Scientists in the Arctic are warning that this summer's record-breaking melt is part of an accelerating trend with profound implications.

Norwegian researchers report that the sea ice is becoming significantly thinner and more vulnerable.
Last month, the annual thaw of the region's floating ice reached the lowest level since satellite monitoring began, more than 30 years ago.
It is thought the scale of the decline may even affect Europe's weather.
The melt is set to continue for at least another week - the peak is usually reached in mid-September - while temperatures here remain above freezing.
The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) is at the forefront of Arctic research and its international director, Kim Holmen, told the BBC that the speed of the melting was faster than expected.
"It is a greater change than we could even imagine 20 years ago, even 10 years ago," Dr Holmen said.
"And it has taken us by surprise and we must adjust our understanding of the system and we must adjust our science and we must adjust our feelings for the nature around us."
The institute has been deploying its icebreaker, Lance, to research conditions between Svalbard and Greenland - the main route through which ice flows out of the Arctic Ocean.
During a visit to the port, one of the scientists involved, Dr Edmond Hansen, told me he was "amazed" at the size and speed of this year's melt.
"As a scientist, I know that this is unprecedented in at least as much as 1,500 years. It is truly amazing - it is a huge dramatic change in the system," Dr Hansen said.
"This is not some short-lived phenomenon - this is an ongoing trend. You lose more and more ice and it is accelerating - you can just look at the graphs, the observations, and you can see what's happening."
I interviewed Dr Hansen while the Lance was docked at Norway's Arctic research station at Ny-Alesund on Svalbard.
Key data on the ice comes from satellites but also from measurements made by a range of different techniques - a mix of old and new technology harnessed to help answer the key environmental questions of our age.
The Norwegians send teams out on to the floating ice to drill holes into it and extract cores to determine the ice's origin.
And since the early 90s they have installed specialist buoys, tethered to the seabed, which use sonar to provide a near-constant stream of data about the ice above.
An electro-magnetic device known as an EM-Bird has also been flown, suspended beneath a helicopter, in long sweeps over the ice.
The torpedo-shaped instrument gathers data about the difference between the level of the seawater beneath the ice and the surface of the ice itself.
By flying transects over the ice, a picture of its thickness emerges. The latest data is still being processed but one of the institute's sea ice specialists, Dr Sebastian Gerland, said that though conditions vary year by year a pattern is clear.
"In the region where we work we can see a general trend to thinner ice - in the Fram Strait and at some coastal stations."
Where the ice vanishes entirely, the surface loses its usual highly reflective whiteness - which sends most solar radiation back into space - and is replaced by darker waters instead which absorb more heat.
According to Dr Gerland, additional warming can take place even if ice remains in a far thinner state.
"It means there is more light penetrating through the ice - that depends to a high degree on the snow cover but once it has melted the light can get through," Dr Gerland said.
"If the ice is thinner there is more light penetrating and that light can heat the water."
The most cautious forecasts say that the Arctic might become ice-free in the summer by the 2080s or 2090s. But recently many estimates for that scenario have been brought forward.
Early research investigating the implications suggests that a massive reduction in sea ice is likely to have an impact on the path of the jet stream, the high-altitude wind that guides weather systems, including storms.
The course and speed of the jet stream is governed by the difference in temperature between the Tropics and the Arctic, so a change on the scale being observed now could be felt across Europe and beyond.
Kim Holmen of the NPI explained how the connection might work.
"When the Arctic is ice free, it is not white any more and it will absorb more sunlight and that change will influence wind systems and where the precipitation comes.
"For northern Europe it could mean much more precipitation, while southern Europe will become drier so there are large scale shifts across the entire continent."
That assessment is mirrored by work at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, based in the British town of Reading.
The centre's director-general, Alan Thorpe, said the link between the Arctic melt and European weather was complicated but it is now the subject of research.
"Where Arctic sea ice is reducing in summer - and if we have warmer than average sea surface temperatures in the north-west Atlantic - these twin factors together lead to storms being steered over the UK in summer which is not the normal situation and leads to our poorer summers."
But the research is in its earliest stages. For science, the Arctic itself is hard to decipher. The effects of its rapid melt are even tougher.
You can see David's coverage from the Arctic on BBC News on Friday - on television, on radio and online.  Photographs by Mark Georgiou


An international rugby player who knocked a student unconscious in an "unprovoked" attack has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Alafoti Faosiliva, 30, who plays for Samoa and Bath, admitted assaulting Nissi Kyeremeh on 6 February.
Bath Magistrates' Court heard the university student was punched after checking on the player, who seemed upset.
Faosiliva received an eight week sentence suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to pay Mr Kyeremeh Â£1,500 in compensation.
The court was told Faosiliva, of Mascroft Road in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, had "expressed remorse" for the assault.
Mark Haslem, representing the rugby player, said his client, who had been drinking in the SouthGate area of Bath, had "come to his senses" following the attack and tried to apologise.
"There was no premeditation. The defendant had completely lost the plot," Mr Haslem said.
After the attack Mr Kyeremeh told police: "He had no reason to behave in this way. My only action was to check on his welfare."
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Kyeremeh said: "Since the incident I have suffered with dizziness, blurry vision and the inability to sleep.
"The incident has had a dramatic impact on my studies. I am unable to concentrate and unable to retain information."
Faosiliva, who joined Bath in 2013, has been suspended by the club and faces disciplinary proceedings.
Speaking outside court, Faosiliva said: "I want to apologise to my club, to my team, for what happened.
"I want to say thank you for the support."


The police have warned that lives are being put at risk after a spate of more than 200 deliberate gorse fires across Northern Ireland since Monday.

They appealed to those involved in setting wild fires to "consider the possible consequences" for communities.
The PSNI warning was issued after a deliberate gorse fire threatened houses in Newry, County Down, overnight.
On Saturday, there were a number of fires near Florencecourt, County Fermanagh.
Fire crews were called to Gortalughany Viewpoint, near the Marble Arch Caves at around midnight, and they were called out again to the same area on Saturday afternoon.
Smoke could be seen billowing over Cuilcagh Mountain at the time.
The cause of the latest incidents has not yet been confirmed, but fire crews said on Friday night that more than 90% of the gorse fires they have been dealing with since Monday were deliberate.
PSNI Supt Emma Bond said: "Gorse fires have the potential to cause widespread damage to the environment and harm to wildlife, as well as threatening homes, farms and the people living in those areas.
"The unpredictability of fire can also mean that those setting them may be putting their own lives at risk as well as the lives of the fire service personnel and other emergency services tasked to deal with them.
"There can also be untold consequences to tying up crucial emergency resources that may be needed elsewhere."


A university has been fined after two students suffered "life-threatening" effects when they were given 100 times too much caffeine in an experiment.

Northumbria University told Newcastle Crown Court it was "deeply, genuinely sorry" as it was fined £400,000.
Sports science students Alex Rossetta and Luke Parkin were each given the equivalent of 300 cups of coffee.
They were admitted to intensive care for dialysis after the calculation error led to violent side-effects.
Prosecutor Adam Farrer told the court the overdose "could easily have been fatal".
Peter Smith, defending, said the university wished to "emphasise that they take the welfare of their students and staff seriously".
The students had volunteered to take part in a test in March 2015 aimed at measuring the effect of caffeine on exercise.
They were given 30g of caffeine instead of 0.3g, Mr Farrer said.
Death had previously been reported after consumption of just 18g, he told the court.
The university had switched from using caffeine tablets to powder, he said.
"The staff were not experienced or competent enough and they had never done it on their own before," he said.
"The university took no steps to make sure the staff knew how to do it."
The calculation had been done on a mobile phone, with the decimal point in the wrong place, and there was no risk assessment.
Both men have made a full physical recovery, though Mr Rossetta had reported short-term memory loss, the court heard.
The university admitted the health and safety breach at a hearing last month.


Police investigating the death of a Portadown schoolgirl have arrested a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy.

Caitlin White, 15, died in Craigavon Hospital after being found unconscious in woodland near Portadown's Corcrain estate on Saturday evening.
The exact cause of her death is not yet known.
Police have said a possible link to drugs is one line of inquiry into the Craigavon Senior High School pupil's death.


Its port was once one of the world's busiest and the river has been its lifeblood, but Newport has never boasted a beach - until this weekend.

The free 'urban beach' will be opened in the city's John Frost Square, next to the Friars Walk shopping centre, on Saturday.
It has 13 tonnes of sand, 50 deck chairs, 50 bucket and spades and 'I Love Newport' sticks of rock.
The 'Life's A Beach' event will include buskers and a football freestyler.
Shoppers can visit the beach, organised by Newport Now Business Improvement District (BID), between 10:00 and 17:00 on Saturday and Sunday.
"Part of the business improvement district's remit is to stage events that draw more people into the city centre," said Newport Now BID manager Kevin Ward.


RSPCA Cymru is calling for a ban on keeping primates as pets, saying hundreds may be "suffering behind closed doors".

The animal welfare charity hopes Wales will join 15 European countries which have implemented a ban.
Last year, it received more calls about primates in Wales than in any of the previous 11 years.
RSPCA's senior scientific officer, Ros Clubb said: "All primates, hand-reared or not, are wild animals.
"It doesn't matter how well intentioned the owner is, primates are not suitable pets."
"We fear there are hundreds more that are suffering behind closed doors because people do not know how to look after these animals properly."
It is estimated that there are around 120 privately-kept primates in Wales, with marmosets, capuchins and squirrel monkeys being the most common.
In a survey, RSPCA Cymru found that 72% of those polled in Wales support a ban of keeping primates as pets.
Former Assembly Member Lorraine Barrett re-homed a monkey from a pet shop in the 1980s after feeling "desperately sorry for him."
"The minute I walked in the house with the monkey I realised how out of my depth I was," she said.
"One time he was on the top of the cupboard and jumped on my son's head. I went to grab him and he bit me all around my arm. We were all just screaming."
"The only advice people need is that primates should never be kept as pets."


