The 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare next year will be marked by a major global cultural and educational project in 140 countries.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said the playwright was "one of our greatest literary exports".
The initiative will include working with young people without access to school in developing countries.
The British Council's Sir Ciaran Devane said the project would reflect Shakespeare's "global impact".
Speaking in the Houses of Parliament at the launch of Shakespeare Lives, Mr Whittingdale emphasised the playwright's cultural significance and international influence.
"Shakespeare is a major driver of tourism and also an important player in our export market. And the creative industries which he towers over are a huge part of our economy," said Mr Whittingdale.
"It is very hard to overstate the scale and scope of his reach."
Partners in the 400th anniversary project include the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe and the BBC.
There will be performances, publications, films, broadcasts, online events and festivals.
Schools in the UK and around the world will be given resources and video clips, exploring themes such as "global citizenship".
But there will also be an alliance with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) to use the Shakespeare events to reach those young people who are excluded from education.
Despite a millennium pledge for universal primary education, there are about 58 million children who have no access to school - mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
There are an estimated 250 million young people around the world who are unable to read or write.
"When millions of children cannot read, they become cut off from learning those lessons that literature can offer," said Philip Goodwin, VSO chief executive.
The exercise in cultural "soft power" will include events in the United States, Bangladesh, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Sir Ciaran, British Council chief executive, said the playwright was "one of the most enduring examples of cultural impact and relations".
He said the "genius" of Shakespeare's language had given "people from all walks of life a platform for self-expression".


Police closed a road in Bracknell following the discovery of a man's body in a park.

The body was found in South Hill Park, south of Bracknell town centre, shortly after 06:20 BST.
South Hill Road has been closed in both directions between the A322 Bagshot Road and the A3095 Crowthorne Road, with motorists and members of the public being advised to avoid the area.
Thames Valley Police said the man's death was being treated as unexplained.
The force said inquiries were continuing to identify the man.


A breast surgeon has been charged with 21 counts of unlawfully and maliciously wounding 11 patients.

Ian Paterson, 58, who worked at hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Trust and Spire Healthcare, faces 21 counts dating back to 1997.
The surgeon, who treated about 700 women from 1993 to 2012, was suspended by the General Medical Council in 2012.
He did not enter a plea at Birmingham Magistrates' Court and will appear at the city's crown court on 15 February.
Mr Paterson, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, Altrincham, faces one charge of causing grievous bodily harm and 20 of wounding with intent. The alleged offences took place between 1997 and 2011.
The GMC is investigating allegations that Mr Paterson, who worked mainly for the NHS at Solihull Hospital and two private hospitals run by Spire, carried out unnecessary, inappropriate or unregulated operations.
Mr Paterson stands accused of carrying out invasive breast surgery on women with suspected breast cancer when a simple biopsy might have been sufficient.
He is also accused of using a banned procedure, known as a cleavage sparing mastectomy, that involves leaving behind some potentially cancerous tissue for cosmetic reasons. Concerns about his work first surfaced in 2007, but it was not until 2011 that he was excluded from the trust where he worked.
More than 550 patients were recalled to hospital to have their cases reviewed.


Nottingham Forest look weary and need the international break to regain their freshness, according to head coach Philippe Montanier.

Forest ended a run of three losses with a 1-1 home draw with Fulham on Tuesday.
But they are still winless in five Championship games, six if the EFL Cup defeat to Arsenal is included.
"We need a break. We saw a game with a not very high tempo because I think the two teams were a little tired," Montanier told BBC Radio Nottingham.
Forest have played six matches in 17 days but, because of the internationals, they have 12 days without a fixture following the trip to face Bristol City on Saturday, 1 October.
Montanier added: "The attitude of the team has been very good; we are not in a good moment but it was important to end this bad period after three defeats.
"I wait for the international break to get good fitness for all the squad."


Tom Daley successfully retained his individual 10m platform crown with an impressive display at the National Diving Cup in Southend.

The Olympic bronze medallist won synchronised 10m gold alongside new partner Dan Goodfellow on Saturday.
Daley scored 545.80, with Matty Lee second and Goodfellow third.
Rebecca Gallantree took the individual 3m springboard crown ahead of Leeds diving team-mates Alicia Blagg and Katherine Torrance.
Daley revealed that he had been unable to train for 10 days ahead of the competition due to a stomach bug and struggled with his opening routine.
However, his other five were near flawless - a positive sign at the start of a year where he hopes to claim both European and Olympic medals.
"Every year that goes on I start the year just a little better than I was the year before so it's all going in the right direction," Daley told BBC Sport.
"I'm really excited about the year and do feel I'm in the best shape I've been in for a very long time."
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Lee, 17, claimed European Games gold in Baku last year and hopes he has now done enough to compete at February's Rio World Cup - the final opportunity for divers to claim Olympic berths for Team GB.
"I think I've learnt so much from all the competitions I've been in over the last year," he told BBC Sport.
"I got a personal best today, I couldn't be any happier and hopefully that's enough for a place in Rio, because that would be amazing."
Gallantree, 31, will next compete in the synchronised event alongside Blagg in Rio next month, having secured an individual place for GB at the 2015 World Championships.
"The younger divers are coming up really quickly, which is scary but thankfully I managed to hold them off for at least one more year," she said.
Blagg's score of 321 was a new personal best and an emotional result for the 19-year-old who has struggled with wrist injuries for the last few seasons.
"I've had three years of wrist injections and months out and competitions missed and it's really beaten me down," she told BBC Sport.
"To come out with this result is just amazing."


Gloucester are likely to select an external candidate as their replacement for former head coach Laurie Fisher, says chief executive Stephen Vaughan.

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Australian Fisher left the Premiership club on Monday after saying he needed to "make room for someone else" after Saturday's loss to Harlequins.
Defence coach Jonny Bell has been named interim head coach until the summer.
"I'd be surprised if we don't take an external appointment as head coach," Vaughan told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.
"We are probably looking for somebody who has already had head-coach experience, to keep us moving in the right direction. We have had interest from very talented people.
"We are already moving down the track on an appointment and hopefully we'll be able to make an announcement fairly shortly."
Vaughan was also keen to stress that the potential takeover of the Cherry and Whites by Montpellier owner Mohed Altrad would have no influence on the recruitment process.
"There is zero impact, interest or involvement from anybody outside the club with regards to this appointment," Vaughan added. "Myself and David Humphreys are leading that and will be the total decision-makers on any appointment.
"If there is a swift appointment then hopefully it will just serve to show people that the autonomy is there anyway."
Gloucester have had "discussions" with the France-based billionaire but any takeover deal needs approval from the Rugby Football Union, French Rugby Federation, European Professional Club Rugby and World Rugby bodies, as Montpellier compete in the European Champions Cup as well as the French Top 14.


Plans to restore a Keighley park to its Victorian splendour have gone on public display.

National Lottery funding of Â£3.5m was announced for the Cliffe Castle park restoration in 2013, with work due to start next year.
Bradford Council's plans will be on display at Cliffe Castle Museum for at least eight weeks.
People will be able to comment on the proposals which include a cafe, glasshouses, fountains and bandstand.
Created by mill owner Henry Isaac Butterfield in the 1870s, Cliffe Castle and its grounds were donated to the people of Keighley in the 1940s, with the mansion becoming a museum.
The restoration project will see many of the Victorian features in the park, which have been neglected, restored to working condition.
Councillor Imran Khan said: "The Cliffe Castle park project will complement the recent restoration of the Cliffe Castle Museum, recreating and rejuvenating a marvellous asset for everyone to enjoy."


Commonwealth champion Ashley McKenzie and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Gemma Gibbons will stop receiving British Judo funding towards Tokyo 2020.

McKenzie was beaten in round two at the Rio Olympics, while Gibbons did not qualify and declined a funding offer.
Athletes without funding can still qualify to represent GB at competitions but must fund themselves.
Sally Conway and Natalie Powell are the only two top-tier funded podium athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Conway won bronze in Rio and Powell qualified ahead of Gibbons and was Britain's only seeded judoka at this summer's Games.


It is many months since the result of the EU referendum was declared, but debates about Brexit have become a recurrent feature of political life in the National Assembly for Wales.

