When Atletico Madrid won La Liga a couple of years ago - and came within a few seconds of adding the Champions League - it was widely perceived as a glorious but unrepeatable one-off: the right people in the right place at the right time.

Now, though, Atletico are contenders again. They are through to the Champions League knockout phase after winning their group and are level on points at the top of La Liga with Barcelona going into Saturday's trip to the Nou Camp (although Barca have a game in hand).
The man behind Atletico's success is manager Diego Simeone, the fiery Argentine who for many years was best known in England for his role in David Beckham's red card in the 1998 World Cup finals but is now firmly established as one of the game's finest coaches.
In recent weeks, Simeone has repeatedly been linked with a summer move to Chelsea, and that is no surprise considering his success at the Vicente Calderon.
When he returned to Atletico, who he had played for in December 2011, they had won only two trophies in 15 years. Under Simeone they have claimed five: the Europa League and Uefa Super Cup in 2012; the Copa del Rey in 2013; La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup in 2014.
And those triumphs are even more impressive when you consider they have been achieved on a fraction of the budgets enjoyed by Atletico's chief competitors, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
So it is clear Simeone is a very good manager indeed. But what makes him so special, what would he bring to the Premier League, and would he even consider making the move?
A cursory glance at statistics tells you Atletico's greatest quality is their defensive strength.
Their title-winning campaign was based upon by far the best defensive record in Spain and this season they have been even more difficult to score against, conceding only eight goals in 21 league games. Indeed, their record of just three goals conceded from the opening 11 away fixtures has never been achieved before in La Liga.
In part, Atletico's defensive excellence is down to the magnificence of Diego Godin, the impeccably reliable Uruguayan centre-back.
More than individuals, though, Atletico's resilience at the back can be explained by the rigorous positional discipline and insatiable work ethic instilled by Simeone, whose approach to football is regularly summed up with one word: intensity.
Those who remember Simeone's playing career will be familiar with that quality. He was a relentlessly hard-working midfielder who enjoyed great success with Atletico, Inter Milan, Lazio and the Argentina national team, among others.
He has now succeeded in transmitting that kind of passion into his players, and on matchdays he provides a powerful, prowling presence on the touchline - especially during home games, where he can be regularly seen turning to the Vicente Calderon fans and beseeching them to raise the volume of their support.
At times, Simeone's emotion can spill over. In the latter stages of the 2014 Champions League final defeat by Real, he was sent to the stands after running onto the pitch to rage at opposing defender Raphael Varane, and later in the year he received an eight-game ban after confronting the officials during another game against Real.
But he does seem to have calmed down since then, perhaps learning the lesson that his team suffers when his temper boils over. Or maybe the next explosion is just around the corner.
There is, however, much more to Simeone's strategy than passion and discipline. One of his most vocal admirers is Michael Robinson, the former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland forward who finished his playing career in Spain and is now the country's foremost television analyst.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Robinson argues there is a great fallacy in the common perception of the Atletico boss, noting: "When someone has a reputation for a particular thing, it can be hard to shake off.
"People know Simeone was a hard player and that Atletico are a hard team, so they think it's all huff and puff, diligence and defending. But the truth is he's not at all one-dimensional - he's very astute tactically and a real admirer of talent.
"The year they won the league, he would often change the tactics three or four times a game. For example, they'd start by going long to Diego Costa, forcing the opposition to defend deeper, and then they could start to play shorter because they had created space."
It is certainly true that Atletico's defensive sturdiness and propensity for scoring scrappy goals from set-pieces encourages onlookers to disregard the silkier aspects of their play, including Simeone's willingness to incorporate creative, flair players if they are also prepared to work hard.
In the past, that role was filled by Arda Turan, the gifted Turk who was signed last summer by Barcelona; now, a lighter touch to counterbalance the trademark intensity is provided by highly skilled performers such as Antoine Griezmann, Yannick Carrasco and Luciano Vietto.
Indeed, there is a growing sense the current Atletico crop plays in a very different manner to the team that shocked the football world by overcoming Barcelona and Real for the La Liga title two years ago.
"Simeone gives a concession to artistry," states Robinson. "One of his great strengths is taking artistic players and giving them his work ethic without sacrificing their flamboyance.
"I've seen Atletico grow, and in some ways they are now considerably better than the team which won the league - he has incorporated players with more natural talent and they can be very eloquent with the ball.
"He certainly isn't just an old-school manager who only tells his players to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in."
From the way Atletico players regularly celebrate their goals by racing to the sidelines and embracing their manager, it is clear Simeone is greatly admired and respected within his squad.
In Spain, he is widely known by his nickname, 'El Cholo', and the past couple of years have seen 'Cholismo' reach almost cult-like status among followers who admire his maxims asserting nothing in life can be achieved without hard work and dedication.
Simeone loves Atletico's role as underdogs, regularly using their place in Barca and Real's shadows as a motivational tool - in the run-up to the 2014 title triumph he famously declared: "We see ourselves reflected in society, in people who have to fight. People identify with us. We're a source of hope."
But in addition to delivering stirring words, Simeone's astute football mind also allows him to get the most out of players by improving the technical and tactical aspects of their game.
A great example is Griezmann, who was always a highly regarded youngster during his early days with Real Sociedad but has rapidly matured into a world-class talent since joining Atletico in 2014.
"The change in Griezmann is quite wondrous," enthuses Robinson. "Cholo has converted him into a most unbelievable all-round forward, who will one second be making a tackle on the edge of his own area and the next be shooting on the edge of the other.
"It didn't happen overnight, but within the space of three months of working with Simeone there was a spectacular transition."
So, is this passionate, tactically astute, inspirational and, above all, successful manager ready to take his considerable talents to England? Not so fast.
This is not the first time Simeone has been linked with a move away from Atletico, with his title-winning exploits in 2014 inevitably resulting in similar speculation. But he rejected all advances and last year signed a new contract to stay with his current club until 2020.
"Why would he leave?" asks Robinson, who believes Simeone has more work to do at the Vicente Calderon.
"I think he's got a challenge here - he has already done away with the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona, and now I think he's got the ambition to make Atletico Madrid natural contenders, or even favourites, for every competition they play in."
Of course, it could be argued that after so many years of lagging behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in financial terms, Simeone would relish the opportunity to join a club such as Chelsea where signing world-class talent became a realistic option.
But Atletico are rapidly growing off the pitch, boosted by additional revenue following their recent part-acquisition by the massive Chinese property investment company Wanda Group. And they will take another big step forward next year by moving into a new 70,000-capacity stadium.
Although Robinson would not entirely rule out the prospect of Simeone abandoning Atletico at such an exciting period in their history, he can only foresee that scenario unfolding in a certain set of circumstances.
"Knowing Cholo, I don't think he's worried about cheque books or personal recognition," smiles Robinson. "He could leave if he falls out with someone at Atletico, or if he's getting bored, or if he feels the players are getting tired of listening to him.
"But for his career aspirations, I don't think he could go anywhere better."
So, Roman Abramovich, be warned: Simeone might be the man you want, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll get him.


An Australian Senate inquiry has heard allegations of sexual assault and squalid conditions at the offshore migrant detention centre in Nauru.

A Senate committee has begun its first public hearing into the allegations after an independent report found Nauru detainees were being abused.
Australia sends all would-be asylum seekers arriving by boat to Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing.
The Senate committee will reveal its finding by mid-June.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said the government was doing everything it could to help conditions in centres on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
However, Australia has been widely criticised by rights groups for its immigration policies of resettling asylum seekers elsewhere.
A number of submissions to the committee from asylum seekers spoke of women not being able to sleep at night because of rats running through tents, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
One of the submissions from a doctor who recently visited the Pacific island nation also reports an allegation of rape against a woman.
"She told me that since the rape, one guard had offered her extra shower time in return for sexual favours," Dr David Isaacs wrote in his submission.
Another submission from the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre said one boy began self-harming and talking about suicide. His mother believed he had been sexually assaulted, the submission said.
Australia asylum: Why is it controversial?
On Tuesday, the first witnesses in the public hearing were from Transfield Services, the firm managing the facility on Nauru.
But many questions from senators on specific allegations and operations were taken "on notice" by managers - to be answered later.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked for information relating to the sexual assault of a young boy in 2013, according to ABC News.
"Very happy to take that question on notice... and provide you the detailed timeline and reporting chain of that particular incident or allegation," said Derek Osborne, Transfield's executive general manager of logistics and facilities management.
Labor's Alex Gallacher, who chairs the committee, asked whether male guards were allowed in the areas where women and children were showering.
"No - not as far as I'm aware," Mr Osborne said, adding that Transfield had subcontracted out security services to another company called Wilson Security.


The UN has warned that up to 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes after militants took over more towns in northern Iraq.