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has defended his country's air strikes in Syria, saying they were targeting the same "terrorist" groups as the US-led coalition.

He rejected suggestions that Russian action was to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian jets carried out a second day of air strikes in Syria on Thursday.
But a US official said Russia had been isolated by its "indiscriminate" strikes against the Syrian opposition.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that if Russia was genuinely focused on fighting Islamic State (IS) it would contribute to the US-led coalition.
The strikes risk drawing Russia more deeply into the conflict, he added.
The Russian defence ministry said five sites were attacked on Thursday and an IS command post at Jisr al-Shughour was destroyed.
The Kremlin says it is acting on the request of the Syrian government to help combat IS militants - who have seized parts of Syria and Iraq - and other designated terrorist groups.
But the US and its allies fear the strikes have mainly targeted opponents of Russia's ally, President Assad.
Mr Lavrov, speaking at the UN in New York, said Russia would fight IS and other terrorist groups including the al-Nusra Front - an al-Qaeda affiliate.
He said this position was the same as the US-led coalition which has been carrying out air strikes in Iraq and Syria for several months.
"We are not supporting anyone against their own people. We fight terrorism," he said.
"As far as I understand it, the [US-led] coalition announced Isil (IS) and other associated groups as the enemy. And the coalition does the same as Russia does."
The Syrian government's army may not be what it was, but in local terms it is still a force to be reckoned with.
Bolstered with new Russian equipment and now backed by Russian air power, it could hold its own against most of the opposition forces.
Russia does not have the elaborate intelligence gathering panoply of the US. But much of its targeting will be based upon tactical intelligence obtained from Syrian units on the ground.
This then is the key to Russia's strategy. It is to consolidate the Assad regime, to relieve the pressure points and to ensure that its ally remains a factor in any future diplomatic settlement.
To this end - and there are strong indications of this even from Russia's initial air strikes - Moscow will hit any opponents of the Syrian regime where necessary.
What can Russia's air force do?
Is Russia fanning the flames of war?
Activist describes 'frightening Russian air strike'
Mr Lavrov said the sites being attacked were selected "in co-ordination with the Syrian army".
On the Free Syrian Army he added: "We believe that the Free Syrian Army should be part of the political process like some other armed groups on the ground composed of Syrian patriotic opposition individuals."
Mr Lavrov also said there were no plans to expand air strikes to Iraq.
"We were not invited; we were not asked. And we are polite people, as you know. We don't come if not invited," he said.
Iran - also an ally of President Assad - called the Russian operation "a step toward fighting terrorism and toward resolving the current crisis".
The Russian air strikes have raised fears of accidental conflict with the US-led campaign.
But Mr Earnest said US and Russian officials had held hour-long talks to discuss "deconfliction" operations, and that this was the first of a series of discussions.
The Syrian civil war began with an uprising against the government but has since splintered into various rebel groups fighting President Assad's forces and also each other.
According to reports from activists and other sources, Russia's latest air strikes hit sites in the north-west held by a rebel alliance called the Army of Conquest, as well as areas in Homs and Hama provinces.
The strategic town of Jisr al-Shughour was hit, as well as areas in Idlib province and Hama province further south, according to Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV.
Rebel activists also reported strikes at Ghantu in Homs province, close to some of Wednesday's attacks.
The commander of a US-trained rebel group said one of its training camps had been hit by two Russian sorties on Thursday.
Hassan Haj Ali, of the Liwa Suqour al-Jabal group, told Reuters news agency that about 20 missiles had hit their camp in Idlib province.
He said the Russian jets were identified by former Syrian air force pilots who are now members of his group.
The Russian defence ministry said civilian areas were not targeted, although the Syrian opposition says the strikes have killed civilians.
What's the human cost?
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war.
And the survivors?
More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes, four million of them abroad, as forces loyal to President Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from IS and other groups. Growing numbers of refugees are going to Europe.
How has the world reacted?
Regional and world powers have also been drawn into the conflict. Iran and Russia, along with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, are propping up the Alawite-led government. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are backing the Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.
The battle for Syria and Iraq in maps
Syria's civil war explained


The pay gap between men and women working at the Department for Education (DfE) is 5.9%, new figures reveal.

The figure was calculated by how much an individual is paid per hour, so takes account of part-time workers.
The DfE is the first government department to publish the difference between the pay of men and women.
The national gap is 18.1%, but the DfE uses a different methodology so cannot be compared directly to the Office for National Statistics figure.
Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening said her department was setting an example on promoting gender equality.
The DfE reported a mean pay gap - the difference between average salaries for men and women - of 5.3% and a median pay gap of 5.9%.
Pay gap data will be published by all government departments and large private companies by April 2018.
The ONS national gender pay gap for full and part-time workers is the lowest since records began in 1997.
Ms Greening said: "I'm proud that the DfE has taken an important step in reporting its gender pay gap, setting an example to other employers as we build a stronger economy where success is defined by talent, not gender or circumstance.
"The UK's gender pay gap is at a record low, but we are committed to closing it.
"As one of the UK's largest employers, the public sector has a vital role to play in leading the way to tackle the gender pay gap which is why the DfE's step to publish our gender pay gap matters."
The department says it has introduced a range of initiatives to support women in the workplace, such as supporting women returning to work, monitoring pay and helping women progress in their careers.


Israel's Supreme Court is suspending the detention of a Palestinian hunger striker who has suffered brain damage after 65 days without food.

Mohammed Allan, an alleged member of the militant group Islamic Jihad, began refusing food in June in protest at his indefinite administrative detention.
Israel had offered to release him in early November in return for him ending his hunger strike.
Doctors say Mr Allan is in a serious condition in hospital in Ashkelon.
"Due to the petitioner's medical condition he will remain in intensive care," the court ruling said.
"This means that for now, owing to the hunger striker's medical condition, the administrative detention order is no longer operative."
The court said his family could visit him but he should remain in hospital until any further decision was taken on his future.
The Israeli justice ministry has alleged that Mr Allan is involved in "grave terrorism". It says that "classified information" warrants keeping him detained.
Mr Allan denies the allegations and any involvement with Islamic Jihad.
Mr Allan began the hunger strike on 16 June in protest against his incarceration since November 2014 under what Israel calls administrative detention.
The system allows a military court to order suspects to be detained indefinitely, subject to renewal every six months by the court, without charge or trial.
He lost consciousness and was placed on a respirator on Friday after his lungs stopped working and he had seizures. He was also given salts and minerals intravenously.
On Tuesday, he regained consciousness and told his lawyers that he would stop consuming water within 24 hours if there was no acceptable deal to release him.
On Wednesday the court ordered medical tests to be carried out on Mr Allan to determine the level of brain damage, promising that he would be freed if it was irreversible.
A doctor at the hospital told the Associated Press news agency the hunger striker was "incoherent" and "not connecting with his surroundings".
"There is some damage in a part of the brain that was probably caused by a lack of vitamins... and it is expressed in other systems of his body," Dr Hezy Levy said, adding that he could not predict whether the damage was reversible.
There are fears that violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank might escalate if Mr Allan dies.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks since an arson attack on a Palestinian home that killed an 18-month-old boy and his father.


An "exceedingly rare" photograph signed by two members of the royal family has been found in a Cardiff bric-a-brac store.

The image shows the Queen and Prince Charles with members of the Privy Council after a meeting at Buckingham Palace in 1981.
Both royals have signed it.
Auctioneers said it was bought by a member of the public for "about Â£20" but is expected to fetch up to Â£1,000 at auction.
The meeting on 27 March 1981 marked the Queen giving Prince Charles consent to marry Princess Diana, who is not pictured, under the Royal Marriages Act.
It will go under the hammer with Dominic Winter Auctioneers Ltd, of South Cerney, Gloucestershire, next month.
Chris Albury, auctioneer and senior valuer, said it was the first time he had seen something signed by more than one member of the royal family.
"A guy saw it in the window of the shop and wasn't entirely sure if the signatures were authentic," he said.
"I did a double take when I saw it, I thought I better not get too excited until I check it out properly."
Mr Albury initially thought the signatures might have been autopen - ink signatures made by a "robot", which the royals use to sign Christmas cards - but further tests showed they were "genuine".
"What I like about it is that, when it comes to royal autograph collecting, the key is to collect the monarchs, it is the gold standard," he added.
"With Prince Charles next in line, it could become an item that has not one, but two, monarch signatures.
"Whether it's a one-off, I don't yet know. The next part of my research is to find out exactly why they both signed it."
The frame of the photograph has also been signed by George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy, who is pictured second on the right in the front row.
It will go under the hammer on 5 April.


World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson has backed Owen Farrell to overtake his England points record.

