Ed Miliband has challenged Russell Brand over his view that voting is "pointless" in a video interview conducted by the campaigning comedian.

Taken to task by Brand about public disillusionment with politics, the Labour leader replied: "You implied... no change happened. That's just wrong."
Prime Minister David Cameron called Mr Miliband's meeting with Brand a "joke".
But Mr Miliband said the interview was a way to engage with millions of people not usually interested in politics.
His appearance received a mixed reaction on social media, with some complaining it was little more than an ego trip for the comedian and others mocking the Labour leader's accent and choice of language.
In the 15-minute interview posted on his YouTube Channel, The Trews, Brand challenged Mr Miliband over the ability of politicians to address inequality and tax avoidance.
"The reason I have never voted in my life is that I think it does not matter," Brand, who has encouraged people not to vote and advocated a political revolution through action, told the Labour leader.
"We all got excited by Tony Blair, we all got excited by Barack Obama and what happened."
In response, Mr Miliband said he was the man to tackle powerful interests but downplayed expectations about how quickly this would happen.
"This is important. I am not looking for euphoria. I know that might sound a bit weird... You don't want politicians saying 'vote for me and on day one the world is transformed'. It ain't going to be like that. Change is hard. Change takes time."
"Much of the immediate reaction was about how Brand - perhaps unsurprisingly - was dominating the debate... those that could concentrate on the content found Ed Miliband's accent and choice of words intriguing." Read more.
The Labour leader said voting was an essential part of the political process. People's votes had been responsible for major social and economic transformations, including the birth of the NHS, equal-pay legislation and gay marriage, he said.
"Without politics and without government, that change does not happen. That is what happens in a democratic society," Mr Miliband said.
The two men were filmed discussing a range of issues in the comedian's east London home, with Brand pressing the Labour leader about why no bankers had gone to prison for market-rigging.
"Of course, if there's fraud committed by bankers that should happen. But there's a bigger issue than that, which is how you have a banking system that works for ordinary small businesses... for customers who need the help," said the Labour leader.
Policy guide: Where the parties stand
Challenged by Brand over the difference between the proportion of an average person's income taken in tax, and the percentage of profits handed over by companies like internet giant Amazon, Mr Miliband said "of course" politicians had the power to act.
"It doesn't mean it's easy in a world where capital and companies are mobile. You have to have a government which is willing to say 'there's something wrong with this and we're going to deal with it'."
There was little of Brand's comedic touch about the video.
However, when discussing a perceived inability on the part of the public to distinguish between politicians, Brand referred to UKIP leader Nigel Farage's campaigning style in saying: "When someone with a pint on their head turns up it seems like a valid and interesting alternative."
"I'm not sure I'd look so good with a pint on my head," Mr Miliband replied.
Brand ends the video by addressing the camera to say he "learned a lot about Labour, a lot about Ed Miliband" and that he found it an "interesting experience".
He added that it "said a lot" that the Labour leader was prepared to be interviewed by him.
Political parties are often keen for well-known faces to sprinkle stardust on their campaigns, while some celebrities go a step further and run their own - with mixed results.
Watch video from the vaults on BBC Timeliner


Swansea City goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has blamed himself for Chelsea's second goal at Stamford Bridge.

Fernando Llorente had levelled on the stroke of half-time after Cesc Fabregas had put Chelsea ahead.
Pedro's curling effort deceived Fabianksi to restore Chelsea's lead before Diego Costa sealed victory for the Premier League leaders.
"That's my mistake," Fabianski said of Pedro's goal.
"I should have caught it or pushed it away.
"It went underneath my body and it's a goal I'm at fault for.
"We are disappointed with the result because for long spells of the game we were in it.
"We had some chances, defended well, but the second goal basically killed the game for us and for me was very disappointing."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Chelsea's win stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League table to 11 points while Swansea are 15th and three points above the relegation zone.
Despite defeat at Stamford Bridge, Fabianski said Swansea could take encouragement from their performance against Antonio Conte's side.
"They're top of the league, going for the title and probably will be the champions so that's very encouraging especially playing away from home," the Poland international said.
"If it wasn't for the second goal who knows what could have happened.
"We should take all the positives from our performance."
Swansea host Burnley at Liberty Stadium on Saturday, 4 March at the start of what Fabianski acknowledges is a big month in their battle to avoid relegation.
Burnley, a team Swansea beat on the opening day of the season, are seven points ahead of Paul Clement's side in 11th position.
Swansea then face three relegation rivals - Hull City, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough - in their next games.
"It's a massive month and we'll be playing against teams that are in and around us," said Fabianski.
"That will be very important especially after we've been through a difficult period when we played against really good teams.
"We have to do our best to get maximum points out of it.
"It will be a massive period for us and we have to focus on the Burnley game
"We'll be playing at home and everyone will be expecting us to get maximum points."


A large fire is being tackled by 70 firefighters at a Merseyside industrial unit, with local residents urged to shut windows due to smoke.

Crews were called to Charleywood Road, Kirkby, at 23:00 BST on Tuesday.
A large amount of plastic is on fire, with firefighters expected to stay at the scene for a number of hours.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze has been contained, preventing it from spreading to other businesses in the area.


A mother who killed her newborn baby daughter by filling her mouth with toilet paper has been spared jail.

Claudia Martins denied killing her baby and hiding the body in a suitcase shortly after giving birth to her at her sister's flat in Bristol.
She claimed the baby was stillborn, but was found guilty of manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
At Winchester Crown Court, she was sentenced to a community order for two years with a supervision requirement.
During her trial at Bristol Crown Court, the jury heard the 33-year-old gave birth alone on 12 September last year, having allegedly kept the pregnancy a secret.
Paramedics were called after friends found the Portuguese national, of Marshall Walk, Knowle, sitting in the bath with "a lot of blood" and she was taken to hospital.
Three days later, police were called to the flat following reports of a smell and discovered the body of a newborn baby inside a small, black suitcase.
The court was told that despite the symptoms of pregnancy, the mother-of-five had not accepted she was pregnant and the birth had induced a "great panic".
Judge Mr Justice Teare said  she suffered from a mental abnormality, arising from a condition known as a pathological denial of pregnancy.
Her actions were "wholly out of character" and her "intellectual disability" had probably contributed to her condition, he added.
"Why you developed the pathological denial of pregnancy is unclear but it is likely to be the result of living with two of your children in very cramped conditions in a foreign country," the judge told the court.
"Having regard to the fact that you suffered from an abnormality of mental function this does not require a custodial sentence."


A temporary export bar has been placed on Jasper Francis Cropsey's painting Richmond Hill in the Summer of 1862.

A rare example of a UK-owned British landscape by an American painter, the government needs to raise almost Â£5 million to keep it in the country.
Lord Inglewood, of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), called it "a rare survivor".
"I hope funds can be raised to save this wonderful painting," he added.
The ruling by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey follows a recommendation to defer export by the RCEWA.
The committe made the decision on the grounds that the painting was of outstanding significance for the study of the relationship between British and American painting in the 19th Century.
Born in New York's Staten Island, Cropsey - a leading light of the 'Hudson River School' of landscape painting - showed regularly at the Royal Academy in the 1850s.
One early assessment of his Richmond Hill painting said it depicted "a view unsurpassed for its purely English beauty".
Cropsey was forced to sell the piece after he ran up huge debts entertaining in London. The work has remained in Britain ever since.
An earlier export licence application for the painting in February 2000 was withdrawn after the RCEWA recommended that export be deferred for three months to allow time for a potential purchaser to be identified.
Any decision about the painting's current export will now be deferred until 7 April 2013, with a possible extension to 7 August if a serious intention to purchase the painting is found.
Earlier this week a temporary export bar was placed on two works by George Stubbs that gave the 18th Century British public their first chance to see what a kangaroo and a dingo looked like.


The University of Brighton is in talks to buy a former pharmaceutical site, in West Sussex, to set up a new campus.

Swiss drug company Novartis said it was entering into formal negotiations with the university over its research site in Horsham, which closed in June.
The university said the new campus would bring Â£1.7bn investment to the region over 10 years, create 2,250 jobs and provide places for 3,500 students.
It already has five campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings.
Novartis closed its Horsham site following a global review of research locations.
Last year it announced it was selling the northern section, mainly used as a car park, to developer Linden Homes and looking to sell the rest of the site for a science or business park.
A spokesman said: "The university's proposal offers an exciting opportunity which could bring long-term benefits to the town as well as realise our ambition in leaving a legacy at the site."
Vice-chancellor Julian Crampton said discussions were at an early stage but if the sale went ahead it planned to open a centre for higher education that would boost opportunities in the Gatwick Diamond business area.


With cross-Channel disruption set to continue through the summer as French ferry workers strike, calls are mounting for solutions to be found to the traffic gridlock that hits Kent as a result - but how do you solve a problem like Operation Stack?