Islamic State (formerly known as Isis) militants are reported to have taken over the town of Sinjar near Syria.
It follows the IS takeover of the town of Zumar and two nearby oilfields from Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Saturday.
IS seized large parts northern Iraq from government control in a major offensive in June.
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said that a "humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar".
"The United Nations has grave concerns for the physical safety of these civilians" he said.
"The humanitarian situation of these civilians is reported as dire, and they are in urgent need of basic items including food, water and medicine" he added.
The UN said many of those who fled are in exposed areas in mountains near the town.
Many of those in Sinjar are believed to have fled from earlier IS advances in northern Iraq.
The town is home to a large community of Kurdish Yazidis, whom IS consider heretical.
Two Yazidi shrines have reportedly been destroyed in the town.
Kurdish military forces, known as the Peshmerga, were also forced to retreat from the nearby town of Zumar on Saturday after a militant offensive.
Kurdish forces had held the town since the Iraqi army retreated from the are in June.
Eyewitnesses said militants also seized control of two small oilfields near Zumar.
IS already controls several other oil installations in northern Iraq, which are believed to fund its activities.
Iraqi state television reported that the militants also took control of Mosul Dam on Sunday after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces.
The dam is the largest in Iraq and provides much of Mosul's electricity.
Further south, clashes between the Iraqi army and sunni militants continued near the town of Jufr al-Sakhar, military officials said.
The Iraqi army said it conducted several airstrikes on militants in the centre of the town, which lies about 60 km south-west of Baghdad.
The town was captured by the militants last week.
The fighting this summer has been one of the worst crises to hit Iraq since the withdrawal of US forces in 2011.


Disturbances outside a pub in north Belfast, which included reports of fighting and bottles being thrown at cars, are being investigated by police.

Police said that shortly before 17:30 BST on Saturday, they received reports of a crowd heading up the Deerpark Road towards Oldpark Road.
Ten minutes later, there were reports of youths running into a bar on the Oldpark Road and shouting sectarian slogans.
There were also reports of fighting.
PSNI Inspector Jocelyn Wise said: "Police attended the bar approximately seven minutes after the report was received. By this time, calm had been restored and the crowd had left the area. There were no reports of any injuries, though a car wing mirror was damaged as a result.
"Anyone who is involved in this type of behaviour should be aware of the effects that it has on local residents. They should also know that there is the very real prospect of being arrested and charged if they are involved in this kind of anti-social activity."


Leading Formula 1 drivers have been asked to stop criticising tyre supplier Pirelli, at a meeting with the sport's boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel were told not to make their concerns public.
Ecclestone said: "If any one of them has got problems, they should talk to the people making the problems."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Pirelli F1 boss Paul Hembery said the drivers should make their comments "in the right environment".
The move follows two high-speed blow-outs at the last race in Belgium.
Ferrari driver Vettel was heavily critical of Pirelli after the Belgian race, in which he suffered a tyre failure at 200mph shortly after the high-speed Eau Rouge swerves with two laps to go.
Rosberg, who is Hamilton's team-mate at Mercedes, had a similar failure in practice at the Spa-Francorchamps track.
Before this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton had called Pirelli's decision to impose stricter operating guidelines on tyres "a disaster", before the limits were eased on Friday morning.
McLaren's Alonso had said the need to introduce the guidelines, which imposed higher tyre pressures on precautionary grounds, was "strange" in a high-tech sport such as F1.
Hembery said the drivers should express any concerns "in their team and with us. They should express their opinions in the right manner."
Vettel described the meeting as "useful" but said he could say "nothing more".
Rosberg said the meeting was "very constructive", but added: "I am not going to say anything. It is not a good idea."
Asked whether he was happy with the relationship between the drivers and Pirelli, the German said: "I am pleased with the effort that has gone in since Spa to try to understand it and to put in place all the different measures to further improve safety."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera, Hembery, and leading team bosses Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda and Maurizio Arrivebene, of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari were also at the meeting.
Ecclestone hinted after the meeting that Pirelli would remain as F1's supplier.
The company's current contract expires at the end of 2016 and it is in competition with Michelin for the new three-year deal starting in 2017.
Michelin has stated that it will only supply tyres if it can produce rubber on which drivers can push hard all race, which is contrary to Ecclestone's desire for tyres that degrade quickly to promote more pit stops.
The decision will be made by Ecclestone, after both companies were approved by governing body the FIA on technical and sporting grounds.
"We're not going to let them go; they're doing a good job," Ecclestone said.
"I said to them a long time ago I don't want a tyre that's going to last the whole race.
"They do the very best they can with what they've been asked to do."
But Hembery said that Pirelli would not remain in the sport if it was not allowed to do proper testing with the drivers - and said the company wanted the top drivers to be involved in that testing.
"We can't carry on in the sport if we can't do our work," he said.
Mercedes dominated practice on Friday, with Hamilton leading Rosberg. Vettel, who was third fastest, admitted: "They are very strong and they do look very, very quick. It is no surprise.
"If they are not on the front row it would be a surprise, but we like surprises so we do our utmost to turn things around."
Hamilton said he expected the battle with Rosberg to be "close".
Rosberg, who was 0.021 seconds slower than Hamilton in second practice, said afterwards: "It's not gone my way so far but Saturday is another shot and it was very close today so for sure there is a good opportunity tomorrow."
Italian Grand Prix coverage


The BBC's political independence has been gradually eroded, according to the corporation's director general.

In a speech to business leaders on Monday, Tony Hall urged changes to the way the broadcaster is regulated.
He wants licence fee payers to have a greater say than politicians.
Lord Hall said there has been a "major change" over the past 20 years which has made the foundations of the BBC's independence "weaker". The government has yet to comment.
"When I was working in news and current affairs in the '90s, the independence of the BBC was protected by a set of quiet customs and traditions," he said.
"Back then it was Willie Whitelaw who'd provided us with the certainty of a 15-year Charter, underpinning our independence by allowing us stability through the political cycle.
"When I returned to the BBC as director general, I was struck by a major change. The foundations of the BBC's independence had become weaker. The traditions and informal arrangements which protected it had been eroded."
He cited the decision to fund government programmes such as digital switchover, rural broadband and local TV as examples of how the licence fee should not have been used.
He also suggested recent licence fee settlements have been decided behind closed doors without a "full process".
Future licence fee negotiations should, he said, be made with the input of licence fee payers possibly by an online vote.
The speech to the Cardiff Business Club comes in the midst of negotiations for the corporation's next 10-year charter.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is reviewing the size and scope of the BBC and what sort of programming the corporation should provide. One key part of the process is deciding who should oversee and regulate the corporation.
The current system, a BBC Trust, is both a watchdog and also the decision-making body controlling the size and strategy of the corporation.
Lord Hall, echoing the current BBC chairman, Rona Fairhead, said the roles should be split and the BBC should for the first time have an external regulator.
He also said the new BBC Charter should not say what programmes the BBC should be allowed to make nor should they be told to back away from output or ventures deemed to be too promising or popular.
"If, having cut our money, the charter also cuts our creative freedom to reinvent our services, or our commercial freedom to make up the shortfall... Letting this happen would not just have unintended consequences for the BBC, but for the UK's creative economy as a whole.
"Some might think, for example, that a call for us to focus only on content sounds reasonable. But 10 years ago that kind of prescriptive regulation would have prevented the BBC from investing in Freeview or creating the iPlayer. And it would have meant none of the ripple effects of that investment, which helped to create a new market for video-on-demand and benefit all players."
And he added that the suggestion, made by some, that the BBC should renew its charter every five years would be a "sword of Damocles" in which the BBC's existence could be threatened at every election.
Instead, he called for the charter period to be extended to 11 years, which would take it out of the electoral cycle and that any changes to the system should only be changed in Parliament with a two thirds majority and a vote by licence fee payers.


Amnesty International has accused major oil companies, including Shell, of failing to report the true picture of oil spills in Nigeria.

Amnesty says oil companies often blame oil spills on sabotage in order to get out of paying compensation when in fact corroded pipes are the cause.
The report says the process of cleaning up the oil spills is completely discredited.
Shell said it "firmly rejects unsubstantiated assertions".
It highlighted the issue of theft of crude oil, which it said "remains the main cause of oil pollution in the Delta".
Oil spills are having an appalling environmental impact on the Niger Delta and they are happening at an alarming rate, says the BBC's Will Ross in Lagos.
By Will RossBBC News, Lagos
When I have met people in the affected communities in the Niger Delta, they have complained that their own input into the oil spill investigation process is often trumped by the word of the oil company, and they also cite intimidation by the security forces.
What is needed is a robust independent body to oversee the investigation because sometimes the oil companies are, to use a sporting analogy, playing the referee in a game in which they are themselves accused of committing reckless tackles.
Partly because of the rampant poverty in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the focus is on the money rather than on what is best for the environment. Some people are willing to cause an oil spill with the aim of gaining financially from the funds allocated to clean up the environment.
There are even cases where employees of a major oil company have tried to bid for a contract to clean up a spill. It is a tragedy but oil spills pay.
In its report, Amnesty identifies a "staggering" 474 spills in 2012 in one area alone, operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company - a subsidiary of Italian firm ENI.
Agip's head of operations in Nigeria, Ciro Pagano, told the BBC's Newsday programme that all the spills were recorded so there was little room for dispute.
He also said that Eni paid all compensation due to local communities, according to Nigerian law.
Working with a local human rights group, Amnesty studied the oil spill investigation process in Nigeria over six months.
It claims there is "no legitimate basis" for the oil companies' claims that the vast majority of spills are caused by sabotage and theft.
Members of the local community together with oil company staff and government officials are supposed to investigate oil spills, but Amnesty calls this Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) process "wholly unreliable" because, it says, the companies themselves are the primary investigators and the process lacks transparency.
It says this means that both the causes and severity of oil spills may therefore be misrecorded, sometimes meaning affected communities miss out on compensation.
"Sabotage and theft of oil are serious problems in the Niger Delta," the report acknowledges.
"However, international oil companies are overstating the case in an effort to deflect attention away from the many oil spills that are due to corrosion and equipment failure. Moreover, securing oil infrastructure against such acts is - to a substantial extent - the responsibility of the operator."
It says the majority of the report's findings relate to Shell as the primary operator in the Niger Delta - though it acknowledges improvements to Shell's JIV process since 2011.
It also points out that Nigerian Agip suffered more than double the number of spills as Shell, though it operates over a smaller area.
Mr Pagano accepted that it was a "very serious, complex problem" and called for all stakeholders to work together to solve it.
Shell said it "firmly rejects" the claims.
"We seek to bring greater transparency and independent oversight to the issue of oil spills, and will continue to find ways to enhance this."
It said the JIV process was a federal process the company could not unilaterally change.
Stolen oil, Shell said, costs Nigeria billions of dollars in lost revenue.
"Co-ordinated action from the industry, government, security forces, civil society and others is needed to end this criminality, which remains the main cause of oil pollution in the Delta today," Shell said.
It said it regretted "that some NGOs continue to take a campaigning approach rather than focusing on on-the-ground solutions that bring societal benefits".


