been in touch with might have had their communications improperly put under surveillance without judicial approval.
"None of the people I spoke to were interested in anything but getting to the truth about why things had gone so terribly wrong in the Emma Caldwell inquiry."
Mr O Connor also questioned how, if no journalists had been spied upon, the police knew who their sources were in the first place.
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said Police Scotland and the Scottish government should be held to account over the findings.
She said: "It is not just reckless, it is outrageous that police officers thought they were above the law and simply reinforces the need for a wider inquiry into the workings of Police Scotland. By intruding on confidential exchanges without judicial approval they risk destroying the public's trust in a body that should be focusing on protecting our communities."
Margaret Mitchell of the Scottish Conservatives said it was "hugely concerning to now have confirmation that police have been spying on journalists".
Scottish Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson said the "reckless conduct" fell "well below the standards we expect of our police service".
He said: "These breaches must have been approved at a very senior level by someone. I want to know who, why, when and where these approvals were sought and authorised."


Middlesbrough is the best place in the UK to get mobile 4G coverage while Bournemouth is the worst, says a report.

Consumer group Which? and analyst OpenSignal measured data from mobile phones across 20 cities in the UK.
They say "critical" reforms are needed to provide a better service for customers.
Ofcom said its rules meant "virtually all" UK premises would have to receive a 4G signal by the end of the year.
The OpenSignal study analysed more than 500m data readings from mobile phones taken from more than 30,000 users between December 1 2016 and February 28 via an app.
It ranked 20 of the biggest towns and cities from top to bottom based on their 4G availability.
The report also looked at average 4G download speeds across the UK, finding Stoke-on-Trent to be the fastest city and Brighton the slowest.
Which? says big cities often suffer from sub-par mobile networks because it is more difficult to build towers and masts in built-up urban areas.
The findings will be of particular concern to businesses which see good mobile connectivity as vital to a competitive economy, says BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.
The research will also lend weight to the argument that it is far too early to focus on 5G when the operators still need to invest in the infrastructure needed to take 4G everywhere, he added.
Which? is calling on the next government to work with Ofcom and mobile providers to ensure "critical reforms" are made to ensure a better performance and service for customers.
Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said Ofcom needed to "keep the pressure" on mobile operators so every part of the country got a "decent service".
"Our mobile phone is central to how we live our lives and that is why it is so frustrating when we can't access emails or browse the internet on the go," she added.
Ofcom said it agreed mobile coverage must improve and that it understood the "importance" of having a reliable mobile broadband where people live and work.
A spokeswoman said: "Ofcom rules mean that virtually all UK premises must receive a 4G signal by the end of this year.
"We're also making available valuable new airwaves to boost mobile broadband, and have challenged mobile operators to explore how to reach all remote areas and transport lines."


Yahoo is investigating claims the hacker linked to "mega-breaches" at MySpace and LinkedIn has posted details of 200 million Yahoo accounts to a marketplace on the dark web.

Usernames, passwords and dates of birth are being offered for sale for three bitcoins (£1,360).
Using the name Peace, the hacker said the data was "most likely" from 2012.
Yahoo said it was taking the claim "very seriously" and was "working to determine the facts".
"Yahoo works hard to keep our users safe, and we always encourage our users to create strong passwords, or give up passwords altogether by using Yahoo Account Key, and use different passwords for different platforms," it said in a statement.
The passwords appear to be hashed - which means they have been scrambled - but the hacker has also published details of the algorithm allegedly used for the hash.
"The algorithm MD5 is considered to be weak, and for the vast majority of passwords it is easy to reverse what it was using what we call a dictionary attack," said Prof Alan Woodward, a security expert from Surrey University.
He added though that caution needed to be exercised about the alleged breach.
"We have seen claims about similar dumps in the past weeks which have proved to be fake or just old data," he said.
"People are still trying to work out if it is real or not."
Motherboard, which first reported the alleged breach, obtained a small sample of the data - some 5,000 records, and tested whether they corresponded to real accounts on the service.
It found that most of the first two dozen Yahoo usernames tested did correspond to actual accounts.
However, attempts to contact more than 100 of the addresses in the sample saw many returned as undeliverable with auto-responses reading: "This account has been disabled or discontinued," which might suggest that the data is old.
Brendan Rizzo, technical director at HPE Security, said: "Data has high value to attackers, and even though the information for sale on the black market is several years old, it can still be used for social engineering attacks for spear phishing to attempt to gain access to deeper systems with even more lucrative data that can be monetised directly if stolen."
Earlier this month, Yahoo was sold to US telecoms giant Verizon for nearly $5bn (£3.8bn).


A young Frenchwoman with Down's syndrome has fulfilled her dream of presenting the weather on television after a Facebook campaign that was supported by more than 200,000 people.

Melanie Segard, 21, hosted a segment of the forecast on the national public channel France 2 on Tuesday night.
The campaign "Melanie peut le faire", or Melanie can do it, was set up by a French charity in an effort to promote awareness and inclusion.
"I'm different, but I'd like to show everyone that I can do a lot of things," she said.
She received four days of training from France 2's weather team, including tips on presenting in front of the green wall where the graphics are digitally projected.
Her story has been covered extensively on French media and shared widely on social media.
"Melanie cannot read or write. The goal is to make her feel integrated," Nathalie Rihouet, head of the weather service of France Televisions, told the French newspaper Le Parisien (in French).
During her training, she was followed by her 27-year-old brother Cyril, who offered her some advice: "Imagine you're alone at home doing the weather. Have fun."
Ms Segard told Le Parisien: "It's work! But it's OK. My dream was to show people the weather. And this can open doors to other people with disabilities."
France 2 was not the only channel to offer her a chance to present the weather. Another invitation came from news channel BFMTV.
Ms Segard lives with her parents and enjoys going out to parties and restaurants with her brother and friends.
When younger, she underwent therapy to improve her motor skills and speech.
And since September, she has worked in a company where she makes packaging.
The campaign was set up by Unapei, a charity helping people with disabilities. Its services reach some 200,000 people.
Launched on 26 February, the Facebook page reached its goal of 100,000 likes in 36 hours and received a lot of support on social media.
"Symbolically, it's very strong that a young woman with an intellectual disability can come before millions of French people to do something that is close to her heart. This shows that these people have abilities," Unapei's president Luc Gateau told La Croix newspaper (in French).
But becoming a TV presenter is not Ms Segard's ultimate dream. She says that what she really wants is to be a makeup artist.


Two lorry drivers have been charged over a crash on the M1 on Saturday which left eight people dead and four with serious injuries.

Six men and two women were killed when the minibus they were in collided with two lorries near Milton Keynes.
Ryszard Masierak, 31, and David Wagstaff, 53, have been charged with eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
The first victim has been identified as minibus owner Cyriac Joseph, 52.
Wipro, an IT services company, said three of its employees were also among those who died, and a fourth staff member had been critically injured.
"It is with deep regret and sadness that we confirm the passing away of three of our colleagues, Karthikeyan Ramasubramaniyam Pugalur, Rishi Rajeev Kumar, and Vivek Bhaskaran in a tragic road accident in the UK," a spokesman for the firm said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those who lost their lives in this tragedy."
It is understood the men were all contracted to work in Nottingham.
A service was held in memory of Mr Joseph on Sunday at St Paul's Church, Lenton, Nottingham.
Father Biju Joseph, who conducted the Mass, confirmed Mr Joseph's wife and children, a 19-year-old man and girl aged 15, who attended the service, were told of his death by police on Saturday morning.
He said the prayer service was a "great relief" for them.
"It's so sad and we're praying to God for his soul and his family," he said. "People are really shocked, he was such a good friend. He was like a brother to me."
Alex Daniel, a friend, said Mr Joseph was a "great leader" within the south Indian community in Nottingham.
He said: "I'm not surprised by the amount of people who came here [to the service]. We got calls from across the country showing concerns for the family."
A five-year-old girl, a man and a woman were left with life-threatening injuries in the crash, and are still critically ill in hospital. Another woman has serious injuries.
Thames Valley Police said the vehicles were all travelling in the same direction southbound between junctions 15 and 14 at Newport Pagnell at about 03:15 BST on Saturday.
Some of those on board the minibus, which carried branding for the Nottingham-based firm ABC Travels, were visiting the UK from India, police said.
Friends of Mr Joseph, who was also known as Benny and originally came from the Indian state of Kerala, paid tribute on social media.
"My dearest friend Benny passed away this morning after a huge road accident happened in M1 in London," said Soyimon Joseph in a Facebook post.
"Hearty condolences. I never thought yesterday 10pm you say thank you to me it was our last meeting."
Another Facebook tribute read: "Words cannot describe how helpful you are. You are there when we need you. You are my big brother.
"My deepest and sincere condolences to my best friend Cyriac Joseph (Benny)," wrote Manu Zachariah.
Thames Valley Police said the two men charged in connection with the crash also each faced four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Mr Masierak, of Barnards Close, Evesham, Worcestershire, was additionally charged with eight counts of causing death by careless driving while over the drink-drive limit.
He will appear at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Mr Wagstaff, of Derwent Street, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, is due before Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court on 11 September.
Pictures of the vehicles showed significant damage to the two lorries, which appeared to belong to courier firm FedEx and AIM Logistics.
Spokesmen for the two companies expressed sympathies to those who lost loved ones in the crash, and said the companies were assisting police with their inquiries.
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The Prime Minister has said that she wants to ensure a positive outcome for science in negotiations to leave the European Union.