Those debates will intensify as negotiations finally begin with the formal triggering of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, known as Article 50, by Prime Minister Theresa May.
As the process finally begins, we look at where the parties in the assembly stand.
There has barely been a month in which Labour First Minister Carwyn Jones has not attended a Brexit summit - disguising the little leverage Mr Jones theoretically has - given Wales voted leave and he backed remain.
Regardless, after Article 50 is triggered, the Welsh Government is likely to warn the UK government about implementing anything that would mean Wales losing tariff-free access to the single market.
It will want current funding levels on agriculture and EU aid to be sustained.
The Welsh Government white paper in January intimated ministers believed freedom of movement - one of the pillars of membership of single market - could be kept but with the restriction that anyone who comes to the UK has a job.
The Welsh Government will also argue for structures to replace EU state aid rules - which prevent public bodies giving private firms an unfair advantage - in an effort to prevent what Mr Jones has called a "trade war" between the devolved nations.
But perhaps the biggest fight with the government will be over the distribution of post-Brexit powers among the devolved legislatures as they return from Brussels.
Plaid Cymru also found itself on the losing side at the referendum - it was never going to be a cheerleader for leaving the EU.
In an alternative article 50 letter, the party has called for membership of the European Economic Area and/or the European Free Trade Area - of which some countries outside of the EU that engage with the single market are members.
Plaid has, alongside Labour, called for guaranteed citizenship rights for EU nationals in Wales and Welsh nationals in the EU, and will want to see continued participation in European funding programmes.
The party will also be focused on what is and is not devolved after Brexit and will resist anything it sees as a claw-back of powers to London.
However, Plaid signed up to the Welsh Brexit white paper with Labour and some of the positions in it - such as its position on freedom of movement - also appear more nuanced than Plaid's pro-EU stance may suggest.
Plaid had initially demanded the UK remains a member of the single market, but the paper talks about participation in the single market - which could have a variety of implications.
UKIP is a significant force in Welsh politics by virtue of its six AMs - but the fact it had seven as recently as last summer is one example of the many internal problems the party faces.
Despite the internal rows, it can claim to be closer to Wales' verdict in the EU referendum than Labour and Plaid.
UKIP has promised to hold Theresa May's feet to the fire over the negotiations - anything that is seen as watering down Brexit is likely to be criticised by the party.
It has not produced a document outlining what Wales should get from leaving the EU in the same way Labour and Plaid has but UKIP is likely to press for a hard Brexit throughout the negotiation process.
It will likely criticise the UK government over anything it perceives as giving too much away to Brussels. It will want to see full immigration control and will be more relaxed about losing single-market access.
Party AMs will also not want to see contributions being made to the EU budget, the UK's seat retaken on the World Trade Organisation and Britain wholly removing itself from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
Brexit was a boost for Andrew RT Davies' leadership of the Welsh Conservatives in the wake of an assembly campaign which saw his party lose seats.
With his party governing in Westminster, the Tory group will be loyal to the UK government in the Brexit process, unless there is an unexpected and highly-unlikely schism.
Mr Davies has told AMs in the Senedd he would would fight to secure "Wales's share of resources".
He, like Mr Jones, wants to see work on transitional arrangements within the UK post-Brexit to prevent disparities - and it is on issues like that where he thinks there could be more common ground on Brexit.
The Tory leader has previously stated, though, that it may not be devolved institutions which manage what replaces structural funds.
Mr Davies has said the Welsh Government is out of touch with voters and has tried to claim the moral high-ground by offering Carwyn Jones "the hand of friendship".
But his bids for cross-party working on Brexit in Cardiff have been snubbed.
Other than Plaid Cymru, the other party in Wales that is stridently pro-EU is the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
Party leader Mark Williams - and its only MP - voted against allowing the UK government the power to start Brexit in the House of Commons.
There is only one Lib Dem in the Senedd, former leader Kirsty Williams, who is a member of the Welsh Government - and the only member of the government who voted against Article 50 in the assembly.
The Lib Dems want rights protected for EU citizens and UK citizens, freedom of movement, membership of the single market, sustained levels of investment in UK universities and support for Welsh farmers to be protected.


Former Wales wing Mark Jones has been appointed coach of newly-promoted Welsh Premiership side RGC 1404.

Ex-Scarlet Jones played 47 internationals and was interim attack coach for Wales during 2013.
The 36-year-old spent five years as Scarlets attack and skills coach and was head coach at Rotherham.
"I'm excited to carry on the work of the previous RGC coaches and at the opportunity to develop even more talented youngsters," said Jones.
RGC is a Welsh Rugby Union development region based in north Wales and will play in the new look, 16-team premier division kicks off in September.
"It's a big challenge, because the Principality Premiership will be a big step up, going up against experienced semi-professional and in some cases, professional regional players," added Jones.
"But I hope I can help to make RGC an established Premiership side that can continue on its remarkable journey."


A hormone released during childbirth and sex could be used as a treatment for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, scientists suggest.

Small studies by UK and Korean scientists indicated patients were less likely to fixate on food and body image after a dose of oxytocin.
About one in every 150 teenage girls in the UK are affected by the condition.
The eating disorders charity Beat said the finding was a long way from becoming a useable treatment.
Oxytocin is a hormone released naturally during bonding, including sex, childbirth and breastfeeding.
It has already been suggested as a treatment for a range of psychiatric disorders, and has been shown to help lower social anxiety in people with autism.
And one four-week study in Australia found people given doses of oxytocin had reduced weight and shape concerns.
In the first of the most recent studies, published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31 patients with anorexia and 33 people who did not have the condition were given either a dose of oxytocin, delivered via nasal spray, or a placebo, or dummy, treatment.
They then looked at a series of images to do with a range high and low calorie foods and people of different body shapes and weight.
People with anorexia have previously been found to focus for longer on images of overweight people and what they perceive as undesirable body shapes.
However after taking oxytocin, patients with anorexia were less likely to focus on such "negative" images of food and fat body parts.
The second study, published in PLOS ONE, involved the same people and looked at their reactions to facial expressions, such as anger, disgust or happiness.
It has been suggested that anorexia can be linked to a heightened perception of threat, and animal research has shown oxytocin treatment lessened the amount of attention paid to threatening facial expressions.
In this study, patients with anorexia were less likely to focus on the "disgust" faces after oxytocin treatment.
They were also less likely to avoid looking at angry faces.
Eating disorder expert Prof Janet Treasure, from King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, led both studies.
She said: "This is early stage research with a small number of participants, but it's hugely exciting to see the potential this treatment could have.
"We need much larger trials, on more diverse populations, before we can start to make a difference to how patients are treated."
Her co-researcher, Prof Youl-Ri Kim, from Inje University in Seoul, South Korea, added: "Our research shows that oxytocin reduces patients' unconscious tendencies to focus on food, body shape, and negative emotions such as disgust.
"There is currently a lack of effective pharmacological treatments for anorexia.
"Our research adds important evidence to the increasing literature on oxytocin treatments for mental illnesses, and hints at the advent of a novel, ground-breaking treatment option for patients with anorexia."
Leanne Thorndyke, of the eating disorders charity Beat, said: "Eating disorders are complex, and a number of risk factors need to combine to increase the likelihood that any one individual develops the condition.
"Brain chemistry and hormonal factors are part of the mix, with adrenaline, dopamine and the various appetite regulating hormones such as ghrelin being active areas for researchers as well as this research looking at the hormone oxytocin.
"We know that there is much that still needs to be understood about the biological basis for eating disorders.
"We are hopeful that this research will lead to a new, effective treatments being designed, but it is early days yet."


A lollipop man has been suspended after claims he stopped a fire engine on its way to a 999 call.

An eyewitness said firefighters had to physically remove the man from a crossing outside a school in Luton, as he continued to help children cross.
The fire engine was on its way to an out of control bonfire on St Ethelbert Avenue, at about 15:30 BST on 13 April.
Luton Borough Council said it has requested CCTV footage from the fire service.
Jacqui Brittain said she saw the fire engine coming down her road, with its lights on, from her bedroom window.
She said he continued to help one group of children from William Austin Junior School cross the road but to her surprise then started a second crossing.
"He just continued to cross them," she said. "He came out into the middle of the road and was ushering them across the road.
"Four of five firemen got out of the vehicle and escorted him off the road.
"It was like watching a car crash."
A spokesman for the council said the man would be suspended while an investigation into the incident was carried out.
"It is vital that emergency services are able to reach their destinations quickly and freely and we have begun an immediate investigation in line with council procedures," he said.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said the lollipop man ushered "children and their parents across the road several times in front of the fire appliance".
A spokesman said: "A firefighter spoke to the crossing guard and moved the remaining pedestrians out of the road before assisting other vehicle drivers to clear a path so we could continue to the incident."


Coldplay have confirmed they are to headline the Pyramid Stage in the Sunday slot at the Glastonbury Festival this year.

The band announced the news on Twitter with a photograph of the field in which they'll be playing on 26 June.
They'll be the first band to headline at Worthy Farm four times.
No other Glastonbury headliners have been announced as yet - but Jeff Lynne's ELO have been confirmed for the Sunday teatime slot.
The announcement follows Coldplay's performance at the Super Bowl on 7 February, when they played a selection of their greatest hits and were joined on stage by Beyonce and Bruno Mars.
After their Super Bowl appearance, their new album A Head Full Of Dreams leapt to number one in the UK chart.
The album had previously only peaked at number two - held off by Adele at the end of last year. They have now topped the UK chart with every album they have released.
Coldplay previously headlined Glastonbury in 2002, 2005 and 2011.
The festival runs from 23-26 June.


There has been a modest improvement in cancer waiting times in Wales, with the NHS meeting one of its key targets but continuing to miss another by some margin.

Latest figures for May show 98.3% of patients, not initially referred for suspected cancer but subsequently diagnosed with the disease, started treatment within 31 days.
This was up from 96.7% in April.
The target is 98% and had been last met in February.
Four of the six health boards in Wales which provide cancer care met the target, however Aneurin Bevan and Cardiff and Vale health boards fell short.
However, NHS Wales continues to miss its other key cancer target of making sure 95% of patients initially diagnosed with suspected cancer should start treatment within 62 days.
In May, 88.6% of patients being treated through this route started treatment within two months - up from 86.7% in April.
But none of the health boards in Wales, individually, met this target.
Last December, Health Secretary Vaughan Gething - then deputy health minister - ordered health boards to produce 100-day plans to improve cancer services and waiting times.
Responding to the latest statistics, Mr Gething said: "We are treating more people than ever for cancer in Wales and crucially, cancer survival rates continue to increase year-on-year.
"It's encouraging that health boards are improving performance and ensuring that more people are starting treatment within the target times.
"In particular, I'm pleased to see that health boards have met the demanding 98% 31-day target and are improving against the 62-day target.
"In the last 12 months we have seen a 3.6% increase in the number of patients who started treatment within the 62-day target.
"We are seeing real improvements, not just against these targets for treatment times but in outcomes."
He said more than half of people would now survive five years after their diagnosis and premature cancer deaths had fallen around 14% in the past 10 years.
But Susan Morris, head of services at Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales said she was "disappointed" that the 62-day target for treating people with cancer has been missed again meaning that 69 people did not start their treatment on time in May.
"While we are pleased that the 31-day treatment target was met, this still meant that 14 people did not start their cancer treatment within this time," she said.
"A delay in starting cancer treatment can cause increased anxiety to people with cancer and their loved ones at an already difficult time."
Meanwhile, new figures show the performance of emergency care departments in Wales has improved slightly but continues to be well below target.
Figures for June show 83.3% of patients spent less than four hours in urgent care departments before being before being admitted, transferred or discharged.
That is up slightly from 82.6% in May.
The target is that 95% of patients should spend less than four hours in A&E but this has never been met.