The Belgian king has provoked a sharp response to a Christmas message in which he drew parallels with the rise of fascism in the 1930s.

Albert II warned against the dangers of populists seeking scapegoats for current economic difficulties.
Flemish separatist leader Bart De Wever assumed the remarks were aimed at him and said he had overstepped his role.
Belgian political experts and commentators argued that the broadcast had intervened in political debate.
In his broadcast, the king said that "in these troubled times we live in, we should remain vigilant and see through populist arguments".
Populists were, he said, "trying to find scapegoats for the crisis, whether foreigners or compatriots from another part of the country".
Such thinking persisted in Belgium as much as in other European countries and "the crisis of the 1930s and the populist reactions of that time must not be forgotten", the king said.
Belgium has a deepening divide between its Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and French-speaking south, and there has been speculation that the country could ultimately break up.
Mr De Wever, whose New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party made big gains in elections in October and is now the biggest political force in Flemish-speaking Flanders, accused the king of "implicitly" referring to the N-VA in his speech.
In a newspaper article in De Standaard, he accused the king of choosing "the path of a royalty of division", adding in a later broadcast interview that he could no longer see the monarch as playing the constitutional role of referee.
On Belgian radio he accused Belgium's French-speaking PM, Elio Di Rupo, of "hiding behind the throne", arguing that he must have seen an advance copy of the speech and given it the green light.
"[Di Rupo] won't say I'm a fascist but apparently believes it and lets the king say it," Mr De Wever said.
The separatist leader also took a swipe at a predecessor of Albert's, Belgium's wartime King Leopold III (then a prisoner of war), who met Adolf Hitler "for coffee" at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria in 1940 and took Belgium "to the brink of civil war".
Mr De Wever's angry remarks followed a series of objections from political commentators and academics.
Prof Carl Devos of Ghent University said that the passage of the speech should have been dropped, while monarchy expert Prof Mark Van den Wijngaert said a comparison with the 30s was "a bridge too far".
But another Flemish political leader, socialist Bruno Tobback, said the monarch was merely expressing what other European heads of state had said in their Christmas messages.
Sociologist Benoit Scheuer told La Libre Belgique that it was fine for the king to warn of the dangers of populism, although he believed the major democratic parties should speak out as well.
King Albert has taken a strong position before on Belgium's political difficulties and the monarch does traditionally play a role in attempting to resolve constitutional problems.
In July 2011, Albert gave an emotional televised address, appealing to political leaders to display "modern citizenship" to bring an end to a drawn-out crisis, which left the country without an elected government for a world-record one-and-a-half years.
In an apparent foretaste of his controversial Christmas message, the king warned viewers at the time that if their political impasse remained unresolved, they risked the emergence of a form of "poujadism", referring to a right-wing populist movement in 1950s France.


Spanish technology firm Amadeus has agreed a deal to buy Navitaire, a subsidiary of consulting group Accenture, for $830m (Â£532m; â‚¬749m).

Amadeus specialises in providing technology for the travel industry.
Navitaire works with more than 50 airlines - focusing on low-cost carriers - on IT support for areas such as reservations and loyalty programmes.
As part of the deal, 550 Navitaire employees, including senior management, are expected to move to Amadeus.
The firms said the deal should go through towards the end of this year.
"Airlines of all shapes and sizes face an increasingly competitive market for an increasingly demanding traveller, and this transaction will give us the ability to serve all airlines with technology that can enable them to drive new revenues and contain their costs," said Amadeus boss Luis Maroto.
Separately, Amadeus and Accenture agreed to form an alliance to help airlines to use technology to increase efficiency.


Venezuela's opposition has called for a 24-hour strike on Thursday in protest against President Nicolás Maduro's plans for a new constituent assembly.

In a statement, leaders said 7.6 million people had taken part in Sunday's opposition-organised referendum on the plans.
They also announced they would name new Supreme Court judges.
The assembly, made up of citizens, would have power to scrap the National Assembly and rewrite the constitution.
Opposition parties control the National Assembly and are calling for fresh elections before Mr Maduro's term expires in early 2019.
"It is time for zero hour," said opposition leader Freddy Guevara, speaking on behalf of the Democratic Unity coalition (MUD).
"We call on the whole country this Thursday to join massively and peacefully a national civic strike of 24 hours as a mechanism of pressure and preparation for the definitive escalation which will be next week."
He added that on Wednesday the opposition would take the first steps to set up a national unity government and that on Friday it would appoint new judges.
Correspondents say such proposals raise the possibility of a parallel state structure.
Shortly before the opposition press conference, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada criticised Sunday's vote.
"It was a grotesque experiment of media manipulation. It has no legal validity," he said.
"No-one knows, or will ever know, how many people have taken part," he added.
The government said the referendum was riddled with fraud and that people were able to vote many times at different polling stations.
On Saturday, President Maduro dismissed the vote as "meaningless".
Academics who monitored the poll said that nearly all those who voted rejected the new assembly proposed by Mr Maduro and backed a call for elections before 2019.
Mr Guevara said the Venezuelan people had given a mandate, rejecting "the fraudulent proposal of Nicolás Maduro".
"The regime must understand that we won't allow the destruction of Venezuela to happen," he said.
"The government must pull out its proposal of constitutional fraud."
President Maduro's plan will see a vote on 30 July for the new constituent assembly.
Its 545 members will have the power to dissolve state institutions, including the National Assembly.
Mr Maduro argues that the assembly is the only way to help Venezuela out of its economic and political crisis. He says the opposition is trying to overthrow the government.
More on Venezuela's turmoil


Left-wing Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn has brushed off criticism from his rivals, warning against the debate turning "puerile".

Ahead of an Edinburgh rally, he said he was "not really very bothered" by what others had to say about his campaign.
Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham have all attacked his plans, saying they are not credible and will make the party unelectable.
The row comes as voting opens in the contest to replace Ed Miliband.
Ballot papers are being sent out by the party, with than 600,000 people signed up to vote. Labour has said applications are still being verified.
Voting ends on 10 September, with the winner of the contest to be announced at a special conference on 12 September.
610,753
total electorate, though this may fall as party removes those not entitled to vote
Of which, full party members:  299,755
Affiliated to a trade union:  189,703
Registered to vote by paying Â£3:  121,295
Ms Cooper and Ms Kendall have made separate calls for their supporters to back anyone but Mr Corbyn in the contest, warning that Labour would not be able to win an election under his leadership.
Mr Burnham also added his voice to criticism of the left-wing MP's policies, saying they lack financial and economic credibility.
Asked about criticism of his leadership bid as he arrived at the Edinburgh event, Mr Corbyn said he wanted to focus on policies.
"I don't reply to personal abuse, to personal attacks, to personal criticism because the policies are more important, the issues are more important," he said.
"We don't need to reduce our politics to a puerile level."
He also highlighted his "10-point plan" in Edinburgh ahead of a later visit to Glasgow, as he completed part of his tour of locations in Scotland.
It promises a commitment to "growth not austerity", nationalising the railways and energy sector, action on climate change and a plan for nuclear disarmament.
Mr Corbyn said he hoped MPs from across the political divide would unite to defeat the government's Welfare Reform Bill, and also criticised the government's proposed union reforms and George Osborne's Budget.
He said making his manifesto a reality was a possibility but was "not going to be achieved by politicians in isolation handing down policies from secluded drawing rooms in secluded and comfortable parts of this country".
He also said people were "totally and absolutely and completely turned off by the politics of celebrity, personality, name-calling, abuse and all that kind of behaviour, so I'm not really very bothered about what anybody says about anybody in our campaign, including me".
The Islington North MP, who has held the seat since 1983, is currently the bookmakers' favourite to win the Labour leadership race.
His campaign has come under sustained criticism from senior figures in the party who have warned that a lurch to the left will keep Labour out of power.
Meanwhile, voting in the election for the new Scottish Labour leader ended at midday.
Scottish Parliament members Kezia Dugdale and Ken Macintosh are vying for the role vacated by former Labour MP Jim Murphy in June.


The wife of prominent Burundian opposition politician Agathon Rwasa has been shot and wounded at a hair salon in the capital, Bujumbura.