Theresa May has said that the UK is "enriched by the best minds from Europe and around the world".
She states that providing reassurance to them and to UK scientists working in Europe will be a "priority".
Mrs May's comments were made in a letter seen by BBC News that was written five days after she became PM.
The Prime Minister wrote to one of the country's leading scientists,  Professor Sir Paul Nurse, who is director of the Francis Crick Institute in London and a former president of the Royal Society.
In the letter she states: "I wanted to write to you to make clear that the Government's ongoing commitment to science and research remains steadfast".
She adds that her government is committed to protecting science and research funding in real terms. Mrs May also tells the Nobel Prize winner that the reorganisation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy "does not signal any reduction in the very high priority I attach to teaching and research".
And crucially on Brexit she says: "I would like to reassure you about the government's commitment to ensuring a positive outcome for UK science as we exit the European Union. While we negotiate a new relationship with our European partners, we are not turning our backs on European scientists."
The UK receives Â£850m in research funds from the European Union each year. Full membership of one of the main EU funding programmes requires free movement of labour. British universities employ 30,000 scientists with EU citizenship.
There have already been reports of UK scientists losing out in EU grant applications and of EU citizens not taking up posts in UK universities because of the uncertainty around funding and the residency status of EU citizens following the referendum result last month.
Five days after the result Sir Paul said: "For science to thrive it must have access to the single market, and we do need free movement."
Mrs May's letter does not offer those commitments but Sir Paul said he was heartened to see that she wrote to him within days of taking office.
Sir Paul told BBC News: "The letter from the prime minister supporting science was most welcome and we look forward to working with her to achieve the best future for British science, which is crucial for the future of the UK."
A copy of the letter was sent to the President of the Royal Society Prof Venki Ramkrishanan, who also welcomed the fact that the prime minister is aware of the important of scientific research to the UK
"These are uncertain times, so having the new prime minister making such a positive commitment to science is very encouraging.  She not only reaffirms the government's financial support for science at home but also to ensuring a positive outcome for science in the Brexit negotiations.  I am looking forward to working with her and her colleagues to turn these words into action."
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In Northern Ireland there are still bitter arguments about the old issues which divide this part of the world, about the flying of flags and the routes of parades.

It can seem very removed from the politics of the rest of the UK.
They don't even send MPs from any of the main UK-wide parties to Westminster.
But in this General Election the ancient fears and passions of Northern Ireland are echoed in paler colours in the rest of the UK.
Moreover, MPs from Northern Ireland could decide who becomes Prime Minister.
I am reflecting on this new-found relevance, as the black taxi I am travelling in pulls up by a black Belfast wall filled with blurry photographs of men and women.
Underneath each one is a word, printed in red: "Murdered".
The driver and guide Terry, tells me it is the Falls Road's "collusion wall".
Terry, a former prisoner, is a passionate republican, and he reflects gleefully on the way the Union is heading, across the Irish Sea.
He says that with nearly half of Scotland voting for independence, it will happen eventually there, and in Wales too.
He predicts that then the Cornish and people in Devon will want their own country.
He adds that England is also divided and Hadrian's Wall will have to be moved to separate the north from the south.
The vision he contemplates with satisfaction is a nightmare to others.
The passions behind the violent times recorded on the walls of Belfast may strike a new chord with the rest of us.
The question of national identity - the desire to leave the Union on one hand, and to stay on the other - once seemed almost alien concerns to the rest of the country.
Now, stripped of violence, and painted in pastels, these are the contemporary puzzles at the heart of British politics.
The continued rise of the SNP despite the loss of the referendum, the talk of English votes for English laws and the increased support for the UK Independence Party are all about geographical identity.
The leader of the Ulster Unionists, Mike Nesbitt, recognises the difficulties ahead.
"The Union is changing. The Scottish referendum did not lead to independence, but that was the battle, not the war.
"There will be a recalibration of the Union and we feel very passionately about being good corporate citizens of the UK, that it is not a one-way street.
"We see a big picture here unlike some other unionist parties who simply see an opportunity to name a price for political support, and that seems to me a pretty base way to approach 7 May."
That is a dig at their far more successful rivals, the DUP.
It is the Democratic Unionists who are making a blatant bid to be king-makers in a hung Parliament.
They have eight seats at the moment and hope to increase their tally.
Their main election poster shows the Houses of Parliament with the slogan "more votes, more seats, more influence, more for Northern Ireland".
They have published a document called the Northern Ireland Plan, detailing their demands in a hung parliament.
Northern Ireland's first minister and party leader Peter Robinson tells me we are likely to see more hung parliaments in the future.
"If we are to believe the pollsters and the pundits and the bookmakers, there is going to be a hung parliament. I think the shredding of votes in the UK would suggest that may be the reality for many years to come."
He says they wouldn't take part in a coalition
"We wouldn't take any place in government, but we would, by confidence and supply, give support to a government which was capable of delivering what we require out of that Plan.
"It is not a pumped up vision of the DUP being the tail that is going to wag the dog.
"We recognise we would be a small party in the overall scheme of things - we are not inflated by any view of our importance."
Among their demands are 2% spending on defence, getting rid of the bedroom tax, and an EU referendum.
Competing offers from Labour and the Conservatives would be judged by which is most capable of delivering on those demands.
You might think that the SDLP, currently with three MPs,  wouldn't be in this same luxurious position.
They nearly always vote with Labour, but leader Alasdair McDonnell is attempting to give the impression that his mind is open.
"We will be having discussions with Labour and while we might have a tilt in that direction, Ed Miliband should not take us for granted.
"I couldn't see any circumstances in which we would support the Conservative Government because they have not treated us well here.
"But we may not vote for either. We are quite free to opt out, quite free to vote against both."
"I am not going to commit to what we are going to do on 8, 9 or 19 May - we have an affinity with Labour, but we're not chained to Labour, we don't have leg irons on us."
The Alliance has one MP at the moment, and is under pressure from the DUP.
Leader David Ford doesn't see much to choose between the main Westminster parties.
"What we've seen over the years is a tri-party position on Northern Ireland so I don't know it matters that much in that sense.
"There certainly will be an issue around the level of cuts - the reality is that within Northern Ireland we have very little choice but to accept what comes from Westminster, and cope with it in Northern Ireland.
"We need the money we get but we also need to aspire to grow our own economy and not continually sit with the begging bowl out for the Treasury."
The background to this is that austerity hasn't happened to the same degree in Northern Ireland.
Peace may not be such a fragile bloom now but it has been sheltered from the harsher winds that have blown elsewhere.
The politicians in the Northern Ireland Assembly simply refused to make the cuts.
Government spending really matters a lot in Northern Ireland - the public sector accounts for about 70% of the region's GDP, and 30% of the workforce is employed by the public sector.
Now cuts are coming - £160m off the budget next year - with a warning that it could be slashed by more than £1bn in the years to come.
While the fierce argument over money could be a critical question in any deal, Sinn Féin, currently with five MPs, won't be using any influence they might have in a hung parliament.
Sinn Féin candidate Former Lord Mayor of Belfast Máirtín Ó Muilleoir repeats they will remain an abstentionist party - they don't take their seats at Westminster.
I ask if that isn't rather an old-fashioned attitude when they are part of the government of Northern Ireland - don't they want to influence the people who give them the money?
"They don't give us the money. Since 2010 our friends in London have cut the block grant by £1.5bn and that has led to all types of misery and cutbacks and much grief.
"The issue for me is, as a representative at Westminster, can I help build the peace in Northern Ireland - I believe I can do that without going into the chamber."
He says change is in the air.
"We have all been amazed by the rise of Scottish nationalism and how that has been the major force for reconsidering the make-up of what you refer to as the UK. We have all had to think again.
"One of the lessons of Irish Republicanism over the last 30 years is that politics is the best way forward, that the use of the ballot box, democratic means, can bring about change.
"I think people are voting for that, I think they want a party that will be relentlessly positive, and at the same time will take on these ideologues of austerity in London."
Maybe elections always boil down to the economy, encapsulated in that famous phrase from Bill Clinton's team: "It's the economy, stupid".
But the 2015 General Election is also about concerns in the rest of the country that London and the south-east dominate, worries that others are forgotten and unappreciated, and that the country is changing in unpredictable ways.
It is, depending on your point of view, a vicious or a virtuous cycle.
The more people vote for parties that articulate these worries, particularly geographically-based ones, the more likely it is they will have a say, and change the nature of the Union.
This time some Northern Ireland parties intend to be more than simple spectators.
What are the top issues for each political party at the 2015 general election?
Policy guide: Where the parties stand


Cardiff Blues closed the gap on sixth-placed Glasgow in the Pro12 as they beat Newport Gwent Dragons, with all 43 points coming in the first half.