Bank of England governor Mark Carney found himself in a slightly odd position when announcing a range of stimulus measures for the UK economy on Thursday.

The claim: The UK economy will not go into recession in the next few years.
Reality Check verdict: The Bank of England thinks the UK will probably avoid a recession, although one is not all that unlikely, and its forecasts are based on the assumption the results of recent surveys are an overreaction that will correct in the coming months.
When the BoE published its last quarterly inflation report in May, he warned that a vote to leave the European Union could lead to a recession.
But the latest inflation report does not predict a recession, or rather, it thinks it is more likely that there will not be one.
The difference is that the predictions in May were made excluding any possible stimulus measures, while the post-Brexit forecasts included the rate cut and increases to quantitative easing, purchases of corporate bonds and very low interest loans to banks.
So, his committee's actions should make his warnings less likely to come true.
So how likely does the BoE now think it is that we will see the two quarters of negative growth that would constitute a recession?
The Quarterly Inflation Report includes fan charts of its forecasts, which show the likelihood of various outcomes.
Fan charts are a useful tool for stressing the uncertainty surrounding forecasts.
The way the fan chart works is there should be:
So zero growth in the middle of 2017 is in the darkest green section, just, but you have to go to the lighter green to see a recession that year.
As for this year, the BoE has warned there will be "little growth in GDP [gross domestic product] in the second half of the year".
That view was supported by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research earlier in the week, which predicted stagnation rather than recession.
But at Thursday's news conference, Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent also said the forecast of any growth this year was based on an optimistic reading of recent surveys such as the Markit/CIPS surveys.
"They are reliable indicators - these and a few other surveys - and I would point out that if you took them at face value they would suggest the economy is actually contracting," he said.
He added the reason the BoE had taken an optimistic view was that big shocks could lead to overreactions in such surveys.
"We would need them to recover in the coming months to meet the forecasts we have, which is for a little bit of growth during the second half of the year," he said.


An Englishman credited with founding football giants AC Milan is to be honoured in his home city.

Herbert Kilpin left Nottingham to work in Italy in the 1890s and later set up the club, becoming the team's first superstar in the process.
Robert Nieri has been fundraising for a plaque to go outside his birthplace to mark 100 years since his death.
He said Kilpin was the "father of Italian football" and deserved more recognition in Nottingham.
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The footballer, who was born at the back of a butcher's shop in Mansfield Road, started Milan Football and Cricket Club in 1899.
Kilpin led the club to its first three championships and even designed its legendary red and black striped shirt.
He died in 1916, aged 46, and his grave was believed lost until a historian tracked it down.
In 1999, AC Milan paid for a new tombstone and he was reburied in the Monumental Cemetery in Milan.
Kilpin's name adorns shirts in Milan and his image can be seen on giant banners on match days.
However, in Nottingham, there has been little recognition of his achievements and writer Mr Nieri set out to change that.
"We need to bring Kilpin to the fore," he said.
"He is the founder of one of the most successful clubs in the world and the father of Italian football.
"He taught the Italians to play. He's massive [in Milan]."
On 22 October, the 100th anniversary of Kilpin's death, a ceremony will take place outside his birthplace, and the Sheriff of Nottingham will name a bus after him.
Mr Nieri, whose book The Lord of Milan is set to be released, is also due to fly to Italy to start filming a documentary about the star.
The humble man who made Milan
Details about Herbert Kilpin's remarkable life only started to emerge over the past few decades.
How did a whisky-guzzling, chain-smoking son of a butcher from Nottingham come to set up one of the world's biggest and most successful clubs?
Other English ex-pats helped him, of course, but it is Kilpin who has remained in the imagination here and in Italy.
While his friends became part of the fledgling Italian football association, Kilpin just wanted to play football.
And that is why, according to some, he is a "grassroots football icon" - concerned only by what happened on the pitch.
It is hoped more recognition of his story will inspire a generation of young footballers.
Source: The Lord of Milan


The Queen will officially open a new bridge over the Firth of Forth next month.

She will be joined by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the ceremony on the Queensferry Crossing on 4 September.
The £1.35bn bridge will open to traffic on 30 August, but it will close on 2 and 3 September to allow pedestrians to cross.
The opening ceremony will take place exactly 53 years after the Queen opened the Forth Road Bridge.
The new crossing will replace the existing road bridge as the main route between Edinburgh and Fife.
On the day of the Queen's visit activities will take place on both sides of the 1.7 mile bridge.
They will include a welcome address by the first minister and a blessing by the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Scotland's Makar, Jackie Kay, will read a poem specially commissioned for the occasion and there will be live music performances.
Ms Sturgeon said: "It is very fitting that the Queensferry Crossing will be officially opened by The Queen, exactly 53 years to the day from when she opened the Forth Road Bridge.
"Importantly, this celebratory event will recognise the thousands of people who have been involved in the construction of the new bridge.
"The Queensferry Crossing is a symbol of a confident, forward-looking Scotland and - as well as providing a vital transport connection for many years to come - it is a truly iconic structure and a feat of modern engineering."
Source: Scottish government
The new bridge will be closed to traffic on 2 and 3 September to allow 50,000 members of the public walk across the bridge as part of the Queensferry Crossing Experience.
Around 250,000 applied for a ballot to take part in the one-off event.
A "community day" on 5 September will give another 10,000 people from local schools and community groups an opportunity to walk across the bridge before it re-opens to traffic, with no pedestrian access, on 6 September.
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said "Scotland will celebrate a moment in history" when the Queen opens the bridge.
"At this unique moment, the country will become the world's first destination to have three bridges spanning three centuries in one stunning location," he said.
"It is a time to not only celebrate Scotland as a nation of pioneering innovation, design and engineering, but also give thanks all those who have worked tirelessly to create this unique new structure.
"People are fascinated worldwide by bridges, whether it's for their beauty, grandeur or breath-taking engineering prowess. The addition of the Queensferry Crossing consolidates the Forth Bridges as global icons of Scotland and we look forward to showcasing all three awe-inspiring structures to the world for many years to come."


A 22-year-old woman has been left badly shaken after being the victim of a car-jacking in Larne, County Antrim.

The incident happened in High Street and was reported just after 22.25 GMT on Friday.
A man got in the passenger side of the woman's car, whilst another man pulled her out of the vehicle before making off in the car.
The two men are believed to be in their late teens.
Both were of slim build and were wearing dark hooded tops and scarves over their faces.
Police have appealed for information.


Jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman "fears he could lose his mind" before the end of the year, his partner Emma Coronel says.

He is watched constantly by three masked guards, even when he uses the toilet, his partner says.
Ms Coronel complained to the National Human Rights Commission about Guzman's living conditions.
The leader of the Sinaloa drugs cartel is notorious for escaping from two maximum security jails.
His first escape came in 2001, from the Puente Grande maximum security prison, reportedly hidden in a laundry basket.
He used his 13 years at large to consolidate his criminal empire before being re-arrested in Sinaloa state.
But in July 2015, after less than two years at the Altiplano prison in central Mexico, he fled again, this time through a 1.5km-long (one mile-long) tunnel.
This time, he was on the run for six months before he was caught in Los Mochis in Sinaloa state.
He was first taken back to the Altiplano jail but was transferred to a prison in Ciudad Juarez in May.
"He hasn't been informed about any activities he could do in the jail, nor has anyone devised a plan of activities to match his needs, preferences and skills," Ms Coronel's complaint reads.
His lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, stressed that Guzman did not expect special treatment.
"Joaquin Guzman does not want a five-star hotel, he doesn't want a spa, he just wants to be treated like a human being," he said.
Guzman's 2015 escape was a huge embarrassment for the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto.
After his re-arrest, the Mexican government said it would extradite Guzman to the US, where he is wanted on drug trafficking charges.
A Mexican judge last week rejected Guzman's appeal against his extradition. Mexican officials say they expect to send him to the US by February.


People need clarity on what Brexit means for both the UK and Welsh governments, Plaid Cymru has said.

Leader Leanne Wood said her party accepted the referendum result to leave the European Union, but claimed no part of the UK voted for a "hard" Brexit.
In an article for The Times, she said the Welsh Government should not "sit back and let Brexit take its course".
Meanwhile First Minister Carwyn Jones has told AMs that UK ministers will have to compromise on immigration.
Ms Wood said the UK was "still in the dark" four months after the June vote on what the result meant.
She said Plaid accepted the High Court ruling that Parliament must give its approval for the triggering of Article 50, to formally launch the two-year process of the UK's departure from the EU.
Ms Wood said the ruling "should not be seen as an opportunity to overturn the result", but gave an opportunity for the 48% of voters who backed Remain "to have an input" and pursue a "soft" Brexit.
She accused the UK government of making "nothing but contradictory statements, with comments from one minister ridiculed by another", and claimed the Welsh Government had been "at best incoherent and at worst utterly clueless" in its response to Brexit.
"Wales voted Leave, but it does not mean that the Welsh government should sit back and let Brexit take its course," Ms Wood wrote.
"Our exit from the EU will be one of the most pivotal moments in our history and it is vital that both governments get it right."
Stressing her party's preference for continued membership of the single market, Ms Wood said Plaid AMs and MPs would table written questions on Brexit every day until ministers in both Westminster and Cardiff Bay gave a "satisfactory outline" of their intentions.
"People need and deserve answers, and Parliament needs answers before it can be expected to support the triggering of Article 50," she said.