The gunman fled after opening fire on Annonciate Haberisoni as she was waiting for her hair to be done, witnesses said.
Mr Rwasa accused the government of attempting to assassinate his wife. It has not commented on the allegation.
Tensions have been rising in Burundi ahead of elections in May and June.
Mr Rwasa said at a press conference that his wife was being treated for head injuries at a local hospital, and her condition was not critical.
He would not be intimidated by Sunday's shooting, he added.
Mr Rwasa accused the government of compiling a hit list of people to be targeted in the run-up to parliamentary elections in May and presidential elections in June.
Police said they were investigating the attack.
Witnesses were quoted in the local media as saying that Mrs Haberisoni's life was probably saved by her hair dresser who saw the gunman taking aim and pushed her out of the way.
Mr Rwasa is a former rebel leader and an influential member of the opposition Forces for National Liberation (FNL) party.
He came out of hiding in 2013 and said he would contest this year's election.
President Pierre Nkurunziza has not yet indicated whether he will step down or run for a third term.
He took office in 2005 following the end of a 12-year civil war, which killed more than 300,000 people.


Winger Memphis Depay has completed his £31m move to Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven.

The 21-year-old joins on a four-year contract with the option to extend for a further year.
"This is a dream come true for me, a new chapter in my life and one that I am looking forward to," said Depay.
Media playback is not supported on this device
United manager Louis van Gaal said the Netherlands international has the potential to become "a great footballer for this club".
Depay completed a medical at United last month but the move has only just been finalised.
He finished the season as Eredivisie's top scorer with 22 goals as PSV secured their first Dutch title since 2008.
"I have been at PSV Eindhoven since I was 12 years old and I would like to thank them for everything," added Depay, who has 16 Netherlands caps.
"It was a great moment when we won the league and I was so happy to be part of that."
Former Netherlands manager Van Gaal is looking forward to working with Depay again.
"I know Memphis well from our time working together in the Netherlands national team," said the United boss.
"He is a young versatile player who has the ability to play in a number of different positions.
"It will take time for Memphis to get used to the rhythm of the Premier League.
"But I have no doubt that he has the potential to become a great footballer for this club and he is at the right club to continue the good work he has done so far."


Baseline tests for reception pupils in England are not reliable enough to measure progress this year, says a study for the Department for Education.

The education department, which is introducing the tests, says it would be "unfair" to use them as a measure.
There are three different testing systems that schools can use - but the study says the results are not "sufficiently comparable".
A head teachers' union said: "It is hard to avoid saying 'we told you so'."
Tests for pupils at the beginning of school, known as "baseline tests", were intended as a starting point against which to measure progress through primary school.
But they have faced opposition from teachers' union leaders who criticised them as introducing an unnecessary set of tests for young children who had just started school.
The Department for Education has now backed away from using the tests for measuring progress this year - after publishing a study that it had commissioned looking at the comparability of the three testing systems.
"That study has shown that the assessments are not sufficiently comparable to provide a fair starting point from which to measure pupil progress," says a statement from the Department for Education.
"In light of that, we will not be using this year's results as the baseline for progress measures. This would be inappropriate and unfair to schools."
The study from the Standards and Testing Agency concluded that the tests in literacy and numeracy, with three separate systems in use, were not sufficiently comparable.
Schools could choose between versions of the test provided by Early Excellence, Durham University's Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).
The study suggested that pupils of similar ability could get different results, depending on which test they had taken. As such the results could not be reliably used as a standard benchmark to measure progress.
The National Association of Head Teachers said the government had "outsmarted itself by choosing multiple providers of these assessments - none of which compare to each other".
"They cannot provide a measure of progress that can be compared between schools.
"This outcome is symptomatic of the general chaos on assessment in the primary phase, with poor planning and a lack of consultation with the people who know what will actually work."
Delegates at the National Union of Teachers had attacked baseline tests at their annual conference at Easter. The union said that its campaign had "made the government come to its senses and realise that baseline assessment was never a good idea in the first place".
Malcolm Trobe, interim leader of the ASCL head teachers' union, said: "It was too narrow a way of assessing the ability of young children and having different assessment methods in different schools was muddled."
Labour's shadow children's minister Sharon Hodgson said the government was "u-turning on assessment policies that they were championing only weeks and months before".
"This government's piecemeal approach to assessments lacks any joined-up or coherent strategy, threatening standards in our schools."
Early Excellence, a widely-used provider of baseline assessments, said that it would continue to offer its version of the test next year.
The education department says it is still committed to the principle of baseline testing and "will continue to look at the best way to assess pupils in the early years".
As such, there will be optional baseline tests if schools want to take them next year, but the results will not be used for "accountability purposes".


A storyboard artist on Pixar's Highlands-set movie Brave is helping to give artificial intelligence developed by Google its "personality".

US-based Emma Coats was an artist on Brave for four-and-a-half years and part of a Pixar crew that made a research trip to Scotland.
Brave, whose lead Merida was played by Kelly Macdonald, was released in 2012.
Coats now writes dialogue for Google Assistant, which runs on computers, phones and a new smart home device.
The 31-year-old, who also worked on Pixar's Monsters University and makes her own short films, has fond memories of working on Brave and Scotland.
In an effort to accurately portray Scottish landscapes in the animated film, director Brenda Chapman took a team of artists to Scotland.
During the trip, the team visited the 5,000-year-old Callanish Stones and also traditional thatch-roof blackhouses on the Western Isles and historic Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie, near Kyle of Lochalsh.
Coats said: "I was lucky enough, as an early part of the crew, to be included in the group Brenda Chapman took to Scotland.
"It was amazing to see some of the history, like standing stones, blackhouses, and Eilean Donan.
"It was so valuable as artists and filmmakers to be there for the things you can't see in photos, like how fast the light changes and the colour of everything when the sun comes down under the clouds, or how you can step on moss in a forest and sink to your ankles."
She added: "I worked on Brave for more than four years, so I have a lot of fond memories.
"The most fascinating thing was seeing the story go from drawings, paintings, and sculptures to the final computer animated film, completely fleshed out and polished.
"If I had to pick one fond memory, it would be hours spent assisting Jerome Ranft, one of Pixar's sculptors, on the maquette (scale model) for Merida's horse Angus.
"Jerome would put on music and then he'd work on the front end of the horse and I'd try to figure out the muscles on the back end of it.
"All the time I spent as a kid drawing horses really paid off,"
Coats is part of a team writing "chatty" dialogue for Google Assistant, as well as doing work on other films.
She said: "The Assistant gives a conversational way to access everything Google can do for you, and on the Personality Team we add delight wherever we can.
"The rest of Google has all the useful parts of the Assistant covered, so the Google Assistant Personality Team really supports them by coming up with fun things the Assistant can say and do, whether that's games or things to discover."


A new campaign is backing a bid to see a Viking treasure hoard discovered in Dumfries and Galloway go on display in the region.

The Galloway Viking Hoard Campaign (GVHC) wants to see the items put in a new Kirkcudbright art gallery.
Dumfries and Galloway Council is attempting to secure the treasure for the region.
The GVHC said it was concerned a bid by National Museums Scotland could see the items end up in Edinburgh.
The hoard was discovered in the region in 2014 by a metal detectorist.
The final decision on where the artefacts are diplayed lies with the Treasure Trove Panel.
Cathy Agnew, who chairs the campaign which launched this week, said: "This is a time for Scotland to take the lead.
"The Galloway Viking hoard is quite extraordinary and should have pride of place in a specially created exhibition space in the new Kirkcudbright art gallery.
"Remarkable finds have so often been whisked away from the communities where they were discovered only to become a small feature in a large national museum.
"This is a very old-fashioned approach and in 2017 we should be making sure that regions fully benefit from their cultural riches."
She said the collection could be a "powerful magnet" to bring in visitors.
David Devereux, GVHC vice chair, said: "Some of the items in the hoard are of breathtaking beauty and could become icons for the region, spurring people across the world to discover more about its distinctive past - and the people, lives, cultures and kingdoms that existed before Scotland was born."
Campaign supporters have been urged to send letters of support ahead of two meetings taking place in coming weeks.
The first is a meeting of the council's communities committee on 7 March that will decide how best to take forward the local authority's bid.
The second is a meeting of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel (SAFAP) which is due to discuss the hoard's future on 23 March.
National Museums Scotland has described the find as of "considerable national and international significance".
It said that if it acquired the hoard it would save it for the nation and ensure it was seen by "people from Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally".


An organisation that provides help for male victims of domestic abuse has seen an increase in people coming to them for help.

The Men's Advisory Project said it supported 536 clients in 2015 compared to 294 in 2013.
But while victims often suffer similar hardship, it said the services available for men in Northern Ireland are less extensive than for women.
One man who knows how difficult it can be to get help is Paul.
Paul, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, walked away from his 25-year marriage after suffering physical, emotional and psychological abuse.
"My wife and I had only been together two years when the trouble started," he told the BBC.
"She fell pregnant and made it clear that if we didn't get married and move in together I wouldn't see my child.
"She would say things to me like: 'You don't want to be one of those men who have no relationship with their children.'
"Then the kicking, slapping and shoving started, and it escalated from there until she had worn me down to believe I deserved everything I got."
Paul's wife repeatedly attacked him and he said she would do everything she could to make him feel "sub-human".
He said: "I had to keep my clothes, which were torn and dirty, in the car or the shed because I wasn't allowed to keep them in the house with her things.
"I also wasn't allowed to have the heating on, if I was the only person in the house.
"My relationship with my children was seriously affected as they were told time and again that everything was my fault, they were even left 'in charge' of me if my wife went out of the house."
As well as the violence, which included Paul's wife trying to strangle him with an extension cord, there was financial abuse.
He said: "Everything I had was tied up in bills - the mortgage, the electricity and the heating all came out of my wage so that I had nothing left to spend myself."
But Paul, who is now 50, said the worst part of the abuse was being afraid to go home.
After decades of suffering in silence, he finally decided to leave, but said he had nowhere to turn.
Unaware that he was a victim of domestic violence, he had not contacted the police about his wife.
"I lived in my car for a while because I had no money of my own and couldn't access housing because I had a full-time job," he said.
"No one understood that my wife was still controlling me."
Finally, Paul was able to access the services provided by the Men's Advisory Project, which receives funding from the Department of Health, after his sister heard about the organisation.
But even after Paul realised he had been a victim, he said there was little help available to him.
"There are no beds in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland for male victims of domestic abuse,"  he said.
"The message from the police is that anybody can be a victim, but I believe that not everyone can get the help they need."
The most recent figures from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) show that 3,104 men were victims of domestic violence between August 2014 and 2015.
James Knox, the project manager at the Men's Advisory Project, said: "While the PSNI's gender-neutral poster campaign is a step in the right direction, there is more that could be done.
"If there was more help available for male victims of domestic abuse it would save lives."