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Farrell, 25, is set to move past 500 international points this weekend against Fiji, and is second in the England all-time list behind Wilkinson.
Asked whether Farrell could one day beat his record of 1,179 points, Wilkinson said: "I have no doubt.
"I would be very surprised if Owen Farrell didn't go on to score way, way more," he told BBC Sport.
"500 points for a guy who is 25 years old, you don't have to do the maths but if he plays until he is 35, he will be in a good place."
Wilkinson has been involved in the England camp this year as a kicking and skills consultant, and says he can identify with the way Saracens fly-half Farrell approaches the game.
"Sometimes when we are discussing things, you hear something that you definitely correspond with," said Wilkinson, who on Thursday became one of 12 new inductees into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
"[Working with England] is a really exciting opportunity," Wilkinson, who scored the winning drop goal in the 2003 World Cup final, continued.
"But there is no telling or teaching, it's kind of a sharing, and therefore there has to be room in all of us to keep growing. I am also there to learn."
Wilkinson has also compared the current midfield combination of Farrell, who has scored 497 points for England, and fly-half George Ford to his partnership with inside centres Will Greenwood or Mike Catt.
"Both those guys were phenomenally important to me in my career, in the way they supported me, got the best out of me, and helped me to uncover more about myself," Wilkinson explained.
"With Owen and George, they are both very, very open individuals, both very humble - but not because they have been taught what to say, but genuinely it's who they are.
"There is not a script being followed here. They are following enthusiasm, passion and serious devotion.
"It's very similar when you mention names like Mike Catt and Will Greenwood, it all makes perfect sense. It's just about having good people in there."
You can hear more from Jonny Wilkinson on the Matt Dawson Rugby Show on BBC Radio 5 live from 19:30 GMT on Thursday, 17 November.


Chaos has broken out on the Greek island of Kos amid attempts to relocate hundreds of migrants to a football stadium for registration.

Police officers used batons and sprayed fire extinguishers as they tried to impose order on the crowds.
It comes after an officer on Kos was suspended for slapping one man while brandishing a knife.
Authorities are struggling with a rapidly growing number of migrants who have arrived hoping for a better life.
Many migrants and refugees have been camping alongside roads and beaches on the Aegean island, a popular tourist destination.
But an attempt relocate hundreds of people to a stadium for registration on Tuesday degenerated into chaos, with scuffles breaking out in the long queues.
"The situation on the island is out of control," Kos mayor Giorgos Kiritsis told the Greek news agency ANA. "There is a real danger that blood will be shed."
Protesting migrants demanding quick registration also began blocking the main coastal road in the island's main town, according to the Associated Press.
They reportedly chanted: "We want papers, we want to eat!"
Greece has been overwhelmed by the number of migrants and refugees arriving, with at least 124,000 people reaching its shores by sea in the first seven months of this year alone, according to the the United Nations refugee agency.
The UNHCR says nearly all new arrivals in Greece are refugees from the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its European Director, Vincent Cochetel, has said facilities on the Greek islands are "totally inadequate".
A policeman on Kos was suspended on Monday after he was caught on camera striking a migrant.
The footage shows him roughly pushing back migrants outside a local authority building in Kos, slapping one man across the face as he shoves others, telling them to get back behind a line he has drawn on the pavement with the knife.
Greek police say 156,726 migrants were arrested for entering or remaining in the country illegally from January to July 2015, compared with 32,070 for the same months in 2014.
Meanwhile the local coastguard said it had rescued 329 migrants in seven separate incidents off the coast of Lesbos and Kos in the 24 hours from Monday morning, according to AP.
The islands are several miles from the Turkish coast, and for many migrants the quickest and easiest route into the EU.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said Greece cannot cope with the influx of arrivals, and that his country's economic problems mean it is facing a humanitarian "crisis within a crisis".


Hillary Clinton's use of private email while secretary of state put the "entire country in danger", US Republican Donald Trump has said.

The FBI's decision not to recommend criminal charges against her is the greatest example yet that the system is rigged, he told a North Carolina rally.
Democrat Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump are their party's likely choices to do battle for the White House in November.
They are expected to be made the official nominees later this month.
FBI Director James Comey said Mrs Clinton had been careless in how she handled sensitive information but there was no case to bring criminal charges because there was no evidence of intent.
Speaking in Raleigh, Mr Trump disagreed and said the system had been set up to protect the Clintons  - she had put the "entire country in danger" and had probably been hacked.
"Her judgment is horrible," he said, adding: "She will be such a lousy president, folks."
The New York businessman also said that Attorney General Loretta Lynch had been bribed, getting a promise she would keep her job in return for allowing Mrs Clinton to escape prosecution.
At the same rally, Mr Trump offered qualified praise for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"Saddam Hussein was a bad guy," Mr Trump said. "But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read them their rights."
Other Republicans were also critical of the FBI decision. House Speaker Paul Ryan said it "defied explanation".
"Declining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent," he said.
The FBI's key findings:
Hours later, she appeared on stage with President Barack Obama in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Neither of them mentioned the case. Instead, Mr Obama offered her an enthusiastic endorsement at the rally - his first appearance with her during the campaign.
They were once rivals, but their political destinies are now tied. Eight years after Clinton campaigned for him, Obama took to the election trail for her and gave her a huge boost by bringing his unparalleled skills as a campaigner and orator to Charlotte for their first joint appearance.
The role reversal was striking. She spoke first as the president sat behind her, arms crossed, listening, in his new role as her most high-profile surrogate. She made a reference to their bitterly fought campaign in 2008 and their political reconciliation as proof of what Americans could achieve when they came together.
The president used one of his favourite lines from his campaigning days to get the crowd "fired up and ready to go" as he told supporters he was counting on them to get Clinton to the White House. He knows that to preserve his legacy he needs her victory.
Standing on the sidelines, her aides, who had been there in the bitterly cold days of Iowa in 2008, watched almost in disbelief that their journey could have led them here.
Neither Clinton nor Obama addressed the FBI investigation into her private email set-up, but that cloud has now partly lifted and Clinton's team seemed relieved. But Republicans will use Mr Comey's words about her email arrangement -"extremely careless" - against her at every turn.
Mr Obama said he believed in Mrs Clinton and there had never been any man or woman more qualified for the presidency.
Mrs Clinton's campaign spokesman backed the decision but admitted it had been a "mistake" for her to use personal email.
Her personal email server, which she used for both government and personal business, has haunted her campaign since the issue first emerged in March 2015.


At least three protesters have been shot dead in the south Syrian city of Deraa as security forces clamped down on a protest rally.

They were killed by security forces as protesters demanded political freedom and an end to corruption, eyewitnesses and activists told foreign media.
President Bashar al-Assad, whose Baath party has dominated politics for nearly 50 years, tolerates no dissent.
Washington strongly condemned the use of force against demonstrators.
White House national security council spokesman Tommy Vietor said the US was calling on the Syrian government to "allow demonstrations to take place peacefully".
"Those responsible for today's violence must be held accountable," he added.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the "use of lethal force against peaceful demonstrators and their arbitrary arrests" were "unacceptable", according to a spokesman.
"It is the responsibility of the government in Syria to listen to the legitimate aspirations of the people and address them through inclusive political dialogue and genuine reforms, not repression," he added.
Syria's state news agency Sana said violence and "acts of sabotage" had broken out at a demonstration in Deraa on Friday, prompting security forces to intervene.
It accused "infiltrators" of seeking to "provoke chaos through acts of violence which resulted in damage to private and public property".
Two of the dead people were named by witnesses as Hussam Abdel Wali Ayyash and Akram Jawabreh.
They had been among "several thousand" demonstrators chanting "God, Syria, Freedom" and anti-corruption slogans, accusing the president's family of corruption, a resident told Reuters news agency.
Security forces, the Reuters source added, were reinforced with troops flown in by helicopters.
An unnamed human rights activist in Deraa, who was contacted by AFP news agency, said security forces had fired live bullets at the protesters and "hundreds" of protesters had also been wounded.
He told AFP that "many" of the wounded had been "snatched by security forces" from hospital and moved to unknown locations.
Mazen Darwish, a prominent Syrian activist in Damascus, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that at least five people were shot and killed. He was citing eyewitnesses and hospital officials at the scene.


The best golfers in the world over the age of 50 are gathered at Royal Porthcawl in Wales for the 31st Senior Open Championship.

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The final senior major of the season sees Paul Broadhurst looking to defend his title after becoming the first Englishman to win the Senior Open at Carnoustie last year.
The event begins on Thursday, 27 July and ends on Sunday, 30 July.
In arguably the strongest field assembled for a Senior Open, there are nine former Ryder Cup captains and 30 former players appearing in South Wales.
In total, the tournament will feature 15 major champions with 31 victories between them. In addition, there are 17 Senior major champions with a combined 39 titles among the 144 players in the field.
Former Ryder Cup player Broadhurst faces stiff competition, primarily from nine-time Senior major champion Bernhard Langer, who is looking to set a new record of 10 senior major victories as he returns to a Porthcawl where he has enjoyed splendid success.
Langer, a victorious Ryder Cup captain, won by 13 shots in 2014 when Porthcawl last staged the Senior Open.
Fellow former European captains Sir Nick Faldo, Paul McGinley, Colin Montgomerie and Jose María Olazabal also feature.
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Montgomerie, the captain of Europe when Wales staged the Ryder Cup in 2010, says winning the Senior Open is his "number one target," this year.
The Scot finished second behind Langer at Porthcawl in the 2014 Senior Open and was also second in the 2005 Open at St Andrews.
Since turning 50 in 2013, Montgomerie has claimed three Senior Tour majors but the Senior Open remains elusive.
Another victorious European skipper, Ian Woosnam, leads the charge for Wales alongside compatriot and 2002 Ryder Cup hero Phillip Price, who competes in his first Senior Open. Mark Mouland and Stephen Dodd will also bid to become the first Welsh winner since Brian Huggett in 1998.
Former USA Ryder Cup Captains Tom Lehman, Corey Pavin and Tom Watson all return. The trio have 10 major championships and nine senior major victories between them.
Fred Couples, Masters champion in 1992, and John Daly, a two-time major winner, are also representing the US, with Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez also likely to be a contender, as he was in Carnoustie in 2016.
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A jewel in the crown for Welsh golf, Royal Porthcawl is a course Welsh Government economy minister Ken Skates wants to see considered as a potential future Open venue.
However, being a picturesque course celebrating a birthday of 122 is both a blessing and a curse, with many questioning if Porthcawl has the infrastructure in place to cope with the demand of hosting an Open championship.
Close to 250,000 attended this year's event at Birkdale, far in excess of the 43,503 spectators who attended the 2014 Senior Open at Porthcawl.
However, when it comes to player satisfaction, there can be little doubt that Porthcawl ticks all boxes.
"From the first hole on, it was just one great hole after another and one great green complex after another. I really fell in love with it immediately. It's a great golf course," Tom Watson says of Porthcawl.
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"It is an elegant links course which has everything to offer the links golfer. The complete package," the five-time Open winner added.
Montgomerie agrees. "I was taken aback at how undulating it was for a links course and how good it was. I was very, very impressed," he said.
"It is a very solid golf course and one you have to be extremely careful of. You can get the odd lucky bounce, but you can't be lucky for four days.
"I enjoyed playing it. It was a course full of character and I put it in the same category as Turnberry and Royal Birkdale. Let's also hope the weather plays its part again.
"I think it's a very underrated and underplayed golf course."


