Nepal is "on a war footing" as it tries to help survivors following Saturday's earthquake, its prime minister says.

Sushil Koirala said the government was doing all it could but was overwhelmed.
The UN has estimated that eight million people have been affected - more than a quarter of the population. Foreign aid is arriving but being hampered by congestion at Kathmandu's sole airport.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake is now 4,356, but Mr Koirala said it could reach 10,000.
"The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing" in a "difficult hour" for Nepal, Mr Koirala told Reuters news agency.
He has also admitted that lack of equipment and expert personnel meant the "appeals for rescues coming in from everywhere" in many cases could not be met.
Almost 8,000 people are known to have been injured when the quake hit and in numerous powerful aftershocks which have sent people fleeing from their homes to camp on open ground.
Water, food and electricity are in short supply and there are fears of outbreaks of disease.
"According to initial estimations and based on the latest earthquake intensity mapping, eight million people in 39 districts have been affected, of which over two million people live in the 11 severely affected districts," said the most recent report from the UN Office of the Resident Co-ordinator.
Landslips and periodic bad weather in the remote mountainous region around the epicentre are adding to the challenge.
Rebecca McAteer, an American doctor who was one of the first to arrive in the district of Gorkha close to the epicentre, told Associated Press that 90% of houses there were "just flattened".
She said most residents were older men and women and children, as the younger men had left to find work elsewhere.
Many have also lost livestock and have little food.
However, a spokesman for Nepal's home ministry told the BBC that helicopters were air-dropping tents, dry food and medicine - though they were yet to reach many isolated communities.
This camp had been set up on a playground and even now there are quite a few children playing. But it no longer resembles a safe place. There's rubbish everywhere, paper plates, wrappers and plastic glasses are strewn all over.
"It's getting quite bad," says one man who is here with his wife and four daughters. "We've been here for three days and we've been living on instant noodles. There's nothing else to eat."
His house is not badly damaged, but he is adamant that he will not go home despite the challenging conditions in the camp.
"We've heard all these rumours about more earthquakes and aftershocks. We will not leave this place, not for a while."
Homeless and hungry survivors
The day the quake hit my home
How long can survivors last under rubble?
Nepal quake special report
The Nepal government has pleaded for overseas aid - everything from blankets and helicopters to doctors and drivers.
"We urge foreign countries to give us special relief materials and medical teams. We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis," said Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudel.
Many countries have sent aid including India, China, the UK and US.
But there is a logjam at Kathmandu airport, with individuals trying to fly out of the country while flights of aid and rescue teams wait to land.
On Monday, four Indian air force aircraft had to return to Delhi international airport after encountering "congestion" at Kathmandu, tweeted a spokesman for India's defence ministry.
Nepal earthquake: Before and after
In pictures: Devastation after the quake
Quake 'was anticipated'
Almost the entire Nepali army and police have joined the search and rescue operations, officials say.
People are still being pulled from the rubble more than 50 hours after the tragedy.
Hospitals are unable to cope with the huge numbers of people in need of medical attention and some Nepalis have complained of aid being slow to reach them.
The country's most deadly earthquake in 81 years triggered avalanches that have killed 18 people on Mount Everest - the worst disaster in history on the world's highest peak.
More than 200 people had been trapped on the mountain but all the injured have now been evacuated, along with the dead.
Expedition leader Chris Harling described experiencing the quake on the north side of Everest, telling the BBC the camp "started to vibrate underneath us which increased in intensity up to the point where the ground was literally shaking backwards and forwards like a giant jelly.
"It was absolutely incredible."
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To protect your email, social media accounts and the rest of your online life, strong passwords are so important.
In 2015, security company SplashData revealed that the top three most popular passwords were 123456, password and 12345678.
Yes, they're all very simple but it would be easy for someone to guess them and hack into your accounts.
But setting and remembering a strong password can be as easy as singing your favourite song.
Here's our step-by-step guide to how lyrics can help you stay safe online.
We've asked Martin to help us out.
He's chosen One Direction but it could be anyone you like.
You just need to be able to remember some of the lyrics to one of their songs.
The catchier the better, to make sure you can remember those words.
Martin has chosen 'History', the last single to be released by the 1D boys before they took a break from the band.
It could be the chorus or the bit you like the most.
We've gone for the opening line of the chorus: "You and me got a whole lot of history." Sing it, Harry.
Take the first letter of each word to make the basis of your password. That gives us YAMGAWLOH.
Not bad, but could someone who knows the music you love possibly guess it?
Mix lower and upper case letters to make the password a little harder to guess.
You should end up with something like: YaMGAwlOH
Swapping letters for numbers and symbols can make your password even more difficult to guess.
So you can swap the letter a with the @ sign. A capital G looks a bit like 6, and we'll change the letter O to the number zero, 0.
This would leave you with a fantastic password: Y@M6Awl0H
It probably goes without saying, but ours is just an example and not one you should use. Stay safe!


Ways to speed up surface repairs on major roads and motorways are being looked at in a bid to cut disruption.

Infrastructure and Economy Secretary Ken Skates has asked for reports making recommendations to tackle the problem.
It follows tailbacks in Denbighshire on Friday when an overturned tractor closed the A55 in both directions.
The road could not be cleaned to the required standard so it did not fully reopen until early on Tuesday after it had been resurfaced.
In a separate incident, the A5 had to be closed at Chirk after a crash on the Ceiriog viaduct on Monday.
The southbound carriageway has reopened, but northbound will stay closed until at least Friday until temporary barriers can be fitted.
However, there is a delay on getting specialists to carry out the work as Mr Skates said they were "currently involved in other projects including installing barriers in London following recent incidents there".
Officials will look at the response to damage on roads, how it can be improved and any costs involved.
"I am aware that there has been criticism in the press and on social media as some of the delays caused by these incidents were severe. There are clearly lessons to be learnt," said Mr Skates.


Doctors at Imperial College hospitals will soon be monitoring the health of patients with an app developed by Google-backed AI firm DeepMind.

The Streams app gathers information about key physiological measurers and warns when readings are high or low.
Streams came from a deal with London's Royal Free hospital that gave Google access to 1.6 million patient records.
Medical data campaigners said patients deserved to know more about how their data was being used.
The deal will see medical professionals at three London hospitals, St Mary's, Hammersmith and Charing Cross, getting updates and alerts on their smartphones about patients who are at risk of a sudden deterioration in their health.
The alerts and updates will be derived from blood tests and other regularly administered measures of an individual's condition.
In a statement Dr Sanjay Gautama, chief clinical information officer at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, said the partnership should mean doctors get "vital information" about a patient's condition quicker.
As well as data from medical checks, the Streams alerts and updates will draw on electronic patient records held at the hospitals.
Phil Booth, co-ordinator of medical data privacy campaigning group MedConfidential, said the deal needed more scrutiny.
"Patients should see how their medical records have been used," he said, "including uses by large suppliers who see profit beyond the sticker price paid by the NHS."
An earlier collaboration between DeepMind and London's Royal Free NHS Trust has proved controversial because it involved the firm getting access to millions of patient records. DeepMind said it needed the data to help its software recognise various medical conditions including acute kidney injury.
Critics said DeepMind needed to be more open about the reasons it wanted the data.


Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria has been ordered by the jihadist network not to use the country to launch attacks on the West, the group's leader has said.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abu Mohammed al-Julani said al-Nusra Front was focused on capturing Damascus and toppling President Bashar al-Assad.
He also promised to protect Syrian minorities that disavowed Mr Assad.
A rebel alliance including al-Nusra has been making gains in north-western Syria, capturing the city of Idlib.
Rebel fighters are now advancing on the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia, a stronghold of the president and his heterodox Shia Muslim Alawite sect.
The hour-long interview with Julani broadcast on Wednesday night was his second with Qatar-based Al Jazeera since 2013, when al-Nusra Front split from what is now Islamic State (IS).
It was not clear where it was filmed and Julani's face was not shown. He sat on an ornate chair opposite the interviewer, Ahmed Mansour, with his back to the camera.
Julani said al-Nusra had been instructed by the overall leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to avoiding launching attacks abroad that might jeopardise its operations in Syria.
"We are only here to accomplish one mission, to fight the regime and its agents on the ground, including Hezbollah and others," he stressed, referring to the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement that is fighting alongside government forces.
"Al-Nusra Front doesn't have any plans or directives to target the West. We received clear orders not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the US or Europe in order to not sabotage the true mission against the regime. Maybe al-Qaeda does that, but not here in Syria."
The al-Nusra leader also denied claims by the US that it had a secret cell called the "Khorasan Group" that was tasked with plotting attacks outside Syria.
"There is nothing called Khorasan group. The Americans came up with it to deceive the public. They claim that this secret group was set up to target the Americans but this is not right."
The US-led coalition against Islamic State, to which al-Nusra is violently opposed, has bombed several bases that US officials say were used by the Khorasan group.
"Our options are open when it comes to targeting the Americans if they will continue their attacks against us in Syria. Everyone has the right to defend themselves," Julani warned.
A US intelligence official told the New York Times that Julani's claims were "self-serving propaganda".
Julani also vowed that al-Nusra would not harm members of Syria's Christian and Druze minorities who did not fight against it, and that Alawites would be safe if they "drop their weapons, disavow Assad, do not send their men to fight for him and return to Islam".
"The battle does not end in Qardaha, the Alawite village and the birthplace of the Assad clan," he explained. "Our war is not a matter of revenge against the Alawites despite the fact that in Islam, they are considered to be heretics."


A 12-year-old cancer survivor has urged more people to give blood, as the number of new donors has dropped by 40% over the past decade.