Mark Cavendish has been told he will have to leave the Tour de France early if he wants to ride at the Olympics.

Media playback is not supported on this device
The 30-year-old has won 26 Tour stages and the 2011 road race world title but is yet to claim an Olympic medal.
Competing on the track will be the Manxman's best chance of winning one in Rio this summer, as the road race route is not suited for pure sprinters.
"Cav won't do three weeks of the Tour," British Cycling's technical director Shane Sutton said.
"If he wants to medal, he's aware that he wouldn't be going to Paris."
This summer's race begins on 2 July with a flat stage that Team Dimension Data rider Cavendish will be targeting for victory.
The race ends in the French capital on 24 July.
Cavendish won his first four Tour stages in 2008 before leaving early to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing, where he finished ninth in the madison and was the only member of Great Britain's squad not to win a medal.
He also competed in the Olympic road race on the opening day of London 2012 but finished 29th, 40 seconds behind winner Alexander Vinokourov.


A campaign group has taken court action in South Africa over the removal of an advertisement urging President Jacob Zuma to ban the trade in lion bones.

The advert, showing a lioness looking down the barrel of a gun with Mr Zuma in the background, was removed from the main airport in Johannesburg last year.
Campaign group Avaaz said airport authorities violated freedom of expression by pulling down its advert.
Asia is a lucrative market for lion bones, used in traditional medicines.
Official statistics show that South Africa increased its export of lion bones by 250% between 2008 and 2010, Avaaz says.
It placed the advert at OR Tambo International airport to target tourists, it says.
The Airports Company SA (Acsa) ordered its removal after nine days because of the potential "public relations disaster" for South Africa, the Johannesburg High Court heard, according to the South African Press Association (Sapa).
The advert said, "Our lions are being slaughtered to make bogus sex potions for Asia. Will President Zuma save them? Urge him to stop the deadly bone trade now."
Acsa communications chief Solomon Makgale had objected to the advert because of its "implicit message" that Mr Zuma was "standing by while our lions are being killed and is thus complicit in the killings",  Avaaz  lawyer Stephen Budlender told the court, Sapa reports.
However, the advert was not defamatory nor did it promote hate speech, he is quoted as saying.
Its removal was in breach of Avaaz's constitutionally enshrined right to freedom of expression, Mr Budlender added.
South Africa's Environment Minister Edna Molewa told parliament in May last year that a moratorium on the trade in lion bones could not be imposed because it did not "negatively impact on the survival of the species in the wild", local media reported at the time.
The lion bones being exported came from "canned hunting" farms, where lions are bred for commercial purposes, rather than from the wild, she was quoted as saying.
Many foreigners visit South Africa to see wild animals at famous game reserves such as Kruger National Park (KNP) and Hluhluwe Umfolozi.
In March, conservationists said the population of Africa's lions had fallen by about 80% over the last 50 years and there could be as few as 20,000 to 30,000 of the big cats left in the wild.
However, fencing at parks in South Africa and Tanzania had helped the populations to grow, they said.
Some of the big cats have been killed because they are perceived to be a threat to livestock, and competition for land and over-hunting of their prey have reduced their numbers even further.


Scotland kick-started their European Championship qualifying campaign with a deserved, if far from emphatic, win over Georgia at Ibrox.

A powerful shot from Shaun Maloney was saved but then struck Akaki Khubutia to spin into the net for an own goal.
Soon after, an effort from captain Scott Brown deflected narrowly wide.
Georgia failed to test David Marshall but Scotland could not add to their lead, with Giorgi Loria saving from Steven Naismith and James Morrison.
Having lost their Group D opener in Germany last month, Scotland could ill afford a slip-up and set a high tempo, with full-backs Alan Hutton and Andy Robertson eager to get forward.
Brown, favoured for the captaincy with Darren Fletcher on the bench, and Morrison eagerly took turns to win possession and press forward from midfield.
Temuri Ketsbaia's visitors, already beaten at home by the Republic of Ireland, were organised in defence and held firm for almost half an hour but rarely ventured forward.
Hull City's Robertson impressed with a series of early crosses for Steven Fletcher, but whether the Sunderland striker was rusty after a lengthy absence from first-team football or simply too eager, he strayed offside too often.
With Naismith driving them forward from a role behind Fletcher, Scotland's dominance was eventually rewarded - albeit rather fortuitously - when Maloney's low drive was parried by Loria against Khubutia and bounced over the goal-line.
With relief palpable around Ibrox, Naismith had a powerful crack at goal saved, and minutes later his marginally heavy touch from an eye-catching lay-off by Fletcher cost Scotland the chance of a well-worked second.
An energetic run down the right and cut-back into the box from Hutton - another player performing with renewed vigour - caused mayhem in the visitors' defence, the ball finally falling for Brown, whose shot from 18 yards was deflected a whisker wide.
And it was Hutton's combative play that won possession and fed Naismith inside the box in one of the second half's early chances, though Loria saved well from the bustling Everton forward.
Ikechi Anya increasingly found space on the left and was crudely brought down by Murtaz Daushvili when he raced in on goal to meet another exquisite Fletcher lay-off.
For all Scotland's possession, however, chances were not being converted into a bigger lead and, when a long ball over the top allowed Nikoloz Gelashvili to hare in on goal, the home fans held their breath - but the striker blazed over.
With 13 minutes remaining, Fletcher again set up Naismith with a lovely back-heel but the first-time shot was dragged across the face of goal.
Morrison then went close with a drive from eight yards, while at the other end substitute Irakli Dzaria almost made Scotland pay when he scuffed a shot wide of Marshall's goal.
Match ends, Scotland 1, Georgia 0.
Second Half ends, Scotland 1, Georgia 0.
Chris Martin (Scotland) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Gia Grigalava (Georgia).
Offside, Scotland. Shaun Maloney tries a through ball, but Chris Martin is caught offside.
Chris Martin (Scotland) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Murtaz Daushvili (Georgia).
Attempt blocked. Jaba Kankava (Georgia) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Scotland. Chris Martin replaces Steven Fletcher.
Scott Brown (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Gia Grigalava (Georgia).
Foul by James McArthur (Scotland).
Murtaz Daushvili (Georgia) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Steven Fletcher (Scotland).
Gia Grigalava (Georgia) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Alan Hutton (Scotland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Tornike Okriashvili (Georgia).
Attempt missed. Grant Hanley (Scotland) header from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Shaun Maloney with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Scotland. Conceded by Saba Kvirkvelia.
Attempt saved. James Morrison (Scotland) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Steven Fletcher.
Foul by James McArthur (Scotland).
Murtaz Daushvili (Georgia) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Scotland. James McArthur replaces Steven Naismith.
Substitution, Georgia. Giorgi Chanturia replaces Valeri Kazaishvili.
Attempt missed. Irakli Dzaria (Georgia) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left.
Attempt missed. Steven Naismith (Scotland) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Steven Fletcher.
Attempt missed. Andrew Robertson (Scotland) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by James Morrison.
Attempt missed. Jaba Kankava (Georgia) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Irakli Dzaria following a corner.
Corner,  Georgia. Conceded by Andrew Robertson.
Shaun Maloney (Scotland) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Irakli Dzaria (Georgia).
Substitution, Georgia. Irakli Dzaria replaces Giorgi Papava.
Corner,  Georgia. Conceded by Russell Martin.
Shaun Maloney (Scotland) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Shaun Maloney (Scotland).
Valeri Kazaishvili (Georgia) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt blocked. Steven Fletcher (Scotland) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by James Morrison.
Foul by Alan Hutton (Scotland).
Tornike Okriashvili (Georgia) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Steven Fletcher (Scotland) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Steven Naismith.


A Scot has been knocked down and killed after apparently trying to take a selfie on a German motorway.

The man was named on social media as Dean Steele, from Uddingston, who was thought to have been 22.
He was with two friends when he was hit by a car on the A24 Autobahn in Gudow, near Hamburg, at about 11:40 on Sunday.
In a statement, police in the nearby city of Lubeck said witnesses reported seeing the three men taking "cell phone pictures of themselves".
Mr Steele was hit by an Audi A6 being driven by a 73-year-old man.
The three men had stayed in Hamburg before travelling to the area by train.
Police said they may have been drinking before the accident.
The identity of the dead man has not been formally released, but a spokesman for the Foreign Office said relatives were aware of his death.
The spokesman added: "We are supporting the family of a British man who sadly died in Germany on 30 April and are in contact with the local authorities."
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Saracens prop Juan Figallo has signed a "multi-year" extension to his contract with the Premiership champions.

The 27-year-old Argentina international has made 24 appearances for Sarries since joining the club from Montpellier in the summer of 2014.
"He is one of the best scrummagers in world rugby," Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said.
"He has shown great character to battle back from injury to get back to the form we know he is capable of."
Saracens have not disclosed the length of Figallo's new deal at Allianz Park.


Sir Gerald Kaufman, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton and Father of The House of Commons, has died aged 86.

A family spokesman made the announcement late on Sunday night.
Sir Gerald had been an MP in the North West since 1970 and became the oldest serving member of the Commons in 2015.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn led tributes, calling him an "iconic and irascible figure". Former leader Ed Miliband said he was "an outstanding servant of the Labour movement".
Mr Miliband added: "His principles, values and friendship will be sorely missed."
Sir Gerald was a junior minister between 1974 and 1979, and held a number of senior shadow cabinet posts through the 1980s.
He famously called the Labour Party's left-wing 1983 election manifesto "the longest suicide note in history" and returned to the backbenches in the early 1990s.