Operation Stack is the name given to a queuing system where lorries waiting to cross the Channel park on closed sections of the M20.
Last week, it reached unprecedented levels when Stack was extended to phase four for the first time in its history - residents nearby reported "absolute bedlam".
Queues of 4,600 lorries stretched back 30 miles, the daily cost to the UK economy was estimated at Â£250m, and emergency teams handed out more than 18,000 bottles of water to truckers stranded during a heatwave.
It followed strike action in France by MyFerryLink workers who closed the Port of Calais.
And Stack was again brought in days later after about 150 migrants tried to storm the Channel Tunnel in a bid to board UK-bound freight trains.
But problems are not only caused by strikes and migrants - Stack is also a regular occurrence during winter months when storms and high winds hit the Channel and disrupt sailings.
For years, there have been calls to find an alternative solution, amid complaints about the impact of traffic disruption on Kent's businesses and residents - from commuters and traders to parents on the school run.
So how do you solve a problem like Operation Stack?
Firstly, not everyone believes Stack is a problem.
Pat Fleming, from Galway City, west Ireland, a driver who waited for 26 hours to cross the Channel, said it was part of his job and just "one of those things".
He said Operation Stack worked as long as it was properly policed and added: "It's not a big issue. It doesn't happen that often. The last time was during bad weather in February."
Alan Overton, from Grimsby, who waited on the M20 for 33 hours to cross to France said he believed there was no way of preventing Stack, unless operations were completely moved from Dover to a "super ferry port" that could hold 6,000 vehicles and was built away from towns.
Both drivers agreed facilities provided during Stack could be better.
Out of the two, only Mr Overton ran out of supplies and needed the fruit and water handed out by emergency teams - but both drivers said the toilet facilities - portaloos put up at intervals along the closed motorway - were "absolutely disgusting".
Matt Clarke, manager at Castledene Transport which has a fleet of lorries in Aylesford, said his fleet was left unable to access the M20, and the firm needed to use the motorway 24 hours a day.
He said the media focus on the Calais strikes meant no-one noticed Kent was "shut for days".
Stack hit the headlines last week because of the French strikes and migrant activity, but Kent dealt with the problem more often than anyone thought, he added.
Calling for a lorry park to "take the sting out of Stack", he asked asked how hard it was to "build a field and put some concrete on it".
Suggestions on how to cope with cross-Channel disruption have come from hauliers, ferry operators, politicians and residents.
Ferry operator P&O called on the British and French authorities to keep Calais open.
And in the case of the migrants, the UK and France agreed to increase funds to improve security at the port and tunnel.
The UK's Road Haulage Association called for the military to be deployed to break up the French strike. Chief executive Richard Burnett said the "time for talking" had passed.
And Dan Cook, operations director of Europa Worldwide Group, a transport, distribution and logistics firm, said the fundamental problem was there was no sign of active policing in Calais.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said the problems underlined the need to consider expanding the port at Dunkirk, 45 miles from Calais.
Meanwhile, Kent residents in Hollingbourne village, close by the M20, said people should have the right to sue French strikers in European courts for delays, inconveniences and wasted goods.
Resident Chris Childs reported seeing 40 lorries drive through the village in 15 minutes to avoid the queues.
He also said the journey time from Tonbridge to Hollingbourne - normally a 35-minute drive of 22 miles - increased to nearly two hours.
Helen Whately, MP for Faversham and mid-Kent, described the impact on her constituents as "incredibly inconvenient".
She said: "People taking their children to school have long delays, and people getting to work - commuters - it's a nightmare. And it really seriously affects businesses."
Calling for alternatives to Stack, she added: "We know there are going to be more strikes likely during the summer and ongoing."
She said short-term solutions needed to include better communications about delays to haulage companies so drivers could potentially postpone their journeys, and she said pressure must be placed on the French government to ensure as many routes as possible were kept running.
But she also backed plans for lorry parks to be provided.
Plans have already been put forward for a 3,300-space lorry park - although the size of the scheme has been criticised with calls for a smaller facility that would take up to a thousand vehicles.
A report by Kent County Council in conjunction with Kent Police and Highways England is to be published soon, she said.
The Port of Dover has said last week's events will have shattered any illusion their operation is a quaint little port doing ferry trips for holidaymakers and booze cruisers.
But the port has also warned a very busy summer is rapidly approaching - and ferry companies have highlighted their concerns that routes stay open as the holiday season gets under way.


The holding company run by US investor Warren Buffett has seen profits surge in the third quarter.

Berkshire Hathaway said net profit rose 29% to $5.05bn (Â£3.2bn) in the three months to September from the same period last year.
This was mainly down to its investments at the peak of the financial crisis in General Electric and Goldman Sachs, boosting it by $1.2bn.
Berkshire's revenue grew 13% to $46.5bn.
In October 2008, Berkshire purchased warrants in GE and Goldman. Warrants are derivatives that allow the holder to buy shares or other assets from the issuer at a fixed price within a set period.
For example, Berkshire invested $5bn in Goldman at 10% interest and had the right to buy a further 43.5 million shares for $115 per share - less than Goldman is currently trading - on 1 October.
Berkshire exercised that right and has become a top-10 shareholder in the bank.
Berkshire owns about 80 companies including railway, clothing, furniture and jewellery firms, with its insurance and utility businesses typically accounting for more than half of the company's net income.
It also has major investment stakes in companies such as Coca-Cola, the banking group Wells Fargo, and the computer maker IBM.
Earlier this year, ketchup-maker Heinz was bought for $28bn by Berkshire and Brazilian investment fund 3G Capital.
Mr Buffett is one of the world's richest men.


League Two side Grimsby Town have signed Norwich City winger Diallang Jaiyesimi on a season-long loan deal.

Jaiyesimi, 19, joined Norwich from non-league side Dulwich Hamlet in January 2016 and spent last season playing for the Canaries' Under-23 team.
He scored eight goals in 33 appearances last term and now joins Grimsby having been on Norwich's pre-season tour.
Jaiyesimi, who can play as a winger, midfielder or striker, could make his debut against Coventry on Saturday.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


The so-called Islamic State (IS) has made more than $500m (Â£330m) trading oil, a US treasury official has said.

Its "primary customer" has been the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, despite its ongoing battle to overthrow the regime, Adam Szubin told the BBC.
IS had also looted up to $1bn from banks in territory it held, he said.
A US-led coalition has been bombing IS targets, including oil facilities, in Syria and Iraq for over a year.
IS' finance chief was recently killed in one such mission, Pentagon officials announced on Thursday.
"The two are trying to slaughter each other and they are still engaged in millions and millions of dollars of trade," Mr Szubin said of Syria and IS, in comments reported by Reuters news agency.
The group was estimated to be making as much as $40m a month from the oil trade, including from buyers in Turkey, he added.
Cutting off the group's cash flow was a key part of the coalition strategy to defeat IS, he said.
Unlike other designated terrorist groups, IS did not rely on funding from foreign donors, but generated money from its own operations, Mr Szubin said.
The US-led coalition has recently launched a military campaign, dubbed Tidal Wave 2, intensifying air strikes on IS oil fields, refineries and tankers being used by the group.
IS currently generates around $80m a month, mainly from oil revenues, according to findings focusing on late 2015 from UK defence consultancy IHS.
Other sources include taxation, drug and antiquities smuggling, robbery and kidnapping and the sale of electricity, it found.


Millions of pounds of debt has been inherited by councils across England as schools convert to academies, a BBC investigation has revealed.

Opponents say local authorities are forced to use their government education grant to clear the debts.
A BBC Freedom of Information request shows more than £30m has been cleared.
The Department for Education said local authorities should pay the debts as they were accumulated when the schools were under council control.
The Local Government Association said vital cash was being taken from schools not involved in the scheme.
The BBC's FOI to all local authorities in England revealed £32.5m has been spent by councils on clearing debts since the Academies Act was introduced in 2010.
Under the academies scheme, when council-maintained schools choose to convert, local authorities have to pick up the tab for the costs of conversion including the cost of any deficit and legal fees.
David Simmonds, deputy chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "It is not fair that some schools are burdened with a deficit while other schools can walk away and leave that debt behind at the detriment of other schools in the community.
"It is not right that the taxpayer foots the bill. This money could instead be spent in ways which directly benefits pupils."
In 2012, education chiefs in Birmingham refused to write off at least £1.3 million of debts owed by schools converting to academies. By 2013, there were fears Birmingham's school budget could run out if the practice continued.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: "All of Birmingham's children must benefit from any changes to the education system, so we need the government to make changes to enable this to happen so school and council budgets, that are already stretched, are not strained even further."
Councillor John Jones, Blackpool Council's cabinet member for school improvement, said local councils having to pick up the tab to write off debts was "extremely frustrating".
Jonathan Bacon, from the Isle of Wight Council, said other schools missed out when £1.4m was paid for a school to become an academy.
Local authorities said they use the Dedicated Schools Grant to pay the school debts. The grant is paid by the government to local authorities as the main source of income for the schools budget.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Councils are only required to cover a school's deficit when it has become a sponsored academy after a prolonged period of underperformance, and the deficit was accumulated under council control.
"Academies are a vital part of our plan for education and are transforming the education for millions of pupils across the country."
Christine Blower, from the National Union of Teachers, said: "This is another example of the financial pressures that the academies policy has brought to bear on local authorities' education budgets.
"As a direct consequence of the academies programme, local authorities have less money to fund and support other schools."


Dan Biggar has recovered from a back injury to be on Ospreys' bench for their Pro12 trip to Zebre on Sunday.

Sam Davies starts at fly-half instead of Biggar, who is joined as a replacement by Wales team-mate, lock Alun Wyn Jones.
Paul James returns at prop following injury and flanker Justin Tipuric leads the Welsh region at open-side.
Former New Zealand full-back Mils Muliaina makes his Zebre debut after joining from Connacht in the summer.
Ospreys lie eighth with three wins from eight competition starts this season while Zebre are 11th win two wins.
Biggar came off in their 13-6 win over Cardiff Blues because of a back problem.
Hooker Baldwin (calf) and prop James (shoulder) missed that game because of injuries suffered in Ospreys' 34-29 European Champions Cup defeat at Clermont Auvergne.
Ospreys' ex-New Zealand scrum-half Brendan Leonard will return to Zebre for the first time since joining from the Italian team before the 2015-16 season.
Head coach Steve Tandy hopes Ospreys' recent form will continue to improve against Zebre.
"They've got an excellent record at their place, are a very dangerous side, and if we are just a couple of percent off our game then we won't get what we need from the game," said.
"Our slow start in the Pro12 means there's no margin for error for us. Our form over the last few weeks, in the league and in Europe, has been better, but there is still some way for us to go."
Zebre: Mils Muliaina; Dion Berryman, Tommaso Boni, Gonzalo Garcia; Kayle Van Zyl, Carlo Canna, Marcello Violi; Andrea Lovotti, Andrea Manici, Dario Chistolini, Valerio Bernabo, George Biagi (capt), Jacopo Sarto, Johan Meyer, Paul Derbyshire.
Replacements: Oliviero Fabiani, Andrea De Marchi, Guillermo Roan, Marco Bortolami, Federico Ruzza, Guglielmo Palazzani, Giulio Bisegni, Edoardo Padovani.
Ospreys: Dan Evans; Jeff Hassler, Jonathan Spratt, Josh Matavesi, Eli Walker; Sam Davies, Tom Habberfield; Paul James, Sam Parry, Dmitri Arhip, Lloyd Ashley, Tyler Ardron, James King, Justin Tipuric (capt), Dan Baker.
Replacements: Scott Otten, Nicky Smith, Ma'afu Fia, Alun Wyn Jones, Olly Cracknell, Martin Roberts, Dan Biggar, Hanno Dirksen.
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
Assistant referees: Elia Rizzo, Luca Trentin (Italy)
Citing commissioner: Stefano Marrama (Italy)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)


Holders Hibernian took city rivals Hearts to a Scottish Cup fifth-round replay for a second successive season after a tense stalemate at Tynecastle.