Orla Galton, from Blackmill, Bridgend county, was diagnosed with leukaemia at three and blood transfusions helped save her life.
She endured them for years, but her mother, Sharon, said they were a lifeline.
The Welsh Blood Service wants 200,000 more donors to replenish stocks.
"When Orla was having chemotherapy her bloods hit so low that she became anaemic, she would have no white blood cells so she couldn't fight any infection," she said told BBC Radio Wales.
"It's quite a dangerous time as while their bloods are going down, they can't carry on with the treatment. Orla needed blood transfusions so she could keep having the chemotherapy."
Orla, who has now been given the all clear, paid tribute to the donors who helped her.
"I would just like to say thank you," she said.
"I can't thank you more."
The Welsh Blood Service said:


As Lavanya Nalli walks through her main sari shop her eyes light up.

The 32-year-old talks of the pride she feels in leading a business that has been run by her family for 88 years.
The store in the southern Indian city of Chennai was first opened by her great-great-grandfather in 1928.
Over the decades Nalli has become one of India's best-known brands of saris. The traditional Indian garment for women, saris are lengths of wide fabric which are first wrapped around the waist and then draped over one shoulder.
Lavanya says the brand's heritage and reputation for selling the finest silk saris are central to its continuing appeal.
And with annual revenues of more than $100m (£76m) across 29 Indian stores, plus outlets in Singapore and California, business remains strong.
Yet as a growing number of Indian women are choosing to wear Western clothing, or less formal Indian garments, Lavanya is using business skills she gained from spending several years away from the family company to introduce new product lines and take the firm into e-commerce.
Nalli is renowned for selling hand-woven silk saris, which are made from the artisan weavers in the Kanchipuram district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
These saris are known for their opulence, their fine fabric, vibrant colours and intricate designs, which range from floral and peacock motifs to checks and stripes.
They are popular as special occasion wear for celebrations, festivals and marriages, and the most beautiful are passed on from one generation to the next.
They are also not cheap, with the most intricate examples costing as much as $3,100 (£2,350).
As a child Lavanya says it was impossible for her not to take an interest in both the company and retailing in general, because her father and grandfather would forever discuss business at the dinner table.
"Work and personal life were amazingly integrated," she says.
Lavanya herself formally joined the business in 2005, when she was 21. She stayed for four years, before deciding that she wanted to leave to learn about different ways of doing things.
So she first went to the prestigious Harvard Business School in the US to get an MBA (master of business administration).
She then worked with business consulting firm McKinsey in Chicago from 2011 to 2013.
Returning to India in 2014, she then spent a year with an online fashion retailer called Myntra, before finally rejoining the family business in 2015.
With all the experience she had gained while she was away, she says her family were happy to let her take the lead at Nalli.
The challenge Lavanya faces is responding to the continuing change in the fashion tastes of Indian women, which is seeing many of them wear saris far less often.
"Saris were the only choice and preference Indian women had for a very long time, and that has changed over the years," she says.
While saris still dominate on Indian city streets, it doesn't take long to spot young women in Western casual wear such as jeans, t-shirts and shirts.
They are buying these from shops opened in India by the likes of Sweden's H&M, and US chain Gap.
Less formal Indian clothing such as kurtis (a stitched long shirt) and salwar kameez (dresses) have also grown in popularity, especially on college campuses and in the workplace.
Amit Gugnani, a fashion expert at Indian management consultancy business Technopak, explains the growing challenge for companies like Nalli.
He says: "Indian fashion consumers have become more experimental and image-conscious.
"A strong and growing economy coupled with better job prospects, higher disposable income and profound impact of media and technology is revolutionising [the] buying behaviour of Indian consumers.
"It is a fairly large challenge to be able to cater to the modern day Indian consumer - it is a fine balance between understanding the consumer and educating them at the same time about the offering your brand has."
While Nalli has no plans to introduce Western-style clothing, under Lavanya's direction it has launched a range of kurtis and salwar kameez.
The company has also launched a range of more affordable saris, made from cheaper fabrics, such as a blend of polyester and cotton. This has brought prices down to as low as $2.20 per sari, a fraction of the price of the most expensive silk versions.
Lavanya says that while saris remain the "major revenue generator for the company", Nalli has "adopted the changing preference of consumers".
While Lavanya has led the development of the company's website, to enable sales from around the world, she still intends for the business to double its number of physical stores by 2020.
She says her family continues to support her efforts, particularly because she provides detailed business plans.
"Our set-up is very entrepreneurial, which allows us to keep thinking about different ways of doing things," says Lavanya.
"So whenever I have an inclination or hunch, I find data that validates my hypothesis. This makes me more confident to chase it further, and my family supports it.
"I'm really grateful to be in the position that I am in today. There is a deep sense of pride to be part of a historic brand that my family has built."


The sportswear giant Adidas says it plans to sell most of its loss-making golf business.

The company, which reported strong quarterly sales of its other businesses, said it wanted to concentrate on shoes and clothing.
The German firm launched a review of its golf unit last August.
The popularity of golf has fallen sharply in the US since 2000, the year Tiger Woods was at his peak. It accounts for half of the global market.
Brands Adidas hopes to sell are the TaylorMade, Adams and Ashworth brands, which represent about 60% of its golf unit.
Adidas has owned TaylorMade since 1997, adding Ashworth in 2008 and Adams four years later to make it the world's biggest golf supplier.
In 2015, golf unit sales fell by 13% to â‚¬902m ($1.04bn)- about 5.3% of group sales.
Analysts at UBS said the sale should "remove the earnings volatility of an equipment business with higher fixed costs and lower sales visibility than traditional sportswear".
That aside, the company announced a 31% rise in quarterly sales of its core brand in North America, thanks to a rise in marketing, including a series of partnerships with high-profile people including Kanye West.


MPs have already begun their Easter break - but the Lords legislate on.

Mostly they're sweeping up some legislative fag-ends, but the Tuesday debates on the process of Brexit could provide some significant action, as the Labour Lords ("the effective wing of the party," one peer murmured to me) seek to keep up pressure on the government on two long term issues where they are seen as being vulnerable.
And watch out for the publication of the Commons Brexit Committee's latest report, which has, even before publication, produced a damaging squabble between Leave and Remain Committee members. (Incidentally someone asked in comments on my earlier post on this, how the committee members are chosen - they are elected from within each party group.)
MPs are back in the Commons on Tuesday 18 April, and peers will return on Monday 24 April.
Here's my rundown of the week ahead:
The Lords meet at 2.30pm - when questions to ministers will include Labour's Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe raising the display and promotion of alcohol in supermarkets and the danger to the health and well-being of children.
The day's main debates are on internal issues. First up, there will be a motion to approve plans for the next Parliamentary year's crop of special select committees to conduct one-off inquiries.
The chosen subjects are: the economic, ethical and social implications of advances in artificial intelligence; citizenship and civic engagement; the effects of political polling and digital media on politics, and finally, a post-legislative scrutiny committee on the impact of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.
This last one will look at how effective the Act has been in its purposes of conserving biodiversity, promoting open spaces and open-air recreation, and meeting rural needs.
Normally this kind of inquiry has been aimed at examining how highly technical measures are playing out, but this one will focus more on how public policy is unfolding. All four committees will be instructed to report by the end of March 2018.
After that, peers will vote on a report from their Privileges and Conduct Select Committee recommending some changes to the rules for declarations of interests for peers with "significant control of a company".
This proposes a number of tweaks to the wording -  so financial and non-financial interests would have to be declared if a reasonable member of the public might think a peer would (rather than "might") be be influenced by them.
Finally peers will have their second committee stage debate on the detail of the Criminal Finances Bill, which deals with terrorist property, creates corporate offences on tax evasion and money laundering.
At this stage of debate, peers rarely force issues to a vote, but they will probe the government on issues like creating registers of beneficial ownership of companies in the UK's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, a wider definition of "economic crime" and there's an interesting looking Labour amendment which would create a "corporate probation order" under which companies convicted of offences under the Act would be placed under supervision.
And another amendment would allow the courts to disqualify directors of companies convicted of offences.
Finally, there will be a short debate on progress made in combating neglected tropical diseases.
Even while MPs are away, reports from Commons committees are still emerging - watch out for the Brexit Committee's latest report, looking at the white paper setting out the government's negotiating objectives for exiting the EU.
This is the report which saw pro-Leave MPs walking out in protest at what they regarded as an unduly gloomy assessment of the UK's position.
When the Lords convene (2.30pm) there's a question from Lord Naseby on the clarity of dialogue in UK TV programmes.
Then peers will deal with some legislative loose ends - dealing with Commons amendments to the National Citizen Service Bill and the Children and Social Work Bill, and the third readings of the Technical and Further Education Bill and the Higher Education Bill - here the key issue is age statistics for HE institutions.
But the big event of the day will be two Brexit-related motions from Labour, intended to keep the pot boiling on two key issues.
First, Labour's Brexit spokespeer, Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town, will call for the government to produce a report on the progress made towards ensuring that qualifying non-UK European Economic Area nationals and their family members are able to retain their fundamental EU-derived rights after the UK has left the EU.
The report would be required by the end of the current Parliamentary session, which is expected to fall in mid-May.
Then Labour's leader, Baroness Smith of Basildon will call for the setting up of a Joint Committee of peers and MPs to report on how the promised "meaningful vote" in Parliament on the final divorce deal would actually work.
That report would be due by 31 October.  Given that most peers tend to believe there is no earthly problem that cannot be resolved by a high-powered committee chaired by a senior ex-mandarin, this stands a good chance of being voted through.
The snag is that there is no requirement for the proposal to be put to the Commons, so any Lords message calling for the committee to be created could be left to "lie on the table" by the government.
But a smart Commons guerrilla might be able to force a debate on the idea - if Labour decide to put it to the House on an Opposition Day, or if they put a properly worded motion is put before the Backbench Business Committee. With most of the really experienced Commons insurgents on the pro-Brexit side of the House, this will be an interesting test of the new Remainer rebels.
A couple more interesting select committee reports are due: Science and Technology report on science in emergencies: chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incidents, and the Joint Committee on Human Rights report on Human Rights and Business - and how the government can encourage and enforce human rights best practice for businesses in the UK and abroad.
The Lords meets at 3pm - where the much-amended Digital Economy Bill, which has seen the government lose seven separate votes on assorted amendments, is due for its third reading - there are some government amendments down on the order paper, but these don't look controversial, so the issue now is whether MPs will seek to overturn the changes made by Their Lordships, when the bill returns to the Commons.
Finally there's a Labour regret motion against the Higher Education (Basic Amount) (England) Regulations 2016 and Higher Education (Higher Amount) (England) Regulations 2016 - which set variable limits on the maximum fees that publicly funded higher education institutions can charge students.
The tuition fee cap for institutions that have achieved a Teaching Excellence Framework rating of "Meets Expectations" will be Â£9,250 for full-time courses in 2017-18 where the higher amount is permitted. One of the issues around this increase is evidence suggesting students from ethnic minorities, less advantaged backgrounds and mature students are more debt averse and cost sensitive than others.
Watch out for two more select committee reports - European Scrutiny on Brexit and the European Scrutiny System in the House of Commons, which looks at how the Commons current system for considering EU legislation may need to be reshaped.
And the Justice Committee publishes its report on governor empowerment and prison performance - part of its major inquiry into the government's prison reforms.
The Lords meet at 11am, where questions to ministers include the Lib Dem Lord Sharkey on curbing the use of tax havens.
Then peers debate select committee report on Brexit and the EU budget which says that "the UK will not be strictly obliged, as a matter of law, to render any payments at all after leaving".
There will also be second reading debates on four Commons private members bills: the Local Audit (Public Access to Documents) Bill; the Merchant Shipping (Homosexual Conduct) Bill; the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill; and the Farriers (Registration) Bill.
None of them are controversial.