Haas have launched their new car for the 2017 season ahead of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

The VF-17 follows the team's debut, the VF-16, which took Haas to an eighth-place finish in their maiden season.
It features many of the elements seen on other cars following new regulations aimed at making the cars faster and more demanding.
"It is very different from last year's car," said team principal Guenther Steiner.
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"You always try to make a faster car, which is normally a lighter car. Now we can put on more ballast and get better weight distribution. The aero is completely new, as are the tyres, so we needed to have some built-in adjustability.
"Aesthetically, the car has a more aggressive look. It's lighter and more aerodynamically efficient. Everything we learned from our first car has been applied to our new car."
Kevin Magnussen will partner Romain Grosjean after leaving Renault in November.
Grosjean tweeted: "Looking sharp and fast, isn't it?"
The VF17 will make its track debut on Monday for the first day of pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya.
Analysis
BBC Sport chief F1 writer Andrew Benson
The key issue for Haas in 2017 is not to fall prey to 'second season syndrome'.
Their debut in 2016 was impressive in parts - but so it should have been with a car that was effectively a mildly tweaked Ferrari.
A sophomore year, when a new team races a car they had to design while competing with their first one, is traditionally much more difficult.
Haas' business plan is to buy as many parts off the shelf from Ferrari as possible - which basically means everything bar the monocoque and aerodynamic surfaces. So, unsurprisingly, Ferrari influences are visible again.
In truth, a consolidation of last year's eighth place in the championship would be a decent effort.


The press have been urged to take action over Leveson Inquiry recommendations to regulate the newspaper industry.

Lord Justice Leveson called for a new independent watchdog - which he said should be underpinned by legislation.
Culture Secretary Maria Miller told the BBC "the gauntlet has been thrown down" to newspapers to outline how they would set up tough self-regulation instead.
A campaign has been launched calling on MPs to implement the proposals in full.
Leveson Inquiry witnesses Gerry McCann, the father of missing Madeleine McCann, and Christopher Jeffries, who was wrongly arrested for the murder of Joanna Yeates, launched the petition which is on the campaign group Hacked Off's website.
Lord Justice Leveson's 2,000-page report into press ethics, published on Thursday, found that press behaviour was "outrageous" and "wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people".
He said the press - having failed to regulate itself in the past - must create a new and tough regulator but it had to be backed by legislation to ensure it was effective.
The report exposed divisions in the coalition government, with Prime Minister David Cameron opposing statutory control, unlike his deputy Nick Clegg, who wants a new law introduced without delay.
Following cross-party talks on Thursday night - which will resume next week - the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will begin the process of drawing up a draft bill implementing the Leveson recommendations.
Would:
Would not:
How new regulator might work
It is thought the draft legislation may be ready within a fortnight.
The prime minister believes this process will only serve to highlight how difficult it is to try to legislate in a complex and controversial area while Labour and the Lib Dems think it will demonstrate the opposite.
But the BBC's Norman Smith says Labour sources fear the government will produce draft legislation written in such a way as to discredit the proposals - "like something the Stasi [East German secret police] had written".
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mrs Miller said: "Our concern is that we simply don't need to have that legislation to achieve the end of objectives and in drafting out this piece of legislation what we are going to be demonstrating is that it wouldn't be a simple two-clause bill."
She said Conservative ministers felt that legislation "would actually give the opportunity in the future to bring into question the ability of Parliament to stay out of the issue of free press and difficult for Parliament to not have a statutory framework on which they could hang further bits of legislation".
She went on: "At this point what we should be focusing in on is the fact that the gauntlet has been thrown down to the industry.
By Norman SmithChief political correspondent, BBC News Channel
Government sources say they expect to produce a draft "Leveson" bill within a fortnight.
However they expect the draft bill  to underline their argument that any legislation would be much more unwieldy and extensive than envisaged by supporters of Leveson. They believe the draft bill will support their view that legislation would therefore be a  threat to the freedom of the press.
Instead, ministers want the newspaper industry to come forward with their own plans for regulation "within months." It's also being made clear that if the industry fails to agree on an acceptable  revised package..then "the legislative stick remains an option."
Earlier, Culture Secretary Maria Miller said alongside the issue of legislation, she had "very grave concerns" about some of the other details in the Leveson report -including on the role of Ofcom and rules on data protection.
Labour sources say they fear the government will produce draft legislation that looks like "something the Stasi has written" in an effort to discredit the Leveson proposals
"The press industry need to be coming back with their response to the Leveson report. Their response to how they're going to put in place a self-regulatory body that adheres to the Leveson principles and that is what I want to see moving forward swiftly."
Many of Friday's newspapers have praised Mr Cameron's opposition to law-backed regulation.
But Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger told the BBC "a bit of statute" was a price worth paying for an effective new system of regulation and that he believed the press could "live with most of" the Leveson proposals.
Mr Rusbridger, who revealed that he spoke to other editors on Thursday night, said: "I think about 80% of it is right and can be agreed on.
"It is right that is is open, that it is fair, that it's got sanctions, that it can investigate... that it's not picked from amongst the old cosy club."
But the father of Madeleine McCann - the young girl who went missing in Portugal in 2007 - said he would have liked the report to have gone further.
"Clearly the public want it, there's been a judicial review and I think the recommendations should be implemented.
"There's no good reason why they shouldn't be. That's my view and I think it's the view of all the victims," he said.
Mr McCann, who was the subject of what he called "unbelievably damaging" newspaper reports that suggested he and his wife killed Madeleine, added: "The press has been given enough chances, and in my opinion Lord [Justice] Leveson has given them another chance to put a structure in place which they are happy with."
Labour leader Ed Miliband has joined Mr Clegg in supporting a new press law.
He said many of the victims of sections of the press will be feeling "utterly betrayed" by the prime minister.
"I am going to stand up for people like the McCanns and the Dowlers who have been appallingly treated by sections of the press and who put their faith in David Cameron, put their faith in the Leveson Inquiry, and who are frankly I think astonished by what the prime minister has done," he said.
Mrs Miller is meeting members of the Hacked Off campaign on Friday afternoon and will discuss the position taken by Conservative ministers.


A grieving father has called for a change in Northern Ireland's abortion laws.

14 September 2016 Last updated at 13:44 BST
His daughter travelled to England for an abortion and was advised to bring the foetus back to Northern Ireland in a cooler bag for a post mortem examination.
He spoke to BBC News NI's Talkback programme.
Doctor: Foetus in cooler bag final straw


How can a man whose hobbies include motor-racing, mountaineering and the bullfight be so impassive, impeccable and grave?

That is the central mystery behind France's possible president-to-be, Francois Fillon.
Detractors say that behind the mask of taciturnity lies a retiring personality ill-suited for the task of head-of-state.
Mr Fillon, they say, is one of nature's lieutenants, a born second-in-command, a would-be leader without the guts to lead.
Far from it, reply his supporters.
If the former prime minister is reserved, they say, that is because he has a rich interior life - and personal convictions that do not need the reflected affirmation of the media machine.
And his path to the top may have been slow. But along the journey he has acquired a wealth of experience. The bid for the presidency, they say, comes from a man finally ready to assume the responsibilities of the office.
Mr Fillon's political career has certainly been a long one.
It was in 1981, aged 27, that he was first elected as a member of parliament, becoming the National Assembly's youngest member.
His party was the Gaullist RPR of Jacques Chirac. Gaullism features a strong centralised state with conservative and nationalist policies.
Mr Fillon's parents, a history professor mother and lawyer father, were also Gaullists, and he was brought up in comfortable circumstances near the western city of Le Mans.
He studied journalism and then law. In 1974 he met his future wife Penelope Clarke. She is Welsh and they have five children, the last born in 2001.  They live near Le Mans, in the Sarthe department which remains Fillon's powerbase.
Mr Fillon's first ministerial post, higher education, came in 1993 under Prime Minister Edouard Balladur.  He went on to hold five other cabinet posts, before serving as prime minister for five years until 2012 under Nicolas Sarkozy.
For nearly all of this time, Mr Fillon was identified with the movement known as "social Gaullism".
His friend and mentor was the late Philippe Seguin, who believed in strong state intervention in the economy and society. Mr Fillon also shared Seguin's Euroscepticism, and in 1992 both men voted against the Maastricht Treaty that ushered in the euro.
Later as social affairs minister under Jacques Chirac, Mr Fillon had the image of an honest dealer prepared to put in the hours during long negotiations with trade unions.
All of which sits rather oddly, some would say, with  the policies of Francois Fillon the presidential candidate, which are avowedly those of a radical economic liberal.
In speech after speech in recent weeks, Mr Fillon has spoken in cataclysmic terms of France's "broken" social model, and the need for drastic cuts in state spending.
"Sometimes you need to tear the whole thing down," he says.
For Gaspard Koenig, of the free-market think tank Generation Libre, the explanation is that since leaving office in 2012 Mr Fillon underwent "a Damascene conversion".
"He spent the last three years travelling up and down the country. He came to see the exasperation of ordinary people and how they wanted more than anything to get the state off their backs," he says.
Mr Fillon's "virage liberal" (liberal U-turn) is a bold strategy in a country where fans of Margaret Thatcher, as he says he is, are not exactly thick on the ground.
And as his opponents seek to portray Mr Fillon as a dangerous right-winger, another weapon will also be to hand: his Catholicism.
He is a practising Catholic. He is personally opposed to abortion, but says he would never seek to repeal the law. Nor would he seek to ban adoption by gay male couples - though he wants the law changed so that a child can trace its birth mother.
For the left, these are signs of worrying ambiguity on matters that are central to a progressive society. The left-wing newspaper Liberation headlined last week on fears of a return of clerical power.
But it is not just left-wingers who see a link between Mr Fillon's Catholicism, his character, and his policies.
For Henri Guaino, a former Sarkozy adviser, Mr Fillon "believes in redemption through pain, the idea that you need to suffer in order to be saved. He believes the country has lived too luxuriously for too long.
"So now it needs to make sacrifices. It's like a purge."
The same Catholic conviction could explain Mr Fillon's famous taciturnity, a refusal to be ruffled, that can come across as either old-world courtesy or a cold reluctance to engage.
And it might also shed light on one of the big questions over his career: why for five years as prime minister he suffered the constant humiliations inflicted by his boss, the man he came to loathe, Nicolas Sarkozy.
But whoever seeks to caricature Mr Fillon as an emotionless masochist must accept that that is at best only part of the picture.
This is a man who fell in love with motor-racing as a child when the Austin Healey team stayed in his village during the Le Mans 24-hour race.  He could have become a professional driver.
He says he has "always had a problem with authority" and as a boy was briefly expelled from school for leading a demonstration against a teacher.
He despises politicians who "think of nothing but politics day and night: they are obsessed and unbalanced".  Among his other hobbies are mountaineering and piloting drones.
His friend and ally, former minister Roselyine Bachelot, admits the frigid exterior. But she says: "Under the ice there is fire."