Hearts almost got off to a flying start, but Esmael Goncalves shot straight at goalkeeper Ofir Marciano.
Chances were in short supply and it took until just before half-time for Jason Cummings to test Hearts goalkeeper Jack Hamilton.
Marciano denied Bjorn Johnsen as a game of poor quality went to a replay.
When the sides meet again on Wednesday, 22 February, Hibs will be hoping for a repeat of last season when they followed a 2-2 draw at Tynecastle with a 1-0 win before going on to beat Rangers in the final.
Neil Lennon's side not only denied Hearts a third-straight win but stretched their unbeaten run against their Edinburgh rivals to five games - and a 10th-straight game without defeat in all competitions.
Hibs have taken command at the top of the Championship, but Lennon showed his unhappiness at the loss of two home points by making five changes from the side that drew with Ayr United last weekend.
The manager's decision was also motivated by the state of a rutted Tynecastle pitch that resembled a badly maintained golf tee.
Lennon had warned pre-match that the match would be more "up and at them" and that was reflected in the starts handed to the more physical Jordon Forster in defence and Marvin Bartley in midfield.
Former Norwich City player Grant Holt was given the central striking role for an all-our-yesterdays battle in the Hearts penalty box with Aaron Hughes, two years the senior at 37 and someone he knows well from many a battle in the Premier League.
It was no surprise either that, within a minute of kick-off, James Keatings had whipped a dangerous corner straight at Hamilton considering the goalkeeper's recent difficulties with crosses.
What came as a shock was that, considering the robust play that followed, it took 29 minutes for referee Willie Collum to show the first yellow card. It was given to Darren McGregor for a shoulder charge that left Hearts captain Don Cowie needing several minutes to clear his head and steady his legs.
Ian Cathro's masterplan as Hearts head coach has started to take shape with successive Premiership wins over Rangers and Motherwell and Goncalves' goalscoring instincts have been central to that.
The Portuguese was handed a lone striking role, with misfiring Johnsen dropped to the bench, and it almost paid off within three minutes as he latched on to Lennard Sowah's fine pass but shot straight at Marciano.
Alexandros Tziolis has been a revelation in a holding midfield role, but even he was finding it difficult to retain his poise and the bobbly pitch and Hibs' man-marking combined to gradually wrestle away his early control of midfield.
The Greece international handed Hibs their best sight at goal yet with a loss of possession that allowed Cummings to warm Hamilton's palms and the ball rebounded off Holt and back into the goalkeeper's arms.
Hibs were looking the more dangerous in an even game, but Cathro had introduced Johnsen for midfielder Malaury Martin, who had been by-passed by the speed of play, at half-time and it took an elongated leg of Marciano to deny the American's fine first-time shot from 12 yards.
The introduction of Arnaud Djoum, fresh, or not so fresh, from winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon, introduced some extra drive into Hearts' midfield.
However, it was Hibs who had the best opportunity to win a scrappy affair when Holt just failed to get on the end of a Cummings shot across the face of goal.
It wasn't to be, though, and the Edinburgh rivals will do it all again at Easter Road, but it is now advantage Hibs.
Hearts head coach Ian Cathro: "It was a derby game ultimately, a lot of stoppages in play, difficult for there to be any flow in the game, so that probably made things more difficult for us.
"If we ask 'could we have played better?', the answer is 'yes, we could have'.
"Some difficult moments and we've been strong together and fought well and we're frustrated, but we look forward to the replay.
"Whatever the conditions are, they play their part, but we need to manage those things, but I don't want to focus too much on that.
"We will naturally know a bit more about the opponent for the next game, we know we are ready for the fight and we know we can match them in the fight and what we need to do is play better."
Hibernian manager Neil Lennon: "There's many ways to skin a cat and the pitch isn't conducive to playing good football, so we came here with a set way of playing because I think the pitch dictated that.
"I thought my players were excellent. There's quality players in both teams, but the game lacked quality because the pitch didn't let the quality flow.
"We had chances, they had chances and we do it again in 10 days' time.
"To have the opportunity to do that is testament to how well my players played and I thought we were the better team for large parts of the game.
"They can turn it on when they really want to. I just want them to turn it on a consistent basis.
"But we're still in the cup, we're going well in the league and the season's very much alive for us.
"We've come to a Premiership team - they beat Rangers by four the last time they played here - so there's no doubting the quality of the opposition we played, but we limited them to very few chances."
Match ends, Heart of Midlothian 0, Hibernian 0.
Second Half ends, Heart of Midlothian 0, Hibernian 0.
Foul by Arnaud Djoum (Heart of Midlothian).
Darren McGregor (Hibernian) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Esmael Gonçalves (Heart of Midlothian) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Esmael Gonçalves (Heart of Midlothian).
David Gray (Hibernian) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Arnaud Djoum (Heart of Midlothian).
John McGinn (Hibernian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Lennard Sowah (Heart of Midlothian).
Fraser Fyvie (Hibernian) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match James Keatings (Hibernian) because of an injury.
Attempt blocked. Jamie Walker (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Andraz Struna (Heart of Midlothian).
John McGinn (Hibernian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Tasos Avlonitis (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Brian Graham (Hibernian).
Foul by Esmael Gonçalves (Heart of Midlothian).
Lewis Stevenson (Hibernian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Hibernian. Conceded by Lennard Sowah.
Substitution, Heart of Midlothian. Krystian Nowak replaces Don Cowie.
Substitution, Hibernian. Brian Graham replaces Grant Holt.
Attempt missed. Grant Holt (Hibernian) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box misses to the right.
Foul by Jamie Walker (Heart of Midlothian).
Fraser Fyvie (Hibernian) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Lennard Sowah (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by David Gray (Hibernian).
Foul by Arnaud Djoum (Heart of Midlothian).
Marvin Bartley (Hibernian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. John McGinn (Hibernian) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.
Corner,  Hibernian. Conceded by Alexandros Tziolis.
Hand ball by Jason Cummings (Hibernian).
Substitution, Heart of Midlothian. Arnaud Djoum replaces Sam Nicholson.
Attempt missed. Liam Fontaine (Hibernian) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high following a corner.
Corner,  Hibernian. Conceded by Andraz Struna.
Attempt missed. Grant Holt (Hibernian) header from the centre of the box misses to the right following a corner.
Corner,  Hibernian. Conceded by Alexandros Tziolis.
Foul by Lennard Sowah (Heart of Midlothian).
Fraser Fyvie (Hibernian) wins a free kick in the defensive half.


A major £86m flood alleviation scheme for Elgin has been officially opened.

The project - which took almost five years to complete - is aimed at protecting more than 1,000 homes and businesses.
The Elgin scheme is one of the biggest ever undertaken in Scotland.
In August 2014, partially-completed flood alleviation schemes in Moray were said to have saved hundreds of homes and businesses.


Lebanese security forces have detained a wife and young child of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi near the border with Syria, the army says.

The pair were picked up by military intelligence after entering Lebanon with forged papers 10 days ago.
Baghdadi's wife - identified as an Iraqi national - is being questioned at the defence ministry.
In June, Baghdadi was named the leader of the "caliphate" created by IS in the parts of Syria and Iraq it controls.
Last month the group denied reports that he had been killed or injured in an air strike by US-led forces near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Describing them as "a valuable catch", the Lebanese newspaper al-Safir said that the IS leader's wife and child had been detained in co-ordination with "foreign intelligence services".
They were held at a border crossing near the north-eastern town of Arsal while trying to enter Lebanon.
They were currently being held for interrogation at the defence ministry's headquarters in al-Yarza, in the hills overlooking Beirut, it added.
There were conflicting reports about the child, with a senior Lebanese security official telling Reuters news agency it was a girl - a direct contradiction of most news reports.
A DNA test is being carried out to confirm the child is Baghdadi's.
Lebanese officials initially said the woman was Syrian, but later identified her as an Iraqi called Saja al-Dulaimi, who had been living in Syria.
A woman with that name was detained by the Syrian authorities before being freed in March as part of a prisoner exchange with al-Qaeda's local affiliate, al-Nusra Front.
The exchange saw Islamic State's rival hand over a group of abducted Greek Orthodox nuns in return for the release of 150 of the Syrian government's female prisoners.
Assuming the reports are true - and there is little reason to doubt them - the Lebanese authorities now face the delicate question of what to do with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's wife and offspring.
In theory, they could prove a useful bargaining chip in the highly-charged imbroglio surrounding the fate of more than 20 Lebanese Army soldiers held hostage since August by IS and the rival al-Qaeda-linked militant group, al-Nusra Front.
The militants are demanding the release of Islamist prisoners in Lebanese jails to spare the soldiers' lives - three have already been murdered.
But al-Nusra has been much more involved than IS in back-channel negotiations for a possible exchange, so there is no guarantee it would pay off.
And there is always the possibility that the continued detention of the pair could provoke IS to seek revenge in one way or another, perhaps by seizing more hostages.
A US government source told Reuters that it was not sure how recently the woman had been with Baghdadi, and how much information, if any, she might have.
However, a Lebanese official said the arrest was a "powerful card to apply pressure" in the hostage negotiations with IS and al-Nusra.
Very little is known about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has not been seen in public since being filmed delivering a sermon at a mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July.
A profile published by IS supporters that month said the Iraqi was married, but it is unclear how many wives he has.
Tribal sources in Iraq told Reuters he had three wives - two Iraqis and one Syrian. Under Islamic law he is allowed up to four.
The US has offered a $10m (Â£6.4m) reward for information leading to the capture or killing of Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai.
After rumours of his death emerged last month, IS released an audio recording purportedly of Baghdadi in which he claimed that the caliphate was expanding and called for "volcanoes of jihad" to erupt the world over.