Blues dominated possession and territory, but needed a Josh Navidi try on the stroke of half-time to make their advantage tell.
That followed an early score by man-of-the-match Steven Shingler and a close-range touchdown by Kristian Dacey.
Ashton Hewitt crossed for Dragons, while Blues' Shingler scored 17 points.
Shingler's fly-half rival Angus O'Brien kept them in touch with the conversion of Hewitt's try and three penalties.
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After an incident-packed first half, neither team looked like adding a try in the second with Matthew Morgan's penalty miss the closest either team came to scoring after the break.
The hosts contained the Dragons' challenge, but failed to claim the bonus point which looked to be on the cards at half-time.
But after one win in six matches, Cardiff Blues skipper Sam Warburton - making his 100th appearance for the region - said he was happy with a victory.
The defeat leaves Kingsley Jones' Dragons in ninth place in the table, and 11 points adrift of the Blues.
They were defiant against the Blues, but hampered by mistakes which cost them dear.
Second row Rynard Landman was shown a yellow card within two minutes of Blues being reduced to 14 when centre Rey Lee-Lo was sent to the bin for a borderline high tackle.
And their occasionally suspect defence was twice exploited by Shingler. Firstly when he burst through Hewitt's tackle to score and when he bamboozled three defenders to set up Navidi.
That try was the last action of the opening half and ultimately gave Blues a cushion they never relinquished.
Blues: Matthew Morgan; Alex Cuthbert, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Tom James; Steven Shingler, Lloyd Williams; Rhys Gill, Kristian Dacey, Scott Andrews, Macauley Cook, James Down, Josh Navidi, Sam Warburton (capt), Nick Williams.
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Brad Thyer, Taufa'ao Filise, Jarrad Hoeata, Ellis Jenkins, Tomos Williams, Nicky Robinson, Cory Allen.
Dragons: Tom Prydie; Pat Howard, Tyler Morgan, Adam Warren, Ashton Hewitt; Angus O'Brien, Tavis Knoyle; Sam Hobbs, Thomas Rhys Thomas, Lloyd Fairbrother, Cory Hill, Rynard Landman, Lewis Evans (capt), Ollie Griffiths, Ed Jackson.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Thomas Davies, Brok Harris, Matthew Screech, Nick Crosswell, Sarel Pretorius, Dorian Jones, Sam Beard.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Assistant referees: Rhys Thomas, Sean Brickell (both WRU)
Citing commissioner: Jeff Mark (WRU)
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)


Hong Kongers have a reputation for being outspoken and can boast an impressive array of creative insults.

So it's no surprise that the run-up to its controversial legislative council elections has seen an explosion of taunts and jibes.
The BBC explains what is at stake in these polls, which are being watched closely by Beijing - with the help of a few rude words.
The 4 September vote is for the Legislative Council (LegCo), the body that passes and rejects laws, and approves the government's budget.
But not everyone takes it seriously.
Some call it "Rubbish Council" (punning on how the words "legislative" and "rubbish" sound similar in Cantonese), arguing the legislators are all talk and no action.
One reason the council is mocked is because it isn't exactly representative - only 40 out of its 70 seats are directly elected by voters.
The other 30 seats are chosen by various business and professional groups.
This means that, despite Hong Kong having more than 3.7 million voters, more than 40% seats are determined by a pool of just 239,724 people.
Supporters of the system say this helps avoid populism and protects Hong Kong's business interests - but critics call it undemocratic.
The other reason people criticise LegCo is because many opposition legislators will filibuster - sometimes for long periods - to try and block government proposals.
They argue this is one of the few tools they have to hold the government to account - but critics accuse them of wasting time and money.
Support for political parties used to be split between pro-Beijing groups, and pro-democracy groups.
The pro-Beijing side thinks good relations with China are more important than democratic reform, while democracy activists want universal suffrage - and aren't afraid of antagonising Beijing.
The groups don't exactly get along.
One popular slogan derides the main pro-Beijing party, the DAB, as being "the most shameless". Meanwhile, pro-democracy parties have been called "traitors to China" and "lackeys of the US" by people supporting Beijing.
And the range of insults has grown in the last few years.
Many young democracy activists are frustrated at the lack of progress. Some have founded new political parties - ranging from youth-led pro-democracy parties to "localist" groups that are more confrontational.
Localist supporters have derided pro-democracy parties as "Leftards" -  people who are liberal but useless at protecting local interests.
But they themselves attract plenty of insults. "Hot dogs" is the insult used to describe members of the Civic Passion group - meaning hot headed people who claim credit for everything, without doing the hard work needed for change.
Analysts say the pro-democracy vote could get split between localist groups and traditional pro-democracy parties - and this could potentially lead to more wins for pro-Beijing groups.
The most talked-about man isn't even in the race.
Hong Kong's chief executive, CY Leung, is unpopular - he had an approval rate of just 19% in one survey.
He was elected by a committee of just 1,200 people - and even then, he only got 689 votes, leading to the nickname "689". Others call him a "wolf", accusing him of being untrustworthy.
Mr Leung matters in this election because LegCo's 70 members are part of the committee that votes for the chief executive.
As a result, lots of people are asking candidates whether they'd support another term of CY Leung.
Many political parties say they believe in ABC - "anyone but CY".
And it's put pro-Beijing parties in an awkward position. They've traditionally supported the Hong Kong and Beijing governments - but not all of them want to say they'd support Mr Leung when he's so unpopular.
The most sensitive word in this election is "independence". Some localist parties say Hong Kong should aim for independence from China.
The Chinese government hates the idea  and state newspaper Global Times derides them as "attention-seeking extremists".
Still, these groups have tapped into the discontent felt by many young Hong Kongers.
Ahead of the polls, the government suddenly asked all candidates to sign a declaration form that said they agreed Hong Kong was "an inalienable part of China".
Six candidates were then disqualified over questions about whether they supported independence, sparking an outcry and allegations of political screening.
Earlier, some parties complained that brochures with terms such as "self-determination" were not approved for distribution by the electoral commission - though some were approved after the terms were replaced with satirical symbols such as stars and planets.
Some would say any insult is better than this one. "Hong Kong pig" refers to people who don't care about politics at all, and only eat and sleep.
For those who eat, sleep, and care about politics, 24 is the key number to watch.
Major constitutional changes, including changes to the voting system, need to be passed by a two-thirds majority in the council. Pro-Beijing parties generally win more seats but the democrat lobby have always tried to win at least 24 seats so they can veto changes they disagree with.
Hong Kong has a good anti-corruption record with a public sector ranked 18th out of 168 by Transparency International.
But when it comes to politics, both sides have made - and denied - allegations.
The Chinese government has said some pro-democracy campaigners are backed by "foreign forces", while some news reports appeared to show people being paid to attend pro-government rallies.
Either way the public goes to the ballot box on Sunday knowing all the insults and hopefully knowing who gets their vote.
Additional reporting by BBC Chinese's Grace Tsoi.


Antrim senior football manager Frank Fitzsimons has drafted in former county defender Gearoid Adams and ex-world boxing champion Brian Magee as part of his managerial team for 2016.

Adams will be joint manager next season, while west Belfast native Magee is the squad's new fitness coach.
Adams previously assisted former Antrim manager Liam Bradley and was boss of Down club Clonduff this year.
Former super-middleweight champion Magee last fought three years ago.
Magee effectively replaces Mike McGurn, who worked with the squad last season, while Gerard McNulty will look after the county's Under-21 squad alongside Sean McGoldrick.
He follows in the footsteps of former world boxing champion Bernard Dunne, who is a key member of Jim Gavin's backroom team at Dublin.
Adams enjoyed a 13-year playing career with Antrim, before managing his club St John's for four seasons.
Mickey Pollock and Tony Scullion are the only players to leave the Antrim squad, but Fitzsimons is hopeful that some established names will return to the fold next year.


Strikes by junior doctors in England are back on after talks with the government have broken down.

A 24-hour walk-out next Tuesday will be followed by a 48-hour strike on 26 January in the contract dispute.
A third day of action will take place in February, the British Medical Association said.
The action is likely to lead to thousands of non-emergency operations and hospital appointments being cancelled in the coming days.
But despite the failure to reach a deal, both sides have already indicated they want to keep negotiating ahead of next week's walk-out.
It comes after the union agreed to cancel three strikes last month to re-enter talks with the government.
The BMA had until midnight to decide whether it still wanted to take industrial action - or face having to re-ballot its members.
This is because of trade union rules which only allow industrial action in set timescales and require unions to give a week's notice of any walk-out.
The strike details announced are:
The development came after both sides sat down on Monday for the first time since the Christmas break.
Weeks of negotiations had taken place right up until Christmas Eve following the intervention of conciliation service Acas.
Those talks marked the first time both sides had met formally since the break down of the original talks in autumn 2014.
The junior doctors row explained
What exactly do junior doctors do?
How does your job compare?
But BMA leader Dr Mark Porter said the union had been left with no choice but to move towards industrial action as despite the weeks of negotiations the government still was not taking their concerns "seriously".
"We sincerely regret the disruption that industrial action will cause, but junior doctors have been left with no option.  It is because the government's proposals would be bad for patient care as well as junior doctors in the long-term that we are taking this stand," he added.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the contract had to change to help improve weekend care.
He said the sticking point in the latest round of discussions had been over weekend pay and he had asked Acas to help them reconvene talks.
"It is extremely disappointing that the BMA have chosen to take industrial action which helps no-one. We had made good progress."
Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, added the news was "extremely disappointing".
"Once again patients are being caught in the middle of this bitter dispute."
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Holder Ricky Walden suffered a first-round defeat at the International Championship in Daqing, China, losing 6-4 to world number 66 Tian Pengfei.

