They called it Arabia Felix - Happy Arabia - because of its lush, rain-fed mountain scenery.
Today that epithet sounds tragically inappropriate.
Already the poorest country in the Middle East, wracked by soaring unemployment, dwindling oil and water reserves and home to the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda, now Yemen is being torn apart by war of many sides.
The Saudi-led air strikes began last month, raining down precision-guided missiles on a rebel group called the Houthis who swept down from their mountain stronghold in the far north six months ago, taking town after town, and pushing out the UN-recognised President Hadi.
That alarmed the Saudis and the other Gulf Arab states, especially as they suspect the hand of Iran as being behind the Houthis' spectacular blitzkrieg.
How else, Saudis keep saying to me, could an impoverished group of tribesmen get the training, the weapons and the money to take over half the country?
There's a sectarian angle here too. The Houthi rebels are Zaidi Shias, representing about a third of the population. The Saudi rulers are suspicious of Shias, many of whom look to Iran for spiritual leadership.
Saudi Arabia is a predominately Sunni Muslim country and the Saudis are starting to think they're getting encircled by proxies of Iran wherever they look: in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and now Yemen.
Enough, they said, drawing a line in the sand. At a secret summit in a Saudi palace last month they threw together a 10-nation coalition in a belated and possibly doomed Gulf Arab attempt to turn back the Houthi takeover of Yemen and restore their ally to power.
But in fact the Houthis largely owe their military success to someone much closer to home. They've formed an alliance of convenience, a sort of pact with the devil, with the very man who tried to bomb them out of existence five years ago.
Ali Abdullah Saleh ruled first North Yemen, then a unified Yemen, for 35 years, until he was forced out of power by the Arab Spring protests.
He refused to believe that Yemen was better off without him. So he set about wrecking the peaceful political transition of power that Yemen's friends had worked so hard to engineer.
Whole units of the Republican Guard remained loyal to him, bombs went off and towns were fought over.
President Hadi who replaced him, an elderly, genial southerner, has been no match for Saleh's machinations. He must be rueing the day he agreed to let his predecessor stay on in Yemen.
I interviewed Saleh once, in his fortified palace in the capital, Sanaa. It did not go well.
Speaking in Arabic without a translator, I asked him what he wanted his legacy to be.
The unification of North and South Yemen, of course, he replied, this was his crowning achievement. I thought I would soften him up by asking what benefits this had brought, but the way I said it in Arabic came out as 'well what was the point of that?'
What? he barked, glaring at me furiously, summoning his official translator, and looking pointedly at his watch.
As president, Saleh fought six short wars against the Houthis until it ended in an uneasy truce. Now he's cynically using them to destroy those who he sees as usurping his power.
The Houthis are fierce, effective fighters, used to living on little in the black, volcanic mountains that straddle the Saudi-Yemeni border.
When I visited them in their stronghold city of Saada my girlfriend and I were woken on our first morning by a burst of heavy machinegun fire from a pickup truck outside in the street.
"It is celebration," said the man on reception, unfazed. Later we met a pair of brothers who took us out to the mountains to show off their skills with a Kalashnikov.
Chewing the narcotic qat leaf and racing across the desert in a beaten-up old car, they thought it was the biggest joke to swap places behind the wheel while driving at 60 miles an hour.
Their shooting was every bit as wild as their driving and before long a farmer emerged, shouting and cursing. "What the hell are you doing?" he said. "Bullets are coming down all around my sheep!"
I have no idea what dizzy heights those two rose to after that in Yemen's tribal hierarchy, but the Houthis and their allies are now in control of most of the important parts of Yemen, despite more than a week of airstrikes.
If those fail to dislodge them then the Saudis have not ruled out a ground invasion, but everyone knows that carries enormous risks of getting bogged down into a vulnerable army of occupation.
Instead, the Houthis face a more dangerous foe - the jihadists of al-Qaeda. The jihadists are Sunni fanatics and they hate all Shias, including the Houthis.
In Yemen, al-Qaeda seems to be the only force capable of confronting the rebels on the ground.
On Thursday, their ranks were swollen by a jailbreak of dozens of convicted al-Qaeda fighters. Soon they will be rallying the Sunni tribes to join forces and fight the Houthis from the North.
And all the while, the Americans look on from afar, in despair.
Until just a few weeks ago they thought they had a reliable partner in President Hadi. President Obama even held up Yemen as a shining example of a counter-terrorism partnership.
Now that partnership has crumbled to dust, and so too have Yemen's immediate hopes of emerging from this intractable nightmare.
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Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond was on the BBC's Breakfast programme on Thursday, talking about the changes made in his Budget.