French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has the dubious honour of leading one of his country's shortest-lived governments but he is grappling with formidable challenges.

Supporters of the tough-talking Socialist politician point to Europe's general economic crisis when assessing his record in tackling high unemployment and feeble growth.
On the surface, he has split his party, alienating the left wing by antagonising radical favourites like Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg into resigning.
Yet some would say he has merely exposed the party's long-standing deep divisions, cracks President Francois Hollande sought to paper over when he appointed Mr Valls, his most popular cabinet minister, prime minister on 31 March after a disastrous showing at local elections.
His new government, dubbed Vals II, now has the task of rescuing the Hollande presidency.
"At the slightest threat, like a bullfighter, Manuel Valls straightens up, his eyes burn and he enters the arena proudly" - so wrote France's conservative daily Le Figaro in a commentary after his appointment as prime minister.
The metaphor is pointed: he was born in Barcelona, Spain, on 13 August 1962 and did not obtain French citizenship until he was 20.
At the height of the European election campaign in May, he was back in Barcelona for a Socialist campaign rally.
Speaking in Catalan, he told the audience: "As a child born in Barcelona, I would never have thought that one day I would come back as prime minister of France. And here I am among you. Spanish and Catalan. Then French, fully French, passionately French."
His "passionate" embrace of his new country is one reason pundits like to compare him to former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, also an outsider albeit one born in France to an immigrant father.
Another reason is the hard line Mr Valls adopted as interior minister under his predecessor as prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault.
Like Mr Sarkozy when he was interior minister, Mr Valls became identified with expulsions of jobless Roma (foreign Gypsies) living in makeshift camps on the margins of French cities. He was also quick to visit crime scenes - "a very Sarkozy-like habit", according to Europe 1 radio.
This Sarkozy comparison, Mr Valls once said, "doesn't bother me if it refers to his energy and combative spirit".
His tough policies can be seen running back through his career in Socialist politics, which began at the age of 17, even before he had obtained his French citizenship.
As mayor from 2001 to 2012 of one of France's poorest towns, Evry in the southern suburbs of Paris, he campaigned against halal supermarkets in the town, arguing that they were divisive.
Dismissed by the Socialist left as a social democrat like Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair, he won just 6% of the vote at the Socialist presidential primaries in 2011, trailing Mr Montebourg who took 17%.
The kind of anti-globalisation advocated by Mr Montebourg was an "ideological simplification which nurtures fears", Mr Valls argued at the time.
Having the two in government together was never going to be easy.
"It's either Montebourg or me," Mr Valls is said to have told President Hollande after the economy minister publicly attacked Germany's "obsession" with economic austerity and, by implication, the French government's own spending cuts.
Thus fell the first government of Manuel Valls after just 147 days in office, one of the shortest-lived cabinets since France's Fifth Republic was formed in 1958.
"He has shown himself as man of authority but it is too early to say if he is an effective prime minister," one French journalist told BBC News.
"He's a new kind of Socialist, not typical of those we have seen in the past 20 years. The way he talks and presents things makes him more popular with the right than the left, and hardcore Socialists hate him."
The outgoing government "lived in a bubble of real leftists and social democrats but the bubble is now burst," added the journalist, who declined to be named.
A Socialist party adviser, who also did not wish to be named, told BBC News that the real problem was not party divisions but the general economic crisis facing most EU states.
In the opinion of the adviser, the big test for Mr Valls now is whether he can see through real reform, and namely the Socialists' flagship project of streamlining regional government.
The territorial reform bill, which will refashion France's 22 regions into 13, angered some radical leftists in the government when it was passed by the lower house of parliament in July. It is due to go before the Senate this autumn.
Success with this policy would look good for Mr Valls in the run-up to a future presidential election, by which time the crisis might have passed.
"Valls is known for his pragmatism and at some point, the country needs a guy like this," he added. "But it is too soon to say if he is good for the Socialist party."


The Premier League got under way this weekend, with many teams showing off their new signings, but who impressed and who had a debut to forget?
From scoring a wonder goal to being booked after barely a minute on the pitch, BBC Sport takes a look at how some of those making their top-flight bow got on.
Dimitri Payet, signed by West Ham from Marseille in the summer, created more chances than any other player in Europe's top five leagues last season and he certainly added a creative edge to the Hammers' attack in Sunday's shock 2-0 win at Arsenal.
The 28-year-old took the free-kick that caught out Petr Cech and allowed Cheikhou Kouyate to head home the opener, and was a lively presence throughout.
Newcastle's signing of Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum from PSV was certainly one of the more impressive captures of the summer, and the 24-year-old made a strong impression on his Premier League debut.
Wijnaldum headed Newcastle ahead against Southampton on Sunday, but the hosts could not hold on as the Saints fought back to earn a 2-2 draw.
There were plenty of reasons to be impressed with Swansea's performance as they held defending champions Chelsea to a 2-2 draw, and Andre Ayew was one of them.
The Ghana forward showed cat-like instincts to pull a rebound from a Thibaut Courtois save to catch out John Terry, before calmly steering the ball home for one the opening weekend's best goals.
The same could not be said for Andre's younger brother, however.
Jordan Ayew started for Aston Villa at Premier League new boys Bournemouth, but the former Lorient striker failed to make an impression and was substituted on the hour.
His replacement, Rudy Gestede, instead caught the eye as he grabbed the Villa winner.
With fellow debutant Wijnaldum impressing, Aleksander Mitrovic was evidently keen to make an impression when he climbed off the bench in the 75th minute.
Sadly, it was not the kind of impression he would have liked as, less than a minute after coming on, he was booked for a foul on Matt Targett. Youthful naivety from the 20-year-old.
Exciting, fast and skilful. Memphis Depay certainly looked like a signing that will get Manchester United fans on their feet, but what his Premier League debut performance lacked was a goal threat.
The 21-year-old Netherlands winger had a couple of half chances, but never really looked like troubling Michel Vorm in the Tottenham goal during Saturday's 1-0 win for Louis van Gaal's side.


China's ruling Communist Party says it punished nearly 300,000 officials last year for corruption.

Some 200,000 officials were given what was called "light punishment", while more severe penalties were taken against a further 80,000.
President Xi Jinping has made a campaign against corruption a centrepiece of his governing agenda.
Many high-profile political figures have been jailed after being caught up in the net.
There are almost daily reports in the state media of officials being investigated or punished over allegations of bribery, abuse of power or other corrupt practices.
The reporting body - the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection - rarely explains its methodology or what evidence it considers, and no other details were given in its brief statement about the punishments.
The number of those caught in 2015 was released during China's annual parliamentary session.
BBC China analyst Michael Bristow says this was no doubt a reminder to delegates gathered in Beijing that the Communist Party will continue pursuing corrupt officials.
Some observers see the anti-corruption campaign as a way for the Party to rein in officials seeing as becoming too influential, or of pursuing personal vendettas.


A scenic route has helped to increase tourist visitor numbers to places on Scotland's north west mainland coast, according to VisitScotland.

The North Coast 500 route, also known as the NC500, stretches for 500 miles.
North Highland Initiative promotes the NC500 to holidaymakers seeking scenic road trips.
VisitScotland said visitor numbers at its information centres (iCentres) had increased by 30% in Ullapool, 27% in Durness and 25% in Thurso.
The visitor figures are from 1 April to 31 October this year and were compared to those from the same period last year.
Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland's regional partnerships director, said: "I think it is safe to say that the NC500 has definitely brought additional visitors who wouldn't otherwise have come to the region.
"As a result, there have been increases in visitor numbers at our iCentres in Ullapool, Durness and Thurso which are all on the NC500, proof I would say that the NC500 is indeed bringing extra visitors to the area."
The NC500 features roads in the Black Isle, Caithness, Sutherland and Wester Ross.
It includes several challenging ascents and descents, including the Bealach-na-Ba at Applecross. The unclassified road rises to about 626m (2,053ft) over about four miles (8km).
North Highland Initiative encourages responsible driving of the route.
However, Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart, while describing the route as a "brilliant concept", has suggested it needs a 10 year-long strategic plan to ensure the roads involved can cope with increased traffic.
The NC500 is also regarded as a challenge for endurance cyclists.
In May, seven women cyclists set a time of 36 hours to complete the route in a non-stop team time trial.
The seven included Commonwealth Games cyclists Lee Craigie and Anne Ewing and British 24-hour mountain bike champion Rickie Cotter.
The other riders were author and travel blogger Emily Chappell, transcontinental cyclist Gaby Leveridge, plus Zara Muir and Jo Thom, winners of the women's pairs event at this year's Strathpuffer endurance ride near Strathpeffer.
Scottish endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont previously completed the NC500 solo in 37 hours 58 minutes.
Edinburgh cyclist and Commonwealth Games rider James McCallum also beat Beaumont's time after completing the route in June.