China's Tian built a 3-1 lead at the interval, aided by a break of 106.
World number 11 Walden levelled at 4-4 with breaks of 92, 80 and 86, but Tian made a 70 and 64 to seal victory.
There were wins for world number one Mark Selby and world champion Stuart Bingham, while Marco Fu made a 137 in a 6-2 win over Matthew Stevens.
In the first professional tournament to be held in Daqing, Selby, seeking his first title of the season, enjoyed a 6-3 win over Mike Dunn and Bingham eased to a 6-1 win over Steven Hallworth, closing out victory with a run of 80.
Michael Wild, who recorded a shock 6-0 win over world number seven Judd Trump in the qualifying round, lost by the same scoreline to Sanderson Lam while, in the wildcard round, 1997 world champion Ken Doherty, 46, scored a 6-2 win over Chen Zifan.
Barry Hawkins came from 3-1 down to beat Chris Wakelin 6-4 with a break of 112, while two-time former world champion Mark Williams saw off Ian Burns 6-3 with a best effort of 93.
Last year's runner-up Mark Allen beat fellow Ulsterman Joe Swail 6-4, Chinese prodigy Zhou Yuelong beat Martin Gould 6-2 and Anthony McGill top scored with 84 in a 6-0 whitewash of Sean O'Sullivan.


Thousands of travellers in the US faced delays on Saturday after a technical glitch grounded flights into and out of New York and Washington.

The glitch, at an air traffic centre in Leesburg, Virginia, caused delays of nearly three hours in some cases.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said later that it had resolved the issue.
Planes would be able to take off normally by about  16:00 EDT (20:00 GMT), the FAA said.
The affected airports are among the busiest in the US, especially in the summer holiday months.
Among those hit by the glitch were Washington's Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport, as well as New York's LaGuardia and John F Kennedy International Airport.
The FAA said the problem is not believed to be caused by any accident or hacking.
According to the agency, the fault was with a computer system known as ERAM which is used at 20 air traffic control centres around the country that handle high-altitude air traffic.
The system was installed earlier this year but was already years behind schedule.
"The FAA is continuing its root cause analysis to determine what caused the problem and is working closely with the airlines to minimize impacts to travellers," the agency said in a statement.
Flight tracking service FlightAware reported that about 400 flights had been delayed or cancelled across affected airports.


Police have released a new description of a man who carried out a sex attack in the Craiglockhart area of Edinburgh.

A 21-year-old woman was attacked at the junction of Craiglockhart Road and Craiglockhart Quadrant at about 22:30 on Wednesday.
Detectives said the suspect was white, in his 20s, between 5ft 9in and 5ft 11in tall, of an average to lean build.
He had dark, messy, medium-length hair and was wearing a dark grey hooded zip-up top and dark denim jeans.
The woman was walking home when the man approached her from behind and indecently assaulted her.
Following the attack, the suspect ran back along Craiglockhart Road, past the junction with Craiglockhart Park.
He is believed to have either turned right towards Elliot Road or left along Craiglockhart Road towards Colinton Road.
Det Ch Insp Alwyn Bell said: "As a result of our ongoing inquiry we have obtained a more detailed description of the suspect and the potential routes he has taken after this attack.
"I would ask that anyone who can help us trace this male contacts police immediately.
"In addition, we are also keen to speak to the drivers of two cars that were within Elliot Place around the time of the incident and would ask these motorists to also get in touch to assist with our investigation."


UK bank Standard Chartered has reported a steep fall in full-year profits, compounding recent troubles for the emerging-markets focused bank.

Pre-tax profits - including exceptional items - were $4.24bn (Â£2.76bn), down 30% on 2013, the bank said.
Board directors have decided to forego their bonuses as a result.
The news comes a week after the bank announced that chief executive Peter Sands would be replaced by ex-JP Morgan banker Bill Winters.
Losses from bad loans increased to $2.14bn, up from $1.62bn, while operating income fell 2% to $18.23bn.
Mr Sands said: "2014 performance was disappointing, impacted by a challenging market environment and by the significant programme of restructuring and repositioning actions taken during the year.
"We faced a perfect storm: negative sentiment towards emerging markets, a sharp drop in commodity prices, persistent low interest rates and surplus liquidity, low volatility, and a welter of regulatory challenges."
In August 2014, Standard Chartered agreed to pay a $300m fine relating to its poor money laundering surveillance systems.
The bank has been facing tough market conditions for some time and has issued three profit warnings in the past 12 months.
As part of a $400m cost-cutting programme, the bank is jettisoning 15 "underperforming and non-strategic businesses", it said.
Mr Sands had been under pressure over the bank's slumping share price.
Standard Chartered's chairman Sir John Peace is to step down in 2016 and three non-executive directors are also leaving.
The bank's shares were up nearly 6% in morning trading as shareholders responded well to the bank's recovery plan.
But the share price is still nearly 20% lower than it was a year ago.


Rome is set to drop its bid to host the Olympic Games in 2024, after its anti-establishment mayor said it would be "irresponsible" to be a candidate.

Virginia Raggi of the Five Star movement was elected in June.
Her decision was a blow for the city's Olympic committee which had hoped to change her mind. But officials said she had failed to turn up to a meeting.
Rome last hosted the Games in 1960 and also pulled out of the bidding for the 2020 Olympics for financial reasons.
Boston and Hamburg have already dropped out of the running for the 2024 Games. Germany has not hosted a games since 1972, and Hamburg's decision to pull out was made in a referendum.
Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest are still vying to host the Games. The remaining candidates must confirm their application and the endorsement of local public leaders by 7 October.
Hamburg says 'No' to 2024
Listen: Why don't cities want the Olympics?
In ancient times here, Roman emperors offered the thrill of bread and circuses to appease and divert a restless population.
That tactic, it seems, no longer works. These days, Rome is a city which can barely pick up its own rubbish.
Among many Romans, the idea of hosting an Olympic Games hasn't provoked much enthusiasm.
The new mayor knows that. She comes from the populist Five Star Movement, which has strongly opposed a bid for the Games.
Ms Raggi has had a difficult first few weeks in power. Her tenure has been overshadowed by accusations of mismanagement and cover-ups. Rejecting the Olympics may be her way of winning back popularity and asserting her own authority over the city.
More from James: Raggi finds it tough at the top
Ms Raggi came to power after repeatedly saying she opposed the 2024 bid, but there had been hopes that she might agree to a local referendum.
The head of the Italian Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malago, had already indicated that without her support the bid would not go ahead and he said after the mayor's announcement that her decision hurt. "It was possible to do this, and do it well," he insisted.
The Roma 2024 committee issued a statement saying they were "profoundly surprised and disappointed".
They were disappointed "that a new political force is unwilling to accept the challenge of modernisation," it said, claiming that the Games would have boosted Rome's economy by $1.7bn (£1.3bn; €1.5bn).
But Ms Raggi disagreed. "We are effectively asking the people of Rome and of Italy to shoulder the debts. We just don't support it," she told reporters.
"No to the Olympics of concrete, absolutely not! No to cathedrals in the desert," she said, suggesting that Rome would have been left with redundant sports facilities.
The mayor said Rome was still paying out for the last time it held the Games in 1960.
The International Olympic Committee will elect the host at a vote in Lima, Peru, in September 2017, with Paris considered the favourite after unsuccessfully bidding for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Games.
Rome bid officials set a budget of €5.3bn (£4.5bn; $6bn) to host the Games, with a plan to use existing venues for 70% of the sites.
That was a template used by Los Angeles in 1984, when existing stadiums and other facilities were used and the Games made a profit. LA's projected 2024 budget is $4.52bn, with a hoped-for profit of $150m.
But most cities have made a loss. The 2004 Athens Games cost almost €9bn and increased Greece's public debt.
The 2016 Rio Games cost an estimated $12bn.
London 2012 went three times over budget and cost £8.77bn ($11.4bn), although the event boosted trade and investment by an estimated £9.9bn.
Has the Olympics been a success for Brazil?