Welsh language broadcaster BBC Radio Cymru is to trial a "pop-up radio station" to extend services to listeners.

Editor Betsan Powys said it was important the station "exploits all the opportunities" as digital platforms continued to develop.
It will be available online, via the BBC iPlayer Radio and on digital radio in south east Wales.
The station's existing schedule on FM and digital radio will not be affected.
The three-month trial starts in the autumn.
The station will also offer a new online "digital space" for its youth audiences, a collaboration with partners to find new voices, and use the new BBC Music app which allows users to select their favourite music, including Welsh artists.
Ms Powys said: "After three months we'll consider the next steps in light of the trial results, technological developments and the reality of the BBC's financial position."
The trial service will be available on weekday mornings.
The station marks its 40th anniversary in 2017.
As the only Welsh language station, Radio Cymru has to provide programming to meet every taste.
When, in 2013, Radio Cymru asked its audience what it wanted from the service, a second Welsh language station was a surprisingly popular request.
Its core audience is loyal but ageing. Launching a new service on digital radio and via the iPlayer app acknowledges that the station has to try harder to reach younger audiences, without alienating its existing listeners.
But it launches its pop-up station at a time when attracting younger audiences is a challenge facing all media providers.
Capturing this elusive market for a Welsh-language outlet could be trickier still.


Martin Guptill smashed 93 not out from 30 balls as New Zealand thrashed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in Christchurch to go 2-0 up in their one-day series.

The 29-year-old hit his country's fastest one-day international 50, reaching the milestone off 17 balls to beat Brendon McCullum's record of 18.
He fell short of AB de Villiers' world record of 16 but went on to hit eight sixes and seal victory in 8.2 overs.
Sri Lanka were bowled out for 117 from 27.4 overs earlier in the day.
"It was a superb innings. You can't describe it," said captain McCullum. "It's something you witness only once or twice in your life.
"There are very few guys in the world who can play like that."
The tourists opted to bat first but struggled almost from the off, with Matt Henry (4-33) and Mitchell McClenaghan (3-32) doing the main damage. Nuwan Kulasekara, batting at eight, was Sri Lanka's highest scorer with 19.
Guptill smashed the first ball he faced towards leg gully but, despite getting two hands on the ball, a diving Milinda Siriwardana could not prevent it going for four.
And Sri Lanka were made to pay a heavy price as the hosts cruised to their victory target.
Guptill was partnered by Tom Latham, who made 17 not out, as a back injury prevented McCullum from opening the batting.
The 34-year-old was injured when he collided with an advertising hoarding while diving to stop the ball.
McCullum, who announced last week that he would retire from international cricket in February, has had a long-standing back problem and will have it reassessed before Thursday's third game of the five-match series.


Today's judgement is a resounding defeat for Julian Assange.

Senior District Judge Howard Riddle found against him on each of the principal arguments against his extradition.
One of those was that the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued against Mr Assange had been issued for the purpose of questioning and not prosecution.
Central to that was the evidence of Mr Assange's Swedish lawyer Bjorn Hurtig.
Judge Riddle found Mr Hurtig to be an "unreliable" witness as to the efforts he made to contact his client between 21, 22 September and 29 September.
He found "attempts were made by the prosecuting authorities to arrange interrogation in the period 21-30 September, but those attempts failed".
Accordingly he found "as a matter of fact, and looking at all the circumstances in the round, this person (Mr Assange) passes the threshold of being an accused person and is wanted for prosecution".
Another question raised by Mr Assange was whether the offences specified in the warrant were extraditable offences.
Key to this argument was the issue of consent, or the lack of it, in the allegations made against Mr Assange by the two women in Sweden.
Judge Riddle said: "I am satisfied that the specified offences are extradition offences."
Much was made of the fact that rape trials in Sweden are customarily held in private. It was argued this was against the principle of open justice and would mean Mr Assange would not receive a fair trial.
The judge noted the decision as to whether the evidence at any trial would be taken in public or private would be taken by the Swedish court.
He did find however there had been "considerable adverse publicity in Sweden for Mr Assange, in the popular press, the television and in parliament".
Mr Assange's legal team has indicated this issue would be central to their appeal against the decision.
On a more technical point, Judge Riddle also found the Swedish Prosecutor Marianne Ny was a "judicial authority with the function of issuing arrest warrants". Her status as an authorised prosecutor had been questioned.
The judge also said extradition was "compatible" with Mr Assange's human rights.
Before the extradition hearing it had been strongly suggested Mr Assange would argue the arrest warrant against him was politically motivated.
Judge Riddle said: "This has been hinted at, but no evidence has been provided, and the bar is neither argued nor found."
Mr Assange's appeal will be heard by the Administrative Court. He has seven days to lodge a notice of appeal and the hearing should take place within a period of 40 days after that. In practice however that can stretch to three to four months.
A further appeal lies to the Supreme Court, but only if the Administrative Court certifies that the appeal involves a point of law of general public importance, or the Supreme Court grants leave to appeal.
Any appeal will be challenging for Mr Assange.
Specialist extradition lawyer Michael Caplan QC said: "Resisting EAW requests are exceedingly difficult.
"The process assumes that a person will get an equally fair trial in any of the member states, so there are very limited grounds for opposing extradition."


DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said he believes Northern Ireland is "heading towards direct rule".

The current talks process is due to resume after Easter.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said at the weekend that if political talks do not produce a deal to restore Stormont then there must be another election.
Stormont's parties have yet to reach agreement on forming an executive six weeks after the assembly election.
Mr Donaldson, the MP for Lagan Valley, told BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster that Sinn Féin needed to change their attitude if a political deal was to be achieved.
"They are constantly making public statements and talking about negative outcomes," he said.
"We are not, we have focused on the issues.
"We are in the talks, we are negotiating, we are putting forward our positions we are talking to Sinn Féin, we are talking to the other political parties.
"But as things stand at the moment I have to be honest with you I think we are heading towards direct rule."
Mr Adams said it was the Irish government's responsibility to ensure direct rule was avoided and an election held if no deal emerged.
He was speaking at a republican Easter Rising commemoration in Carrickmore, County Tyrone.
The political deadlock began after a snap election on 2 March brought an end to Stormont's unionist majority.
Northern Ireland Secretary of State James Brokenshire warned that either direct rule or another election will be the result of no agreement being reached by early May.
However, Mr Adams told the commemoration the Irish government must ensure that an election took place.
"The current talks process has paused. But let me be very clear, it is the British government's intransigence on legacy issues and the DUP's rejection of the principles of equality, parity of esteem and rights that have made it more difficult to reach a deal," he said.
"Sinn Féin wants a deal. But if there is no deal then there has to be an election.
"The role and responsibility of the Irish government must be to assert that an election is the only legal course open to the British government, if the current talks fail to elect an executive."
He added that "progressive parties should not fear an election".
Mr Adams also said that "if what we have seen from the DUP in recent times continues, that will only guarantee that there will be no DUP first minister and no return to the status quo at Stormont".
Under Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement, the executive must be jointly run by unionists and nationalists, with the largest party putting forward a candidate for first minister.
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness quit as deputy first minister in January in protest against the DUP's handling of a botched green energy scheme.
The party said it would not share power with Mrs Foster as first minister until the conclusion of a public inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
Mr McGuinness died last month at the age of 66.
His headstone was unveiled as part of the Easter Rising commemoration in Derry's City Cemetery on Sunday, which was attended by Sinn Féin's deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald.