New boss Russell Slade was denied his first win as Coventry boss by a last-gasp leveller at Peterborough.

The struggling Sky Blues were on course for victory after skipper Jordan Willis converted a Chris McCann cross in the 19th minute.
While that effort did prove enough to snap a run of seven successive League One defeats, Michael Bostwick's dramatic equaliser denied Slade's side victory.
The hosts had been way below par in a game of very few chances. It took until the second minute of the second half for them to test Coventry keeper Lee Burge, who kept out a Lee Angol header.
Burge then saved a 25-yard rocket from Marcus Maddison before a brilliant block prevented Bostwick from slamming in the rebound.
Burge also held a late Ryan Tafazolli effort in a scramble before Bostwick headed in Maddison's cross to rescue Posh a point in the third minute of added time.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Peterborough United 1, Coventry City 1.
Second Half ends, Peterborough United 1, Coventry City 1.
Goal!  Peterborough United 1, Coventry City 1. Michael Bostwick (Peterborough United) header from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Marcus Maddison with a cross.
Attempt missed. Marcus Maddison (Peterborough United) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Ben Stevenson.
Foul by Michael Bostwick (Peterborough United).
Jordan Turnbull (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt saved. Ryan Tafazolli (Peterborough United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Attempt missed. Michael Bostwick (Peterborough United) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Dion Kelly-Evans.
Attempt blocked. Chris McCann (Coventry City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Dion Kelly-Evans.
Michael Bostwick (Peterborough United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Michael Bostwick (Peterborough United).
Kyel Reid (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Marcus Maddison (Peterborough United) left footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the right.
Ryan Tafazolli (Peterborough United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Marvin Sordell (Coventry City).
Substitution, Coventry City. Marvin Sordell replaces Marcus Tudgay.
Attempt missed. Shaquile Coulthirst (Peterborough United) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Andy Rose.
Lee Angol (Peterborough United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Dion Kelly-Evans (Coventry City).
Attempt saved. Shaquile Coulthirst (Peterborough United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Dion Kelly-Evans.
Attempt saved. Marcus Maddison (Peterborough United) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Jamie Sterry.
Substitution, Peterborough United. Shaquile Coulthirst replaces Tom Nichols.
Substitution, Peterborough United. Callum Chettle replaces Leonardo Da Silva Lopes.
Substitution, Peterborough United. Marcus Maddison replaces Paul Taylor.
Substitution, Coventry City. Jodi Jones replaces George Thomas.
Attempt missed. Paul Taylor (Peterborough United) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
Corner,  Peterborough United. Conceded by Jordan Turnbull.
Attempt blocked. Chris Forrester (Peterborough United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Chris McCann (Coventry City).
Michael Smith (Peterborough United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Jamie Sterry (Coventry City).
Michael Bostwick (Peterborough United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Ryan Tafazolli (Peterborough United).
Chris McCann (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.


Star Wars: Episode VII will start shooting at Pinewood Studios near London in May, its producers have said.

Disney and Lucasfilm confirmed the latest instalment in the series would be set about 30 years after the events of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
It "will star a trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces", the press release added.
Star Wars: Episode VII, directed by JJ Abrams, will be released in cinemas on 18 December 2015.
The news of a return for "some very familiar faces" will fuel rumours that the stars of the original trilogy - Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher - will appear in Episode VII.
According to the Hollywood reporter, Adam Driver is in final negotiations to play the main villain.
He is best known for his role in hit TV series Girls, but has also recently appeared in films including Lincoln and Inside Llewyn Davis.
Open auditions for two roles in the new films were held in the UK and Ireland last November.
They were a "street smart and strong" orphaned girl in her late teens and a "smart capable" man in his late teens or early 20s.
It is not known whether any of the actors eventually cast in the film were found through the open auditions.
Episode VII will be the fifth Star Wars movie to to be shot in the UK.
The original Star Wars trilogy was filmed at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, while The Phantom Menace began shooting on 26 June 1997 at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire.
George Lucas directed a bluescreen sequence with actors Ian McDiarmid and Ray Park, who played Senator Palpatine and Darth Maul.


A Sikh gang has been convicted of slashing a retired Indian general's throat in a revenge attack.

Lieutenant-General Kuldeep Singh Brar, 78, was attacked as he walked with his wife in central London on 30 September.
Mandeep Singh Sandhu, 34, of Birmingham, Dilbag Singh, 37, and Harjit Kaur, 39, of London were convicted at Southwark Crown Court of wounding with intent.
Barjinder Singh Sangha, 33, of Wolverhampton, had admitted the charge.
The jury of nine women and two men took just an hour to convict the trio.
Lt Gen Brar was involved in a controversial military operation - Operation Blue Star - against Sikh separatists in Amritsar, north-west India, in June 1984.
'Premeditated assault'
It left at least 500 people dead and left him the target of revenge attacks.
The victim's role in the Indian Army had "made him a target for Sikh extremist groups", the jury heard.
Following the verdict, Mari Reid, of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The group clearly targeted Lieutenant General Brar in revenge for his actions during his military career and today's convictions are another reminder that the UK will not tolerate extremism of any kind."
Lt Gen Brar and his wife Meena were on their way from their hotel for a night in the West End when the attack happened.
Kaur was described as being key to the ambush.
She boarded the same bus as the former soldier and his wife of 28 years Meena in order to follow their movements and phone through reports to the rest of the gang, who were in waiting.
When the couple reached Old Quebec Street, Sangha "drew a knife as the other men held the victim", the jury were told.
Brar was left with a 12-inch cut running across his neck and jaw and another three-inch cut to the jaw.
Speaking via a videolink from India, Lt Gen Brar said as a result of the attack his protection ranking was raised to the highest possible.


Organisations, individuals and community groups rallying round to help the victims of the Manchester attack have raised £2m in 24 hours.

Fundraising started by the Manchester Evening News in the hours after the blast has led to £1.1m in donations.
That money will be rolled into the British Red Cross "We Love Manchester Emergency Fund" to alleviate the suffering of victims and families.
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has also pledged £100,000.
Donators in the past 24 hours also include:
Tattooists in the city and around the world are offering tattoos of a bee, a symbol of the city, for a £50 donation towards the fund.
Special report: Manchester attack
Veil of quiet respect descends on city
How do you crowdfund for someone you've never met?
Sam Barber designed the tattoo and 50 studios across the world, including as far away as Australia, have taken up the idea.
Ms Barber said: "Paramedics who attended the scene have even come forward saying they want the Manchester bee tattoo."
The We Love Manchester fund has been organised by the British Red Cross with support from Manchester City Council.
Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said: "We have been moved by the compassionate response to this appeal for victims and their families.
"People from communities across the UK and right around the world are showing their solidarity by donating.
"The money raised will contribute to those affected by this terrible attack getting the help that they need today, tomorrow and into the future".
The fund is in addition to smaller fundraising springing up across the city and beyond.
A host of individual charity pages have sprung up on popular online fundraising sites, such as Go Fund Me and Just Giving, while community groups are also raising money for victims.
One such community group - Muslims for Manchester - have so far raised nearly £15,000 of an £100,000 target.
Comedian Russell Brand pledged the proceeds from his sold-out stand-up gig in Southport on Tuesday night, which was attended by 1,400 people.
Another comedian, Al Murray, had a whip-round at his gig at Southend Cliffs Pavilion on Tuesday and pledged to match whatever amount it raised.
Meanwhile, more than £30,000 has been raised for a homeless man who has been declared a hero after helping victims of the attack.
Chris Parker, 33, had been begging in the arena foyer when the bomb went off and he cradled a dying woman in his arm.
He then comforted a badly injured little girl, who he wrapped in "one of the merchandise T-shirts".


The American SpaceX rocket company has resumed flights, launching a Falcon 9 vehicle from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast.