US President Barack Obama is expected to announce members of his second term cabinet in the coming days, with three of the biggest jobs in government up for grabs.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has long said she would step down after Mr Obama's first term.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner are expected to leave their current positions sometime in early 2013.
Who are the runners and riders for the top jobs?
In the running for: Secretary of Defense
Experience: The Republican from Nebraska served two terms in the US Senate.
Mr Hagel, 66, fought in Vietnam and was given two Purple Heart awards for being wounded in action. He worked as a broadcaster in Omaha, Nebraska and later was an investment banker and chief executive officer of the G7 organisation in Washington.
In the Senate, he rose to chairman of a subcommittee of the foreign relations committee, and was chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
After leaving the Senate in January 2009, Mr Hagel became chairman of the Atlantic Council, a prominent Washington think-tank on trans-Atlantic co-operation and international security issues.
Why Obama would want him: Mr Hagel is a Republican, giving Mr Obama's administration a bipartisan veneer. The two men have travelled together. Like Mr Obama, Mr Hagel opposed the war in Iraq and was a frequent critic of George W Bush's foreign policy.
"He's known for throwing elbows at members of his own party and at conservative media figures," Politico reported.
In the running for: Secretary of State
Experience: The Massachusetts Democrat is a veteran senator who is currently chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee. In 2004, he was the Democratic presidential nominee.
Mr Kerry served as a naval officer in Vietnam, where he commanded a small riverboat on dangerous patrols.
After a career as a lawyer and two years as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, he was first elected to the Senate in 1984.
Why Obama would want him: Mr Kerry is a senior foreign policy hand within the Democratic party. He is highly respected among his colleagues in the US Senate, and Republicans have assured him a smooth confirmation.
One major potential drawback: If Mr Obama nominates Mr Kerry, that opens his Senate seat in Massachusetts. Former Republican Senator Scott Brown, who was defeated for re-election in November, is considered a strong contender to win Mr Kerry's seat in a special election.
In the running for: Secretary of State
Experience: Mr Donilon, Mr Obama's security adviser, has long experience in Democratic politics, working early in his career in President Jimmy Carter's White House. Under President Bill Clinton, Mr Donilon was chief of staff to Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Later, he became wealthy as an executive at Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored mortgage company. He joined the Obama administration as deputy national security adviser to Gen James Jones.
Why Obama might want him: Mr Obama trusts him: he is said to have the president's ear on almost all foreign policy and security matters. Vice-President Joe Biden has called him "the most important person in the mix" in any debate.
In the running for: Secretary of the Treasury
Experience: As Mr Obama's chief of staff, Mr Lew is a powerful and trusted confidante to the president and the gatekeeper to the Oval Office.
Before taking that post, Mr Lew was director of the White House office of management and budget, a position he also held under President Bill Clinton. During the Bush years, Mr Lew held a top administrative post at New York University and held a high-level position at Citigroup.
During Mr Obama's first two years in Office, Mr Lew was a deputy secretary of state to Hillary Clinton.
Why Obama would want him: Mr Lew is known as a low-key "numbers guy" with a long background in Democratic politics. The New York Times called him "the most unassuming power broker in Washington".
In the running for: Secretary of Defense
Experience: Until January 2012 she was former under-secretary of defence for policy, the highest-ranked woman in the Pentagon, briefing Secretary Leon Panetta on military operations and the strategic shift to Asia.
She is also co-founder of a defence think-tank, Center for a New American Security, and was a research professor at the National Defense University. During the campaign Ms Flournoy acted as a surrogate for the Obama team on foreign policy.
Why Obama would want her: Ms Flournoy's CV is impressive and her brief at the defence department covered much of what will become upcoming challenges at the Pentagon.
Republicans have also signalled that Ms Flournoy has an easier path to confirmation than Mr Hagel, because of the latter's views on Israel.
"If the president wants a messy fight, send us Hagel; if he wants smooth sailing, send us Flournoy," one Senate Republican aide told Buzzfeed.
She would also have the distinction of being the first female defence secretary.
In running for: Secretary of Treasury
Experience: Mr Chenault, has run American Express as CEO since 2001, and guided the company through a rough patch. He is a long term Obama supporter and a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
Why Obama would want him: Mr Obama has had a rocky-relationship with the business community, and bringing in a friendly face among top-level executives could repair those connections.
Austen Goolsbee, the former chairman of Mr Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, told Bloomberg News that the president saw Mr Chenault as an "important outside voice from the business world".


It is a dirty job but somebody has to do it - scaling 300ft to clean the heights of Cardiff's Principality stadium.

Abseilers with jet washers climbed its 90m-high mast to make sure the stadium is squeaky clean for the Champions League Final on 3 June.
Specialist firm Summit Rope Access used 1.2 miles (2km) of ropes and rigging.
Sean Turley, of the company, said: "You have to have a good head for heights to get the job done."
The game is expected to be watched by a global TV audience of up to 200 million people in 200 countries.
Gareth Bale's Real Madrid, Monaco, Atletico Madrid and Juventus are still in the hunt for the trophy.
The specially-trained cleaners have ensured the 76,500-seater stadium is tip top for European club football's most glittering showpiece.
"We have worked on the Principality Stadium for about 17 years, more or less, since it opened so we are very used to it now," Mr Turley said.
Principality Stadium manager Mark Williams said the toe-curling maintenance of the stadium's mast always "attracts attention" from passers-by.


Barclays will pay an extra $150m (Â£99m) penalty for misconduct in foreign exchange trading, US regulators said.

The bank will also "terminate" its global head of electronic fixed income, currencies and commodities as part of the settlement.
Regulators said the bank used super-fast trading systems to reject unprofitable client orders, then failed to disclose why they were rejected.
In May, Barclays was fined $2.4bn for manipulating the forex market.
"We are pleased that Barclays worked with us to resolve this matter," said Anthony Albanese, acting superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services.
"This case highlights the need for greater oversight and action to help prevent the misuse of automated, electronic trading platforms on Wall Street, which is a wider industry issue that requires serious additional scrutiny."
Barclays was one of five major banks fined this summer for manipulating foreign exchange markets. JP Morgan, Citibank, RBS and UBS were fined a total of $5.7bn.
Regulators said that between 2008 and 2012, several traders formed a cartel and used chat rooms to manipulate prices in their favour.


The UK's most senior female judge has said the lack of women at the top of the judiciary could be because men prefer to appoint other men.

Lady Hale, the deputy president of the Supreme Court, said she was disappointed no other woman had reached the same level as herself.
In the 10 years since her appointment, 13 other judges have been promoted to her level, but none were women.
Lady Hale also said she opposed legal wigs, saying they were "men's wigs".
Speaking alongside Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, at the start of the new legal year, Lady Hale said she was among those who were consulted on senior judicial appointments - but the actual decision process was dominated by men.
Supreme Court justices are appointed by the Queen following a recommendation from the Lord Chancellor (also known as the Justice Secretary).
That recommendation comes from a special commission which is set up each time a new justice needs to be appointed. The process includes consulting senior judges and politicians across the UK.
Lady Hale said she had been "flattered and proud" to be the first woman to be made a Law Lord, the predecessors of the Supreme Court Justices, but she said she did not want to be the last.
"I am disappointed that in the 10 years since I was appointed not one among the 13 subsequent appointments to this court has been a woman.
"Now, things are improving in the lower ranks of the judiciary, but regrettably not yet up here."
"I do not think I am alone in thinking that diversity of many kinds on the bench is important for a great many reasons, but most of all because in a democracy which values everyone equally, and not just the privileged and the powerful, it is important that their rights and responsibilities should be decided by a judiciary which is more reflective of the society as a whole, and not just a very small section of it."
Lady Hale said she did not play any part in the selection process, other than being possibly the only woman to be consulted.
"I do not know whether the fact that the appointments process is dominated by men has anything to do with the choice of people.
"It would not be impossible to speculate that it is always much easier to perceive merit in people who are like you than it is to discern the merit of those who are a bit different.
"I am not only talking about gender diversity, I am talking about all kinds of diversity."
Until recently both the president and deputy president of the Supreme Court permanently sat on the Supreme Court appointments commission. However, Parliament changed the rules this year, requiring the president to sit on the commission alone, alongside a senior judge from elsewhere. This meant that the deputy president - currently Lady Hale - would be excluded.
Of the six Supreme Court selection commissions to date, five had a majority of men and one included no women at all.
None of the five heads of the other branches of the judiciary are women. A fifth of judges at the Court of Appeal, the most important tier below the Supreme Court, are now women - the highest ever proportion. Women only form a majority in the ranks of voluntary community-level magistrates who deal with local petty crime.
Asked about the role of wigs and gowns in a modern diverse judiciary, Lady Hale added: "I have not made any secret of the fact that I am not in favour of barristers and judges wearing wigs. My main objection is that they are men's wigs.
"Of course, that is one of the reasons why the early women barristers wanted to wear wigs. It was because they wanted to look like everybody else. But we have got beyond that."


A bottle of nearly 200-year-old champagne has been sold for 30,000 euros ($43,900; £26,700) at an auction in Finland - in what is believed to be a new world record.

The Veuve Clicquot bubbly was bought by an anonymous bidder from Singapore, auctioneers in Mariehamn said.
The same buyer paid 24,000 euros for another bottle of champagne, which was made by the now defunct Juglar house.
They were found in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea last year.
In all, more than 140 bottles were discovered by divers, and the wine is said to be in "exquisite" condition.
Friday's auction at Acker Merrall & Conditt took place in Mariehamn, the capital of the autonomous Aaland Islands between Finland and Sweden, near to the place where the bottles were found.
"This is an emotional bottle, because this is the wine of Madame Clicquot herself," Veuve Clicquot historian Fabienne Moreau told the AFP news agency, referring to Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin - the woman who ran the famous house in the 19th Century.
Experts believe that the booty from the shipwreck dates from about 1825-1830.
The auctioneers said the previous record was set in 2008, when a bottle of 1959 Dom Perignon Rose sold for 27,600 euros. This has not been independently confirmed.
However, Mr Moreau, who had sampled the champagne, said the price "proves the value of the wine and the prestige of the house".
According to records, Clicquot champagne was first produced in 1772 but was laid down for 10 years.
Production was disrupted after the French Revolution in 1789.
The wine found in the Baltic Sea was perfectly preserved because of the conditions of dark and cold on the seabed.
The Aaland authorities now want to turn the champagne auction into an annual event to boost tourism.


A five-metre (16ft) bronze statue of French footballer Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt has been taken down from the Corniche in Doha, Qatar.