One of the game's most influential leaders has admitted the modern golf ball travels too far for the good of the sport.

Mike Davis is chief executive of the United States Golf Association (USGA), which, along with the St Andrews-based R&A, sets the rules of the game.
In recent decades, courses all over the world have been forced to expand to accommodate the vast distances generated by modern players. They are helped by drivers with large sweet-spots and balls that spin less and travel further.
Many courses have been rendered obsolete for the professional game because they are simply too short. Others, such as the Old Course at St Andrews, need to use tees outside the boundaries of the course to create the requisite distance to make holes sufficiently testing.
Former greats including Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Greg Norman insist the ball is travelling too far. Indeed Nicklaus, an 18-time major champion, told BBC Sport last year: "It is the most ridiculous thing in the game."
Yet the authorities have done nothing to shorten the distance a ball flies. They appear accepting of the status quo, and the R&A and USGA published recent data they claim proves that length off the tee has plateaued.
This may be the case, however few tournament weeks go by without stories of professionals dispatching drives more than 400 yards.
And Davis has now admitted there is a problem with distance. In a wide-ranging interview with US online magazine Golfworld, he said: "My biggest regret would be what has happened with distance.
"It's been the thing, probably more than any, that has been the most harmful to the game. Billions of dollars have been spent to alter golf courses - and for what?"
Davis acknowledges manufacturers do not want to make equipment that is less powerful, and players love to see their ball travel long distances.
"Nobody wants to hit the ball shorter," he said. "On the other hand, increased distance has had a profoundly negative effect on golf courses.
"They've had to expand, they've had to use more resources to maintain. It takes more time to play. It takes more land and construction costs for new golf courses.
"And, in some cases, architectural integrity has been compromised. Are any of these things good?
"I sometimes wish we could just snap our fingers and say: 'We're going to roll the entire golf world back on distance.' But the stark reality is that would be chaotic and would likely not be supported by the masses."
And this is why we should not expect much change in the coming years, despite the overwhelming logic that says a shorter game would make the sport cheaper and more attractive.
Indeed, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley argues fans love to see the likes of Rory McIlroy propel drives more than 350 yards. He believes it is a genuine spectacle.
And when fans stand around tournament tees and witness such prodigious hitting, their awe is audible.
Davis, though, believes it is incumbent upon the rules-makers to at least discuss the issue.
"We've really not talked about it," he said.  "But with the R&A and the USGA's responsibility to look out to the future, there's a genuine interest to say: 'Maybe we won't get there, but shame on us if we don't at least talk about it.'"
During the lengthy interview, Davis raised a number of issues pertinent to the running of courses at the level of the humble amateur.
In the UK, we are entering a period of the year when our greens start to be shaved to maximise speed, and rough is grown as fairways are narrowed.
From personal experience, these developments tend to be welcomed but, post-round, many club golfers feel beaten by tricky, penal course set-ups.
Davis, who has been laying out US Open courses since 2006, sympathises with those for whom the game is rendered too difficult.
"When I talk to architects, for about 40 years, hard equalled good," he said.
"Now you're definitely seeing that go in the other direction, where fun equals good. These practices of narrower fairways, higher rough, not encouraging play from the proper tees, it's no good.
"Today, people equate fast greens with good greens. But fast greens cost more to maintain. Fast greens are more susceptible to disease.
"Fast greens compromise some of the architectural integrity of great courses. Fast greens have absolutely caused more cases of the yips. And they've hurt pace of play."
Davis also contends that fairway grass tends to be cut too short, leaving tighter lies that make ball-striking and chipping more difficult.
"Growing up, we didn't hear about people skulling chip shots," the 52-year-old said. "Now you hear about the chip yips. So we've been trying to message: 'Keep your fairways drier, but longer.'"
Whether this message is heard by golf clubs of the world remains to be seen.
But on the key issue of distance, Davis has shown he does have ears and has listened to the argument that the ball travels too far.
Furthermore, he clearly accepts the logic. The problem is, it seems too late to do anything about it.


The funeral of a nun who was killed in the Ecuador earthquake has taken place in Londonderry.

Sister Clare Theresa Crockett, 33, who was from the Long Tower area of the city, died when a school collapsed in Playa Prieta.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed at least 480 people, and left more than 4,000 injured and 231 missing.
Her funeral Mass was held at Long Tower Church in Derry.
Fr Eamon Graham, who led the service, described Sr Clare as "a striking example of Derry womanhood".
"Clare asked herself what she could do to make the world a better place and how she could serve God and help the most vulnerable," said Fr Graham.
"To do that, she went to the far end of the earth and she took her goodness with her."
Some members of Sr Clare's order - the Home of the Mother - were also in attendance.
The Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, told BBC Radio Foyle he has been comforting Sr Clare's family.
"They've lost a daughter, a beautiful daughter and the first born of their family as I understand. That's bound to be an awful loss particularly for any parent to see the burial of their child.
"On the other hand, they've been hearing stories about what she did and what a wonderful person she was," Bishop McKeown said.
"I'm sure the family have got some consolation simply from the wonderful member of their family that people are so proud of."
Sr Karen McMahon travelled to Derry with two other nuns from the Home of the Mother Order.
"She was our sister, she was a wonderful person," said Sr McMahon.
"She gave her whole life to God. When she discovered our Lord, he was the centre of her life and everything she did revolved around him.
"All the good she did, always her goal was to bring souls to heaven. For us it's a grace to be here today."
The three sisters paid tribute to their friend by singing hymns during the service.
In his homily, Fr Eamon Graham expressed his deepest sympathies to the Crockett family.
"Words are really not adequate because you're having to deal with an unimaginable cross. Its not the way things should be, that parents bury their children," he said.
"We've asked many questions about God and his ways. We've felt feeling of anger and bewilderment and we haven't had too many answers.
"But one thing has emerged in this past fortnight, we've received an insight into Clare's life and motivation."


Authorities have released emergency tapes of callers pleading for police help as shots rang out during last year's school shooting in Connecticut.

The recordings contain nearly half an hour of 911 calls made from inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown during the attack on 14 December 2012.
"There's still shooting going on, please!" says school caretaker Rick Thorne. "Still, it's still going on!"
A 20-year-old gunman killed 20 children and six adults at the primary school.
The calls to Newtown police that morning ranged in tone from remarkably calm to panicked.
The call from the janitor, Mr Thorne, lasts for several minutes, during which time six or seven shots can be heard in the background.
An emergency dispatcher can be heard telling someone off the line to "get everyone you can going down there".
One woman told the emergency call taker that she had seen a gunman shooting inside the building.
"I caught a glimpse of somebody," she says. "They're running down the hallway. Oh, they're still running and still shooting. Sandy Hook school, please."
In a separate call, a teacher says she has heard shooting and has students in the classroom - the dispatcher tells her to "keep calm and keep everybody away from the windows".
On another, a man and a woman who has been shot in the foot are on the line. Dispatchers told the woman to continue applying pressure to the wound and to make sure the door was locked.
The man calmly asks the dispatcher how close police are from the school.
At least two of the calls came from people outside of the school who had been alerted through a text message or other method that a shooting was underway.
The BBC News website has decided not to publish the audio recordings.
On Tuesday, Newtown school superintendent John Reed contacted parents to alert them to the impending distribution of the recordings, warning them the tapes could act as an "emotional trigger".
The recordings were made public just days after a state judge ordered them unsealed, following legal action by news organisations.
State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky, the prosecutor overseeing the shooting investigation, and town officials had argued the tapes' release could hamper the inquiry and violate victims' rights.
But Mr Sedensky said he would not pursue the effort further following the court ruling.
The first call to emergency services came at 09:35 and the last shot, believed to be gunman Adam Lanza killing himself with a handgun, came at 09:40. Most of the deceased were killed in two classrooms.
In an investigative report released last week, police determined that Lanza acted alone.
They have not determined a motive for the massacre, which began with Lanza killing his own mother, but described him as severely disturbed.
"He had a familiarity with and access to firearms and ammunition and an obsession with mass murders, in particular the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado," the report stated.
The Newtown shooting prompted a renewed US campaign for stricter firearms controls.
While no legislation was passed at a national level, some states - including Connecticut and Colorado - imposed tougher gun laws; other states loosened such restrictions.