An "abusive" and "violent" doctor who raped and abused two women over a 20-year period has been jailed.

Michael Lever was told he must serve a minimum of four-and-a-half years in prison and was also given a lifelong restriction order.
One of his victims had told a jury he was a "monster" while another said he threatened to kill her if she did not agree to his demands.
Lever, 47, denied the crimes but was convicted in October 2015.
The attacks took place between 1993 and 2013 in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayr and the Borders.
Judge Lady Rae told Lever as she sentenced him at the High Court in Glasgow: "You have been described as controlling, abusive, as well as sexually and physically violent.
"From the material I have read, you seem to have little understanding of the impact of your behaviour."
The judge said she was satisfied Lever was a "high-risk offender".
The previous trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard Lever was "charming" to one victim when she first met him.
But he later made her take drugs including amyl nitrate - known as poppers - as well as the "aphrodisiac" Spanish Fly.
She said the date rape drug GHB was also put in her drink.
The witness added: "When I woke up, it was the next day. I was naked and propped up against a sofa."
The jury heard how Lever put a pillowcase over the face of one of the women and ignored her screams throughout her ordeal.
The victim was discovered in a wardrobe, naked with her arms tied, looking badly bruised and crying.
Lever - who has since been struck off by the General Medical Council - insisted the women had agreed to sex.
But his QC Gary Allan told Thursday's hearing: "Dr Lever now says maybe they weren't consensual."
Lever was previously jailed for 15 months in 2013 after being found guilty of attacking members of his family.
He strangled his wife at hospital accommodation in Carluke, South Lanarkshire, while she was pregnant in 1997 and 1998.
He was also convicted of attacking her son between July 2001 and March 2004 and his 16-year-old daughter between 2008 and 2010.


We have all heard endless jokes about his hair and tan, but what is the big deal now about Donald Trump's hands?

This is said to be a sore point for the billionaire, and it was revived this week by rival Republican candidate Marco Rubio, who mocked his adversary's "small hands".
During the latest Republican TV debate, Mr Trump reacted, saying he was comfortable with the size of his hands - and another part of his anatomy. "There is no problem. I guarantee."
But where and how did this all begin?
In the late 1980s, the satirical magazine Spy began mocking Mr Trump as a "short-fingered vulgarian". It  did not go down well with the tycoon.
"To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump," says Graydon Carter, who co-founded Spy and is now editor of Vanity Fair.
"There is always a photo of him - generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie [permanent marker] in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers," Mr Carter says.
The latest message came last year, Mr Carter added: "Like the other packages, this one included a circled hand and the words, also written in gold Sharpie: 'See, not so short!'."
Now comes Mr Rubio. He brought up the issue in a campaign rally in Virginia on Sunday.
"He is always calling me Little Marco. And I will admit he is taller than me. He is like 6ft 2ins (1.9m), which is why I do not understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5ft 2ins."
"And you know what they say about men with small hands? You cannot trust them."
Then, on Thursday night, Mr Rubio and Mr Trump came face to face on Fox News' Republican debate, when the issue of personal attacks among candidates came up.
Mr Rubio said his rival had "mocked everybody" with personal attacks. Then Mr Trump came in, denying it had been an issue before.
"I have to say this: He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I have never heard of this one."
"Look at those hands, are they small hands?" the front-runner asked. "And he referred to my hands - 'if they are small, something else must be small'. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee."
In a later interview with CNN, Mr Trump said that the "joke" was only about his hands: "I have very powerful hands."


The people of Thailand are mourning the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, who died on Thursday aged 88.

An emotional crowd held a late-night vigil in Bangkok, and black-clad crowds are now returning to the streets.
The king's body will be taken to the city's Emerald Temple later on Friday. The official mourning will last a year.
Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected be the new monarch, but has asked for a delay in succession.
The cabinet has declared Friday a government holiday, and flags are to fly at half-mast for the next 30 days.
The government has also asked for people to wear black, and avoid "joyful events" during this period.
News websites have turned their pages black and white, while tributes have been paid by leaders around the world.
One person in Bangkok told the Associated Press: "There is no word to explain my feeling right now."
"I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him. I should have done more," said Gaewkarn Fuangtong.
Thousands of mourners are expected to line the streets of Bangkok on Friday afternoon when the king's body is moved from Siriraj Hospital to the Grand Palace.
The Crown Prince will conduct the bathing ceremony of the king's body - a traditional Thai Buddhist funeral rite - on Friday evening, said palace officials.
King Bhumibol was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by cycles of political turmoil and coups.
He was widely respected across Thailand, and thought of by many as semi-divine.
He had been ill for a long time. When news of his death was announced on Thursday evening, many in the large crowds outside the hospital where he died broke down.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Bangkok says the king was a national father figure, a beacon of stability in a divided and worried country. A more uncertain era has begun, he adds.
The king's death comes as Thailand remains under military rule following a coup in 2014.
The country has suffered from political violence and upheaval over the past decade, as well as a long-running Muslim separatist insurgency in the southern provinces which sees regular small-scale bomb attacks.
Though a constitutional monarch with limited official powers, many Thais looked to King Bhumibol to intervene in times of high tension. He was seen as a unifying and calming influence through numerous coups and 20 constitutions.
However, his critics argued he had endorsed military takeovers and at times had failed to speak out against human rights abuses.
Although the prime minister said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn would become the new monarch, he added that the official proclamation would be made at a later date.
He said the crown prince had confirmed that he would perform his duty as heir to the throne, but had asked for time to mourn his father's death.
The crown prince, who is 64, is much less well known to Thais and has not attained his father's widespread popularity. He spends much of his time overseas, especially in Germany.
Profile: Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn
Strict lese-majeste laws protect the most senior members of Thailand's royal family from insult or threat. Public discussion of the succession can be punishable by lengthy jail terms.
Given the pivotal role the king has played in maintaining the balance of power in Thailand's volatile political environment, the succession will be a formidable challenge for the government, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.


Soldiers have taken part in a parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of an ammunition depot.

Soldiers from the  Ministry of Defence's (MoD) Kineton Station, accompanied by a band, marched from Warwick Castle to Pageant Gardens in the town.
Kineton Station has a permanent staff of more than 200 military personnel.
The parade was followed by an open day at Marlborough Barracks, Southam.


A £350m expansion of Aberdeen harbour has been approved.

The extension into Bay of Nigg, which will provide a facility for oil industry decommissioning work, is due to be completed in 2020. Work on the project will begin early in 2017.
Other improvements included in the expansion are aimed at attracting cruise ships to the port.
Aberdeen Harbour Board described the project as a "major new chapter" in the port's history.
Board chief executive Colin Parker said: "We are delighted that, after six years of detailed planning and extensive consultation with our many stakeholders and the regulatory authorities, we are now in a position to approve commencement of construction.
"Aberdeen Harbour Board, in partnership with Dragados UK, a main contractor, will develop facilities over the next three years that will represent a step change in the marine support capabilities in Scotland.
"These will transform the port's ability to accommodate the trend for larger vessels we are witnessing across a whole range of industries.
"The expansion will afford existing customers the opportunity to diversify and expand their interests, whilst attracting new customers and markets to the port, including up-scaled decommissioning activity, a more significant share of the available cruise vessel fleet and larger more cost-effective commercial vessels."
Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said: "This is excellent news for Aberdeen and the Scottish maritime industry, as the signing of the construction contract means this nationally significant project can now get underway in earnest.
"The significant investment will bring jobs and business to Aberdeen, supporting the local and national economy.
"The historic harbour will be transformed to accommodate larger vessels, opening up potential new revenue streams and offering customers world-class marine support facilities.
"These are exciting times for Aberdeen Harbour."
However, residents from the Torry area who formed the Battle for the Bay of Nigg Committee say they remain against the plan.
A member of the group, Renee Slater, told BBC Scotland: "The size of it is massive.
"Dolphins, porpoises and seals use the harbour, it's a beautiful place.
"The images are a Disney-esque parody."
The Battle for the Bay of Nigg Committee is concerned that if the proposals are carried through they will threaten local wildlife and have a detrimental effect on surrounding roads and open space.


Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson's experience at Tottenham might make him reluctant to leave the Liberty Stadium, says head coach Paul Clement.

Sigurdsson, 27, rejoined the Swans in 2014 after an indifferent two-year spell with Spurs.
The Iceland midfielder's excellent form this season has seen him linked with clubs including Everton, but Sigurdsson says he is happy at Swansea.
"I think he has a unique situation," said Clement.
"He was here on loan and then he went to Tottenham, which was set to be the next step in his career.
"It didn't work out, he came back here and has done really well.
"He is going to have that in his mind - if he is going to make the next step it has to be a positive one.
"He cannot have another situation like he had at Tottenham, where he potentially goes somewhere and is in and out of the side, and does not gather any momentum.
"Otherwise he is better staying here, being a key player and building something around moving this club forward."
Sigurdsson first joined Swansea on loan from Hoffenheim in January 2012, scoring seven goals in 18 Premier League appearances for the Welsh club.
Those performances earned him a permanent move to Tottenham at the end of that campaign, but he was unable to secure a regular first-team place at White Hart Lane.
As a result, the former Reading player signed for Swansea in a 2014 swap deal which saw defender Ben Davies and goalkeeper Michel Vorm join Spurs.
Since his return to the Liberty Stadium, Sigurdsson has been integral to the Swans, winning the club's supporters' and players' player of the year awards in the past two seasons.
Sigurdsson has scored nine goals and assisted 13 this season, helping Swansea to secure survival in the Premier League with a game to spare.
Clement hopes Sigurdsson can be persuaded to stay if the Swans can avoid another relegation battle next season.
"We want him to be able to see from the second half of the season that he is not going to have another situation like this season," the former Bayern Munich assistant manager added.
"A lot of players have to make that decision in their careers.
I am not necessarily talking about Gylfi, but do they want to be a smaller fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small "pond?
"He has a lot of ambition and I can understand that.
"I hope he stays here, but I also hope in the future he gets the opportunity to play for a really big club."