It is the first mission by the company since one of its vehicles exploded on the launch pad in September.
The return to operations sees SpaceX start to renew what was the original global handheld satellite phone network, run by Iridium.
Lift-off took place at 09:54 local time (17:54 GMT).
A few minutes later, the first stage of the rocket landed successfully on a platform in the Pacific Ocean. An hour and 15 minutes after launch, the mission was complete with the Iridium payload safely in orbit.
SpaceX must now follow through with a steady but rapid series of further flights.
It has a long queue of customers all waiting for a ride to orbit - including America's civil space agency (Nasa), the nation's military, and multiple outfits in the commercial sector.
Indeed, Iridium has six further missions it wants to complete with SpaceX inside the next 18 months.
September's launch pad mishap was a spectacular reminder of just how unpredictable rockets can be sometimes.
A Falcon 9 was about to go through a routine engine ignition test when fire ripped through its upper stage, consuming the vehicle and the Amos-6 telecommunications satellite it was due to carry to orbit.
The subsequent investigation pinned the most likely cause of the failure on a design problem in the rocket's helium pressure tanks. But with corrective action SpaceX believes it is now safe to return to service.
On this flight were 10 spacecraft for the Iridium satellite voice and data company. The batch represents the first phase in the roll-out of Iridium's NEXT constellation.
A total of 81 satellites have been ordered from the European manufacturer Thales Alenia Space to completely overhaul the original but now ageing network.
"Today Iridium launches a new era in the history of our company and a new era in space as we start to deliver the next-generation of satellite communications," said Matt Desch, chief executive officer of Iridium.
"We have been working endless hours for the last eight years to get to this day, and to finally be here with 10 Iridium NEXT satellites successfully launched into low-Earth orbit is a fulfilling moment."
Iridium is famous for being the very first commercial company to provide global, hand-held satphone coverage, and supplying voice connections to anywhere on the planet is still very much part of its business. But its network has increasingly been used to feed data from remote systems, such as pipelines, ocean buoys, and mining equipment.
Iridium has become a big player in what is termed M2M, or "machine to machine" services. And the company is banking on that market getting ever bigger as more and more systems are linked together.
As well as improving the data connection speeds for those services, the new spacecraft carry additional payloads that allow Iridium to enter new markets.
These involve the tracking of ships and planes when they are out of sight of VHF radio, in the case of maritime vessels, and radar, in the case of aircraft.
One thing the new satellites will not be capable of doing, however, is producing Iridium "flares". These are the flashes in the sky that result when sunlight glints off the antennas of the old spacecraft.
The new satellites do not have the same configuration, so once the original constellation is de-orbited the flashes will cease.
"I'm afraid those who've been tracking that phenomenon over the past 20 years have another year or two to see it," Mr Desch told BBC News.
"As someone who's seen a couple myself, you can imagine what a thrill it is to be the CEO of a company like this and watch your satellite go overhead. But we weren't going to spend money just to make angular shiny things on our satellites, so that phenomenon will go away - but it's been fun."
The launch was a high-pressure event for both Iridium and SpaceX.
For the former there was a need to get its new constellation in place before more of the current satellites fail. Some gaps in service have started to appear and this will only increase as time passes.
And for SpaceX there was pressure to prove it can deliver on its promises to service so many customers at once.
Rachel Villain is principal advisor with respected industry analysts Euroconsult in Paris.
She told BBC News: "All Iridium's eggs are in the same basket, which was not the case when the first constellation was deployed.
"The satellites back then were booked on different launch vehicles, and so it allowed at that time to have a quick deployment.
"Here, SpaceX is required to launch 70 satellites, 10 at a time, still in 14 months. If Iridium were the only client for SpaceX - that would be fine. But SpaceX has big clients, like Nasa, and other commercial operators like SES."
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Andrew Robertson described making his Scotland debut as "a massive and proud moment".

The 19-year-old Dundee United defender earned his first cap in the victory against Poland in Warsaw.
"Some of them were here to cheer me on and I'm sure those that weren't here will have happy faces," he told BBC Scotland.
My family are maybe pinching themselves more because everything's coming so quickly
"Hopefully, I've got many Scotland squads to come. You can't look too far forward."
This time last year, Robertson was playing for Queen's Park against Montrose at Hampden.
The left back came on in the 67th minute in Warsaw, replacing Barry Bannan and helping the side secure victory courtesy of Scott Brown's strike.
"It's a bit crazy to look at the stadium I was playing in (in Warsaw) and the players I was playing with," said Robertson.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"It's just about having the confidence in yourself and a good family background behind you. That pushed me on.
"I've just got to finish strong for Dundee United this season, starting with a massive game on Sunday in the Scottish Cup.
"We've got to keep looking forward. My family are maybe pinching themselves more (than me) because everything's coming so quickly."
Meanwhile, forward Ross McCormack was quick to praise the team's defensive efforts in Warsaw.
"Momentum is a big thing in football, that's a few games unbeaten now," said the Leeds captain.
"It's always good to come away from home and get a win.
"We didn't create much going forward but we were resilient - the back four and the midfield four were fantastic."


A factory in Wales is producing prototype fridges that could use less electricity than conventional models.

27 May 2016 Last updated at 21:22 BST
Its coolers freeze large blocks of ice during the night, when some energy providers charge less for electricity, and use this to keep food cold during the day.
A version of the fridge designed for storing vaccinations can stay cold for two weeks, reports the BBC's Roger Harrabin.


World athletics' governing body feared Russian doping was so out of control that athletes could have died - six years before the country was banned from international competition.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Documents uncovered by the Associated Press show the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) warned Russian athletics chiefs in 2009 that the blood levels of their athletes were "putting their health and even their own lives in very serious danger".
The 2009 letter from the IAAF to Valentin Balakhnichev, then the president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation (Araf), said results from tests at that year's World Championships in Berlin were "startling".
Balakhnichev was banned for life last week for breaching anti-doping violations.
On Thursday, a World Anti-Doping Authority (Wada) independent report is expected to reveal details of the IAAF's alleged complicity in covering up doping in the sport.
The first part of the report, published in November, led to Russia's athletes being banned from international competition because of "state-sponsored doping".
Russia won 13 medals at the 2009 event, but its athletes recorded "some of the highest values ever seen since the IAAF started testing", said the letter, written by the IAAF's general secretary Pierre Weiss.
The results "strongly suggest a systematic abuse of blood doping or EPO products", Weiss wrote.
The correspondence took place before the IAAF introduced the blood passport, which monitors abnormal results over a longer period of time to identify and ban cheats.
At that time, the results on their own were not enough to sanction athletes and it was down to the country's own anti-doping authorities to tackle cheats.
According to news agency AP, further correspondence before the 2012 London Olympics showed the IAAF proposed "discreet" handling of doping cases for less well-known Russian athletes.
The athletes could be removed from competition, with the world governing body not publishing the sanction, and they would be given a two-year ban, rather than four, if they agreed to the deal.
But the note said it would be "impossible" to take this approach with Russia's elite athletes without their absence from competition raising questions, so their bans would have to be made public.
The IAAF said these proposals were never put into action, and Balakhnichev told AP they never reached him.
The documents show that the IAAF already had grave concerns six years before it took action against Russia.
In the 2009 letter, Weiss asks Balakhnichev what internal sanctions the athletes with suspicious blood tests will face. He says the situation is "so serious" that "immediate and drastic action" is needed.
Yet it took the publication of the Wada report, based on the evidence of a 2014 German TV documentary, for the IAAF to rule that "the whole system has failed the athletes, not just in Russia, but around the world".
IAAF chairman Lord Coe said at the time: "This has been a shameful wake-up call."
IAAF spokesman Chris Turner told AP: "No cases were concealed or suppressed. The IAAF simply tackled them in order of importance."
He said every athlete was investigated and the IAAF has successfully brought 33 blood passport cases against Russian athletes, with "more pending".
"In 2011, there was a huge influx of suspicious profiles coming through," Turner said in a statement.
"There was a need to prioritise, and in particular to expedite those cases which involved potential medal winners ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games."
He described Weiss' letter as a "clear, open warning" to Russia and insisted the IAAF had been "very strong".
IAAF deputy general secretary Nick Davies has stepped aside while an investigation takes place over a separate plan to delay naming Russian drug cheats, before the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
In an email sent 22 days before the competition to former IAAF marketing consultant Papa Massata Diack, Davies wrote about the need to discuss "Russian skeletons in the cupboard" with the anti-doping team.
The Englishman told Diack "we need to be smart" about releasing names.
Davies has denied any wrongdoing. The proposals contained in the email were never carried through.
After Russia's competition ban for alleged "state-sponsored doping", Lamine Diack, the former IAAF president, was placed under criminal investigation over allegations he took payments for deferring sanctions against Russian drugs cheats. He denies wrongdoing.
Three athletics figures - Diack's son Papa Massata Diack, Balakhnichev and fellow Russian official Alexei Melnikov - were given lifetime bans after a report claimed they "conspired" to blackmail a Russian athlete in order to cover up her doping violations.
Lamine Diack's successor and former vice-president Lord Coe has pledged to double the anti-doping budget, establish a separate integrity unit for athletics before Rio 2016, and double the international testing pool of athletes to 1,000.
On Monday, UK Athletics chief Ed Warner suggested that world records should be reset as part of a 14-point manifesto to start a new "clean era" for the sport.


A man has been arrested after jewellery worth $3m (£2.25m) was stolen from a tour bus used by Canadian rapper Drake.

A briefcase containing the jewellery was stolen on Tuesday while the star was performing in Phoenix, Arizona.
The bus had been used by the rapper and his official DJ, Future the Prince, on their Summer Sixteen tour.
The jewellery did not belong to Drake, but police did not confirm who owns it. Travion King, 21, was arrested on a burglary charge on Wednesday.
Mr King has worked as a stagehand at local entertainment venues in the past, but was not known to have been working at that particular show, police spokesman Vince Lewis said.
Mr King was initially arrested on a separate trespassing charge by campus police at Arizona State University in the early hours of Wednesday.
Police investigating the jewellery theft studied surveillance footage and then discovered their suspect was already in custody.
Drake is one of hip-hop's biggest stars, known for hits including Hotline Bling and One Dance.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


A Royal Marine with links to dissident republicanism made 14 pipe bombs - four of which were used in Northern Ireland, a court has heard.