Two men have been charged over a sex scandal at an Australian defence academy, in a row which led to a review of the military's treatment of women.

The cadets from the Australian Defence Force Academy are accused of secretly filming a female cadet having sex and broadcasting it on the internet.
They have been charged with misusing an electronic communications service. One has been charged with an indecent act.
The government has set up a number of inquiries in response to the scandal.
The 18-year old female cadet said that she had consensual sex with a fellow first-year cadet, which was then transmitted via webcam to six other cadets watching on a computer in another room.
Photographs of the encounter were also said to have been circulated around the academy.
The two men, aged 18 and 19, face possible jail terms if convicted.
The commander of the academy was ordered to take leave in the wake of the incident and at least two inquiries were initiated.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick was asked to conduct a review into the treatment of women both at the academy and in the wider military.
Reviews were also ordered into the use of alcohol and social media in the military.
The scandal followed another relating to the navy.
In February, the defence department released a report chronicling what it called a culture of predatory sexual behaviour on board the naval supply ship, HMAS Success.
It revealed a fiercely tribal culture in which women sailors were treated with disdain, alcohol was badly misused and discipline had broken down.


Marta Mendivil and her family used to live in a single room in a shanty town in Caracas.

When it rained she had to bail out the water that poured through the roof.
Now Mrs Mendivil, her husband and their two children live in a three-bedroom apartment in the Santa Rosa estate, a government-built housing complex just next to the shanty town she once inhabited.
"Thanks to the revolution, I now have a decent house in which to raise my children," she says referring to one of the key policies of Venezuela's socialist government.
According to government figures, a million Venezuelans have been rehoused as part of Mision Vivienda (Mission Housing).
Many of the 420 families living on the Santa Rosa housing estate originally lived in the same shanty town as Mrs Mendivil.
The government says it intends to continue building apartments to make sure those remaining in the shanty town will be rehoused too.
The new apartment blocks are made of red breeze blocks with aluminium roofs. The residents plaster and decorate their flats when they move in.
None of the residents of the Santa Rosa estate have started paying for their homes since moving in three years ago.
The government says that once it has assessed their means, residents will be given a long-term payment plan.
The payments will be calculated on what it cost to build the houses, not on the market value of the property.
Residents can occupy them for life and pass them on to their children.
For the first 30 years, the state has first refusal if residents want to sell their homes.
This is something opposition politician Julio Borges proposes to change.
He argues that residents are in a precarious position because they do not have full ownership rights over their homes.
"The big problem is that because the people aren't owners of the properties, they are subject to political games," he says.
"We have received complaints that people who don't support the government have been evicted from their houses."
He proposes giving all residents the title deeds to their properties at no extra cost.
Residents would continue making payments to the government but would be able to sell their properties on the open market once they were given the property's title deeds, which Mr Borges says will happen within six months.
The bill Mr Borges has proposed has already passed its first reading in the Venezuelan National Assembly, which has been dominated by the opposition since its election win last December.
But some residents fear that a change to the law could come at a high price.
Under Mr Borges's proposals, a commission would be set up to establish whether the owners of the land on which the houses were built need to be compensated.
This, some residents fear, could lead to the properties being revalued to include the cost of the compensation payment.
They are worried their monthly payments would rise as a result and they would be forced to take out mortgages they might not be able to afford.
"If they are successful in this plan to privatise the homes, it will be very difficult because we will never be able to afford it. We won't be able to afford it because we know that the cost that they will ask us to pay will be very, very high," says Mrs Mendivil.
Mr Borges insists his plan will not increase costs for residents but the proposal has laid bare deep divisions on the issue of public housing.
The opposition believes the state has grown too powerful and that the market should play a larger role, while the government accuses their opponents of wanting to dismantle their social programmes and privatise social housing.
"The Housing Mission was not conceived as a business, but to meet the needs of human beings, citizens, who don't have anywhere to live," says pro-government assembly member Francisco Torrealba.
He says residents already have legally binding rights that give them the "full use, possession, enjoyment and occupancy" of the properties.
"We think the aim of this law is to cash in on these properties which have been built by the state to attend to a human need.
"The hidden aim is to make it possible to mortgage the properties and we will then be going back to a time when many Venezuelans lost their homes because they couldn't pay their mortgages," Mr Torrealba alleges.
Marbelly Sanchez, a single mother of three, was re-housed on the Santa Rosa estate after her shanty-town home on a hillside collapsed.
She is also sceptical about the opposition's motives. "I don't believe that the opposition is going to give us the property rights for nothing.
"That is a lie. I have this house thanks to the president and the revolution. I will pay for it bit by bit," she says.
Bur Mr Borges says his plan is all about empowering residents.
"Our plan will give people ownership, liberty and power, rights which are fundamental for families to thrive."


A Nigerian singer known for singing about corrupt politicians has been found five days after he was kidnapped.

Police say Ado Halliru Daukaka, who is currently recuperating in a hospital, was found unconscious and emaciated.
Daukaka told the BBC's Isa Sanusi that he was tricked into a car on Friday morning by kidnappers.
He had released a song mocking politicians who don't keep their promises and he says this is why he was targeted.
One of his wives told police unknown people had visited his home the day he disappeared.
He told our correspondent that the kidnappers had driven him out of Yola city and then played his new song, and began asking him why he had recorded a track mocking politicians.
"They threatened me and said they would take my life and repeatedly asked why I was criticising politicians and warned me to stop or lose my life," Daukaka said.
He said they kept him without food for two days during his captivity.
On Wednesday morning, the kidnappers blindfolded him and let him go in a forest, Daukaka said.


Thousands protested outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Monday, amid a row over a controversial national education programme.

The protesters accuse the government of trying to brainwash students with pro-China education and want the programme to be scrapped.
But the government says it is about building national pride and identity.
Protests have been rumbling for months, but built over the weekend before the start of the new school year.
A small number of activists have been taking part in hunger strikes.
The government wants schools to introduce the programme now and plans to make it compulsory by 2016.
But protesters - who comprise parents, students and teachers - say its core aim is to bolster support for China's communist rulers.
They have highlighted a government booklet that they say glorifies Communist Party rule in China while ignoring sensitive issues.
Some 8,000 people joined Monday night's protest, reports said.
On Tuesday Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung said it was premature to withdraw the programme, Hong Kong's RTHK reported
He said opponents of the programme should join a government-appointed committee on the subject and air their concerns there, the broadcaster said.
Deputy leader Carrie Lam said on Monday that more dialogue was needed on the issue.
"The important thing is to ensure that the public concern or the parents' and the students' worry about the so-called brainwashing will not happen," Reuters news agency quoted her as saying.
"But that will only be achievable by more communication between the various stakeholders and by putting the trust in the school sponsoring authorities and the individual schools."


Government cuts have disproportionately affected disadvantaged children, a cross-party committee of MPs has said.

The government should have monitored the impact more closely and needed to work harder to reduce the effects, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said.
It said the coalition had made some progress on recognising children's rights in law and policy but more still needed to be done.
The government said poverty was at its lowest level since the 1980s.
The committee's chairman, Labour MP Hywel Francis, said the government's adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child had resulted in improvements for children "in many areas" over the course of this Parliament.
But he added: "The momentum set in train in 2010 has slowed considerably."
The committee's report said child poverty should be regarded as a breach of human rights and urged the government to commit to ending it by 2020.
"We hope the new government will renew that commitment and that our successor committee will monitor how children's rights are fully taken into account in new law and policy," Mr Francis said.
The report points to evidence from the UK's four children's commissioners, concluding: "We are in a nation where more children will be poor, hungry and cold, not fewer, by 2016-17 if something is not done."
The committee recommends the commissioner for England should be given the power to take up individual cases on behalf of children, to bring the role into line with the equivalent posts in other parts of the UK.
It also notes that while the number of children involved in the youth justice system in England and Wales has fallen, the number held in custody is still the highest in Western Europe.
And it says regulations about the use of force on children in custody "cannot be considered compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child".
Legal aid is another area of concern for the committee, with reforms to the system described as "a significant black mark" on the government's human rights record during the second half of this Parliament.
It calls on the government to look again at the changes and to "undo some of the harm they have caused to children".
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said: "The government has taken decisive action to tackle the root causes of poverty - including worklessness, low earnings and a poor education. The reality is, inequality has fallen and poverty in this country is at the lowest level since the mid 1980s.
"There are now 300,000 fewer children in relative poverty than in 2010, and there are also record numbers of people in work, with more people than ever before with the security of a regular wage."


The Welsh government is to commission a study to look at reopening Wales' longest railway tunnel for tourists.

Minister Edwina Hart made the commitment in a letter to supporters backing the plans for Blaencwm tunnel, Rhondda Cynon Taff.
The Rhondda Tunnel Society wants to reopen it for cyclists and walkers. It runs for 3km (1.8 miles) to Blaengwynfi, Neath Port Talbot.
The minister said it could bring "significant economic" benefits.
The tunnel was buried during the Beeching cutbacks of the UK railway network in the 1960s.
Last month, engineers visited the tunnel for the first time in 40 years to start assessing whether reopening the tunnel is feasible.
Local AM Leighton Andrews, who received the letter, said: "I want to commend the hard work of the Rhondda Tunnel Society in getting the project to this stage."


Aston Villa will meet Arsenal in the FA Cup final after a thoroughly deserved win over a desperately disappointing Liverpool at Wembley.