The plans set out by George Osborne in the Autumn Statement on Wednesday will require government spending cuts "on a colossal scale" after the election, an independent forecaster has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said just £35bn of cuts had already happened, with £55bn yet to come.
The detail of reductions had not yet been spelled out, IFS director Paul Johnson said.
As a result, he said it would be wrong to describe them as "unachievable".
However, voters would be justified in asking whether the chancellor was planning "a fundamental reimagining of the role of the state", Mr Johnson told a briefing in central London on Thursday.
If reductions in departmental spending were to continue at the same pace after the May 2015 election as they had over the past four years, welfare cuts or tax rises worth about £21bn a year would be needed by 2019-20, at a time when the Conservatives were committed to income tax cuts worth £7bn, according to the IFS.
Mr Johnson added: "One thing is for sure - if we move in anything like this direction, whilst continuing to protect health and pensions, the role and shape of the state will have changed beyond recognition."
Asked about spending cuts to come in the next parliament, Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier: "I think we should have a balanced package, which includes savings on welfare, it includes difficult things like freezing working age benefits, but the alternative is that the poorest in our country would suffer most as the economy went back into crisis'.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said that Labour would clear the deficit in the next parliament but would make "different and fairer choices" to the Conservatives.
Mr Johnson said the plans set out in the Autumn Statement implied "a slight increase in the speed of proposed spending cuts after 2015-16", extending the expected period of reductions in state spending for a further year beyond 2017-18, Mr Johnson said.
To achieve the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast of a budget surplus of £23bn by 2019-20 would require "spending cuts on a colossal scale ... taking total government spending to its lowest level as a proportion of national income since before the last war," he said.
On the measure of total government spending minus spending on debt interest, public expenditure was down by £11bn over the four years to 2014-15, but was set to fall by a further £38bn in the five years to 2019-20.
"There is no spending dividend on the horizon; far from it," Mr Johnson warned. "There are huge cuts to come. On these plans, whatever way you look at it, we are considerably less than halfway through the cuts."
He added that if healthcare and state pensions were protected from cuts after the election in the same way they had been by the coalition government since it was elected in 2010, they could be expected to account for a third of all state spending by 2019-20 - up from a quarter before the crisis - before any additional spending on the NHS was factored in.
Mr Osborne's failure to meet his initial target of eliminating the deficit by the end of the Parliament was "emphatically not" a result of the government holding back on spending cuts, said the IFS.
The "disappointing" outcome on the deficit - which fell just £6bn to more than £90bn this year - was "because the economy performed so poorly in the first half of the Parliament, hitting revenues very hard", said Mr Johnson.
In addition, tax revenues are not expected to rebound to pre-crisis levels, the forecaster estimated.
The IFS said the reform of stamp duty was welcome but modest, turning a "very bad tax" into just a "bad tax". The Institute argued that properties shouldn't just be taxed when they changed hands, but on a regular basis, every year for example.
Despite the reforms making house purchases cheaper for 98% of home-buyers, revenues from residential stamp duty were still forecast to increase from £7bn in 2013-14 to £16bn in 2019-20, the IFS noted.


Banbridge athlete Emma Mitchell suffered in the heat as she finished ninth in the 10,000m at the World University Games in Taipei.

Mitchell was almost exactly two minutes outside her personal best as she clocked 31 minutes and 51.62 seconds.
The humid conditions was always going to be a big concern going into Wednesday's race and they appeared to take a toll on the 23-year-old.
Kyrgyzstan's Daria Maslova took gold in 33:19.27 seconds.
Maslova, who competed at the recent World Championships in London, was reported to have pulled out of the final but she did take to the start line and finished three seconds ahead of India's surprise silver medallist Sanjivani Jadhav.
Japan's Ai Hosoda took bronze in 33:27.89 with her compatriot and long-time leader Yuki Munehisa a further 13 seconds back in fourth.
Munehisa went into the race with the fastest personal best (31:58.46) with Maslova next quickest with a 32:21.21 clocking.
However, Maslova and Indian Jadhav broke clear of the two Japanese runners with 600m left and the Kyrgyzstan athlete pulled away in the closing home straight to take the title.
The two leaders lapped Mitchell with just over 400m left as the Northern Irishwoman was clearly struggling in the humid conditions.
Britain's Jennifer Nesbitt finished fifth in 34:01.34 with her team-mate Louise Small just over 12 seconds behind Mitchell in 10th spot.
The Eamonn Christie-coached Mitchell is also entered in the 5,000m but she will probably only now consider competing in the shorter event if it is run as a straight final on Sunday.
As it stands, 5,000m heats are planned for Friday.
Mitchell's 10,000m personal best set in May ducked under Northern Ireland's Commonwealth Games consideration, a week after she also set a new Northern Ireland 5,000m record.
The Banbridge athlete went on to achieve a 1500m/5,000m double at last month's Irish Championships.


The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has dismissed criticism from US President Donald Trump over his response to Saturday's terror attack.

The attack in London Bridge and Borough Market killed seven and injured 48.
Mr Trump accused Mr Khan of downplaying the attack by telling Londoners there was "no reason to be alarmed".
Mr Khan's team said he had "more important things to do than respond to Mr Trump", who had "deliberately" taken his remarks "out of context".
"The Mayor is busy working with the police, emergency services and the government to co-ordinate the response to this horrific and cowardly terrorist attack and provide leadership and reassurance to Londoners and visitors to our city," Mr Khan's spokesperson added.
On Saturday night, following the attack, Mr Trump tweeted a message of support to the UK, but also sparked controversy after he called for his travel ban on visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries to be upheld by US courts.
On Sunday, he criticised Mr Khan, writing: "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!'"
His tweet angered many in the UK, who pointed out Mr Khan had been referring to increased police numbers on the streets.
During an interview earlier on Sunday, Mr Khan had said: "Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed."
Mr Khan had also said: "One of the things the police and all of us need to do is ensure that we're as safe as we possibly can be.
"I'm reassured that we are one of the safest global cities in the world, if not the safest global city in the world, but we always evolve and review ways to make sure we're as safe as we possibly can."
Following the attack, Mr Trump also tweeted that "we must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people", and that there was no gun debate after the attack "because they used knives and a truck".
Later on Sunday, Mr Trump visited the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia for the second time over the weekend.
Mr Trump and Mr Khan have clashed several times in the past.
During the US presidential campaign last year, Mr Trump first proposed the ban on Muslims entering the US, but suggested he could make an exception for Mr Khan, who is London's first Muslim mayor.
Mr Khan rejected the offer, saying: "It's not about me, it's about my friends, family and others from all around the world."
Mr Khan also accused Mr Trump of being "ignorant" about Islam and making both the US and UK "less safe".
Mr Trump responded by challenging Mr Khan to an IQ test, and said he was offended by Mr Khan, adding: "He doesn't know me, never met me... I will remember those statements."


Winger Jennison Myrie-Williams will leave Newport County after just one season.

Myrie-Williams, 29, will not extend his stay at Rodney Parade after both parties were unable to reach an agreement on a new deal.
He spent just 2016-17 at the club after joining from Sligo before that season began.
Myrie-Williams made 23 appearances with 14 starts and scored one goal, against Swansea Under-23s.


A World War One hero who survived the Battle of the Somme has been honoured with a commemorative stone, a century after he was killed.

Albert White, 25, was killed in France after storming an enemy machine gun post in order to save his comrades.
The Liverpool-born sergeant was awarded the Victoria Cross for his "conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty".
A stone has been laid at Liverpool Parish Church, one hundred years after he died in May 1917.
Tom White, the soldier's great nephew, was present during Friday's ceremony alongside veterans and serving soldiers.
He said: "All the family have always known about Albert's heroism. It's been fantastic today and very emotional, because it's been a real focal point for the family to get together, to come together to give Albert due recognition."
The former sergeant in the South Wales Borderers served at Gallipoli, where his battalion lost almost 1,600 men.
He was then posted to France where he survived the opening day of the Battle of the Somme and many other battles.
He was killed at Monchy-le-Preux during the Battle of Arras.
His citation in the London Gazette reads:  "Realising during an attack that one of the enemy's machine guns, which had previously been located, would probably hold up the whole advance of his company, Sgt White, without the slightest hesitation, and regardless of all personal danger, dashed ahead of his company to capture the gun.
"When within a few yards of the gun, he fell riddled with bullets having thus willingly sacrificed his life in order that he might secure the success of the operations and the welfare of his comrades."
Liverpool's Lord Mayor Roz Gladden said the stone would be a permanent reminder of the "incredible contribution" Sgt White made.


Two Northern Irish production crew members on the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones have won creative Emmy awards.

Ronan Hill, who previously won in 2012, received his second Emmy award for outstanding sound mixing for a drama.
Carla Stronge, meanwhile, won her first Emmy for outstanding casting for a drama for her work on the programme.
The creative Emmy awards were held in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
They reward technical achievement on TV series and programmes in areas such as casting, writing and sound.
Saturday night's ceremony is a precursor to the main Emmy awards event on 20 September.
Game of Thrones won eight prizes in the creative Emmys in all.
Series 6 of the successful HBO adventure series in currently being filmed in Northern Ireland.
The programme is also expected to win a number of prizes at the main Emmy ceremony.
Much of Game of Thrones is filmed in Northern Ireland  - at the Titanic Studios in Belfast and several other locations.