A group of students at Duke University have refused to read a book assigned to all new students, saying the graphic novel's depictions of sexuality "compromised" their religious beliefs.

Fun Home was selected as "shared experience" reading for the Class of 2019 at the North Carolina university.
The novel is an autobiography of Alison Bechdel, a lesbian, whose father was a closeted gay man.
But some have taken issue with the novel's depiction of sex and nudity.
"I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it," student Brian Grasso wrote in a post to fellow students on Facebook.
Other students called the graphic novel, which inspired a Tony-winning musical, "pornographic".
The debate comes as US universities continue to grapple with students who disagree with assignments or lectures because of their religious or political beliefs.
Some activists have pushed for universities to use "trigger warnings" to alert students about provocative content.
Duke's Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Michael Schoenfeld said the assignment is voluntary and the book was selected by a panel of students and staff members.
"Fun Home was ultimately chosen because it is a unique and moving book that transcends genres and explores issues that students are likely to confront," Mr Schoenfeld told the Daily Dot website. But he added that "with a class of 1,750 new students from around the world, it would be impossible to find a single book that that did not challenge someone's way of thinking".


Three people have been killed, two are believed to be missing and three wounded in a major avalanche near the northern Italian ski resort of Courmayeur, reports say.

The deaths are reported to have happened in an off-piste area as skiers made their way through fresh snow.
Officials said the injured skiers were hit by falling rocks and had been taken to hospital by helicopter.
There have been several skiing deaths in the Alps this winter.
Rescuers on Thursday said that skiers from Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Italy were caught up in the avalanche.
A second avalanche on Thursday was reported to have taken place in the same area soon after the first. Two off-piste skiers were caught up in it, but neither was reported to have been injured.
France avalanche: Four killed at Tignes ski resort
Trapped skiers rescued from cable cars in Italian Alps
The avalanche risk - in one of the busiest weeks of the year for skiing in the Alps - has been assessed by officials to be three out of five, because of recent heavy snowfalls and powerful winds which have caused drifting in some areas.
Courmayeur - on the slopes of Mont Blanc - is renowned for the high difficulty levels of its skiing.


The damaged flight data recorder from the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month has been successfully repaired in France, Egyptian investigators say.

They say that work on the Airbus A320's cockpit voice recorder will begin "within hours".
It paves the way for experts to analyse data that could help explain what caused the crash.
Flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo plunged into the Mediterranean Sea on 19 May, killing all 66 people on board.
In a statement, Egypt's investigation commission said that the flight data recorder had been "successfully repaired... by the French accident investigation agency laboratory".
The voice and flight data recorders, known as black boxes, arrived in Paris from Cairo on Monday so that salt deposits could be removed.
They will be sent back to Cairo so the data can be analysed.
Also on Monday, the Paris prosecutor opened a manslaughter investigation into the crash.
A spokeswoman told the Associated Press that it would begin as an accident inquiry because there was no evidence so far to link it to terrorism.
Investigators appear to think the Airbus A320 was not brought down deliberately.
The flight recorders were recovered from the plane's wreckage, about 290km (180 miles) north of the Egyptian coast and at a depth of about 3,000m (9,800ft).
Automated electronic messages sent by the plane revealed that smoke detectors went off in a toilet and in the avionics area below the cockpit, minutes before the plane's signal was lost.
Radar data shows the plane turned 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees to the right, dropping from 11,300m (37,000ft) to 4,600m (15,000ft) and then 3,000m (9,800ft) before it disappeared.
What do we know so far?
Who were the victims?


If Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho thought he was having a bad time, he should spare a thought for New Mills.

The Derbyshire club, who play in the eighth-tier Northern Premier League Division One North, have lost all 19 league and cup games this season.
New Mills have conceded 68 goals while three managers have left since June.
"It's tough but we've got a new squad and the players are starting to gel," Millers boss Garry Brown told BBC Radio 5 live's Non League Football Show.
Former Norwich City midfielder Keith Briggs took over from Roy Soule, who stepped down in June, but resigned after just 23 days for a job with Sheffield United's academy.
Andy Fearn was put in charge in July and appointed former Manchester City striker Shaun Goater as his assistant.
But Fearn and Goater lasted just nine league and cup games before resigning after a 7-1 home defeat to Prescot Cables.
Brown, who has overseen 10 league and cup defeats, added: "There's been a lot of changes to the squad and there's only three players still here from when we took over in September.
"There's no budget, it's petrol money these lads are playing for."
All is not lost for the Millers, who are bottom of the table, 10 points behind Harrogate Railway Athletic, the next team above them.
Brown, along with Paul Williams (his assistant at New Mills) and Lee Gregory, last season led Manchester team Wythenshawe Town to an astonishing 39 wins from 39 games played.
Bashley, who play in the Southern League Division One South & West, are also without a point after losing all 14 league games this season.
But they did manage a win in the FA Trophy preliminary round.


A County Londonderry man has warned TalkTalk customers to be vigilant after hackers purporting to be from the company tried to con him out of £5,000.

Police are investigating a "significant and sustained cyber-attack" on the phone and broadband provider's website.
Talktalk said it was too early to know who had been affected by the attack.
The Northern Ireland man received a call on 16 October from a woman who said she wanted to investigate problems with his internet connection.
She then attempted to steal more than £5,000 from his bank account.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous, was asked to switch on his computer so that the problem could be resolved by remote access.
Suspicious about the caller's intentions, he asked for proof that she was a legitimate TalkTalk employee.
When she was able to relate all of the man's account details, he was reassured.
"I naively believed only TalkTalk employees could have access to information like that," he said.
"At the end of the day, when I had problems before, it was resolved over the phone by an IT person who took control by remote access, so I went ahead and keyed in her various instructions on my keyboard.
"I didn't realise that what I was actually doing was disenabling any anti-viral software on my computer so that they could hack me.
"Eventually, she drew my attention to what looked like a message from TalkTalk, on the bottom of the screen, saying my warranty had expired.
"She said that this was the source of the problem and apologised on behalf of the company for allowing it to expire. She told me they would renew the warranty and in the meantime they would compensate me with £200."
But when the man checked his bank account, he noticed that a lodgement of £5,200 had been made.
"When I told her this, she got very upset, telling me that she had made a mistake and leading me to believe that she was going to get into serious trouble with her employers.
"The alarm bells began to ring when she asked me if I could transfer the money back through the post office, to an account that wasn't TalkTalk, without telling the post office what had happened.
"So I went straight to my bank to find out what was going on."
The bank informed him that the £5,200 had actually been transferred from his main account into his joint account and warned him that TalkTalk customers had been targeted in this way before.
Although the fraudsters were ultimately unable to access the man's money, he said the experience caused him huge stress.
"It's a terrible feeling knowing that people would be so manipulative," he said.
"The fraud expert  I spoke to since said that these people use tactics to provoke sympathy or fear. He described it as 'social engineering'.
"I would just appeal to others to be very cautious, not just now, but in the months ahead."
He also expressed frustration at the lack of support offered to him by TalkTalk.
"I tried to get through to them on Friday to explain what happened and I was put through to a call centre in Capetown, where I was told the systems were down.
"I tried again on Sunday but the person on the other end seemed to struggle to understand me and couldn't offer me any proper explanation or solution to the fact that I now have a broken computer."
The phone and broadband provider, which has more than four million UK customers, said on Friday that potentially all of their customers could be affected but it was too early to know what data had been stolen.
The Metropolitan Police said no-one had been arrested over Wednesday's attack but enquiries were ongoing.
TalkTalk said in a statement that a criminal investigation had been launched on Thursday.
It said there was a chance that some of the following customer data, not all of which was encrypted, had been accessed:
Cyber security consultant and former Scotland Yard detective Adrian Culley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a Russian Islamist group had posted online to claim responsibility for the attacks.
He said hackers claiming to be a cyber-jihadi group had posted data which appeared to be TalkTalk customers' private information - although he stressed their claim was yet to be verified or investigated.