The claim: 60% of self-employed people will pay less National Insurance as a result of these changes.
Reality Check verdict:  60% of people according to Treasury estimates will pay less, but only if you combine the abolition of Class 2 National Insurance contributions, which was announced in 2016, with the increase in Class 4 contributions announced on Wednesday. Nobody will pay less National Insurance as a result of the changes announced in Wednesday's Budget alone.
He said that 60% of self-employed people would pay less National Insurance as a result of the changes.
What changed on Wednesday was that in April 2018, Class 4 National Insurance contributions will rise from 9% of profits earned between £8,060 and £43,000 a year, to 10%.
The following year it will rise again to 11%.
National Insurance of 2% will still be payable on earnings above £43,000.
George Osborne announced the previous year that Class 2 National Insurance contributions, which are paid at a flat rate of £2.80 a week by self-employed people earning profits of more than £5,965 a year, would be abolished from April 2018.
Mr Hammond was keen to combine the effects of these two changes, describing the net effect as raising £145m a year by 2020-21.
The Budget documents predict that just raising Class 4 contributions will raise £495m in 2020-21, with the measure raising a total of just over £2bn over the next five years.
If you look at the two changes together, the Treasury says that 2.6 million people will be better off by an average of £115 a year, while 1.6 million people will lose out by an average of £240 a year.
The latest labour market figures estimated that there were a total of 4.8 million self-employed workers, but some of them will be earning less than £5,965 so will be neither better off nor worse off, which means the total is feasible.
From those figures, it appears that 60% of self-employed people could be paying less in National Insurance.
But it would be a bit surprising if all self-employed people looked at it like that.
They were expecting a tax cut in April next year, and as a result of this Budget, 40% of them will now face a tax increase instead.
It will be the higher-earning, self-employed people who lose out.
The Institute for Fiscal studies has worked out that anyone earning profits of less than £15,570 a year will be better off, while the maximum loss will be £589 a year.
Read more from Reality Check


A memorial has been proposed to recognise a crofters' uprising in the north east of Skye more than 130 years ago.