Children in England are turning to the internet for advice on mental health instead of talking to their school nurse or GP, it is claimed.

Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield says children do not have the confidence to go to the doctor with mental health issues.
A small survey of youngsters suggests 62% have done a general internet search on issues such as depression.
The government said it was promoting greater use of counsellors in schools.
Ms Longfield said: "Every child knows if they are unwell with a stomach ache or hurt their leg, they go to the doctor or school nurse.
"Unfortunately they don't have that confidence when it comes to mental health. It is a rather desperate state of affairs when they would prefer to roam around the internet or ask a friend the same age for help first.
"GPs really need to think seriously about this and ask if they are doing enough.
"Should they have a GP in every practice who is a specialist in children's mental health, for example?
"Should they be advertising the fact that they are in a position to help within their surgeries?"
She added that while there were some good websites, it was really a "matter of luck" whether children found them.
Ms Longfield said: "There are growing concerns about increasing rates of anxiety and self-harm and the numbers attending accident and emergency departments with mental health problems have gone up exponentially in recent years.
"Young people say they need information they can trust on the internet and drop-in support which is accessible, non-stigmatised and part of everyday life. Services such as clinics in youth centres and schools and school nurses are ideally placed to help provide this."
A government spokesman said: "We are supporting better links between mental health services and schools, ensuring children can thrive both inside and outside the classroom.
"Improving children's mental health is a priority for this government and that's why we're investing Â£1.25bn in young people's mental health over the next five years."


A £50m project to attract world-class scientists and their teams to Wales has made its first appointment.

Prof Yves Barde, from Switzerland, is renowned for his research into the way proteins in the brain work and their role in illnesses such as depression.
Prof Barde, currently at the University of Basel, will take up his post at Cardiff University in September.
It said science was an international business and "we're importing one of the most important stars."
He was appointed under the Welsh government's five-year Ser Cymru (Stars of Wales) project to expand universities' research capabilities in the fields of life sciences, advanced engineering, and low carbon energy and the environment.
Prof Barde received international acclaim in 1989 with the discovery of a gene which creates a protein - brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - which is involved in number of brain processes including memory.
He has explored the the role of BDNF plays in healthy brain function along with dysfunction.
Recently his team at the University of Basel focused on how some drugs can increase BDNF levels in specific areas of the brain.
The research helped in the development of new drugs, including the first oral treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Prof Barde says he hopes to develop his current research interests of using stem cells to understand how the brain works and also to explore mental health illnesses such as depression.
He said: "Some of the work I'll be undertaking in Cardiff will be about understanding the meaning of the link between the nervous system and neurological diseases which currently remains pretty mysterious, particularly in the case of depression.
"But alongside several outstanding research groups at Cardiff University, I will also aim to advance research using embryonic stem cells and reprogrammed somatic cells to advance understanding of neuronal dysfunction.
"This is a really exciting time for me, and for advances in neurobiology and for science in Wales."
Cardiff University is already widely recognised for research into stem cells.
The university's chancellor and Nobel Prize winner, Sir Martin Evans, was the first scientist to identify embryonic stem cells.
These are cells which are taken from an embryo and which can develop into many other types of cells that can then be adapted for a wide variety of medical purposes.
There is some opposition to this research on moral or ethical grounds although the research has proved to be highly valuable in understanding many diseases.
Cardiff University vice-chancellor Prof Colin Riordan believes the appointment will build on the university's strengths.
"It is a testament to the university's existing strengths in neuroscience and stem cell research that we are able to attract a scientist of Prof Barde's calibre.
"By working with others in his field, Prof Barde will be able to help Cardiff University tackle some of the biggest health challenges of our time."
Prof Ole Petersen, director of the university's school of biosciences, told BBC Wales: "I'm delighted about this great prospect of fostering world-beating research.
"Science is an international business. We see throughout Europe that countries with the most internationalised science do the best science.
"And we're importing one of the most important stars."
Economy and Science Minister Edwina Hart said: "A strong science research capability is vital to improving our economic well-being and securing a prosperous, healthy and sustainable future for Wales.
"We already have a lot to be proud of in science and innovation in Wales but the Ser Cymru programme will help us build on that to develop a dynamic and strong base in Wales."


The First Minister says the Welsh Government is "still working towards" making sure all cancer patients have a key worker - seven years after the commitment was first announced.

Carwyn Jones was pressed to give a date when workers would be available to all patients in the Senedd chamber.
It comes after BBC Wales revealed accurate information about the number of workers was not available.
A Freedom of Information request found compiling the data is not mandatory.
The Welsh Government said in May 2010 that the NHS would provide key workers to help co-ordinate care by the end of March 2011.
At question time on Tuesday, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies called for a date when the pledge would be met.
"You made the commitment in 2010," he said.
"Public Health Wales just say one basic point - it's not mandatory to collect the data.
"How can you genuinely say that you know you're progressing in meeting this target?"
The First Minister said he would write to him with a date.
He said: "That is something we are still working towards to make sure that everyone has that key worker and he will see that the amount of money that has gone towards cancer treatment has increased over the years."
Mr Jones initially answered Mr Davies by attacking his leadership during the general election campaign.
The Tory leader accused him of taking "pot shots" and of being "flippant".
The First Minister said he had lost people close to him to cancer, adding: "Indeed I have seen my wife deal with cancer. It affects so many of us."
Mr Jones said key workers had been identified as a priority adding that work was underway to "develop a set of standards and associated measures to review the progress health boards and trusts are making in the provision of key workers".


New Derby County head coach Darren Wassall insists he was not appointed because of a close friendship with chairman and owner Mel Morris.

Wassall, 47, has the job until at least the end of the season following the surprise sacking of Paul Clement.
"I do know him but it would be an insult to him and me if anybody thought he gave me the job because I was his friend," Wassall told BBC Radio Derby.
"I know for a fact that sentiment hasn't come in to this decision."
Wassall succeeded Clement on 8 February after a seven-game winless run.
The Rams were still in the play-off places at the time, and remain there despite losing to MK Dons in Wassall's first match in charge on Saturday.
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Wassall said he "got on well" with owner Morris but on a "professional basis".
"We've been out for dinner for a curry about two times in 20 years, so if that's great friends then I haven't got many," he added.
"I have been here seven years, the chairman bought the club in the summer so I am hoping - and am convinced - that the work I have done here has given me this opportunity."


Emergency doctors and safety campaigners are calling for a national home-visiting scheme to help prevent injuries to toddlers.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) say it would make a "huge difference".
They argue it would reduce pressure on A&E and save money for the NHS.
Public Health England says it is supporting health visitors in their work to prevent accidents.
Bumps and tumbles can be a lot of fun for toddlers, particularly in a safe, controlled environment.
But under-fives are particularly prone to injuries in and around the home, resulting in nearly half a million visits to emergency departments in England each year.
Recent data from Oxfordshire - highlighted by the two organisations - suggests that in about one in five attendances, there is a "threat to life or limb and/or severe pain".
Based on experience from previous injury-prevention programmes, they say a sustained Â£20m home-visiting scheme with professional safety advisers could reduce emergency treatment for under-fives by 30%.
They have used Department of Health cost figures to estimate this would save the health service more than Â£40m.
They want a universal programme, starting in England, and then rolled out across the UK. The advisers would work in partnership with health visitors offering education and advice and - where appropriate - providing equipment.
Michael Corley from RoSPA says emergency departments are under huge and growing pressure and this could be an important part of the solution.
He said: "There's a lot we can do to target those areas where there's a high incidence of accidental injury - and work alongside families to point out to them the individual hazards in homes.
"We know that burns and scalds, falls especially, asphyxiation and poisoning all represent major threats to nought to five-year-olds and yet the solution to the problem is very simple."
Eustace de Sousa, the national lead for children, young people and families at Public Health England, said it was already supporting efforts to improve safety.
"Public Health England provides leadership and guidance for health visitors to strengthen their role in helping parents prevent accidents in children under five.
"We provide advice and information to local authorities on the actions they can take to help families think about what they can do at home and in public places to keep their children safer".


Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney edged out Scotland's Robert Thornton 4-3 in a thrilling second-round match at the PDC World Championship.