The sculpture was removed just weeks after being installed, having prompted strong reactions on social media.
It generated criticism from religious conservatives who believe it encourages idolatry; others thought it promoted violence or was in bad taste.
It portrays Zidane headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup.
Created by Algerian-born French artist Adel Abdessemed in 2012, it had previously been on show at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It was bought by the Qatari Museum Authority.
Local reports say the statue - known as Coup de Tete or headbutt - is going to be housed along with other works by Abdessemed in the Arab Museum of Modern Art.
The Arabic hashtag "Zidane's statue in Qatar" triggered a "massive" reaction from dismayed conservatives on Twitter, said AFP, with one user sarcastically posting: "Congratulations for having new idols."
"It is sad that our youth see in this art and modernity. Our children do not differentiate between the right and the wrong, or the haram [prohibited] and the halal [permissible]," said another tweeter.
However another poster criticised the removal: "Seriously they moved the headbutt statue from the corniche? that's stupid."
"It definitely was relevant to football, a sport loved in this country! as for the culture, no relevance whatsoever," other comments said.
The statue's craftsmanship and symbolism were earlier praised as "timeless as Greek mythological works of art" by the Jean-Paul Engelen, director of Public Art at the Qatari Museum Authority.


A mental health nurse at Broadmoor hospital who sold stories about patients has been jailed for two years.

Kenneth Hall, 49, from Bridgwater, Somerset, sold details about killers held at the Berkshire high security hospital to tabloid newspapers.
They included Robert Ashman, who attacked MP Nigel Jones and killed his assistant with a samurai sword in 2000.
Hall had earlier pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and was sentenced at the Old Bailey in London.
He also pleaded guilty to forgery.
Hall sold stories about killers suing the NHS, and forged documents to beef up his tales, the court previously heard.
Judge Timothy Pontius said there had been a "grave" breach of trust, made worse by the fact that his offending continued after he left the hospital.
He added that although the some of the patients were notorious killers, which includes the Yorkshire Ripper, they were still entitled to professional care and a respect for their privacy.
Hall could not call what he did "altruistic whistle-blowing", the judge said, because his offending continued after his employment ended.
The Old Bailey had earlier heard how Hall made Â£23,800 from selling stories to the News Of The World and the Mirror.
Hall smuggled out patient notes relating to Ashman, leading to a number of stories, including one headlined, "Samurai Nut Could Be Free In 18 Months".
Another story had the headline "Sex Killer Sues NHS For Â£3 Million", and stated: "Monster who attacked girl of 12 wants cash because Broadmoor inmates attacked him".
The offences took place between 29 June 2002 and 6 October 2004.


The BBC has seen a letter from Northern Ireland's attorney general, in which he questions whether a move to allow for abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities is compatible with international human rights law.

The proposal is one of a number of amendments to the Justice Bill.
MLAs are due to vote on the issue at Stormont on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the DUP asked the Northern Ireland health minister to set up a working group to examine it.
In the letter, John Larkin QC expresses concern to TUV MLA Jim Allister that the move may not be compatible with a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Mr Larkin wrote that "providing for a criminal law exception for 'fatal foetal abnormality', as proposed by this amendment, provides unborn children diagnosed with such a disability with much less protection under the law of Northern Ireland than those without such a disability".
The attorney general pointed to cases in Spain and Austria, in which the UN committee which oversees the convention, has recommended that states should abolish any distinctions related to abortion in foetuses with disabilities.
Mr Larkin said: "those unborn children who are 'doomed to die' or are otherwise regarded by the proposers of this amendment as unworthy of life because of the nature of their disability" are as protected by the UN convention as any others.
He also said he thinks the 'conscience' provisions in Wednesday's amendments - proposed for NHS employees who have a religious or ethical objection to participating in abortions - are inadequate.
In January Mr Larkin lodged an appeal to a High Court ruling that found Northern Ireland's abortion legislation to be "incompatible" with human rights law.
A judge made the ruling in December.
A case had been taken by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission against the Department of Justice.
The judge said there should be exemptions in the law for women who were the victims of sexual crime and in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.
He said the current legal provisions in Northern Ireland breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply to Northern Ireland, where abortions are illegal except where the life or mental health of the mother is in danger.


BBC Scotland will broadcast live television coverage of the Scottish League Cup semi-final between Ross County and holders Celtic.

The all-Premiership tie at Hampden Park will be played on Sunday, 31 January.
Championship side Hibernian take on top flight St Johnstone in the other semi-final at Tynecastle Stadium on Saturday, 30 January.
Both matches, which have 15:00 GMT kick-off times, will be covered live on BBC Radio Scotland.
The television and radio coverage will be streamed on the BBC Sport website, which will also feature highlights of the two matches.
Celtic beat Dundee United in last season's final and overcame Hearts to reach the last four this time.
County beat Highland rivals Inverness Caledonian Thistle and St Johnstone came from behind to beat Greenock Morton in the quarter-finals.
And Hibs beat Dundee United in their last-eight tie, having taken another Premiership scalp by defeating Aberdeen in the previous round.


Sabina Huillca, 46, sells bread on the streets of Lima.

Twenty years ago she was growing potatoes and corn and bringing up her children in her native Huayllacocha, a village in the Andes four hours by car from the provincial capital, Cuzco.
But she told me her life changed forever one day in 1996.
A doctor suggested Ms Huillca, who was heavily pregnant at the time, visit a health clinic in the town of Izcuchaca.
She told the BBC that the nightmare started straight after she gave birth.
"A nurse put me on a stretcher and tied my hands and feet," she recalled.
"I asked them to bring me my little baby girl but instead they anesthetised me," she said.
"When I woke up, the doctor was stitching my stomach. I started screaming, I knew I had been sterilised."
Ms Huillca was a victim of a family planning programme as a result of which thousands of women were forcibly sterilised.
The programme, launched in 1996 by then-president Alberto Fujimori - who argued that a lower birth rate would drive down poverty - at first received much praise.
But then more and more women complained about being sterilised without their consent.
Most of them were poor, indigenous and spoke Quechua.
Over the years, their voices became louder and clearer.
The first case to be investigated was that of Mamerita Mestanza.
The 33-year-old lived in Cajamarca, in the northern Andes, with her husband and seven children.
1995: President Alberto Fujimori modifies the General Population Law to incorporate voluntary surgical contraception (sterilisation) as part of the contraceptive methods on offer
1996: Reproductive Health and Family Planning Programme starts and Mamerita Mestanza dies following a tubal ligation she did not consent to
2001:  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights awards a settlement to her family, opening the door to other cases
2003: Prosecutors start investigating allegations of forced sterilisations
2009: Investigation shelved for lack of evidence
2011: Investigation is re-opened
2014: Second probe shelved for lack of evidence
2015: Investigation re-opened again, Peru's government creates a national registry of forced sterilisations
2016: Deadline for the investigation to conclude
According to testimony given by her husband, in 1996 she began coming under constant pressure from staff at her local health-centre to be sterilised.
She was even told that it was illegal to have more than five children and that she could be jailed for having any more.
She finally succumbed to the pressure and agreed to have the tubal ligation procedure in March 1998.
But her husband alleged that she was not given any information about the risks involved.
Eight days after she was sterilised, Ms Mestanza died of a post-operative infection which doctors had failed to treat.
Her husband said that he requested that his wife be given medical attention on a number of occasions and was refused.
Some of the victims have been speaking out and telling Peruvian media their stories.
Esperanza Huayama said she was lured to a health clinic by promises of food, vitamins and medicine.
Health Ministry staff went from village to village and according to Ms Huayama, at least 100 women from her area went to the clinic on the same day as she did.
"I was three months pregnant and I didn't know it. But they [health centre staff] did and still they went ahead." she said.
"First they offered medicine and then they treated us like animals."
Micaela Flores said she and other women were taken by lorries to a health centre.
"We all arrived innocent and happy, then we heard screams and I just ran."
She said the doors were padlocked so she could not escape and that she was sterilised against her will.
According to data released in 2002 by Peru's Health Ministry, 260,874 women had tubal-ligation operations between 1996 and 2000.
Rights group the Latin American Committee on Women's Rights (Cladem) says that as few as 10% of them might have given consent.
They believe that the others were victims of forced sterilisations.
Thousands of women have reported being harassed, threatened or blackmailed to undergo the procedure.
As a result of their testimony, Peru's Ombudsman's office prepared three reports into the issue between 1997 and 2002.
They documented mistakes made during the sterilisation campaign and made a number of recommendations.
Despite these reports, President Fujimori - who is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption - has always maintained these procedures were consensual.
His daughter Keiko, a presidential candidate who polls suggest could win next year's election, was recently asked about the allegations.
She blamed individual rogue medical practitioners.
But new evidence contradicts her.
In October, Peruvian newspaper La Republica published an in-depth report into the scandal.
It quoted three doctors who said they had refused to follow orders to sterilise women in the 1990s.
One of them, Rogelio Martino, worked in a poor neighbourhood of Piura in northern Peru.
According to Dr Martino, his team was told to sterilise at least 250 women over four days in July 1997,
He and his colleagues considered this highly risky, and an undignified way to treat poor women.
"We had no option but to report it to the local prosecutor's office," explains Dr Martino, who later resigned.
He said he had no doubt that the sterilisations were a state policy.
In early November, the government ordered that the investigation into the sterilisation programme be reopened.
As part of the probe, investigators set up a national registry of victims.
Sigfredo Florian is a lawyer who works with the Institute of Legal Defence, which has taken up a few of the cases.
He believes that the registry will help to determine the extent of the practice "because no-one knows how many victims there really are".
Maria Ysabel Cedano who leads women's rights group DEMUS welcomed the move but said that the women still had not had their rights restored.
Prosecutors have been thwarted before, twice the case was dismissed before being re-opened this year.
While this most recent investigation should be wrapped up by February 2016, court proceedings are still a long way off.
Meanwhile, victim Sabina Huillca is still struggling with life since her forced sterilisation.
"At the beginning I just wanted to die but my four children kept me alive," she recalls.
She is currently living in Lima where she is receiving treatment for ovarian cancer, which she thinks is a result of the operation.
For her, it does not matter how long it takes to get justice: "I just donÂ´t want this to happen to other women."