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Villa's win was a triumph for manager Tim Sherwood as his side produced a performance of style, composure and grit to come from behind and reach their first FA Cup final since their loss to Chelsea in 2000.
As a consequence there will be no dream finale to his Liverpool career for Steven Gerrard. The Reds skipper, who will join Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy in the summer, was hoping to make a final appearance for the club in an FA Cup final scheduled to take place on 30 May, his 35th birthday.
Philippe Coutinho clipped Liverpool into the lead but the dangerous Christian Benteke levelled before half-time and Villa scored the winner their display fully merited through Fabian Delph's cool finish nine minutes after the break.
Lethargic Liverpool mounted a rally of sorts late on when Kieran Richardson cleared off the line from Liverpool captain Gerrard and half-time substitute Mario Balotelli was dubiously ruled offside when he had the ball in the net.
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Villa, however, were not to be denied and the final whistle sparked scenes of joy among players and supporters alike.
The normally animated Sherwood had been calm on the touchline throughout but all his emotions poured out as he celebrated another trip to Wembley on 30 May, on top of moving Villa towards Premier League safety. The ex-Spurs manager, who replaced sacked Paul Lambert in February, has overseen a superb rejuvenation at Villa Park.
Villa had giants all over the pitch, particularly in the shape of Benteke and the gifted 19-year-old Jack Grealish, who played with a calm that belied his years in this hothouse atmosphere.
Liverpool, in contrast, were dismal and once again failed to deliver when the big occasion demanded - which will be a matter of great concern to manager Brendan Rodgers.
Villa were bristling and business-like whereas Liverpool were timid with little seen of Raheem Sterling, who let the occasion pass him by.
Gerrard was recalled, as expected, but his influence was virtually non-existent in a first half where Villa were the more relaxed and confident side, exemplified by the strolling composure of Grealish and the power of Benteke.
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Villa were forced into a change when injured centre-half Nathan Baker was replaced by Jores Okore and, while they were adjusting, Liverpool took the lead against the run of play after 30 minutes. Okore's touch was uncertain and when some order emerged from the penalty box chaos Coutinho provided a calm finish past Shay Given.
Liverpool's lead lasted only six minutes and Villa's equaliser came from a predictable source as Benteke sidefooted past his fellow Belgian Simon Mignolet after the industrious Delph worked an exchange with Grealish.
The concerns of Rodgers had been underlined by an early change from a back three to a four and there were more adjustments at half-time as Mario Balotelli replaced Lazar Markovic and Gerrard was dropped into a deeper role.
Villa simply continued as they were and were ahead 11 minutes after the restart when Grealish was again involved, setting up Delph to finish despite the despairing lunges of Dejan Lovren and Mignolet.
Liverpool just about mounted a gallop as time ran out - but this was Villa's day and deservedly so.


Police are hunting for two men in connection with a serious sexual assault on a woman in Hull city centre.

The attack took place at 04:00 BST on Saturday in the Ferensway area.
The 34-year-old woman suffered facial injuries in the attack, Humberside Police said.
Officers said they wanted to trace two men who were seen drinking in the Yorkshireman pub earlier in the evening. The pair were also seen getting into a taxi at 04:30 BST.


The fallout from the botched Renewable Heating Scheme (RHI) has dominated the first televised leaders' debate in the assembly election campaign.

The five main party leaders, Arlene Foster, Michelle O'Neill, Naomi Long, Colum Eastwood and Mike Nesbitt all took part in the debate on UTV.
They clashed over the decision by the Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt to give his number two preference vote to the SDLP.
The leaders also disagreed on Brexit.
The Alliance leader Naomi Long labelled the Ulster Unionist party "the Lothario of Northern Ireland politics as it's hopped in and out of bed with almost every other political party".
Colum Eastwood later said: "We have waited a long time for cross community voting, it doesn't make me any less of a nationalist and it doesn't make Mike Nesbitt any less of a unionist."
The DUP leader Arlene Foster was accused of using the politics of fear after she warned voters about "Gerry Adams' Sinn Fein" returning with most seats.
"This election will be very close and there is a real chance Gerry Adams' Sinn Féin could have most seats.
"Then they could push ahead with their radical agenda and imagine what that would mean for Northern Ireland," she said.
Standing beside the DUP leader, Sinn Fein's northern leader, Michelle O'Neill, accused Arlene Foster's party of showing "arrogance and contempt" for the institutions.
"Sinn Féin didn't seek this election but it is needed because of DUP arrogance, contempt and serious allegations of corruption surrounding their RHI scandal," she added.
The Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said: "This election should be a referendum on how the two parties of the executive have handled the ongoing crisis over renewable heat and their leadership over the past ten years."
"With £85,000 a day still needlessly going up in smoke I don't think voters can afford  another DUP/Sinn Fein executive."
The Alliance leader Naomi Long said it was time to transform "broken politics".
"It is time to take a stand against scandal, to say enough is enough to orange and green.
"No more corruption, no more cronyism, no more incompetence, just good government," she added.


Education publisher Pearson is to shed 4,000 jobs - 10% of its worldwide workforce - in an effort to cuts costs.

Pearson has been hit by falling enrolments in education in the US and changes to education policy in the UK.
The firm employs about 5,000 people in the UK and about 10% of those jobs are expected to be affected by the cuts.
The majority of the cuts are expected to be completed by the middle of this year. Pearson also warned that profits would be lower next year.
Pearson said it expected underlying operating profits for 2015 of about £720m, but warned its profits in 2016 were expected to drop to between £580m and £620m, before the costs of the restructuring are taken into account.
"The cyclical and policy related challenges in our biggest markets have been more pronounced and persisted for longer than anticipated," says chief executive John Fallon.
"In combination, these factors have reduced Pearson's operating profit by approximately £230m from its peak. We over-estimated how quickly those markets would return to sustainable levels of revenues and profits from their peak".
Pearson said the restructuring is expected to cost it £320m. However, it said the shake-up of its business, combined with new product launches and the easing of pressure in the key US and UK markets, meant profits should be at or above £800m by 2018.
The restructuring will include merging all Pearson's businesses producing courseware material for teachers. Its assessment businesses in North America will also be integrated.
Its further education establishments in South Africa and the UK will shift focus to online rather than direct delivery, and there will be savings in areas such as technology, finance and HR.
Pearson got out of financial news and information last year when it sold the Financial Times Group and its stake in the Economist Group. It has also merged publisher Penguin with Random House.
Following the latest announcement, shares in Pearson rose by nearly 9%.


Exeter Chiefs scrum-half Will Chudley has been cited for an alleged kick on Wasps lock Joe Launchbury during Saturday's Premiership semi-final win.

The 28-year-old will appear before a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel on Tuesday, ahead of his side's final against Saracens on Saturday.
Exeter booked their spot at Twickenham with a 34-23 victory over Wasps.
The Chiefs are competing in the top-flight play-offs for the first time in their history.


Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of teenager Leonne Weeks who was stabbed to death last month.

The body of Leonne, 16, was discovered off Lordens Hill, in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, on 16 January.
The funeral of the "loved and sadly missed" teenager was held at St Leonards church in Dinnington.
The service was relayed by speakers to people gathered outside. Leonne's family said they were grateful for people's support.
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In a statement, the family said: "She is loved and sadly missed by all her family.
"Leonne was a twin and was close to all of her brothers and sisters."
A pink coffin carved with her name and covered in hearts was carried into the church after arriving on a horse-drawn hearse.
Les Clarke, Salvation Army officer, said in the service: " She won't be forgotten but live on in our hearts and in our memories.
"Leonne was very strong in her own way. Standing up for what she thought was right".
She had "a big smile for people wandering past", he said.
The Reverend Hilary Jowett, vicar of St Leonard's Church, said local residents were "horrified and shocked" at Leonne's death.
"But I think we've now accepted this has happened, horrible and awful though it is, and we are grieving for a teenager who should be living her life", she said.
A post-mortem examination revealed Ms Weeks had died from multiple stab wounds.
Shea Peter Heeley, 18, of Doe Quarry Lane, Dinnington, is to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on 17 February on suspicion of murder.


Shares in technology giant Apple have crossed $500 (Â£317) a share for the first time.

It caps a remarkable turnaround for the iPhone maker, whose shares were once worth as little as $3.19 in 1997, when it faced the possibility of bankruptcy.
Apple is now worth $460bn.
The company's revival under Steve Jobs, who died last year, came about first in computers and then the iPod music player, which was followed by the iPhone and iPad.
Last month, Apple reported record-breaking net profits for the last three months of 2011, up 118% to $13.06bn from the same period a year earlier.
The profits were the fourth-biggest in US corporate history.
Mr Jobs co-founded Apple in Silicon Valley in 1976 but was fired a decade later.
He was asked to rejoin in 1997 and changed the company's product lines, culminating in the success of the iPhone and its tablet spin-off, the iPad.
Apple is in an escalating patent war with rivals Google and handset-makers such as Samsung and HTC over their operating systems.
It recently filed a motion in US court that would ban Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, which uses Google's Android.
Apple is poised to announce the third generation of its iPad next month, reports suggest.
Meanwhile, the working conditions in factories that produce Apple products are to be inspected, the computing giant announced.
The Fair Labor Association will audit several suppliers, including Foxconn in China, at Apple's request.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said: "Workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment."


South Africa coach Richie Gray admits he has a "big decision" make over his future but has ruled out an immediate return to his native Scotland.