The 30-year-old's win secured him a last-16 spot in the Alexandra Palace event for the first time.
Londonderry man Gurney looked in total control as he produced brilliant form to dominate the opening two sets.
But after losing the first seven legs, Thornton fought back to lead 3-2 before Gurney regrouped to take victory.
Gurney's late burst included a 161 finish to win the third leg in set six as world number nine Thornton's form deserted him in the closing stages.
The Northern Irishman will face Wales' world number 25 Mark Webster in the next round.
Northern Ireland's other hopeful Brendan Dolan will face Dutchman Jelle Klaasen in his second-round game on Wednesday.
Thornton didn't have a shot at a double in the opening six legs of the match as his poor scoring allied to Gurney's superb 105 average allowed the Northern Irishman to storm into a two sets lead.
Gurney won the first leg of set three after Thornton, 49, missed five shots at a double but a 180 helped the Scot open his account in the next and he went on to clinch the set thanks to 12 and 13-dart legs as his form suddenly improved.
Thornton's average exceeded 105 in sets four and five as his run of nine out of 12 legs helped move him 3-2 ahead, as Gurney's form dipped considerable.
However after Thornton won the opening leg in set six, his failure to set up a routine double top shot in the next as he instead had to aim for double 18, which he missed, granted Gurney a reprieve.
Gurney then produced his 161 out shot to move 2-1 ahead in the set before winning the next to ensure the decider.
Thornton missed shots at double top and double 10 in the opening leg of the final set and as the Scot's game became increasingly ragged amid a couple of unlucky bounce-outs, Gurney held his nerve to win the next two legs.
A relieved Gurney told Sky Sports that his victory was "a monkey off my back".
"I've had seven or eight world championships (both PDC and BDO) and I've never got past the second round," added the 30-year-old.
"I knew he was going to come back at me. I knew it was coming and I was lucky to get through at the end."


The head of Canada's military has said he is "extremely disappointed" after a national survey revealed nearly 1,000 soldiers had complained of sexual harassment over the past year.

On average, three soldiers were allegedly assaulted or harassed sexually each day, often by a superior.
Female soldiers (15% of the military) were four times more likely than males to report being sexually assaulted.
Army head Gen Jonathan Vance said the findings were "regrettably sobering".
Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan described the findings as "completely unacceptable".
"We need to do better, and we will do better," CBC News quoted him as saying.
More than 50% of the Canadian army participated in the Statistics Canada survey.
About 960 Regular Force members - or 1.7% - reported being victims of sexual assault during the last 12 months, the report found.
More than a quarter of all women in the military - 27.3% - reported sexual assault at least once over their military careers, according to the survey.
Types of assault and harassment experienced include "unwanted sexual touching, sexual attacks and sexual activity to which the victim is unable to consent".
The findings follow a damning report last year by retired Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps which accused the military of being "hostile" to  women and homosexuals. It said steps to address the problem had not been successful.
Gen Vance said 30 officers had been relieved of their command or positions of responsibility for paying no attention to his order last year that all troops should refrain from such behaviour.
"I am more motivated than ever to eliminate this behaviour and the perpetrators from our ranks," he said.
The report revealed that:
"Harmful sexual behaviour is a real problem in our institution," Gen Vance said. "We know it and we're trying to tackle it head-on."


A training academy could be set up by Flintshire council to train apprentices to work on three multimillion pound building projects in the county.

A total of £500m is being spent on new homes, education facilities and upgrades to public housing over the next five years.
The authority said the work could create 250 jobs and 40 apprenticeships.
Firms bidding for the work would need to take new recruits from the council's academy if plans are agreed.
As part of the tendering process, the council said contractors would be required to confirm the number of local jobs, training opportunities and traineeships available.
And it then wants its proposed academy to manage those employment opportunities.
Council leader Aaron Shotton said: "We want to make sure that we maximise job and training opportunities and develop a lasting legacy for the county and the authority."
Flintshire council's cabinet is being recommended to approve plans at its meeting on 15 September.


England, said Australia captain Steve Smith in the build-up to this Champions Trophy instalment of a rivalry that predates mown pitches, are too predictable as a one-day side.

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Perhaps he is right. They began their innings by losing two wickets in six balls, something England teams have been doing against Australia for decades. They continued it at the same unholy lick they have been careering along at for the past two years. They ended it with the result they have been banging out all tournament.
Predictable, and seemingly impossible to stop. What had been 6-2, and then 35-3, the target of 278 disappearing in the grey clouds, became 194-3 at almost exactly a run a ball. A few overs and a lot of rain later, England were heading to Cardiff for the semi-finals, Smith to Heathrow airport for the long flight home.
This is not a normal England side, and Ben Stokes is not your average batsmen. Neither is Eoin Morgan. Together they lit up this match with the sort of counter-attacking brilliance that wins tournaments and sends world champions out before the group stage is over.
Smith and his team will climb on to the plane with damp socks and a deep resentment at the weather they have faced this past nine days. Having had their first two matches rained off, they were clambering all over England when drizzle interrupted the contest with Stokes fresh to the crease.
As the England pair came back out there was every expectation of further tribulation to come. Instead, Morgan crashed the first two deliveries away for boundaries, and what might have been a rearguard became an all-out assault.
This is not the way England used to do things. At the World Cup two years ago it was not only safety first but caution second, with comprehensive defeat close behind in third. In a digital world England were analogue, digging in while opponents advanced at pace, cashing out while others cashed in.
Under Morgan's captaincy, all that has changed. Since that humiliation, knocked out at the group stage of a competition designed to give the big boys second, third and fourth chances, they have averaged six sixes in every ODI innings, more than any other nation.
In the 88 ODIs they played between the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, their batsmen hit a total of 22 centuries. In the 47 matches they have played since then, they have hit 25. Of their past 17 home fixtures, they have lost only two.
It is a revolution forged from self-confidence, a charge built upon embracing risk and attack in place of defence.
Of the 159-run partnership between Morgan and Stokes, 106 runs came in boundaries. There were seven sixes and 16 fours, few of them tickled, many of them clattered.
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Stokes' half-century came up off 39 balls, which was impressive enough until you realised that 20 of those were dot balls, meaning he had actually scored 52 runs off 19 scoring shots.
Thirty-eight of those 52 runs came in boundaries, some pulled off his chest over deep mid-wicket, others battered straight, a few crashed through backward point. Had the rain not come again, his eventual 102 not out might have become much more.
Morgan, not a character to cool his boots in the shadows, matched him blow for blow. His 87 was garlanded by eight fours and five sixes, his build slight compared to the flanker-sized Stokes - but the results from his bat just the same.
Stokes has been in sensational form in the IPL. Morgan has hit more sixes in this tournament than any other batsmen. Their past three partnerships together before Saturday totalled 110, 68 and 95.
Predictable indeed, and welcomed around Edgbaston in the style Australian defeats always are here.
It is the Eric Hollies Stand that is the beating heart of this ground, or at least its thirsty throat. Quite what the former Warwickshire leg-spinner would have made of the scenes in the seats that bear his name is harder to divine.
When Hollies dismissed Don Bradman for a second-ball duck in the great Australian's final Test innings, the crowd was so shocked there were several moments of silence. Eventually a lone voice from the gallery cried out, "Well played, Eric!"
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As Stokes and Morgan laid waste to Smith's attack, the massed ranks in the Hollies - many dressed as escaped prisoners, or half-cut orangutans, or hairy-calved nuns - were singing massed choruses of Sweet Caroline. As the sixes rained down upon them, they serenaded the fielder on the boundary with repeated choruses of "Finchy's Going Home".
Hollies once went 71 consecutive innings without reaching double figures. While Jason Roy might be able to empathise, Stokes and Morgan could barely go consecutive balls without a run.
It left Smith as much a spectator as the record-breaking 24,227 in the stands, and means England will march into Wednesday's semi-final in Cardiff with expectations running away.
As a bowling unit they can both squeeze the opposition and then profit from the panic that follows. Adil Rashid and Mark Wood both took four wickets, but are also the two most economical bowlers in the tournament among those to have bowled 15 overs or more.
Hollies the bowler would have appreciated Rashid's googlies just as Hollies the batsman would not have seen Wood's 90 miles an hour Yorkers. Smith would have liked to have even one of them to turn to.
Instead he must wait for six months and the Ashes to gain revenge. England, by contrast, are moving on. Fast.
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Plaid Cymru is the first out of the blocks with this year's election campaign manifestos - but what does it promise?