UK immigration investigators have warned of a "big challenge" to tackle a "massive network" of criminal gangs trafficking people across Europe,

In two separate cases, three people smugglers have been sentenced after groups of Albanians were brought to England in small boats.
Eighteen were rescued from an inflatable which began sinking a mile-and-a-half off Dymchurch in Kent.
Seventeen others were discovered on a yacht at Chichester Marina in Sussex.
A court was told the smugglers at Dymchurch had pleaded guilty to being "hired boatmen": men who were paid Â£2,000 to transport the migrants but were not in the direct hierarchy of the smuggling operation.
Speaking to the BBC, David Fairclough led both investigations by the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement team.
"Organised crime groups work across borders, not just in the UK. They are working all over Europe, into the source countries. It is a massive network so it's a big challenge," he said.
"We face a severe threat of exploitation for illegal working, sexual exploitation and a vast amount is sponsored by organised crime groups.
"Because controls in ports are extremely strong and security has been enhanced, people smugglers are looking at more innovative ways to try to evade controls.
"The move into small craft recently is a new technique, but we are determined to remain one step ahead.
"And as these cases prove, we are onto this threat, taking it robustly."
A former senior immigration investigator has warned of the risk of sea tragedies, similar to those seen on the voyage to Turkey, Greece or Italy, taking place in the English Channel.
There is an "equal chance" of migrants drowning in the Channel as drowning in the Mediterranean, former chief inspector of borders and immigration, John Vine said.
"Clearly if this is now the start of something new, then really that needs to be reassessed and resources need to be put in," he added.
The Albanian migrants found in a catamaran in Chichester Marina had been brought across the Channel from Le Havre.
The National Crime Agency has said some migrants in France were willing to pay thousands of pounds to people smugglers, to risk taking them across the channel.
It also warned earlier this year that criminal gangs are targeting less busy ports.
Marinas along the south coast have been warned that boats could slip in unnoticed.
Chichester Marina said it worked with police on Project Kraken, an initiative encouraging maritime communities to report suspicions about criminal activity on the water.
But one boat owner there, Jim Prior, said many private boats could get in and out with few checks.
"There is no border control here. Once you get into the marina, people can just disperse, there's woodland and open country all around.
"They can walk to Chichester, be on the train and be away," he said.


Fifty tonnes of discarded, lost or abandoned fishing nets, some from as far as Canada, have been found around the coast of Devon and Cornwall.

The so-called ghost gear is a danger to seals and other marine mammals which get entangled in the mesh, the Cornwall Seal Group said.
Fifty-two creatures including seals, birds, crabs and fish were found tangled in nets in a year-long survey.
Fishermen said they collect hundreds of tonnes of discarded items every year.
More on the 'ghost fishing gear' being a threat to seals, and other news from Devon and Cornwall
Between November 2014 and October 2015, Cornwall Seal Group members surveyed ghost gear washed up on the beaches around Cornwall and parts of Devon and the Isles of Scilly.
They collected a total of 4,226 items, weighing 51 tonnes.
Christina Dixon, campaign manager at World Animal Protection, which commissioned the survey, said: "While this research was being conducted we saw lobster pot tags travelling 3,000 miles from Newfoundland to Shetland and pieces of gear hitching a ride on the Gulf Stream from Canada to Cornwall.
"Ghost gear is a trans-boundary problem and it's essential efforts to address it are undertaken collaboratively across countries."
Jim Portus, of the South West Fish Producers Organisation, said: "Fishermen do not like losing gear because it costs a lot of money, but they are working in a dynamic environment so it does get lost.
"I share the concerns of all people about this and the effect it has on the environment."
Fishermen collect hundreds of tonnes of ghost gear every year as part of the Fishing For Litter project, which is supported by the industry.
"We all need to contribute to the process of cleaning up our seas and beaches and I have a lot of sympathy with people raising concerns about the affect of lost gear," Mr Portus said.


Jeremy Corbyn says he will not step down following Labour's Copeland by-election loss to the Conservatives.

The Labour leader said the result was disappointing but he had been elected twice and was "proud" to continue.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell claimed there were "mixed views" about Mr Corbyn's leadership but the defeat in Cumbria was not "about individuals".
But MP John Woodcock said the party was facing an "historic and catastrophic" defeat at the next general election.
The Conservatives seized the Cumbria seat for the first time in more than 80 years.
Their victory was the first by-election gain by a governing party since 1982.
But there was happier news for Labour in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election where Gareth Snell held off the challenge of UKIP leader Paul Nuttall to regain the seat.
Mr Corbyn said while it was "a day of disappointment in Copeland" he would not be quitting as Labour leader. Asked if he would fall on his sword following the defeat, he said: "No. I was elected leader of this party - I'm proud to lead this party."
And later in Stoke, Mr Corbyn congratulated new incumbent Mr Snell, arguing that despite media attempts "to write off" the party, Labour had won with a message "that hope triumphs over fear".
Asked by BBC Radio 4's Today programme if Mr Corbyn had been the problem in Copeland, Mr McDonnell said while he conceded there were "mixed views on Jeremy", the result was not about individuals and the Labour leader was not considering his position. "He's never said that," he said.
Labour's failure to retain Copeland for the first time since the seat was created highlights three interlinked problems for the party.
The most serious is trust - or lack of it.
Labour insiders tell me they "got Jeremy to the right place on nuclear" - by not just committing to retaining the industry but also no longer opposing new capacity.
Yet very few voters here in Whitehaven that I spoke to this morning believed him - and some were still unaware of his position. Read more
"He's a different type of leader. He is that sort of person who does listen, who is decent and honest and does bring people together.
"He's not the sort of macho leader we've seen in the past, and that's why we've had the disasters that we've had," he said.
"Our party has got to rebuild itself from the grassroots in the communities like Copeland."
Mr McDonnell said Mr Corbyn "wants to serve this community and he'll do it well once he becomes prime minister... because he understands how people feel in places like Copeland".
But he urged the party to unite, and said Mr Blair's speech a week ago, in which he claimed the "debilitation of the Labour Party is the facilitator of Brexit" had not been helpful.
"We cannot have a circumstance again where a week before the by-election a former leader of our party attacks the party itself," he said.
Pressed on whether he was blaming Mr Blair for the by-election defeat, Mr McDonnell said: "It's not his fault. I'm just saying, advice: please don't do that.
"And the same to Peter Mandelson - three days before a by-election he attacks the party. What I'm saying is the central principle of how you win elections is you have a united party, you do not divide the party."
But Dave Prentis, general secretary of Labour-supporting Unison - Britain's biggest union - said neither the Stoke nor Copeland by-election results were good for Labour.
"The blame for these results does not lie solely with Jeremy Corbyn, but he must take responsibility for what happens next," he said.
"Nurses, teaching assistants, care workers and ordinary people everywhere need a Labour government. Jeremy has to show he understands how to turn things around and deliver just that."
John Woodcock, Labour MP for Barrow, the neighbouring constituency to Copeland, said the defeat there showed the party was "in trouble".
Asked if Labour could win the next general election, he told Today the party was "actually on course to a historic and catastrophic defeat".
The MP said it would be "counter-productive" for him and other critics of Mr Corbyn to demand another leadership election when the outcome was likely to be another victory for Mr Corbyn.
"Jeremy Corbyn is going to remain leader of the Labour Party unless he decides that he thinks that it is right to go," he said.
Veteran Labour backbencher David Winnick said the Copeland result had been "disastrous" for the party and urged Mr Corbyn to consider his position.
"The party is faced with the problem of a leader who is simply not acceptable to a large number of people who would normally vote Labour. That it is an obstacle and it would be wrong not to recognise that," he said.
"It is now entirely up to Jeremy and those close to him to decide what is best in the interests not simply of the party but the people we are in politics to represent."
But political scientist Prof John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, told the BBC that even if Mr Corbyn were to go, unless a credible contender came forward, "it's not entirely clear Labour's problem would be solved".
However, Ian Lavery, Labour's campaigns and elections chairman, insisted Mr Corbyn and his anti-nuclear stance in a constituency that relies on Sellafield's nuclear processing facility, was not the problem. He claimed the Labour leader was "one of the most popular politicians in the country".
"The issues in Copeland weren't about Jeremy Corbyn," he told BBC2's Daily Politics. "The issues in Copeland were about the jobs and the economy and the people are worried about this."


Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline is to have its "commercial practices" investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The British company, which is already facing allegations of bribery in several countries, said it would "co-operate fully" with the SFO.
Earlier this month, Chinese authorities accused GSK staff of bribing government and hospital officials in the country.
GSK refused to comment on whether the SFO's criminal investigation was connected to any specific incident.
In a short statement, the firm said it was "committed to operating its business to the highest ethical standards".
The pharmaceutical giant, which is one of the largest companies in the UK, is also facing inquiries into similar allegations in Poland and Iraq.
If the allegations are proved, GSK may have violated both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
It is illegal for companies based in the US or UK to bribe government employees abroad.
In a statement, the Serious Fraud Office confirmed it had "opened a criminal investigation into the commercial practices of GlaxoSmithKline plc and its subsidiaries".
The agency added that "whistleblowers are valuable sources of information to the SFO in its cases" and that it welcomes "approaches from anyone with inside information on all our cases, including this one".
In April, BBC Panorama heard from whistleblower Jarek Wisniewiski, a former sales rep for GSK in the Polish region of Lodz, who told the programme that doctors had been paid to promote the company's asthma drug Seretide.
Eleven doctors in the country and a GSK regional manager were charged over alleged corruption between 2010 and 2012, BBC Panorama revealed.
Last July, Chinese authorities announced they were investigating GSK, detaining four Chinese GSK executives.
GSK has previously confirmed that it informed the SFO, as well as the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, about the Chinese investigation.


Accrington extended their unbeaten League Two run to 12 games with victory at second-placed Plymouth.