People living in Staffin were in dispute with landowners because of rent rises, insecurity of tenure and the eviction of families from land.
The unrest was part of wider period of land rights struggles known as the Crofters' War.
Staffin Community Trust is working with Atlas Arts on the project.
Applications have been sought from artists for a commission to create a contemporary memorial.
The community trust said: "History has forgotten that it was a man from Bhaltos in Staffin - one Tormod Choinnich Stiùbhart, with descendants still living and breathing in Skye - who was the first Skyeman in 1877 to refuse point blank to pay the exorbitantly increased rent demanded of him by the landlord, in return for a life of hard work and toil on his modest croft."
Creative Scotland has awarded the project research and development funding.
Atlas director Emma Nicolson said: "It has enabled us to go on a journey with members of the community trust in Staffin, investigating the many possible outcomes for a fitting memorial to the crofters' struggles."
Source: Scottish Crofting Federation
Waged throughout much of the 1800s, the wider "war" was a dispute between landowners and communities distressed by high rents, their lack of rights to land, or facing eviction to make way for large-scale farming operations.
The process of moving families out of inland areas where they had raised cattle for generations to coastal fringes of large estates, or abroad to territories in Canada, had started with the Highland Clearances in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Both the clearances and the Crofters' War were marked by violent clashes between people facing eviction and landowners and the authorities.
One of the bloodiest incidents of the later unrest was the Battle of the Braes on Skye in 1882.
After being attacked with stones by a crowd of men and women, about 50 police officers from Glasgow baton-charged the mob.
The unrest spread to Glendale and in 1883 the frustrated authorities called for military intervention to help round up the ring-leaders.
In early 1883, the iron-hulled Royal Navy gunboat Jackal appeared in Loch Pooltiel, off Glendale.
Marines disembarked from the Jackal and landed at Glendale's Meanish Pier to help police in making arrests.
But the agitation continued and Prime Minister William Gladstone ordered a public inquiry, something that had been called for previously but rejected by the government.
Backed by Royal approval, the Napier Commission was set up. It was led by Francis Napier, a respected diplomat and the 10th Lord Napier.
In May 1883, it began gathering evidence at hearings across the Highlands and Islands.
Crofters told the hearings of being denied land on which they could grow crops and graze livestock.
Landowners and estate factors defended their actions and insisted change was needed to improve the agricultural output of estates.
The commission also heard evidence of sickness and diseases that afflicted crofting families, and of women and children going barefoot in rain and snow.
In 1884, the commission published its report and it was criticised by all involved. Rather than open the way for new legislation, it indicated that the government preferred that landowners and crofters work out their differences without the weight of law.
The following year crofters put up six candidates in a general election, the first to be held after voting reform.
One of the candidates stood against the Duke of Sutherland and, while the crofters' man lost, it was a move that played a part in eroding the Sutherland estate's political influence.
The Crofters' Party did manage to get five of its candidates elected.
In 1886 the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act was passed. However, this legislation did not solve all the problems over land rights and disputes continued into the years between the two world wars in the 20th century.


Is India's anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) unravelling?

Weeks after staging an epic comeback - winning 67 of the 70 assembly seats in the Delhi state elections and posing the first real challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP - the two-year-old party, run by the charismatic former tax inspector Arvind Kejriwal, has been roiled by feud and dissension. Inspired leaks and murky sting operations initiated by party leaders have meant that most of the party's dirty linen has been washed in public.
Things have now come to a head with Mr Kejriwal completely sidelining two of AAP's key founder members.
Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who counted themselves among his closest allies, have been dropped from key decision-making panels for their alleged "anti-party" activities. Alluding to the rise of a cult of personality around Mr Kejriwal, the two said that the party was at risk of becoming a "one-man show" and blamed its opaque decision making. Analyst Ajaz Ashraf, who has been closely following AAP, says it is really a "power struggle dressed up as a battle of ideas and a fight for transparency".
Indian politics has a chequered history of splits and mergers, so a breakup of AAP will be an unexceptionable event. (A popular book on politics in India is titled Divided We Stand.)
The allegation that Mr Kejriwal has fostered a cult of personality is also not extraordinary: most of India's leading parties revolve and thrive around personalities, and a number of them would possibly implode after the death of their leader.
What is surprising is that AAP actually held out the hope of being different. Tens of thousands of Indians, tired of dynastic politics, rampant corruption and brazen nepotism, supported Mr Kejriwal's party because they believed it stood for probity, transparency and democracy. Mr Kejriwal was seen as an authentic hero in a country where politicians appeared to have lost the trust of people.
But the unseemly spectacle of AAP's top leaders squabbling in the open, the intemperate language used in phone conversations and the virtual banishment of two of the party's brightest leaders, will now put to rest the illusion that AAP is all that different.
The recent events also prove, as historian Mukul Kesavan writes, that AAP is a "form of sole proprietorship, not a political cooperative that many thought it was". Those who naively believed in its "rhetoric of decentralised democracy" should realise Mr Kejriwal's ownership of the party is complete.
Mr Kesavan points out that there had been enough hints in the past that Mr Kejriwal's "political style was personalised to the point of whimsicality". Remember the time when he quit the Delhi government in a huff after a chaotic 49 days in power following an impressive debut in the December 2013 state polls? Or his unusual sit-in protest sparked by a row over who controls Delhi's police force, when it was difficult to say whether he was the man in charge of Delhi or an opposition leader?
Mr Kejriwal's upstart party is made up of a motley crew of activists, academics, liberals, journalists and leftists. It still remains a quintessentially Delhi-centric, urban party, which is yet to engage with the thornier issues of caste, identity, and religion, which continue to play a key role in India's messy and fragmented politics. (One major area of disagreement between Mr Kejriwal and his estranged comrades was over the expansion of the party outside Delhi. )
In the short term, a split in AAP will not possibly rock the boat for Mr Kejriwal, who remains the party's mascot and only vote-catcher and has the allegiance of his legislators. Also, the star dissenters are well-respected academics and lawyers with little or no political base of their own.
But the purge leaves Mr Kejriwal poorer. He has, says Mr Kesavan, "been damaged by the loss of intelligent, well-spoken allies who had great virtue of not being seen as his creatures". Mr Kejriwal's remaining allies are now "obscure, undistinguished men who dimly glow in the light of his sun".
Many believe that the purge also demonstrates that Mr Kejriwal has emerged as an artful practitioner of realpolitik. But as political scientist Ashutosh Varshney says that "although the short-term consequences of not allowing genuine internal democracy might help a political party, lending efficacy and cohesion, we know from history that such moves can badly hurt in the long run". AAP, as a friend jests, has quickly entered middle age.