A court hearing to decide how long Ciarán Maxwell will serve in prison is under way at the Old Bailey.
In February, Maxwell, 31, admitted a number of offences, including bomb-making and storing stolen military weapons.
The County Antrim man also pleaded guilty to drugs and fraud charges.
The hearing is expected to take up to three days.
Maxwell is not in court, but is appearing via video link from Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes.
According to the charge details, he had a stash of explosives in 12 purpose-built hides in England and Northern Ireland.
DNA evidence found at one of the County Antrim hides led to Maxwell's arrest.
On Wednesday, the court heard that Maxwell told police he had taken a member of the Continuity IRA to a hide where he had stashed pipe bombs in Northern Ireland.
The court was told the man he took to the hide was Niall Lehd, convicted in 2014 of possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life.
Maxwell, who is originally from Larne, had handwritten "to-do lists" mentioning "targets, dummy runs and recces" and a number of towns in Northern Ireland.
The exact details were redacted by the court, but the targets included a Territorial Army centre and substations.
There was also reference to a loyalist group, the need to notify news agencies and the words "test pipe bomb and car bomb".
In one of his hides, Maxwell placed a modified booby-trapped torch which, when armed, would explode if turned on.
Maxwell lived in Exminster, County Devon, and was based with 40 Commando in Taunton, Somerset. He never served in Northern Ireland.
He was arrested last August and a search near Exeter found hides with a range of explosive substances, as well as ammunition, weapons and tools for making bombs.
Along with the 14 pipe bombs, the court heard Maxwell also stashed:
On Wednesday, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told the court: "Across 14 of the locations involved in the investigation, Mr Maxwell had in his possession, or had constructed, 14 pipe bombs... four have been deployed in Northern Ireland.
"It is our case that some of the items inevitably must have been taken from the UK to Northern Ireland by this defendant."
He added: "It may be that, when travelling between England and the UK, bearing in mind the identity cards he would have had, and his position, his passage would have been easier than others to take items with him."
The court heard dissident republicans have carried out more than 160 terrorist attacks since 2010, including the deployment of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) such as pipe bombs.
Mr Whittam said: "Whilst attacks are mainly directed at members of the police, military and prison service, the nature of the attacks leaves members of the public at risk."
The court heard that Maxwell "appeared shocked" when he was arrested.
After his arrest, drugs were found in locker at the camp, including herbal cannabis, cannabis resin, and hallucinogenic drugs DMT and LSD.
In March 2016, police said bomb-making parts had been found in barrels hidden in a wooded area in Carnfunnock County Park in County Antrim.
Two months later, another "terrorist hide" was found in Capanagh Forest, also near Larne.
Police described it as one of the most significant arms finds in recent years.
Of particular concern to security chiefs was the discovery of military grade anti-personnel mines.
Pipe bombs and parts for making explosive devices made up part of the haul.
Their serial numbers revealed they had been taken from the Royal Marines base in Somerset where Maxwell was based.


A High Court judge will review the decision to grant planning permission for a new heliport in Penzance.

Cornwall Council granted permission in February but the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company (IoS) has been given the go-ahead for a judicial review.
IoS said any helicopter service to Scilly would be better based out of its airport at Land's End.
Penzance Heliport, the company behind the scheme, said it was disappointed by the decision.
More on the heliport story and other Devon and Cornwall stories
Tourism bosses say trade on the Isles of Scilly has suffered since the old helicopter service ended in 2012.
Since then, the link has been covered by a seasonal ferry and fixed wing planes, operated by IoS.
It said it supported the return of a helicopter service but believed Land's End Airport would be a better location, and was calling for an independent and evidence-based debate about the potential impact of a new heliport.
Penzance Heliport said: "We remain disappointed that the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company has taken this move, but are absolutely convinced that Cornwall Council's decision was the right one and that this will be reflected in the outcome of the case."
Andrew May, chairman of IoS said: "The judge's decision to grant leave to pursue a judicial review is recognition that the original planning decision is worthy of further scrutiny."
Cornwall Council said it would "now be considering what action to take in the light of the decision to grant permission for the judicial review to proceed".
A petition started by an islander calling on the company to stop its action against the heliport has gained more than 7,000 signatures.


A couple got a surprise when they found a corn snake in their airing cupboard.

By the time the RSPCA arrived at their home in Boroughbridge near York, the 2ft (60cm) long snake had found sanctuary in a vacuum cleaner.
Lucy Green from the animal welfare charity said: "It was quite a surprise."
The snake was taken away by the RSPCA and is said to be in good health. It is believed to be somebody's pet due to its good condition.
The charity said it would be rehomed in seven days if no owner comes forward.
Ms Green said the wife saw the snake on Friday afternoon and initially thought her husband was playing a prank on her as it looked like a "realistic toy".
She said: "When I arrived the snake was no longer in the airing cupboard but had slithered inside the vacuum cleaner.
"It was quite a surprise to flip the head of the vacuum cleaner over and see the snake's little orange head poking out."
Ms Green said she visited several neighbours of the house on The Chase but no-one claimed to have mislaid their snake.
She said: "Perhaps he got out of his vivarium and decided to do some trick or treating for Halloween, or go and frighten some neighbours."


Amazon is entering the handicraft market with the launch of a new online store for handmade goods.

Handmade at Amazon is currently invitation-only, with an initial 5,000 sellers on the site.
Goods must be "factory-free", with items such as wooden cufflinks and handstitched baby bibs already on sale from around the world.
Its competitor, artisan website Etsy, was valued at $1.8bn (Â£1.2bn) when it launched on the stock market in April.
"We had thousands of searches every day from customers looking for handmade or handcrafted items,'' said Peter Faricy, vice-president for Amazon Marketplace.
"Knowing an item has a unique story behind it creates a personal experience that customers have told us makes owning handmade items special."
The firm will initially take a 12% sales fee from its handmade retailers with no other charges.
Etsy, which was founded 10 years ago, takes a 3.5% sales fee from its 1.5 million sellers and also charges a listing fee of $0.20 per item.
The firm's chief executive, Chad Dickerson, told the Associated Press that almost half of the site's sellers already used other retail outlets in addition to Etsy but that the site was still "usually" their main source of income.
"We believe that Etsy is the best platform for the creative entrepreneur," he said.
"Etsy has a decade of experience understanding the needs of artists and sellers and supporting them in ways that no other marketplace can."


Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says his tactical 'gamble' paid dividends as they earned a dramatic Champions League comeback victory at Anderlecht.

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The Belgians were leading through Andy Najar's 71st-minute header when Wenger brought on Joel Campbell, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski.
And two goals in the final two minutes from Kieran Gibbs and Podolski earned an unlikely 2-1 win in Brussels.
"It's a gambling situation in these games and it worked," said Wenger.
Arsenal dominated possession without creating many clear-cut chances and were punished when Honduras winger Najar gave Anderlecht the advantage.
And they were fortunate not to fall further behind as Najar and Anthony Vanden Borre wasted chances to double the home side's lead.
"In the last five minutes in the Champions League the nerves play a part and we had to get into these five minutes without conceding a second goal," said Wenger.
"I had hope, it maybe didn't look like it, but it happened.
"The crucial point was when we were 1-0 down and they couldn't take advantage with the chance for the second goal."
The Gunners' remarkable fightback leaves them well placed to reach the Champions League knockout phase for the 12th consecutive season.
Second-placed Arsenal have six points at the halfway stage of Group D, three behind German side Borussia Dortmund who have a perfect record of three wins.
Anderlecht's late capitulation - which means they have not won in their last 11 Champions League ties - leaves them five points adrift of Wenger's team ahead of next month's return fixture at Emirates Stadium.
Then, the Gunners host Dortmund on 26 November before their final group game at Galatasaray on 9 December.
"It (the win) was vital for us to have a chance to qualify," said Wenger, who celebrated his 65th birthday on Wednesday.
"We are in a strong position now. It's down to us now. Win our home games and we are through."


The Twitter account of Peaches Geldof, who died earlier this year at the age of 25, appears to have been hacked.

A message has been published under her name which appears to promote "fat-burning" methods and contains a link to Tumblr.
The account is currently set to private but users who already followed her were able to see the message.
"It's obviously been hacked and is pretty crude," a family spokeswoman said.
Twitter have yet to respond with a statement.
Peaches died in April. Initially the cause was unknown, but it was later linked to heroin use.
Her body was found by her husband Tom Cohen at their home in Wrotham, Kent.
She had two sons, Astala, two, and Phaedra, one.
In an interview last month, Sir Bob Geldof said he "blames himself" for the death of his daughter.
He described the journalist, model and TV presenter as "super bright" but "frantic" in her private life.
"You blame yourself," he said. "You're the father who is responsible and clearly failed.
"For anybody watching, who has a dead kid and you're a parent, you go back, you go back, you go over, you go over.
"What could you have done? You do as much as you can."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


Transport for London (TfL) has said it is "sorry" about the death of a female cyclist who was killed on a cycle "superhighway" in east London.

On Friday, a 34-year-old woman became the second person in three weeks to die at the busy Bow Roundabout junction.
The victim, who is yet to be named, was pronounced dead at 16:45 GMT.
The 29-year-old driver of a lorry involved in the crash was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
He was released on bail to return to an east London police station on 7 December pending further inquiries.
The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) group demanded an immediate redesign of the roundabout.
It said the roundabout was dangerous because the cycle superhighway stopped in the middle of the Bow roundabout.
LCC's chief executive Ashok Sinha said: "We're appalled at this latest preventable death and are fearful of what may happen when large numbers of cyclists are expected to tackle this junction on their way to and from the Olympics next year.
"We can't understand how this junction can form part of what is one of the Mayor's flagship cycling projects: it must be redesigned now."
TfL surface transport manager Leon Daniels said: "We are extremely sorry to learn of the tragic death of a female cyclist, following a collision with an HGV on the Bow Road roundabout on Friday evening.
"Our thoughts are with her family and friends. I have visited the scene and both TfL and the police have launched inquiries which will report as quickly as possibleâ€¬."  Â
Last month a 58-year-old man was killed in a collision with a tipper truck.
Four priority lanes for cyclists, branded cycle superhighways, have been painted blue around London, and another eight are due to open within the next four years.
On Saturday, more than 300 cyclists rode through the capital in a "Tour du Danger" protest calling for the capital's roads to be made safer.
Cycling blogger Danny Williams said: "I think the superhighways should be made proper superhighways.
"I think it's a good idea, incredibly badly implemented and not very well thought through, and the Mayor needs to take responsibility for that.
A TfL spokesman said: "There has been an 18% fall in the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on London's roads in the last decade, compared to the TfL's baseline figures from the mid to late 1990s."
No-one from the office of Mayor Boris Johnson was available for comment.


Mourners have flocked to Facebook to pay tribute to Lance Corporal Derby, a sheep which was the mascot of a British Army regiment.