Gray wants to coach Scotland one day but is looking at other options.
"Scotland's got itself sorted out at the moment," said Gray, who worked under the Springboks' then-head coach Heyneke Meyer at the World Cup.
"All the coaches are in place. I think one more would muddy the waters slightly."
Gray, who helped South Africa reach the semi-finals, told BBC Scotland's Sportsound: "I'll make a decision into the new year what I'm going to do.
"I've got a big decision to make what I'm going to do next, but I'll definitely be coaching somewhere."
Gray joined the South African coaching staff in 2013 as breakdown coach, but with Meyer leaving, Gray is contemplating a future elsewhere.
"The head coach of South Africa resigned a couple of weeks ago," said Gray. "He decided not to put his name forward.
"They've obviously had a discussion about what I would like to do as well.
"I never really thought I'd stay longer than three years in South Africa.
"Going backwards and forwards, it's been quite a commitment, especially with my family still back in Scotland.
"There's two or three options on the table for me regarding clubs in England, France, there's also things in Japan going on.
"I just love coaching. I coach because I want to make players better and you want to remain in the game. That's the two key things."
Galashiels-born Gray has coached Scotland at youth level and admits he would like to be part of the international set-up at some point, but he says now is not the right time.
"One day you want to coach your own country - I'd like to think that might happen," he added.
"But, for me, I like to put myself into places that really challenge you, places where you're given no chance and you can come out and prove myself so I might continue to do that."


The deaths of two Western hostages in a US drone strike shows the "risk and unintended consequences" of using such a tactic, Pakistan has said.

Islamabad offered its condolences to the families of US consultant Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto.
The two men were accidentally killed in a counter-terrorism operation in January, the US has admitted.
The drone strike targeted an al-Qaeda hideout on the Afghan-Pakistan border.
They died along with al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Farouq.
Pakistan said in a statement that "having lost thousands of innocent civilians in the war against terrorism" it fully understood "this tragic loss and stands with" the families of the two hostages.
"The death of Mr Weinstein and Mr Lo Porto in a drone strike demonstrates the risk and unintended consequences of the use of this technology that Pakistan has been highlighting for a long time," the statement added.
American drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt are extremely unpopular with Pakistanis; many view them as violation of their country's sovereignty.
While Pakistani officials publicly condemn the drone strikes, correspondents say they have tacitly endorsed these strikes for years.
Mr Obama on Thursday said he took "full responsibility" for the operation, which was launched in the belief that the target was an al-Qaeda compound with no civilians present.
The White House announced that two other US citizens - thought to be al-Qaeda members - were also killed in drone strikes.
Ahmed Farouq was killed in the same raid that caused the deaths of Mr Weinstein and Mr Lo Porto, it said, and Adam Gadahn, once regarded as a spokesman for the militant group, was killed in a separate strike.
The BBC has been told that the attack which killed the hostages took place on 15 January in the Dabar Miami area, in the Shawal region of North Waziristan.
An al-Qaeda statement on 13 April confirmed Farouq's death but made no mention of the hostages, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad reports.


A flight from Edinburgh was forced to make a 600-mile diversion due to a disruptive passenger who claimed to have a gun on board.

The Easyjet service from Edinburgh was bound for Funchal in Madeira on Monday but had to make an emergency landing in Lisbon.
The flight was met by police in the Portuguese capital and then made its way to Madeira.
It was delayed by about two hours. The passenger was found not to have a gun.
The airline has apologised for any inconvenience caused to passengers but stressed it takes such incidents seriously.
An Easyjet spokeswoman said: "Easyjet can confirm that flight EZY6957 from Edinburgh to Funchal on 1 August diverted to Lisbon and was met by police due to a passenger behaving disruptively.
"Easyjet's cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
"Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously, do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board and always push for prosecution.
"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused."


A bird that became stuck in a lake when the water froze around its feet is recovering after being rescued by firefighters.

The black-headed gull was unable to fly off after getting trapped about 20ft (6m) from the bank of the lake in Leicestershire.
Firefighters chipped him free from the icy water at Grove Park, Enderby, after being called by the RSPCA at about 16:50 GMT on Tuesday.
He was taken to a vet to warm up.
The gull was then taken to a nearby wildlife centre for further care before he will be released into the wild.
Firefighters used a rescue sled, which is like an inflatable raft, to reach the gull.
The RSPCA said in a statement: "He was about 20ft out on the lake and was stuck fast.
"Thankfully the the fire service came out to assist our officers and using an inflatable raft managed to reach the gull and chip him free from the ice."


Harlequins' perfect European Challenge Cup start came to an end as Montpellier scored five unanswered tries to join them in the quarter-finals.

Tries from Jesse Mogg and Wiaan Liebenberg helped put Montpellier up 15-9 at the break, with Quins' points coming from the boot of Ben Botica.
Demetri Catrakilis kicked the French side further ahead after the break.
Quins Mat Luamanu was sin-binned before Nic White and Yvan Reilhac and Charles Geli tries sealed the bonus point win.
Victory sees Montpellier move into the last eight of the competition ahead of Cardiff Blues, whose big win over Italian side Calvisano was ultimately in vain.
Even before their trip to France for the final group game, Harlequins had done enough to top Pool Three and earn a home quarter-final.
Quins boss Connor O'Shea looked intent to make it six wins from six in the group stage of the competition, naming a side that included four of the six Harlequins players called up for the forthcoming Six Nations for the trip to Altrad Stadium.
Jack Clifford, Marland Yarde and Chris Robshaw started, while scrum-half Danny Care came off the bench with Quins 15-9 down, but failed to stop the hosts as they ran away with the game.
Montpellier: Mogg; Fall, Tuitavake, Ebersohn, O'Connor; Catrakilis, Paillaugue; Nariashvili, B. du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Tchale-Watchou, Willemse, Ouedraogo (capt), Liebenberg, Qera.
Replacements: Geli, Kubriashvili, Cilliers, Jacques du Plessis, Battut, White, Trinh-Duc, Reilhac.
Harlequins: Chisholm; Yarde, Hopper, Sloan, Walker; Botica, Dickson; Lambert, Gray, Collier, Merrick, Matthews, Robshaw, Wallace, Clifford (capt).
Replacements: Buchanan, Evans, Jones, Treadwell, Luamanu, Care, Swiel, Stanley.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.


The British Boxing Board of Control has sanctioned Andrew Selby to fight Louis Norman for the vacant British flyweight title on 14 May in Cardiff.

Bristol's Lee Haskins defends his IBF world bantamweight title against Ivan Morales at Cardiff's new Ice Arena.
Selby, 27, is brother of current World IBF Featherweight champion Lee Selby.
Andrew Selby made a dazzling start to his professional career, beating Tanzanian Haji Juma in Newport on October, 2015.
Leicestershire's Norman, 22, has been beaten once in 13 bouts.


The White House is in the "final stages" of drafting a plan to close the controversial US military prison Guantanamo Bay, a spokesman has said.

Josh Earnest said the closure of the Cuban detention camp was a national security interest.
It was one of the first directives President Barack Obama ordered two months after he was elected in 2008.
Inmates have slowly been transferred out and at the start of the year, 122 men were left.
The peak population in 2003 was 684.
Mr Earnest said the administration was "in the final stages of drafting a plan to safely and responsibly (close) the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to present that to Congress".
He added: "That has been something that our national security officials have been working on for quite some time, primarily because it is a priority of the president."
In 2009, President Obama admitted the January 2010 deadline he had set for closing the counter-terrorism facility would be missed.
Since then, Congress bipartisan opposition has meant the transfer of prisoners to the US has been blocked.
Some have been considered too dangerous to be released, but the US holds no evidence that can be used in civilian or military trials against them.
The US has slowly been sending prisoners back to their home countries or to third countries, a process Mr Earnest said needs to continue if the facility is to shut.
The camp was established in 2002 by the Bush administration to detain the most dangerous suspects for interrogation and the prosecution of war crimes.
Controversy has centred around the period of time detainees have been held without charge and the use of interrogation techniques.


A project run by two police forces has helped identify and support 142 youngsters at risk of sexual exploitation since its launch in April.

The Wiltshire and Avon and Somerset forces funded the scheme with councils, Barnardo's and the Home Office.
Avon and Somerset police commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: "Sexually exploited children suffer adverse consequences that blight their lives."
The service has 15 full-time support workers to help the child victims.
The children's charity Barnado's is running the service and has also trained 350 professionals who work with children to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation (CSE).
Ms Mountstevens, added: "Preventing exploitation and responding quickly and effectively to stop exploitation will improve outcomes for vulnerable children and this partnership is helping with this vital work.
"By tackling the problem together, with different agencies working even more closely in partnership with each other, we can make a real difference."
CSE victims are defined as being manipulated or forced into sexual acts in return for attention, affection, money, drugs, alcohol or accommodation.
Dave McCallum, who leads the service, said: "Any child can be sexually exploited and we've seen examples with children with no overt vulnerabilities still being targeted.
"Children do tend to be vulnerable when they are approached by someone who's older who has more resources than their peers - every child might be vulnerable to that approach."
He added the affected children would get "long-term and consistent support" to help them recover from their experience.
The West of England CSE service will also mean both police forces can share data and intelligence about suspects more easily.
Mr McCallum said: "We're seeing more investigations, we're seeing more people being arrested and more disruption tactics being used.
"In the fullness of time, we will see more people in front of the courts and being convicted."
Mr McCallum is also the independent chair of the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board which is a multi-agency body protecting children.


Arsenal and Chelsea have only featured in one previous FA Cup final in 2002 - when the Gunners defeated their London rivals 2-0.