Jordan Clark scored the eighth-minute winner, and keeper Marek Rodak pulled off some superb saves to deny the promotion-chasers.
After Clark's header broke the deadlock, Argyle keeper Luke McCormick pulled off a brilliant one-on-one stop to deny Shay McCartan as he swept through the home defence in the 15th minute.
After that Rodak came to the fore, starting with a brilliant point-blank stop to keep out Antoni Sarcevic's volley.
Argyle continued to press but the closest they came was in the last minute of the first half as striker Jimmy Spencer's 20-yard angled strike skimmed past the post.
McConville's 65th-minute header was kept out at the foot of his post by Luke McCormick.
Rodak flapped over a goal-bound Yann Songo'o header and then made his best save, diving to somehow keep out sub Ryan Taylor's fierce 15-yard volley.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Plymouth Argyle 0, Accrington Stanley 1.
Second Half ends, Plymouth Argyle 0, Accrington Stanley 1.
Attempt missed. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right.
Corner,  Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Noor Husin.
Foul by Antoni Sarcevic (Plymouth Argyle).
Sean McConville (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Janoi Donacien (Accrington Stanley).
Oscar Threlkeld (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt blocked. Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Sean McConville (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Gary Miller (Plymouth Argyle).
Foul by Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle).
Omar Beckles (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Marek Rodak.
Attempt saved. Ryan Taylor (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top right corner.
Corner,  Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Marek Rodak.
Attempt saved. Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Attempt saved. Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Shay McCartan (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle).
Jordan Clark (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle).
Janoi Donacien (Accrington Stanley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Graham Carey (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Janoi Donacien (Accrington Stanley).
Noor Husin (Accrington Stanley) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Antoni Sarcevic (Plymouth Argyle).
Corner,  Plymouth Argyle. Conceded by Marek Rodak.
Attempt saved. Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Noor Husin (Accrington Stanley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
David Fox (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Noor Husin (Accrington Stanley).
Attempt missed. Oscar Threlkeld (Plymouth Argyle) header from very close range is too high.
Attempt saved. Matty Pearson (Accrington Stanley) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner,  Accrington Stanley. Conceded by Jakub Sokolik.
Attempt blocked. Jordan Clark (Accrington Stanley) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is blocked.
Attempt saved. Sean McConville (Accrington Stanley) header from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt missed. Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle) header from the centre of the box is too high from a direct free kick.
Foul by Jordan Clark (Accrington Stanley).


Leicester City fans wore Jamie Vardy face masks for their 2-0 defeat by Everton on Boxing Day to show their support for the suspended striker.

Vardy, 29, is serving a three-match ban after being sent off at Stoke on 17 December for a two-footed challenge on Mame Biram Diouf.
The Foxes had 30,000 masks printed after Vardy had an appeal rejected by the Football Association.
Vardy sat in the stands and wore one of the masks himself.
The England international will also miss games against West Ham and Middlesbrough but will be available for the FA Cup third-round tie against Everton at Goodison Park on 7 January.
Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri said he did not emerge from the tunnel at the King Power Stadium in time to see the masks.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see when I came out. I don't know, it's not my matter. I didn't see. I'm sorry," he said.
"It's difficult to say how much we missed Vardy. I didn't see the masks."
In an Instagram post, Foxes owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha said the decision to suspend Vardy was "unfair".
Leicester forward Riyad Mahrez was left on the bench against Everton by Ranieri and the Foxes boss has demanded an improvement from the Algerian.
"He's not in good form now and I wanted to stimulate him," said the Italian.
"I didn't see him do well during the training sessions and he must give more for the team. I want more."
The Premier League champions have won only four of their opening 18 league games and are three points above the relegation zone.
"This season is this way - nothing is right, nothing is easy," added Ranieri.
"We wanted to give a good present on Boxing Day, but it was not possible. Here everything was right in first six months and now everything is wrong."


(Noon): London's leading shares sagged in Wednesday morning trading, dragged down by mining stocks.

By lunchtime, the five biggest losers on the FTSE 100 were all mining firms, led by BHP Billiton, which sank by 5.6%.
Overall, the benchmark 100-share index was down 91.37 points or 1.49% at 6,045.87.
Investor sentiment remains fragile amid fears over the health of the Chinese economy, a big consumer of commodities.
Shares across the globe fell sharply on Monday after trading in China was halted early when its main indexes fell 7%, triggering "circuit breakers".
Chinese shares extended their losses on Tuesday, but headed higher on Wednesday, with the Shanghai Composite index closing 2.3% up.
Anglo American and Rio Tinto were 4.8% and 4.5% lower respectively, while Antofagasta shed 4.3% and Glencore lost 3.5%.
Among the risers on the FTSE 100, Sainsbury's made early gains but was just 0.04% up at lunchtime, having fallen 5.2% the previous day.
The supermarket giant's loss on Tuesday followed news that it had made an unsuccessful bid approach for Home Retail Group.
On the currency markets, the pound slipped by 0.16% against the dollar to $1.4653 and by 0.18% against the euro to â‚¬1.3626.


More Birmingham schools are under investigation over an alleged plot to oust head teachers, the Department for Education (Dfe) has said.

Four schools were identified in an anonymous letter outlining plans to introduce more Islamic principles.
The Dfe said it was looking into claims the so-called Operation Trojan Horse scheme had targeted twelve schools.
Park View Education Trust, which runs three of the schools, has denied the allegations.
Officials from Ofsted have visited Park View, Nansen Primary and Golden Hillock schools, which are all part of the trust.
Park View governor Tahir Alam has denied any involvement in the letter  and said it "maligned" his reputation.
The Dfe said its own investigation into the claims was ongoing alongside Birmingham City Council's previously announced probe.
A Dfe spokesperson it would "take firm action" if it found standards were not being met.
"Where we become aware of issues of concern we will move quickly to resolve these," they added.
Authorities have yet to determine if the letter, apparently sent from someone in Birmingham to a contact in Bradford, is genuine.
The four-page document suggested methods for replacing senior staff and governors with people sympathetic to Islam.
It claimed responsibility for leadership changes at Adderley Primary, Saltley School, Park View School and Regents Park Community Primary School.


The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has said he is confident he has the continuing support of key allies Iran and Russia.

A fresh push is under way to resolve Syria's four-year conflict, leading to speculation Mr Assad could be forced out to reach a settlement.
But Mr Assad said Russia and Iran did not abandon their friends.
Meanwhile France has said that that the "neutralisation" of the Syrian leader was essential to ending the crisis.
French President Francois Hollande said: "We must reduce the terrorist influence without maintaining Assad. The two are bound up together."
Iran and Russia though have maintained he needs to be part of a political solution.
The flurry of diplomatic activity on Syria has followed the recent nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers.
But Mr Assad, speaking to Al-Manar, a Lebanese TV station run by his Hezbollah allies, said there was no imminent breakthrough in sight.
He said a solution was only possible if the outside world stopped supporting "terrorism", a term he has used to describe both opposition activists and organised jihadist groups.
The BBC Beirut correspondent, Jim Muir, says the positions spelt out by Mr Assad remain unchanged, despite the dire situation his forces face on the ground.
Syria's conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in 2011, but morphed into a bloody multi-party conflict that has left more than 250,000 dead.
The UN's envoy to the Syrian crisis, Staffan de Mistura, has proposed a series of consultations between key parties as a means towards formal peace talks.
But in his interview Mr Assad called the UN envoy biased.


Changes may have to be made to the rules surrounding the Shoreham Airshow following last month's fatal crash, an MP has said.

East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton believes the type of aircraft allowed to carry out aerobatics needs to be looked at.
He led a debate on the crash and its implications for future air displays at Westminster Hall on Tuesday.
Eleven people died when a vintage jet crashed in to the A27 in West Sussex.
The Conservative MP said although a lot of work went into making air shows as safe as possible, the implications of the crash in Shoreham must be discussed.
"I think there will have to be some changes. We need to know exactly why the pilot was flying where he was, at that height, so close to the road.
"Do we just need to change the [flight] pattern, do we need not to have certain types of very powerful and also quite old vintage aircraft?
"Is it not suitable for those type of aircraft? I don't know."
He added: "People are keen not to rush to judgement. The Shoreham Airshow is a very popular part of the Shoreham calendar, it's been going very safely for the past 26 years and I hope we can retain it in some form."
Two days after the crash on 22 August, the Civil Aviation Authority banned vintage jets from performing high-energy aerobatics over land at air shows, limiting them to flypasts only.
It also grounded all Hawker Hunter jets until further notice.
An initial Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report found the Hawker Hunter jet showed "no abnormal indications" during its flight.
It also said pilot Andy Hill was thrown clear of the aircraft during the later part of the crash but it was not clear whether he initiated his ejection.
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA), which organises Shoreham Airshow, said it continued to "provide the authorities with our full cooperation and support in their endeavours to find all the answers" to the "tragedy at Shoreham".


Independent school Brighton College has scrapped its traditional uniform rules to accommodate transgender pupils.

The school is introducing a "trouser uniform" and a "skirt uniform" that can be worn by pupils up to age 16, regardless of their biological gender.
At least one person with gender dysphoria has taken up the option, according to the college.
Head Richard Cairns said the change to its 170-year-old code followed requests from a "small number of families".
"It ties in with my strong personal belief that youngsters should be respected for who they are," he added.
"If some boys and girls are happier identifying with a different gender from that in which they were born, then my job is to make sure that we accommodate that.
"My only interest as headmaster is their welfare and happiness."
Mr Cairns said whereas most schools gave transgender pupils "personal leeway with uniform" he wanted to "abolish the notion of boys' and girls' schools altogether".
"Traditional uniform will be worn but the type of uniform will be a matter for the individual boy or girl, always assuming parental support."
Fred Dimbleby, a sixth-form pupil at the college, said the change had support across the school and gave Brighton College a "real sense of unity".
"I think it would be great if all schools took up this idea. Secondary school is such a formative period for people so it's important to encourage people to be who they are and who they want to be."
Brighton College teaches up to 900 pupils aged between 11 and 18.