The Mercian Regiment announced the death of Lance Corporal Derby XXX, who was recently promoted in September, on Twitter earlier.
The Swaledale Ram led the teams out at Derby County and even switched on Ashbourne's Christmas Lights in 2014.
Corporal Philip Thornton said the three-year-old was "excellent".
He said: "The regiment is feeling quite sad with the passing of Lance Corporal Derby XXX last Friday [27 November].
"He did an excellent job and it proves it with getting promoted in September, that was for his good behaviour."
Corporal Thornton expects a formal parade will be held for the animal, who died following a bacterial infection.
Hundreds of messages were posted on The Mercian Regiment and BBC Radio Derby's Facebook pages.
One person said: "He had an amazing life, he was treated like a king. He was treated with the dignity and respect he deserved!"
Another comment read: "Have a good time in the celestial meadows Corporal."
The regiment will now write to the Duke of Devonshire at the Chatsworth Estate, to find the next Private Derby.
Lance Corporal Derby XXX was the 30th in a line of mascot rams running back to the Indian Mutiny War in the mid-19th Century.
The first Private Derby was acquired in 1858 by the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot and became the mascot of the Mercian Regiment when it formed in 2007.
Lance Corporal Derby XXX, who joined the regiment in February 2014, had his own army number, got paid to buy his rations and was allowed to take his holidays during the mating season at Chatsworth.
During his career, he also met Prince William at the unveiling of a memorial commemorating the 1914 Christmas Truce.


A man has died in hospital after being found unconscious inside a property in Reading in the early hours of Sunday.

The 55-year-old's death is being treated as 'unexplained' by police.
Police say they want to trace a woman who may have more information about how the victim came to sustain his head injuries.
They also asked for people in the Prince of Wales Avenue and Oxford Road area between 02:00 and 02:30 BST on Sunday to come forward.
The woman sought by police is described as mixed-race, 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, aged around 35, and slim with long wavy black hair.


Actress Imelda Staunton has been honoured at an award ceremony for the best theatre created outside London.

Staunton won the UK Theatre Award for best performance in a musical for her role in the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Gypsy.
Written in the 1950s with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy opened in Chichester a year ago and has since transferred to London's West End.
The show was also named best musical production at Sunday's ceremony.
Dame Eileen Atkins and choreographer Matthew Bourne received outstanding contribution awards, while Polly Lister and Joel MacCormack shared the trophy for best performance in a play.
Staunton was not present to pick up her award because she was saving her voice on her day off, according to Chichester artistic director Jonathan Church.
"She is, as part of her regime, lying down every Sunday," he said.
Accepting the award on her behalf, he said: "UK Theatre embraces the whole range of theatres she feels passionately she created some of her finest performances in.
"And of course the subsidy that enables those theatres to exist is important to her - she wanted that message to be heard."
Staunton plays Momma Rose in Gypsy, which transferred to London's Savoy Theatre in April and runs until the end of November.
Dame Eileen Atkins, who co-created TV dramas including Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott, said the Shakespeare Guild's Gielgud Award meant "an enormous amount". She was presented with the trophy by Sir Patrick Stewart.
Other presenters at the ceremony at London's Guildhall included actors Robert Powell, Barbara Windsor, Richard Wilson and Pauline McLynn, who received one of the afternoon's biggest cheers for rounding on "London-centric critics".
Matthew Bourne said receiving The Stage Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre was "very significant to me" because it was a theatre award and not just for dance.
"I've had dance awards before now, if I've had anything, and I'm always thinking that dance is theatre," he said.
The best new play prize went to Iphigenia In Splott, staged by Sherman Cymru and set in the Cardiff area of Splott. Its writer, Gary Own, described it as the story of "what happens to an ordinary woman in austerity Britain".
He said theatre, and not TV, was now portraying those struggling to make ends meet.
"In the '80s but I remember on TV there being things like The Boys From The Blackstuff - these really fierce dramas portrayals of how difficult life was becoming for ordinary people," he said.
"When this recession started, we expected the big beasts of British drama to show what was happening to people. And it hasn't happened at all. So thank God theatre is still there to shout about what is happening."
Newcastle Theatre Royal was named the country's most welcoming theatre - following a similar accolade for its backstage team at the Technical Theatre Awards.
The UK Theatre Awards do not cover National Theatre productions or West End shows unless they have transferred from a theatre outside the capital.


Kenji Goto, the freelance journalist held by Islamic State militants, was a film-maker and veteran journalist who had striven to publicise the suffering of civilians in war zones.

On Saturday, IS released video footage which appeared to show the beheading of the 47-year-old hostage.
Mr Goto had worked in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria, contributing reports to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, television network TV Asahi and other outlets.
Before he went to Syria last October, he had recorded a video message saying he was heading to Raqqa, the headquarters of Islamic State.
"It's very dangerous so even if anything should happen to me, I won't blame the people of Syria. Whatever happens, I am responsible. But of course, I'm going to come back alive," he said.
He had written books on the impact of Aids on Africa, and set up his own press agency, the Independent Press, in 1996.
In an April 2012 NHK report, Mr Goto met Syrian refugees in a Turkish camp, saying he wanted to report on what civilians were going through.
He spoke to women about how soldiers raided their homes, and to a former rebel soldier who brought the villagers to the refugee camp after government forces tore through their town.
In a TV Asahi report from Aleppo in May 2014, Mr Goto was shown riding along with volunteer rescue workers made up of former anti-government soldiers, explaining how citizens were joining these rescue groups to try and help fellow citizens in need.
In an interview with a Japanese news site in the same month, he said he wanted to help people in conflict areas.
"The places I visit to report face unbearable hardship, but even there people live their daily lives," he said.
"Those people always have something to say, a message they want conveyed. If I can help relay their message to the world, it might lead to a solution of some sort. If that happens, perhaps I can say my job was a 'success'."
The journalist was reported to have met contractor Haruna Yukawa, his fellow captive believed to have been executed by IS earlier this month, in Aleppo in April 2014, when the latter was detained by the Free Syrian Army.
Mr Goto, who had connections with the group's members, said he acted as a translator.
After Mr Yukawa's release, the two travelled together in Iraq in June, he said, as Mr Yukawa wanted to "learn how to work in a conflict zone".
When Mr Yukawa wanted to return to Syria in August, Mr Goto reportedly warned him against it. But this warning was ignored and Mr Yukawa was captured in Syria, reportedly in the summer of 2014.
Reports differ on why Mr Goto travelled from Japan to Syria in late October 2014. Some outlets said he had wanted to report on areas controlled by Islamic State.
But other outlets, such as Mainichi Shimbun and NHK, said he told those close to him that he had also intended to search for Mr Yukawa.
The most recent posts on his Twitter account were reports from the Syrian town of Kobane, an area controlled by the Islamic State, in late October.
He dropped out of contact shortly after and, weeks later, his wife received an email demanding a ransom for his release.


The story of King William of Orange's gauntlets worn at the Battle of the Boyne features in a new programme on the treasures that helped shape Ireland.

The inky creased gloves can be seen in the National Museum in Dublin and are among the artefacts to feature in Ireland's Treasures Uncovered.
For presenter Dr Gavin Hughes, they are a touchstone to the past.
They are a link to a moment in 1690 on the Irish battlefield of the Boyne.
"On the night of the battle, they say that William slept in his carriage and then the next night one of his officers, Sir John Dillon, invited him to stay at Lismullen House, County Meath.
"He must have been in fairly buoyant mood as he showered Sir John with presents," he said.
Among them were two pairs of gauntlets.
"One set is creased and there is ink on them," Dr Hughes said.
"There is the distinct impression of a hand - as if William had been holding the reins of the horse. These are items personally used by the king and given to his officers.
"If we are trying to find a potential link between history and 'moments in time', then perhaps such seemingly ordinary objects as those unassuming gloves are as close as we can get.
"They represent a tangible moment in history that we can trace back almost to the day."
In the programme, Prof Alice Roberts and Dr Hughes explore the artefacts that shaped Ireland past and present, north and south.
They were given access to Belfast's Ulster Museum and the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
There, they get up close to the Tara Brooch, the Broighter Hoard, the Waterford Charter Roll and the Coggalbeg hoard.
The programme brings together archaeologists and curators who have spent their lives working to understand the true context for these emblematic treasures.
The Coggalbeg hoard is made up of three pieces of gold jewellery dating back to circa 2300 to 1800 BC.
They were found by a man cutting turf in a bog in Roscommon in March 1945.
He  gave them to the local chemist who put them in the pharmacy safe in an envelope for safe keeping. And there they stayed hidden for over half a century.
ln 2009, thieves broke in and stole the safe, dumping the documents inside into a skip in Dublin.
Police moved in and, after a long and dirty search, they found the gold lunula - a crescent shaped necklace - and two small gold discs - treasure worth more than the thieves could ever have imagined.
The story made headlines across the world. It was the story of what the family called "daddy's necklace" that was in the safe.
Every piece in the programme has a story to tell.
"These are showcase treasures - but if this helps to get people out there and going into their local museums, they will find so much. There are so many stories and so much to enjoy," said Dr Hughes.
Prof Alice Roberts said: "We explore the forgotten riches,  remarkable discoveries and surprising tales behind Ireland's most precious artefacts.
"We will reveal how ancient treasures continue to shed new light on the story of Ireland, both north and south."
Ireland's Treasures Uncovered is on Monday 15 February, BBC One Northern Ireland at 21:00 GMT.


Madness brought the curtain down on BBC Television Centre with a concert outside the iconic building on Friday.