Wembley was being rebuilt, so the match was played at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and was most notable for the stunning - and some would say unexpected - strike from Ray Parlour that sealed victory for Arsene Wenger's team.
Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Dennis Bergkamp, Marcel Desailly - there were plenty of big names on the pitch back then, but what are they up to now?
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A former British army major general has drowned while on holiday in Italy.

George Michael Swindells was swimming off the Mediterranean island of Elba when the incident happened on Tuesday.
Local news reports suggest the 85-year-old, from Wiltshire, suffered a medical problem about 300ft from land, and died despite rescue efforts by two German tourists and a passing policeman.
The Foreign Office confirmed the death of a UK national and said it was "providing assistance to the family".
Mr Swindells, who was reportedly visiting Elba with his wife and friends, drowned at about 15:30 local time on Tuesday.


Scotland's John Higgins and Alan McManus have been drawn against each other in the Scottish Open first round.

The two meet on Monday 12 December at Glasgow's Emirates Arena - their 23rd encounter.
Fellow Scot Stephen Maguire faces Chinese Zhou Yuelong a day later.
World number four Judd Trump opens his campaign against China's Zhang Yong, while beaten UK Championship finalist Ronnie O'Sullivan gets underway against world number 29 Matthew Selt.
Four-time world champion Higgins, 41, has won back-to-back titles at the China Championship and Champion of Champions events this season. Earlier this month, he reached the last eight of the UK Championship, where he was knocked out by Mark Selby, the eventual champion.
1994 Masters champion McManus, 45, was eliminated by Jamie Jones in the tournament's second round.
Higgins and McManus last faced each other at the World Championship in April, with McManus the victor 13-11. Higgins leads his compatriot 12-10 in their head-to-head meetings.


Clinics offering free neutering and micro-chipping of pet cats are to be held in the west Highlands as part of an effort to protect Scottish wildcats.

The procedures form part of the Wildcat Haven, a 500 square mile area that covers parts of the Ardnamurchan and Morvern peninsulas.
Clinics will be held in Mingarry Church Hall in Moidart.
Breeding with domestic and feral cats is a factor behind a severe decline in wildcats.
Dr Paul O'Donoghue, a scientist involved in the Wildcat Haven project, said the clinics on 26 and 27 February would be the first of their kind in Scotland.
Local residents usually have to make lengthy journeys to Fort William to have the procedures carried out.
The project has also been trapping and neutering feral cats.
It was announced earlier this month that the wildcat "safe haven" was being doubled in size.
A location on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula was designated a protected area for the endangered cat last year.
It has been extended to take in parts of Morvern to give the haven a total coverage of 500 square miles.
The project's organisers believe wildcats' best chance of surviving is in the remotest parts of Scotland.
Ardnamurchan and Morvern include some of Scotland's wildest landscapes and have few human residents.
The main communities in Ardnamurchan - Acharacle and Strontian - have populations of about 560 and 350.
The haven project is separate from one involving six priority areas for Scottish wildcat conservation identified following research commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
They are the Angus Glens, Strathbogie in Aberdeenshire, Strathavon in Moray and Morvern, Strathpeffer and Dulnain in the Highlands.
Research suggested these were where wildcats had the best chance.
Nine areas were assessed as part of the multi-agency Wildcat Action project.


Drugs worth £3.36m have been seized by police as part of a campaign to tackle street-level drug dealing in Northern Ireland.

The campaign, known as Operation Torus, ran from 5 September until 31 October.
During that time police carried out 674 searches and made 586 drugs seizures.
Three hundred and seventy-three people were arrested and of those, 279 were either charged or reported to the Public Prosecution Service.
Acting Det Ch Supt Andrea McMullan, from the PSNI's reactive and organised crime branch, described the operation as a "great success".
"In the eight weeks of the operation we have removed over £3.3 million worth of drugs from our streets," she said.
"Street-level drug dealing is happening across all districts throughout Northern Ireland, causing hurt and harm to communities.
"We as police will do everything that we can to tackle this issue, but we need to work in partnership with our local communities, and I encourage people to share any information, no matter how small, with us."


NBA basketball teams will be able to sell advertising space on their playing jerseys for the first time starting from the 2017-18 season.

The NBA said teams in the league, encompassing the biggest basketball clubs in North America, could place a 2.5in (6.3cm) square sponsor's logo.
Teams until now have been unable to exploit this lucrative commercial option enjoyed by many other sports.
Experts predict the deals will generate more than $4m (£2.8m) a year for clubs.
The NBA said a small patch would appear on the front left of match jerseys as part of a three-year pilot programme.
The NBA is the first of the four big US sports to allow on shirt brand sponsorship.  The National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League do not allow sponsors logos to feature on playing shirts.
"Jersey sponsorships provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams, and the additional investment will help grow the game in exciting new ways," said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Featuring their brand logo on shirts will give advertisers more opportunity to be seen by fans watching on TV.
David Carter from the USC Marshall Sports Business Institute said the pilot initiative was part of the NBA's march towards "aggressively featuring corporate brands" on team shirts.
In June, the NBA signed a $1bn sponsorship deal with Nike that places the Nike's "swoosh" logo on the right shoulder of all the NBA teams shirts.
The NBA's 30 teams will be responsible for making their own deals with sponsors for this new patch space.
"Anything that makes the individual franchise more viable will pay a positive dividend to the league itself," said Mr Carter.
The concern for teams and players will be how any new deal interacts with existing sponsorship agreements. A player, for example, that is endorsed by Pepsi may not be so keen to wear a Coke logo on their shirt.
Company sponsorship is a huge revenue stream for sport globally.
According to Price Waterhouse Coopers global sport sponsorship revenue was worth $45.3bn (£32bn) in 2015.
Collectively, teams in England's top football division, the Premier League, brought in £200m in the 2015-2016 season from shirt sponsorship alone.
The potential value of these deals for the NBA will vary greatly based on team.
"The big market teams already have hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, so as a percentage this won't be much, but for the smaller teams the percentage this could add to sponsorship revenue will be better," said Mr Carter.
The new sponsor patch will not appear on the retail version on the shirts sold at team or NBA stores, but the advertisers will be allowed to sell branded shirts at their own stores.


World number one Rory McIlroy edged a gripping US PGA Championship in near darkness at Valhalla to become the first UK player to win back-to-back majors.

Three players were still in contention at the final hole, with heavy rain having earlier led to a two-hour delay.
A see-saw battle on the back nine witnessed four different players sharing the lead at some stage.
But it was the Northern Irishman who dug deep to follow his Open success with a one-shot victory as he finished 16 under.
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His three-under 68 on the final day saw off Phil Mickelson, with Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson a shot further adrift.
The 25-year-old had earlier seen his overnight one-shot lead wiped out on the front nine and was three shots behind the leaders at one point before taking control after the turn.
McIlroy later credited the "best golf of his life" with producing a summer beyond his "wildest dreams".
However McIlroy would not have finished the day were it not for a fine display of sportsmanship from Mickelson and Fowler. The pair were in the group ahead and allowed him to play up behind them as he tried to beat the fading light following the rain delay, then waited on the side of the 18th green to applaud the new champion.
Flashlights illuminated the night sky as McIlroy showed sheer relief after holing out his final putt, fist-pumping the air and celebrating on the course with his father Gerry before receiving the huge Wanamaker Trophy.
McIlroy's resurgence on the back nine capped an enthralling final day and saw him become the third youngest player of the modern era - after Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus - to win four of golf's biggest prizes, while he also becomes the first man to win back-to-back majors since Ireland's Padraig Harrington in 2008.
An ever-changing leaderboard saw an early five-way tie - between Fowler, Mickelson, McIlroy, Stenson and Bernd Wiesberger - transform into a narrow advantage for 25-year-old Fowler around the turn.
The competition then became a see-saw battle with Fowler, playing partner Mickelson, Stenson and McIlroy all taking a share of the lead over the back half.
But McIlroy rediscovered the mental resilience shown in his recent Open win at Hoylake to emerge as a worthy winner.
Having fallen three shots behind Fowler after six holes, he swung the momentum back in his favour with a majestic eagle three at the 590-yard 10th.
That moved him back to within a shot of Fowler, and he claimed a share of the lead with another birdie on the 13th. And when Mickelson bogeyed the 16th, McIlroy regained the outright lead for the first time since he walked off the second green.
From there, despite reduced visibility as darkness began to fall at the Kentucky course, it was McIlroy's title to lose.
With the pre-tournament favourite taking a lead into the final day, albeit a narrow one, he was strongly fancied to win a second US PGA title after his success at Kiawah Island two years ago.
However, there had been signs during Saturday's third round that McIlroy was not in the same imperious form that saw him ease to victory at the Open last month.
A stoic McIlroy insisted the rain delay "did not bother him" but he quickly found himself adrift once play resumed at 19:40 BST.
The deluge brought the early starters off the sodden course, forcing a one hour 50 minute delay as water flooded the greens and fairways.
Ernie Els suggested in the enforced break that play should have been postponed until Monday, but would have been glad that organisers did not heed his advice after making a blistering start.
A run of four straight birdies helped the South African turn in a five-under-par 30, and he gained another shot on 11 before his slim hopes of a fifth major were finally ended with a bogey on the 17th.
Meanwhile, Scotland's Marc Warren carded a 67 to finish on nine under, alongside England's Lee Westwood and McIlroy's playing partner Wiesberger.
The little-known Austrian surprised many to be a shot off the overnight lead, but could only manage a 74, making him one of only two men in the top 30 to shoot over par on Sunday.
England's Danny Willett was the other, scoring a 72 to finish five under, which was three shots behind Wales' Ryder Cup hopeful Jamie Donaldson.