There has been outrage in India after a politician, who is also a member of a government panel for women, blamed women for rape.

Asha Mirje said women too were "responsible to an extent" for rape and that their "clothing and behaviour" played a part.
Women's rights activists, the Congress party and the main opposition BJP said her comments were "unacceptable".
Ms Mirje later apologised, saying it was her "personal opinion".
In India, where a rape is recorded every 22 minutes, scrutiny of sexual violence has grown since the gang rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012.
Ms Mirje is a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that governs the western Indian state of Maharashtra. She is also a member of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women.
The controversial comments were made at a meeting of the party's women workers in Nagpur city on Tuesday.
Ms Mirje asked why the Delhi gang-rape victim, called Nirbhaya (meaning fearless in Hindi) because she cannot legally be named, "was out with her friend at night". She also commented on a photojournalist who was gang-raped while on assignment at the abandoned Shakti Mills in Mumbai last year.
"Did Nirbhaya really have to go watch a movie at 11 in the night with her friend? Take the Shakti Mills gang rape case. Why did the [survivor] go to such an isolated spot at 6pm?" news channel NDTV quoted her as saying.
"Rapes take place also because of a woman's clothes, her behaviour and her being at inappropriate places," she added.
Ms Mirje's comments have sparked outrage with women's groups and political parties condemning her statement.
The All India Democratic Women's Association said  Ms Mirje was "not fit to be a member" of the Maharashtra State Women's Commission.
"This comment is totally unacceptable. A member of a women's commission should not make such statements. Women should talk about empowerment and not put under constraints of dress," news channel CNN-IBN quoted senior Congress party leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi as saying.
The channel reported that Ms Mirje had defended her remarks saying she was quoted out of context.
"The complete comment was not taken. Only a part of it was projected. I was not blaming the women for rape. I had said that since we are in period of transition, we have to be extra cautious," she said.


A study into Newmarket's importance as a horse racing centre will be used by planners to bid for funds for road improvements.

Deloitte's Newmarket Horse Racing Industry report has concluded the area was a "national sporting asset".
Robin Miller, Forest Heath District Council's deputy leader, said: "We should be looking to government to support infrastructure improvements.
The council cited improvements to the A14's junctions as priorities.
The Deloitte study followed on from 2014's SQW report into the economic value of horse racing to the local economy in west Suffolk.
It concluded the racecourses, stables, studs and related industries were worth Â£208m a year and provided 8,500 jobs within a 25-mile radius of the town.
Councillor Miller said: "For those who don't know Newmarket or don't live here, it has been something of a hidden gem and this is a real opportunity for people to understand its economic importance."
William Gittus, chairman of the Newmarket Horsemen's Group and managing director of Jockey Club Estates, said: "What is really encouraging about the report's findings is the recognition that the racing industry in Newmarket has the scope and potential to grow further and, as an asset of national importance, can help the district leverage external investment for major infrastructure improvements that will benefit everyone."
Graham Abbey, chairman of the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce, said: "Horseracing makes Newmarket a unique place to live and work, but it also brings challenges for all of us.
"The chamber is absolutely ready to sit down with all parties and work through these challenges so that everyone benefits and all of our businesses can grow and thrive."


Researchers have developed a technique to edit out bits of mitochondrial DNA that could otherwise pass on incurable diseases, a study in mice shows.

Salk Institute scientists used specifically engineered molecular scissors to snip out mutations in embryos, leaving healthy DNA intact.
They hope it could one day be used to prevent human mitochondrial diseases.
But experts say though it is a "technical masterpiece", it raises ethical and scientific challenges.
Mitochondria are tiny powerhouses found inside nearly every cell in the body, generating energy necessary for essential functions.
They carry their own DNA - which is passed on from mothers to their children. Unlike DNA found in the nuclei of cells, this does not affect characteristics such as appearance.
But if inherited mitochondrial DNA is defective, children can have life-limiting conditions involving muscles weakness and blindness.
Reporting in the journal Cell, scientists tested molecular scissors on mice with two different types of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
They were able to recognise and cut out disease-causing mtDNA in mouse embryos. And the resulting offspring were healthy.
Researchers also used the technique successfully on faulty human mtDNA, inserted into mouse eggs.
They say the next step is to run preliminary laboratory tests on discarded human embryos.
And if proven safe and effective, they argue it would provide a simpler alternative to mitochondrial transfer therapy recently given the green light by UK authorities.
This controversially relies on DNA from three individuals - two parents and healthy mitochondria from a female donor.
But experts remain divided about the ethical and scientific questions this new approach brings.
Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, at charity Muscular Dystrophy UK, said: "We welcome this exciting new technique, which could benefit thousands of women worldwide who risk passing on mitochondrial disease to their children.
"The results seen in mice are promising. We are keen to see results of further research into the technique's safety and efficacy."
But Prof Frances Flinter, expert in genetics at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, said: "The biggest question to address will be the possibility that DNA cutting enzymes may disrupt adjacent genes that are important, leading to unintended adverse consequences."
Dr Duscko Ilic, at King's College London, said the technique had many hurdles to overcome.
"Although this clever alternative approach for correcting genetic errors in mitochondria is a technical masterpiece, it is unlikely to make it to clinic in the near future.
"Replacing faulty genes in human pre-implantation embryos, germ cells or gametes poses serious risks."
And David King, of the group, Human Genetics Alert, had his own warning.
"This research is unethical. It threatens to usher in the future of genetically modified designer babies.
"We must extend the ban on human genetic engineering to create a global treaty."
Meanwhile, other research from China involving separate technology on the more abundant DNA found in the nuclei of human cells, has led scientists to question how far such technology should ethically go.


The European Commission has unveiled new proposals for dealing with Europe's migration crisis.

The Commission has called for mandatory national quotas to relocate many migrants who have reached Europe. That is highly controversial, and there will be intense government discussions about the proposal.
Countries in the front line of the migration surge want a fairer EU-wide distribution of the burden. Italy faces unprecedented migrant boatloads in the Mediterranean, while Germany faces by far the most asylum claims.
What is the Commission asking member states to do?
The Commission has issued the "European Agenda on Migration", setting out common policy goals for the 28-nation EU to adopt and make law.
It argues that the current system is failing to cope with the migrant influx, which is fuelled by the profits made by people traffickers. The war raging in Libya has exacerbated the flow from there.
There is a human rights imperative for the EU too, as the Mediterranean has seen more than 1,800 migrant deaths at sea this year. Migrants who make it to Europe are often deeply traumatised by the traffickers' brutality.
The impulse for this far-reaching agenda came from the escalating crisis in the Mediterranean and a 10-point emergency plan from EU governments. It called for "a systematic effort to capture and destroy vessels used by the smugglers". It also said the EU must "consider options for an emergency relocation mechanism" for migrants.
The Commission has come up with a "distribution key" to spread the burden of processing asylum claims in the EU. Italy, Greece and Malta are struggling to cope.
That new mechanism is based on countries' population size, GDP, unemployment rate and numbers of existing asylum applications.
Separately, the EU aims to bring 20,000 refugees to Europe in the next two years, at a cost of â‚¬50m (Â£36m). That is being organised in non-EU countries with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
Under the Geneva Conventions, refugees fleeing from persecution or life-threatening violence have a right to claim asylum in Europe.
The Commission acknowledges that too many poor economic migrants have managed to remain in Europe. Co-operation must be tightened with the main countries of origin - many of them in Africa - to tackle that problem and send more migrants home, the Commission says.
So would the UK and other EU countries be forced to accept more migrants?
To become law the proposal for mandatory quotas has to be agreed by a majority of member states. That could be difficult and there is a long way to go.
The UK, Ireland and Denmark have opt-outs from parts of EU justice and home affairs (JHA) policy. As EU law professor Steve Peers explains in this blog piece, they can use those opt-outs to avoid any mandatory burden-sharing.
A legal difficulty for the UK might arise if the quota system affects the EU's Dublin Regulation. It states that asylum claims should be handled by the member state that played the greatest part in the applicant's entry or residence in the EU. Often that is the first EU country that the migrant reached - meaning that Greece, Italy and Malta are under particular pressure now.
The UK and some other EU countries use the regulation as a legal basis for deporting illegal migrants and failed asylum seekers. But a quota system might put a limit on such expulsions.
Is military force the solution?
What is the reaction to the Commission plans?
Germany supports the proposed EU distribution key, because it would ease its own asylum burden. Nearly 250,000 people have applied for asylum in Germany in the past 12 months - far more than in any other EU country.
Last year 90% of asylum applications in the EU were lodged in only 10 member states. Sweden and Hungary also have high applicant totals relative to their population.
Italy and Austria are among those who favour a quota system. And French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also voiced support, saying "I think it's normal to share out the asylum claimants" among EU member states.
But Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban rejected what he called a "mad and unfair" proposal.
And a UK Home Office spokesman said "we will oppose any EU Commission proposals to introduce a non-voluntary quota".
The spokesman said the EU must focus on stopping "the vile trade in human beings". That means boosting co-operation between law enforcement agencies, stopping the transit of migrants in non-EU countries and "establishing a more effective process of returning illegal migrants".
For the incoming Conservative government under David Cameron immigration is a priority area for winning concessions from Brussels.
Why is it proving so hard to stop the influx of migrants?
The Commission admits that the EU's current Common European Asylum System has "fallen short".
A combination of factors make this a particularly difficult issue for the EU:
Why is the EU struggling with migrants and asylum?
Migrant survivors' stories