The ska band played a mixture of old songs and new tracks in front of the venue, which is closing its doors on Easter Sunday after 53 years.
The show was screened live on BBC Four and was followed by a special programme where a host of stars share TV Centre memories.
Madness said they were "honoured" to be chosen to play the farewell gig.
A statement from the band, who shot to fame in 1979 with their cover of ska legend Prince Buster's One Step Beyond, read: "We've played at some exciting places in London lately but the closing of BBC TV Centre... well... that is close to our hearts.
"As a band we grew up there, those walls have plenty of Madness tales to tell, a sad day, the end of an era. Oh, but what a celebration."
By John HandBBC News, at Television Centre
"I never thought I'd miss you half as much as I do."
If an emotional - but fun - send-off was required for TV Centre's final night, after 53 years of live broadcasts, who better to provide the soundtrack than Madness, who have officially become the house band of Britain's big occasions?
The Nutty Boys have provided many moments of mischief in the studios and corridors of this famous building - Suggs boasted on stage they had been banned from every BBC show they had appeared on. They mixed their biggest hits with many comic references to the entertainment ghosts that will remain here.
The remaining staff who crowded the windows and balconies to look down on the rain-soaked gig in the horseshoe car park were referred to as zombies and given a friendly wave.
On Wood Lane itself the crowd who could not get in danced and sang along and the car drivers who normally whizz by crawled to a halt to take in the scene.
They'll not see its like again.
The band performed new material from their recent album Oui, Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da, Da, alongside hits including Baggy Trousers and Our House.
Before they played their set in front of a selected audience - with many others gathering outside the building's gates - Madness appeared on The One Show recalling their favourite TV Centre moments.
The 1960s building in west London, once the home of Top of the Pops and Blue Peter, was sold for Â£200m. It closes on 31 March and will be redeveloped into a hotel, flats, a cinema and office space.
The main television studios will be retained and refurbished for leasing out to production companies, including the BBC, from 2014.
The transition to the corporation's new London home, New Broadcasting House, in central London, began in 2012.
The Madness concert was followed on BBC Four by Goodbye Television Centre, a two-hour show hosted by former BBC Chairman Michael Grade.
The programme featured interviews with some of the biggest names to perform at the venue, including Sir David Attenborough, Penelope Keith, Ronnie Corbett, Sir Michael Parkinson, Sir Terry Wogan and Sir David Jason.


Shareholders in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) have voted in favour of a planned merger with its German counterpart Deutsche Boerse.

The LSE chairman, Donald Brydon, thanked shareholders for their "strong support" after 98.9% backed the deal.
The two stock exchanges agreed a $27bn (Â£20bn) merger earlier this year, but the Brexit vote has raised questions about how it should be implemented.
The LSE said the deal would still deliver value to shareholders.
"Whether the UK is just European or a member of the EU, the merger will create a globally competitive, industry defining market infrastructure group at the service of European industry," the company said.
Earlier, Mr Brydon said he was confident of "satisfactory" regulatory approval for the tie-up.
Last week, Germany's regulator said the proposed headquarters for the newly-merged company might not be in London.
"Without doubt... it is hard to imagine that the most important exchange venue in the eurozone would be steered from a headquarters outside the EU," said Felix Hufeld, Bafin's president.
"There certainly has to be an adjustment here."
Bafin does not have a veto on the deal but it is thought that Deutsche Boerse is likely to take its concerns seriously.
Mr Brydon told an extraordinary meeting of shareholders in London on Monday that Britain would remain in the EU for at least another two years providing ample time to work out the "optimal structure" for the deal.
He denied the London Stock Exchange had received approaches from any company other than Deutsche Boerse.
In a joint statement released shortly after the UK's referendum the companies said the outcome did not affect "the compelling rationale of the merger".
In fact, the head of the Deutsche Boerse Joachim Faber said the decision made it "ever more important to maintain and foster ties between the UK and Europe".
David Cumming, head of UK equities at Standard Life Investments, told the BBC: "I think there will potentially be political interference from German regulators and politicians but it is not entirely clear they will scupper the deal.
"They don't like the fact the headquarters are here in Britain, but unless there is a significant change the deal will go ahead."
The merger still needs to be approved by regulators and, according to the Reuters news agency, any major changes to it could need further shareholder approval.
German shareholders are due to vote on the merger on 12 July, and the companies hope to complete the deal in early 2017.


The winner of snooker's new English Open event in Manchester will receive the Steve Davis Trophy, in tribute to the six-time world champion.

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Davis retired from playing in April, following a professional career that spanned five decades.
The event - from 10-16 October - is part of the new Home Nations series, with the winner receiving £70,000.
Any player who also wins the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Opens will earn a £1m bonus.
English Open: Event City, Manchester, 10-16 October
Northern Ireland Open: Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast, 14-20 November
Scottish Open: Emirates Arena, Glasgow, 12-18 December
Welsh Open: Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, 13-19 February


Solar-powered fridges which store vaccines are being flown to Africa to help in the fight against Ebola.

Shipments from Dulas, based in Machynlleth, Powys, are going to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The fridges are used in countries where electricity supply is limited.
Guy Watson, of Dulas, said: "We are pleased that technology designed and developed in Wales is being used to support communities during a global crisis."


Former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have signed up to present a new show on Amazon's streaming video service.

The trio will front three series of a new motoring programme for Amazon Prime, with the first season to be made available worldwide in 2016.
The move follows their departure from the hit BBC Two show earlier this year.
Clarkson's contract was not renewed following an "unprovoked physical attack" on a Top Gear producer.
His co-hosts then followed him in leaving the show.
They will now make the unnamed new programme with former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman, who also quit the BBC following the "fracas".
In a statement from Amazon, Clarkson said: "I feel like I've climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship."
Hammond said: "Amazon? Oh yes. I have already been there. I got bitten by a bullet ant." And May added: "We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?"
Wilman told the Radio Times the team would begin working on the new series as soon as they return from their summer holidays.
He said they agreed a deal with Amazon because "they'll give us the freedom to make the programme we want...there's a budget to produce programmes of the quality we want and this is the future".
Wilman added the format of the new show would contain "themes people will be familiar with".
"I can't tell you how good it feels to get the chance to produce something from scratch," he said. "We're all really excited. No one telling us what we can and can't do, just us hopefully producing great programmes. It feels really liberating."
Rumours that Clarkson, May and Hammond would take their blokey bonhomie to a streaming service have been circulating for months.
It's a shrewd move. For a start, Amazon doesn't have to bow to pressure from advertisers, particularly those car manufacturers the team regularly skewers.
Secondly, it neatly sidesteps the much-reported clause in the presenters' BBC contracts that prevented them making a show for a UK broadcaster for two years.
More importantly, the team already have a proven track record in streaming video. Top Gear accounted for eight of the top 20 most-streamed programmes on the BBC's iPlayer last year, with one episode watched by 3.8 million people.
But we may never know whether the gang's new show reaches those heights. Amazon, in common with Netflix, does not publish viewing figures.
Amazon Prime Video EU vice-president Jay Marine said: "Customers told us they wanted to see the team back on screen, and we are excited to make that happen.
"We can't wait to see what Jeremy, Richard, James and the team will create in what is sure to be one of the most globally anticipated shows of 2016."
The Amazon deal is part of a manoeuvre by the company to compete with traditional broadcasters and streaming rivals like Netflix.
Amazon has also signed up Woody Allen to make his first television series; resurrected drama Ripper Street after it was axed by the BBC; and won awards and acclaim for its dark comedy Transparent.
Mr Marine said it was "a golden age of television, [and] a great time for TV makers and storytellers".
He added: "Our approach is to give programme makers creative freedom to be innovative and make the shows they want to make."
Meanwhile, Top Gear will continue on BBC Two, with Chris Evans among the new hosts.
Lisa Clark, who worked with Evans on The Big Breakfast, has just been announced as the show's new producer. "Lisa is as good as it gets when it comes to making big, important television shows," Evans said.
The presenter also fuelled rumours that Formula 1 driver Jenson Button was "in talks" to co-present the show when he read out a Daily Mail article on his BBC Radio 2 radio show.
"They say an announcement is imminent," Evans teased.
Neither the BBC nor Button's spokesman would comment on the speculation.


England scout Alan Cork said he had no concerns about returning to Paris less than seven months after he was caught up in the city's attacks.

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The 57-year-old is in the city for Euro 2016 having been at Stade de France in November when three explosive devices went off near the stadium.
"If you worry about it you can never do anything in your life," he said.
"If there's an attack you hope you're not there. It's the selfish thing to say but it's the way to look at it."
Cork, whose son Jack plays for Swansea, is one of four scouts working for England in France and will be based in Paris. The former Wimbledon forward has been tasked with following Group B opponents Slovakia.
The explosions in November last year, which led to the abandonment of the friendly between France and Germany, resulted in the death of one bomber and a passer-by.
In total, 130 people were killed in Paris when gunmen and suicide bombers linked to the militant Islamic State (IS) group attacked the Bataclan concert hall, restaurants and bars, and the Stade de France.
Asked whether he is still affected by the events, Cork added: "It becomes more scary when you remember you were there and it could have been a lot worse. But I've not really thought about it because I've been busy going to games. That's pushed it out of my mind."
Jerome Boateng, who was part of the Germany squad that slept in the stadium after the November friendly, says his family and children will not be at the matches, claiming "the risk is too big".
The 27-year-old told Sport Bild: "For my part I want to concentrate on football and I feel better if my family is not sitting in the stands."
Former France World Cup winner Marcel Desailly told BBC Sport his children will be watching games at the fanzones, saying there should be no fears over security.
The Foreign Office has told football fans travelling to France from the UK to be "vigilant at all times" in the face of terrorism threats.
It said there was a "high threat from terrorism", with stadiums, fan zones and transport hubs possible targets.
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"The advice given by the Football Association has been different this time around because there could be threats," Cork added.
"Everybody is prepared and have the phone numbers knowing where to go if something happens. We've been told to be wary about where we go.
"They've told us some areas might be more risky than other. And we've been told not to go out at night to busy clubs and bars because they might be soft targets."
The England team are based in Chantilly, about 24 miles to the north of Paris. Their first match is on Saturday against Russia in Marseille.
Create leagues and play against your friends in BBC Sport's new Euro 2016 Predictor game