Four people in Brazil have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the deaths of 241 people in The Kiss nightclub fire in January.

Two nightclub owners and two members of the band playing as the fire began are accused of "negligent homicide".
A police inquiry in the city of Santa Maria found that the fire was triggered by fireworks used by the band.
Most of the victims died after inhaling the toxic smoke produced when ceiling insulation foam caught fire.
Investigators also criticised the fact that the venue only had one exit.
The police investigation identified 16 potential accused, of which eight have been charged.
Four people were charged earlier for obstructing the course of justice, including two firemen accused of hiding evidence that the club's fire licence had expired.
Nightclub owners Mauro Hoffmann and Elissandro Spohr and two members of the Gurizada Fandangueira band, Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos and Luciano Bonilha Leao, face trial for manslaughter.
Prosecutor Joel Dutra said the four men knew of the possible impact of their actions and failed to act.
"To die through the inhalation of toxic fumes is a cruel way of dying," he said.
"The reason they died was the search for profit, through the use of inadequate fireworks and highly inflammable foam on the nightclub's ceiling."
The police report published in March said dozens of eyewitnesses reported seeing the singer on stage holding the firework which triggered the blaze.
Attempts by the singer and a security guard to extinguish the fire failed when the extinguisher they used did not work, the witnesses said.
Many said that the security guards at the club at first tried to stop people from leaving the club, which was found to be overcrowded.
The fire, and the lack of safety precautions at the venue, have prompted widespread concern about Brazil's ability to host major sporting events in the next four years.
The 2014 World Cup is set to be played in 12 Brazilian cities, while the 2016 Olympics are to take place in Rio de Janeiro.


Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew says he hopes to begin discussions over a new contract at the end of the season.

Pardew became Palace boss on a three-and-a-half-year deal in January 2015.
He led the club to 10th in the Premier League last season, but the club have struggled in the second half of this campaign, slumping to 17th from fifth.
"Once we're safe hopefully I'll sign a new contract here, because I want to stay," said Pardew, who spent four years playing at the club from 1987.
Palace, who play Watford in the FA Cup semi-finals on 24 April, beat Norwich on Saturday for their first league win since late December. Back then they were just outside the Champions League spots.
Victory moved them 10 points clear of the relegation zone, and on Wednesday they host Everton, who are two points above them in 14th.
"We weren't expecting that run to go on as long as it went on," Pardew added.
"The first half of this season we got it right, but the second we haven't. We need to address that. The confidence levels, hopefully, have gone up, and our nervousness has disappeared."


A man has been found dead in a tent on Skegness beach, police have confirmed.

The body was found by a member of the public who was walking her dog on the dunes just before 13:00 BST on Wednesday.
The man has not yet been officially identified but Lincolnshire Police said it is investigating the circumstances.
A spokesperson for the force said: "Anyone with information that could assist the enquiry is asked to call us on 101."


French officials have used the state of emergency imposed after the Paris attacks of 2015 to curb peaceful demonstrations, a rights group says.

Amnesty International said hundreds of decrees were issued under the emergency laws, banning public assemblies or individuals from protests.
France's interior ministry has not yet responded to a BBC request for comment.
The state of emergency allows searches without a warrant and people to be placed under house arrest.
It is set to expire on 15 July but President Emmanuel Macron has said he will ask parliament to extend it for the sixth time until November.
The measure was introduced after the attacks of 13 November 2015, when militants from so-called Islamic State (IS) killed 130 people in gun and bomb attacks around the capital.
According to Amnesty's report, between November 2015 and 5 May 2017 there were 155 decrees issued under the emergency powers prohibiting public assemblies.
There were also 639 measures aimed at preventing individuals from taking part in public assemblies, the majority of them related to protests against proposed labour law reforms, it added.
"Emergency laws intended to protect the French people from the threat of terrorism are instead being used to restrict their rights to protest peacefully," Amnesty's researcher Marco Perolini said in a statement.
"Under the cover of the state of emergency, rights to protest have been stripped away with hundreds of activists, environmentalists, and labour rights campaigners unjustifiably banned from participating in protests."
The group also said that security forces used "unnecessary or excessive force" against peaceful protesters "who did not appear to threaten public order".
The most visible signs of France's state of emergency have, after one-and-a-half years, become routine; the heavily armed security forces dotted around the capital - outside schools, train stations, tourist sights.
Accompanying them has been the slow drum-beat of concern from human rights organisations over its invisible effects: the public gatherings that were banned and never took place, the people expelled or confined to house arrest.
But if recent polls are to be believed, France is firmly behind its government. Earlier this year, 81% of respondents told the IFOP polling agency that they did not want the state of emergency lifted, and 20% wanted the restrictions strengthened.
Many people accept that the new measures can't stop every potential attack, but with more than 230 people killed by extremists here since January 2015, and the risk of further attacks seen as high, national security has - so far - trumped individual freedom.
WATCH: State of emergency explained in 90 seconds


Web firm Cloudflare was briefly caught out by the leap second added to the end of 2016.

A small number of the firm's servers failed to handle the added second properly making them return errors.
The problem meant that the sites of some of its customers were hard to reach in the early hours of 2017.
The second was added to compensate for a slowdown in the earth's rotation and helps to co-ordinate time-keeping among nations that use GMT.
In a statement, Cloudflare said that its engineers had fixed the problem within 90 minutes of it affecting its servers.
Anyone falling victim would have got an error message saying servers could not be reached rather than seeing the page they wanted to visit.
Content delivery firm Cloudflare acts as a go-between for websites aiming to speed up access to a site as well as stopping malicious traffic and attacks reaching that destination.
It said that the problem affected about 1% of the requests its servers processed during the glitch period.
A detailed analysis of why the bug emerged found that it was triggered by a mismatch between the time-stamps Cloudflare servers were expecting and the ones they actually got from the separate systems that keep time on the wider net.
This caused an internal system to "panic" the firm wrote, causing the server errors.


Colchester United defender Alex Wynter has signed a new two-year contract with the relegated League One side.

The 22-year-old has made 32 appearances since joining the U's from Crystal Palace on an 18-month deal in January 2015, after a loan the previous season.
Wynter missed three months of this season after a clash of heads with team-mate Tom Eastman against Tottenham in the FA Cup on 30 January.
He returned on Saturday against Burton, when Colchester were relegated.
"I'm pleased that I've signed a new deal, it gives me a bit of stability and allows me to concentrate fully on playing football," he told the club website.
"It's been a frustrating season for me personally but hopefully, that's all behind me now."
The length of his new contract has not been disclosed.


The governor of the Bank of England has said that the possibility of Britain leaving the EU is the "biggest domestic risk to financial stability".

In a hearing before the Treasury Committee, Mark Carney said that the economy would be affected by the uncertainty created by an exit vote.
Mr Carney emphasised that the Bank was not taking sides in the EU referendum.
However, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused him of making "pro-EU" comments.
In a letter sent to Treasury Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie, Mr Carney said that Britain's membership of the EU had reinforced the "dynamism of the UK economy", and that the relationship had helped the UK to grow.
In a sometimes fractious exchange with MPs on the committee, Mr Carney denied claims he was "pro-EU".
Mr Rees-Mogg said his comments were "beneath the dignity of the Bank".
The referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union is to be held on Thursday 23 June.
"We will not be making, and nothing we say should be interpreted as making, any recommendation with respect to that decision," Mr Carney said.
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said the governor had "come down with a resounding thump" in favour of remaining in the EU, pointing out that Mr Carney also praised the deal that David Cameron had struck with Europe to safeguard the City of London.
Our correspondent said that people were likely to take notice of what Mr Carney said to make up their minds about Europe. "Mark Carney is perhaps one of those figures that people might look to as being above the political fray."
Mr Carney appeared in front of the cross-party Treasury Committee to discuss the economic and financial costs and benefits of the UK's EU membership.
Referring to a Bank of England report on the EU, Mr Carney concluded that EU membership had "likely increased the dynamism of the UK economy and correspondingly its ability to grow without generating risks to the Bank's primary objectives of monetary and financial stability".
However, Mr Rees-Mogg said this could be attributed to reforms made under Margaret Thatcher.
"It is speculative and beneath the dignity of the Bank of England to be making speculative, pro-EU comments," Mr Rees-Mogg said.
The MP said that he was concerned that the Bank was focused more on the positive aspects of EU membership than the negative, adding that it was guilty of "political partisanship" over Europe.
Mr Carney rejected Mr Rees-Mogg's statements as "wholly unfounded" and said: "With respect, what concerns me is your selective memory."
The governor said that he had not discussed what he was going to say on Tuesday with Mr Cameron. "I  have not had conversations with the Prime Minister about what I might say about the European Union."
As he considered the shark infested waters he would face this morning, Mr Carney knew two things.
First, that the pro-remain camp would grab all his negative comments about Brexit and trumpet them as a victory for them.
And they will.
Second, that he was likely to be attacked by the pro-leave campaign for being deliberately partisan in his approach to the value or otherwise of the EU to the British economy.
And he was.
It was the only moment Mr Carney appeared to bridle, responding to Jacob Rees-Moggs' "beneath the Bank's dignity" attack with a testy "I cannot let that stand".
That's about as close as a central bank governor comes to blowing his top.
Read Kamal's blog in full
Mr Carney said risks from an EU exit included the Bank's ability to control inflation, a fall in the pound and banks moving abroad.
However, if Britain votes to leave the EU, Mr Carney said the Bank "will do everything in our power to discharge our responsibility to achieve monetary stability and financial stability".
He said that there were measures that the Bank of England could take in the short term to support the financial system but said he could not rule out the possibility that there could be issues with stability.
Commenting on the short-term impact of an EU exit, Mr Carney said: "There could be lower levels of activity because of the degree of uncertainty that could affect investment and household spending. Reasonable expectations during a period of uncertainty."
However, he said it would not be possible to say what the longer term impact of leaving the EU would be on Britain. "We are not forming a view because it's outside our remit," Mr Carney said.
Mr Carney was also questioned about the financial sector's reaction to an exit.
He said: "One would expect some activity to move, certainly there's a logic to that and there are views that have been expressed publicly and privately by a number of institutions that they would look at it, and I'd say a number of institutions are contingency planning for that possibility."
On Monday, the Bank of England pledged to offer extra funding to the financial market before and after the June vote, in case uncertainty put pressure on the banking system.