Alassane Ouattara has been in power since his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, was forcibly removed from after refusing to recognise Mr Ouattara internationally recognised victory in the November 2010 presidential election.
The poll was meant to draw a line under a 2002-03 civil war which left the country split in two, but it led to a stalemate lasting more than four months.
Mr Gbagbo, who had been in power for 10 years and several times delayed elections, claimed victory in the 2010 poll and held onto power, helped by his militia but isolated by the international community.
Mr Ouattara was initially confined to a hotel near the presidential palace, protected by UN peacekeeping troops.
Eventually his militia overran the country and - together with French troops - stormed the presidential palace and captured Mr Gbagbo in April 2011.
Mr Gbagbo was subsequently transferred to The Hague to stand trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
In 2015, Mr Ouattara won a second five-year term with nearly 84% of the vote, in an election described as credible by US observers. An ally of Mr Ggagbo won 9%.
A US-educated economist from the Muslim north, Mr Ouattara served as President Felix Houphouet-Boigny's last prime minister after a long career at the International Monetary Fund.
After losing a power struggle against Henri Konan Bedie, who became president, Mr Ouattara returned to the IMF, eventually becoming deputy managing director.
He made a comeback in Ivorian politics as head of the liberal Rally of the Republicans, which has strong support in the north, and backed the coup that ousted President Bedie in 1999.
Disputes about whether Mr Ouattara's parents were Ivorian led to his being debarred from standing for the presidency in 2000 - one of the controversies that prompted the 2002 civil war. As part of the post-war settlement, Mr Ouattara was allowed to register for the 2010 election.


A boy killed in an accident in a Topshop store has been described as "loving, cheeky and energetic" by his family.

In a statement, the family said they were with 10-year-old Kaden Reddick at the time of the tragedy at the Oracle Centre in Reading.
They added that his death would leave a "huge empty hole in the lives of everybody that knew him".
An investigation has been launched into his death, which happened on Monday.
Kaden, from Reading, suffered serious head injuries in an accident involving a display barrier.
His family said Kaden was a "very creative" and "adventurous" boy who enjoyed playing on his bike and with his friends in the woods.
"For us the saddest part of Kaden's death is that he will never be able to fulfil his potential.
"Kaden will be forever remembered by us; with him looking down from the stars, and us looking up and smiling at all of our loving memories of him.
"He was much loved by all of his family and friends, and will be hugely missed by his siblings, and everyone else who was touched by his warmth and love."
Garland Junior School in West Berkshire, where Kaden was a year six student, said news of his death had come as a "shock to the school community".
In a statement, the school described him as an "energetic young man who enjoyed helping others".
The statement added: "We send our heartfelt condolences to Kaden's family and our thoughts will remain with them as they come to terms with his death."
Kaden had been taken to hospital with serious head injuries on what was the first day of half-term for pupils in Berkshire, but later died.
Police said the incident had involved a display barrier and that it was being treated as unexplained but not suspicious.
An investigation has been launched by the force and Reading Borough Council.
Topshop said earlier it had removed till barrier units from all its stores after what it described as a "horrific accident".


Campaigning has begun in Myanmar, two months ahead of its first openly-contested general election in 25 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is expected to win the most seats, while losses are predicted for the ruling military-backed party.
Ms Suu Kyi is standing for parliament but is constitutionally barred from becoming president.
Over 90 parties will stand in the first national polls since a nominally civilian government took power in 2011.
Read more: Aung San Suu Kyi's party excludes Muslim candidates
In a video message released on her party's Facebook page, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi called for a free and fair election.
"For the first time in decades our people will have a real chance of bringing about real change," she said. "This is a chance that we cannot afford to let slip."
Highlighting concern the military might not respect a result that went against them, she added: "A smooth and tranquil transition is almost more important than a free and fair election."
The constitution of Myanmar, also known as Burma, grants the military at least 25% of parliamentary seats, so the NLD and any allies will need to win at least two-thirds of the remaining seats in order to choose the next president.
Even if the NLD does win a parliamentary majority, the military is still guaranteed a veto over any constitutional change and its commander-in-chief will still control key ministerial appointments.
The last time the party took part in a national election was in 1990, and they won by a landslide. But the result was ignored by the military, which kept Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years.
The NLD boycotted the next nationwide poll in 2010, which was won by the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) despite widespread accusations of vote-rigging.
But a week after it was held Ms Suu Kyi was released and her party stood in 2012 by-elections, winning 43 of the 44 seats it contested, including her own.
The campaign begins less then a month after a major presidential contender and opponent of President Thein Sein, powerful parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, was removed as USDP party leader.
His dismissal was seen as a move by Thein Sein to tighten his political grip ahead of the vote.


How much am I looking forward to watching the boys do the business at Euro 2016?

I'm super excited, not just for them but for the nation. It's going to be amazing watching a Welsh football team at a major tournament at last - it has only taken us 58 years!
It's great being back in Wales from the United States at this awesome time for football as me and the Wales women team get ready for a crucial game of our own on Tuesday in Newport.
Our match against Norway is a must-win - but more about that in a bit.
We'd love to cash-in on some of that euphoria around the guys going to Euro 2016 in France
It has been great sharing the Welsh FA's Vale of Glamorgan HQ with Chris Coleman and the boys and we hope to cash in on the euphoria around Welsh football against Norway.
You can sense the high spirits everywhere you turn and we are hoping that the fans who haven't yet left for France to follow the boys at Euro 2016 will come and cheer us on in Newport.
We need your support - Norway are usually a top-10-in-the-world team.
At such a monumental moment in Welsh football, I'd like to think people will really want to invest in the national teams of Wales, both male and female.
I'm so glad I made it back from injury after breaking a bone in my leg six weeks ago - and what are the chances, Wales' biggest injury worry before the Euros had a similar problem.
Joe Ledley broke a bone in his leg in early May and within four weeks, he's named in Wales' Euro 2016 squad. That's good going - as I know only too well.
My leg is feeling really good, I haven't missed a training session and everything has gone well with the recuperation - and clearly Joe has had the same fortune.
I watched Joe when the Wales boys were training the other day and I had a little chuckle to myself as I was thinking 'he is going to be fine'.
I was doing the same thing 10 days before and I have played one-and-a-half games since then with no ill-effects.
Joe is all right. Joe is fine. He's going to be great.
I travelled all over the place to get my leg fixed. When we got the diagnosis, my club Seattle were a little worried, not just because of the break itself but because of the fluid and the bone bruising around the knee and down the leg.
I called a guy I trusted called Nick, who I knew during my time playing in Melbourne, and he had just treated a very similar injury. He gave me a very good timeline for coming back so in agreement with Seattle, I flew to Australia and did some acute rehabilitation.
It is credit to Seattle and Nick for getting me back symptom-free in really, really quick time.
Playing in Tuesday's Wales game was always huge for me, it was a game I felt I needed to be back for and play my part.
Seattle are happy, Wales are happy and so am I. But I have that trust with Seattle and it is important as I could have easily been out for two months and that is something nobody wanted.
This Norway game is one of those must-win games. We would take a 1-0 win now. Absolutely 100%.
It is not going to be easy and probably isn't going to be pretty. It will take hard work, teamwork and lots of determination to get a result. Hopefully we can do just that.
We'd love to see you all in Newport. It'd be great if you could inspire us to victory and we could get you in that party mood for France.
Jess Fishlock was talking to BBC Wales Sport's Michael Pearlman


The Broadway transfer of Tim Minchin's Groundhog Day The Musical is hoping to triumph at this year's Tony Awards.

The show is up for seven prizes including best musical, director (Matthew Warchus) and original score.
Based on the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, the musical also had a successful run in London's West End.
Tim will be hoping he can win a Tony for his score this time around, having missed out in the same category for Matilda the Musical back in 2013.
Groundhog Day won two Oliver awards last month, including best new musical and best actor in a musical for Andy Karl - who is also nominated for a Tony for his Broadway transfer performance.
Other big name stars nominated for this year's awards include Frasier star David Hyde Pierce (Hello Dolly!), who will compete against singer Josh Groban who made his Broadway debut in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.
Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon are also in the running for their roles in the revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.
Danny DeVito and Nathan Lane are also up for acting honours, as is Bette Midler.
The Tony Awards will be presented on 11 June at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall in a ceremony hosted by Kevin Spacey.
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