The party, which is pitching itself as an alternative government for Wales, already launched some of its policies earlier this year.
They included the recruitment of 1,000 extra doctors and 5,000 nurses, the abolition of care home charges for the elderly and a proposal to pay off £18,000 of university debt if students return to Wales.
But the manifesto stretches far beyond the initial nine point plan, with a huge document some 194 pages long.
Plaid promises to save 10,000 lives between 2016 and 2026 through a range of measures, including action on public health actions and promoting individual lifestyle changes.
They include ensuring earlier diagnosis of disease and better access to life-saving treatments. "Overall we will reduce preventable deaths by 25% by 2026," the manifesto says.
And in a major shake-up to how the NHS is run, Plaid says it will fully integrate primary, community and adult social care.
It says it would create a "National Network of Acute and Specialist Hospitals", and consult on whether this will be run directly by the Welsh Government's Department of Health or by an arms-length NHS Board.
Community health services, such as GPs' surgeries, district nurses and mental health, would be run by local government.
Local health boards would be replaced with a "Community NHS" system delivered through new Regional Combined Authorities - new strategic bodies that will provide strategic planning for local government.
Plaid Cymru thinks the current tuition fee grant scheme is unsustainable and wants to end it and replace it with an entirely new system.
In its manifesto the party says it will reform student finance so that Welsh students who work in Wales after graduation will receive £6,000 a year, up to a maximum of £18,000.
Plaid also wants to:
Plaid Cymru promises a "national economic plan" to put Wales on a par with the rest of the UK "within a generation".
It says it aims to close the 30% income gap that has opened up between Wales and the rest of the UK within the "medium-term".
As well as that, the manifesto promises to restore the Welsh Development Agency to promote trade and investment in Wales.
Plaid says it would:
Plaid Cymru is backing the blue route "or a variation of it" to improve the M4. It also says it will invest in improvements to the A55.
It also pledges to:
Plaid says it will "produce proposals" for the reform of the present council tax system into a domestic property tax, which the party says would be fairer for those in less expensive properties.
Partial powers on income tax are due to be devolved in the next assembly term - and Plaid is pledging not to increase it.
The party says replacing council tax would allow the scope to introduce a middle rate of income tax which will be lower than the current UK higher rate of 40%.
Plaid also promising to raise the stamp duty threshold from £125,000 to £145,000, which the manifesto says would remove "over half of all buyers out of tax altogether".
The party says it will:
Plaid Cymru say they will 're-direct' more than £1bn of the Welsh Government's £15bn budget through ending some schemes and finding savings elsewhere.
These savings include:
That cash would be used to fund the party's programme, together withplanned increased to the Welsh Government's block grant by the UK Government.
The constitution isn't devolved, but Plaid Cymru say they'd propose the establishment of a constitutional convention to put together a new framework for co-operation between the different parts of the UK.
While its vision of Wales as a "self-governing country within a confederation of equals" is a medium-term aspiration, the party says independence remains a long-term aspiration.
The manifesto says the party reserves "the right to call a referendum in Wales on the principle of a confederal UK if the UK government refuses to establish a UK-wide convention".
But it adds that, provided its confederation plans can be achieved in a "reasonable" timeframe, the party does "not plan to hold a referendum on Welsh independence in the near term".
Meanwhile the party says it would:


A forestry worker filmed the moment he was chased by an otter after he discovered it on a road in Dumfries and Galloway.

Rory MacPherson's video has now been viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook.
In it he can be heard laughing as the wild animal tries to bite his feet.
But when the 24-year-old tries to escape to his car, the otter follows him at full pelt, and he shouts: "I'm being chased by an otter!".
Mr MacPherson, from Lockerbie, said he came across the animal "jumping about the road" near the Kagyu Samye Ling monastery at Eskdalemuir on Monday.
He told the BBC Scotland news website: "I nearly hit him with my car so I pulled to a stop, got out and it was still there and I tried to get closer.
"I don't know what made it go a little bit crazy."
The harvesting manager for Scottish Woodlands added: "It's not often you see an otter, never mind get the chance to photograph it.
"I assumed it would run away pretty quickly but I got a little bit more than I expected."
He said the otter had "huge" teeth and it was definitely biting his feet - but fortunately they were protected by his sturdy boots.
"I thought, how is this going to end?" he said.
"It wouldn't leave my feet alone.
"I thought I'll run away and hopefully it won't catch up with me. It's made for a funny video."


When police and judiciary officials turned up last week in north Tehran to shut down a newly opened restaurant billed as the city's first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, few Iranians were surprised.

To many it was obvious that the owner, who protested that his restaurant was a franchise of a Turkish company and not of the American chain, had clearly misjudged the current mood.
Iran is still far from opening up for business with the outside world.
In the past few weeks hardliners have launched a rearguard action against President Hassan Rouhani, whom they suspect of trying to steer the country towards the West and in particular the US following the recent nuclear deal.
They accuse the US, for its part, of conspiring against Iran using agents who have "infiltrated" various institutions of power to make a comeback in their country.
Anti-American rhetoric has been stepped up in all areas of public life.
And ahead of this month's annual commemoration of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, a huge new poster appeared in central Tehran in which the famous US Iwo Jima image was manipulated to show US troops planting a flag on a hill of dead bodies.
As might be expected, the hardliners have provided no evidence to back up their claims. Instead they cite the words of their ideologue, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Soon after the nuclear agreement with the US and other big powers in Vienna that sought to limit Iran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling international sanctions, he took aim at the US.
"The Americans want to use these [nuclear] talks and the agreement as a means to infiltrate Iran," Ayatollah Khamenei said at the time. "We have stopped this before and we will stop all their future attempts too. We will not allow them to infiltrate our economy or subvert our political system or our culture," he added.
Hardliners, who control many centres of power including the judiciary, the police, the Revolutionary Guard, the intelligence agencies and the state broadcaster have used their Supreme Leader's words to justify a fresh crackdown.
They have arrested several prominent journalists without saying why, although on state television their mouthpieces have accused the journalists of being "agents of US infiltration".
President Rouhani has hit back, saying the arrests smacked of attempts by one faction to silence another. He has also cut off state subsidies to hardline newspapers that have been campaigning against the nuclear deal.
His comments have received almost no coverage in the state-controlled media but they have not gone entirely unheard.
In parliament, an unusually outspoken but conservative MP, Ali Motahari, criticised the arrests as part of a new wave of attacks to intimidate and muzzle the press.
The head of the all-important Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, also said the aim of the campaign was to eliminate factional rivals.
Hardliners in the judiciary have also arrested two businessmen.
One is Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese IT expert who travelled to Iran on an official invitation from the government to take part in a symposium and the other is Siamak Namazi, a Dubai-based Iranian-American consultant.
Both have been held in recent weeks on unspecified charges.
Their arrests have sent a strong signal to the business community abroad that the trade and investment climate has not yet changed as a result of the nuclear deal.
The hardliners are deeply unhappy with the deal, which they believe has deprived Iran of the possibility of building a nuclear weapon at least for the foreseeable future.
They are also worried that President Rouhani's policy of building bridges with the outside world will lead Iran to a more pro-Western atmosphere and will ultimately strengthen his position internally.
President Rouhani proudly describes the nuclear agreement as an achievement but hardliners disagree.  "What is there to be proud of in the deal?" asked Iran's head of judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, a senior cleric, this week.
The hardliners have been compelled to go along with the nuclear agreement because Ayatollah Khamenei reluctantly approved it.
He is on the record as saying he accepted the deal only because he wanted to see international sanctions lifted - sanctions that had crippled the economy and threatened the stability of the Islamic regime.
He also banned Iranian government officials from holding any talks with the US on other issues, such as the war in Syria or co-operation in the fight against the so-called Islamic State.
But expediency led him to change his mind when he quietly gave his blessing to Iran joining the talks on Syria, organised by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry.
This has brought a degree of confusion to the hardliners. They don't know whether to criticise the Syria talks or praise them.
But they are watching eagle-eyed as President Rouhani embarks on an official visit to Italy and France next week.
Tensions are already surfacing with reports of friction between Iranian and French officials over whether wine could be served at an official lunch for President Rouhani.
This mirrors a similar row almost exactly 16 years ago when Iran's then-president, the reformist Mohammad Khatami, visited France.
Then, as now, the capacity of a moderate Iranian president to effect change either at home or internationally remains severely curtailed by the need to counter constant pressure from the hardliners.


Manor want former grand prix driver Alexander Wurz to be their team principal and have named ex-McLaren man Dave Ryan as racing director.

Wurz, 41, retired as a racing driver this week and has been asked by owner Stephen Fitzpatrick to run the team.
The Austrian said: "I was approached. I would have preferred it not be out in public but I can't deny it."
Wurz would not say whether he would accept the role, which would be senior to the new one created for Ryan.
Manor team boss John Booth and sporting director Graeme Lowdon have resigned and their last race with the team will be the season finale in Abu Dhabi later this month.
Neither has said why they have chosen to quit but it seems they have lost confidence in the management of Fitzpatrick.
Ryan spent 34 years at McLaren before being forced to resign following the 'lie-gate' scandal in 2009, when he and Lewis Hamilton were found to have misled race stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.
It is widely believed in F1 that Ryan was not responsible for the incident, but was forced to take public responsibility.
He received a substantial redundancy payment from McLaren and has recently been running a team of McLaren cars in sportscar racing.
Ryan, 61, said: "I'm very excited to be joining the Manor Marussia F1 Team at a pivotal time in their development.
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"Having spent time with Stephen, and understood his vision for the future, it is clear he has ensured there is a strong platform from which the team can make big steps forward in the seasons ahead.
"Manor has all the hallmarks of a fiercely competitive racing team, but having grown up in a much more contemporary Formula 1 era, it is a very lean operation with a collaborative culture, which leaves it well placed to contend with the sport's future direction.
"There is clearly a big challenge ahead and a lot of work to do, but I can't wait to meet the wider team and get down to business."
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News Corp has agreed to buy Wireless Group, the owner of Talksport radio, in a deal worth about £220m.

The 315p-a-share offer represents a 70% premium to Wireless Group's share price at the close of trade on Wednesday.
Talksport owns radio and digital audio broadcasting rights for the Premier League and FA Cup.
News Corp owns the Times and Sun newspapers, the Dow Jones wire service and publishing company HarperCollins.
"We look forward to welcoming Wireless into News Corp's global family of businesses," said News Corp's chief executive, Robert Thomson.
"With its strength in radio, as well as its digital and international growth potential, Wireless will help improve the engagement of our publishing brands, especially those within News UK."
Wireless Group owns a host of other radio stations in Great Britain and Ireland.  Its executive chairman, Richard Huntingford, described the deal with News Corp, whose executive chairman is Rupert Murdoch, as "an excellent outcome for all Wireless stakeholders".
He added: "The introduction of a new player with the stature and global media experience of News Corp will be a major boost for the UK and Irish commercial radio industry."