Swansea City head coach Francesco Guidolin believes his team have secured their Premier League survival after beating Chelsea.

The Swans are up to 12th in the table, 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
Having reached the 40-point mark widely regarded as a guarantee of top-flight safety, Guidolin thinks Swansea can start planning for next season.
"Yes, I think so. It is virtual safety. It's not real yet but now we can see forward, not behind," he said.
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"This is an important message for us, for my players, for our fans, for the club."
Swansea's win was their first in the Premier League against Chelsea since returning to the top flight in 2011.
Gylfi Sigurdsson's volley capped a dominant first-half display from the Swans, who have now won four out of their last six league games.
Guidolin, who succeeded Garry Monk in January, ranks the victory against Chelsea as the finest display of his tenure.
"This is the best performance," he said.
"I remember the first performance at Everton, the first half was very good, and we played well against Crystal Palace at home, but this is the best.
"I'm very happy because it's my team, this is my team.
"My opinion is we can play in this way since a long time but I am a new manager and I needed to know my players, all my players.
"Today I saw my team play very well, with aggression, with quality."
Prior to the match, Guidolin said he planned to discuss a new contract with chairman Huw Jenkins once Swansea had guaranteed their Premier League survival.
Guidolin's current deal expires at the end of this season.
Although that objective appears to have been achieved, the Italian said after the win against Chelsea: "This is not important now. I don't want to speak about this because I spoke enough.
"My position is clear and now I am very happy because, three months ago when I arrived, the situation was not very good. Now it is a little bit better."


Councils are to be banned from cutting the length of the primary school week to save money.

The Scottish government is to change the law to make sure children spend a minimum of 25 hours a week in class.
This follows rows over attempts by some councils to reduce the length of the school week to help balance their books.
The EIS teachers union has welcomed the move but local government organisation Cosla is angry.
The government says primary school children will be guaranteed at least 950 hours a year of teaching time, equivalent to 25 hours a week.
Ministers have decided to amend the Education Bill, which is currently before parliament, to do this.
As the law stands, councils have to open schools for 190 days a year but the length and structure of the school day is not specified in legislation.
However, the Curriculum for Excellence operates on an assumption of 25 hours of teacher contact each week in primary schools.
In a few parts of the country, councils have closed schools on Friday afternoons for some time. This could continue as long as the total number of hours over the year met the legal requirement.
However the change in the law puts the brakes on moves to actually reduce the overall length of the school week. A few councils had considered this as they weighed up budget cuts.
Nobody in the mainstream has seriously argued that a cut in the school week would actually help improve children's attainment.
Councils which have looked at the idea would argue they have done so out of financial necessity. Their argument has, essentially, been that a cut in the school week for some is a "least worst option".
Councils are under a legal obligation to balance their books. If one potential option for savings is closed, inevitably, it could lead to greater pressure on another service.
Read more from Jamie
One of the biggest rows was in West Dunbartonshire where the council agreed in February to cut two-and-a-half hours from the primary school week in a bid to save about £1m. Within days, the council made a humiliating U-turn after it came up against huge local opposition.
Highland Council recently revisited the idea of a four-and-a-half day school week. Last year, it delayed a proposal to reduce the time pupils in primaries four, five, six and seven spend in class.
On Wednesday, the council's budget leader responded with disappointment to the government's announcement.
Cllr Bill Fernie said: "There is not any evidence which links better education attainment to a 25-hour school week and this would put further pressure on local authority budgets and our ability to make the necessary savings required to manage the anticipated cut in grant funding."
The planned change in the law would also allow ministers to put in place a minimum number of hours in secondary schools.
Education secretary Angela Constance said: "The Scottish Government is working with local authorities, parents and others to ensure our education system delivers both excellence and equity for every child.  We are driving a relentless effort to boost educational achievement and, critically, to make quicker progress in closing the attainment gap, for example through the £100m Scotland Attainment Challenge.
"Scotland's teachers are absolutely critical to these efforts. That's why we have committed investment of up to £51m this year specifically to help local authorities to maintain teacher numbers.
"And it's why we will legislate to provide certainty for pupils, parents and teachers about the length of the school week - a teacher time guarantee that every one of our children and young people should expect, and which they deserve.
"Decisions on the amount of time with teachers, in class and at school should always be made based on the potential educational benefit for children, rather than on how much money can be saved."
But Cosla, the organisation that represents most councils, is unhappy the government made an announcement of such importance "after zero consultation with local government".
Cllr Stephanie Primrose, Cosla education, children and young person spokesperson, said: "The government seems to be suggesting that they have no choice to legislate for the length of the school day despite not once raising it with Cosla.
"They have, after all, had plenty of opportunity to discuss this with us. We met with the Cabinet Secretary to discuss the Education Bill only a few weeks ago and have been in almost daily contact with Government as part of the spending review without even a hint to suggest this was on their radar.
"Yet we hear about it only a matter of hours before amendments are submitted. This is either bad planning on their part, or a knee-jerk response to an issue that was far from the top of the pile a matter of weeks ago."
But the largest teachers union, the EIS, gave a warm welcome to the announcement.
General Secretary Larry Flanagan said: "The EIS has always been vehemently opposed to any attempts to reduce the length of the pupil week which would serve only to dilute the quality of education in Scotland's primary schools.
"This important piece of legislation is good news for pupils and parents as it will guarantee equity of provision across the country and will also ensure that teachers' jobs and pupils' learning time are protected."
The government is also to stipulate a minimum level for school clothing grants for children from low income families.
BBC Scotland research earlier this year highlighted wide variations between the clothing grants in different council areas while one council - Angus - intended to phase them out.
The minimum level will be announced later.


Controversial changes which could see consultant-led maternity care withdrawn from a district hospital in north Wales are to go out to public consultation.

Betsi Cadwaladr health board is looking at plans to downgrade services at one of the area's three district hospitals.
In January, plans were approved to downgrade maternity care at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire.
But managers backed down after an outcry which prompted the rethink at a health board meeting on Tuesday.
The issues stemmed from a shortage of doctors.
Health board medical director Prof Matthew Makin told the meeting: "There is a universal desire for the safety of mothers and babies - that's why we're all here.
"Service change is seen as a threat and is particularly emotive. But we would not be proposing change unless we felt that the risks we are currently managing are becoming unmanageable.
"Any change will be temporary and for as short a time as possible to stabilise the service."
The health board's interim chief executive Simon Dean told BBC Radio Wales it had made 14 attempts to recruit doctors in the last nine month, saying the difficult past few years for the health board "may well be a factor".
Mary Heard, 36, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, and her 10-week-old daughter, Aurelia, were in the meeting listening to the discussion.
Speaking afterwards, she said she disagreed with the health board's preferred option to withdraw consultant-led care at Glan Clwyd Hospital.
"All my three children were high-risk births. It meant a lot to me to have them at Glan Clwyd," she said.
"My husband works and many of my family don't drive, so if I'd given birth elsewhere, I wouldn't have had anyone with me."
Bosses still favour the option to downgrade services at Glan Clwyd Hospital - a plan which was challenged in court - and the board agreed at its meeting in Llandudno, Conwy county, to press ahead with a public consultation on that and other plans.
This could mean withdrawing doctor-led maternity care at Bangor or Wrexham or there could be no change so consultant-led care would remain at all three hospitals.
On Sunday, Mr Dean said maternity units in north Wales have previously been forced to temporarily shut over safety fears for mothers and babies.
Critics of the plan say expectant mothers needing care from doctors would be put at greater risk by having to travel further.
The British Medical Association and politicians have also been highly critical of the health board for not seeking the views of staff and the public in drawing up its plans.
A final decision will be taken in November after the consultation closes.


Fewer homes were repossessed last year than in any year since 1982 - but lenders are warning that mortgage rates will not always be so favourable.

A total of 7,700 UK homes were repossessed last year compared with 10,200 in 2015, figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show.
Homes are seized in this way if borrowers are consistently unable to meet their mortgage repayments.
The CML said that falling mortgage interest rates had eased the burden.
"Customers do need to be ready for a time when the outlook may not be so benign, with pressure on real incomes increasing and as interest rates begin to move upwards again," said CML director general Paul Smee, forecasting a rise in repossessions in 2017.
The figures reveal that the proportion of buy-to-let properties that are being repossessed has risen significantly.
At the recent peak of home seizures in 2009, about a tenth of the homes repossessed were in the buy-to-let sector. Although the total number of home repossessed from landlords has fallen, this now represents a third of the total.
The number of homes repossessed overall fell in the final three months of the year, down from 1,900 in the third quarter of the year to 1,800 in the fourth quarter.
Mortgage-holders falling into arrears on their home loans also fell compared with the previous year.
The were 94,100 mortgages with arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance by the end of 2016, the CML said, compared with 101,700 at the end of 2015.
This was slightly up on the 93,300 mortgages in this position by the end of September.
Ever since the number of repossessions reached nearly 50,000 in 2009, at a time of deep recession and economic hardship, banks and building societies have been under intense pressure to show more forbearance to families facing financial crisis.
Regulators told them to look for warning signs that people were in difficulty and, where they could, to take action to help by reducing monthly payments or allowing complete payment holidays or letting borrows pay off their loans over a longer period.
The flexibility has had a clear effect at a time when mortgages have in any case become much cheaper, because of sharp reductions in interest rates.
However, the Council of Mortgage Lenders warns today that repossessions are likely to rise from here, probably back up to around 10,000 this year.
It says household budgets could come under strain as a result of rising prices in the shops.
Lenders and the courts have been far less speedy in seeking repossessions in recent years owing to pressure from the government, and the low levels of interest rates.
However, the CML said people fearing financial difficulty should not bury their heads in the sand.
"Borrowers who fear they may miss a payment should speak to their lender. Lenders remain committed to helping borrowers work through any period of temporary payment difficulty and remain in their home wherever possible," Mr Smee said.
Jonathan Harris, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, said: "We suspect that when it comes to their finances there are many people teetering on a knife edge and rate rises could easily push them over.
"While it looks unlikely that interest rates will rise anytime soon, borrowers still need to plan ahead and consider how they would cope with higher mortgage rates."
Where can I afford to live?


A dolphin found stranded on a Cornish beach has been put down, say marine rescuers.

The Common dolphin was discovered on the high water line at Gyllingvase near Falmouth early on Wednesday.
Members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue covered the animal with wet towels and seaweed to keep it comfortable.
A vet who was called to the scene assessed that it was too sick to be returned to the sea.
There have been 41 strandings of Common dolphins in Cornwall in the past year according to figures from the Marine Strandings Network.
Almost 3,500 whales, dolphins and porpoises have been stranded on UK coastlines over the six years up to December 2011, according to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
Overall it recorded a fall in the number of strandings but said that some still were not being reported.
The Society has launched a campaign to encourage the public to tell them when they find beached mammals.


Italy and Libya will revive a suspended "friendship treaty", Italy's prime minister and Libya's transitional national council head have said.

Mario Monti made the announcement after meeting Libya's Mustafa Abdul Jalil in Rome.
The treaty was originally signed by ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2008.
Mr Monti also said Italy would continue to unfreeze Libyan holdings.
Some 600m euros ($780m; Â£508m) in assets have already been released.
Oil concessions
Mr Jalil, who also met President Giorgio Napolitano, pledged to use the unfrozen funds to pay debts to Italian companies.
Italian oil giant ENI, partially state-owned, had reached 70% of its pre-conflict output capacity in Libya, Mr Jalil said.
Under the 2008 treaty, ENI is to pay 15bn euros to build a super highway crossing the north African desert coastline, linking Libya with its neighbours Tunisia and Egypt.
In exchange, the oil firm secured important oil exploration concessions.
It is not clear whether Rome's original pledge to pay Libya $5bn in compensation for its 30-year colonial rule will form part of the revived arrangement.
The BBC's David Willey, in Rome, says that despite the public assurances of closeness, behind the scenes, there is some competition between Italy and France to secure Libyan oil contracts and other new business for reconstruction.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe paid a surprise lightning visit to Tripoli on Wednesday, pre-empting Mr Jalil's visit to Rome.
Our correspondent says that his purpose, in part, was to remind the new Libyan administration that France also expects to be rewarded for its leading role in the Nato military operations which led to the downfall of Col Gaddafi.
Italian newspapers report that Mr Monti is due to visit Tripoli next month.


A killer whale has been captured on camera flipping a seal into the air while hunting off Shetland.

The still orca image was taken by Billy Arthur, of Dunnrossness, at Levenwick while Ruth Morris filmed the incident.
Mr Arthur, 33, who works for Scottish Sea Farms, told the BBC Scotland news website he went to the spot when he heard the orcas were in the area.
He said: "There were about six in the pod. I got the camera ready and was lucky enough to get the shot."
He added: "We sat for a while waiting and it paid off. You could see them getting agitated, then one flipped the seal out the water. After it was knocked out the water you could see them feeding on it."


Adults in the UK voted in a general election yesterday - and the results are coming in.

No one party has enough Members of Parliament to be in control of government, which means the result is what is called a hung parliament.
So what does it all mean and what's going to happen next?
You might have lots of questions over what this result means for you and other children in the UK.
We'll be putting some of them to a BBC political expert later, so we want to hear from you.
This chat page is now closed - thanks for all your questions!
You must ask your parent, teacher or guardian for permission before you send us a comment and a photo.
We may show your comment on our website or in our TV bulletins. We'll show your first name and which town you're from - but we won't use your details for anything else.
Who will be prime minister and what is a hung parliament?
Marco, 12
How many polling stations are there?
Nicholas, 12
How is the new government and next prime minister decided?
Maddie, 12, Bath
If the Conservatives have the most seats, how have they not won?
Katherine, 15, Hampshire
Will there be a second vote for the top parties with the most seats?
Sameeha, 12, London
Why was there another election?
Ellie, 12, Devon
What will happen to Brexit now?
Fergus, 9, London
Is the prime minister going to change or not?
Fedora, 12, London
Why does a party have to get a certain amount of seats to win?
Lauren, 9, Edinburgh
What will happen if the parties cannot make a deal?
Ethan, 10, Doncaster
In the past, how close has the voting has been between the different parties?
Year 6, Whoberley Hall School, Coventry
Why is the Labour Party called Labour?
Class 3, St Mary's Cockerton, Darlington
Why do you have to be 18 to vote?
Birch Class, Lambley Primary School
Is there a time limit for parties to join together to make a parliament?
4JP, Vale School, Worthing
How are the votes counted?
Tabitha, 10, Falkirk
Does the Queen get to vote in the General Election?
Year 4, Fawbert and Barnard's Primary School
Does the next election have to be in 2022?
Year 3, Warwick Road Primary School
Why can't Labour and the Conservatives work together?
Year 4, Skylarks Class


A mother of four-year-old twins, one of whom has cerebral palsy, has accused a council of "an absolute cock up" after allocating them different schools.

Hayley Duffety applied for a place at a primary school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, for her daughter Holly and son Elliot, who requires a wheelchair.
But she says the siblings have been offered places at schools four miles apart, due to a county council error.
Suffolk County Council said it was aware of the situation.
A spokesman said the authority was speaking to Ms Duffety and would be addressing a formal complaint that had been made.
Ms Duffety said if they were separated, "they would be terrified on the first day of school."
The application process started in June last year, Ms Duffety said, when she applied for the education, health and care plan (EHCP) for Elliot. She was told the process would take 20 weeks and would be complete before the January 2015 cut off for applying for school places.
But she said the EHCP was not finished in time, and as a result Elliot's needs were not taken into account.
"The admissions and special educational needs team didn't speak to each other, and my children were offered a different school entirely," she said.
"The school we wanted was over subscribed. So they sent them out to another village school, which I visited, and they don't have any wheelchair access."
After arguing her case with the council "for weeks and weeks", Elliot was offered a place at Abbots Green - the school Ms Duffety had originally applied for.
"But unfortunately because it was all done very late, there's no space for my daughter," she said. "So she still remains at the other school, which is ridiculous.
"They (the council) say they won't budge, the school is full, tough.
"It's an absolute cock up."


Gregory Campbell, the last of Stormont's double-jobbing politicians, is to stand down from the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA has said he will not contest the assembly election in May.
Instead, he will concentrate on his role as MP for East Londonderry, a post he has held since 2001.
The law banning people from holding dual mandates is due to to come into force after May's assembly election.
Mr Campbell became the last politician to hold seats in both Westminster and Stormont when his party colleague Sammy Wilson and the then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Alasdair McDonnell quit the assembly last summer.
M Campbell said that if he had decided to remain at Stormont it would have meant an expensive Westminster by-election.
"Choosing the right moment to move was always difficult, but given my approach to building for the future while not letting others rewrite the past I have decided that this is the best time," he said.


A woman left brain damaged by killer nurse Beverley Allitt has been ordered to pay back £23,000 in benefits.

Kayley Asher, 25, was attacked by Allitt while being treated at Grantham Hospital as a baby.
She received £11,500 compensation but social security officials say she failed to notify them of this and must return benefits she has received.
Her parents, Alan and Sharon, say they have "no intention" of giving the money back and are prepared to go to prison.
Miss Asher, from Grantham, received an Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) for five years because she is unable to work and also a £120-a-week disability allowance.
Her parents said they used that money for her day-to-day care and were given the £11,500 in compensation when she turned 18.
However, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says she failed to declare the payout when applying for the ESA, which is a means-tested benefit.
"We have never hidden the fact that Kayley had this money," said Mr Asher.
"We always believed that compensation was for her future. It was awarded because she needs special care."
Allitt was given 13 life sentences in 1993 for murdering four children and attacking nine others while working as a nurse at Grantham Hospital.
It is believed she injected 13-month-old Miss Asher with air under her armpit, causing her to have two heart attacks.
"The murderer had a go at her once and now the DWP are causing Kayley pain. It is totally wrong," said Mr Asher.
"We have no idea what the future holds for us.
"With a sum of money her future is secured if anything happens to her mum and I."
He said they intended to appeal against the DWP's decision and would risk going to jail.
A spokeswoman for the DWP said: "It is essential that claimants declare their income and savings accurately. This is to ensure that support is targeted at the people that need it most."
She said other non-means tested benefits were available to Miss Asher.