Former Wales international Christian Edwards says he is "pinching himself" at the prospect of student side Cardiff Met qualifying for the Europa League.

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The Students are one win from Europe and face Bangor City in a play-off for a place in the competition on Saturday.
"For any team in the Welsh Premier League, to get to Europe is massive and it would be exactly the same for us," Met director of football Edwards said.
"I think it is about the journey that we have been on."
The former Wales and Nottingham Forest defender told BBC Wales Sport: "We have a big philosophy at our club that we're always arriving somewhere, we've never arrived.
"It would be another destination for us if we were lucky to get there.
"It's testament to all the hard work of the players, all off the coaching staff and myself have put in over recent years.
"Every single player is a student bar one, who this year has just graduated as a student and has become Dr Charlie Corsby and is now a member of staff at the University."
Cardiff Met secured promotion to Welsh football's top flight at the start of the current season after winning the Welsh League Division One title.
It was one of many promotions the club formerly named UWIC, who merged with League of Wales founders Inter Cardiff in 2000, had enjoyed in recent times.
"I have to pinch myself that five years ago we were playing in Welsh League Division Three," Edwards added.
"But we've worked hard and the players, more than anybody, deserve the success they get on the pitch because of the amount of effort they've put in order to make the team as good as they are."
Qualifying for the Europa League seemed an unlikely prospect early in the campaign after five defeats in their opening six games.
"We'd spoken at the start of the season that we shouldn't just go up and to hang on staying in the league and we should set ourselves goals and high targets," Edwards continued.
"We did have belief we could reach the top six because we have real strong belief in ourselves but it was a concern after the initial start. We stuck to the task and the boys worked very hard
"We had a really good purple patch around October-November and it really did pull us through and gave the lads a lot of confidence."
The Students' turnaround this season saw them secure a top-six spot for the second half of the campaign and a guaranteed play-off at the end of it.
In the semi-final, a late goal from Charlie Corsby secured victory over Carmarthen Town to set up a final against Bangor City.
Inter Cardiff featured in the Uefa Cup on three occasions but victory at the Bangor University Stadium on Saturday would see the present entity reach Europe for the first time.
Bangor, their opponents, are a club who have represented Wales in various European competitions on 15 occasions, although not since 2013-14, and Edwards expects a tough game.
"Bangor are a very good side and deserve to be inside the top four," Edwards said of Gary Taylor-Fletcher's team.
"They've been consistent, have some exciting individuals and they play well as a team.
"We've had some good battles against them and we feel if we work hard enough on the day and get things right then we can be a force against Bangor.
"The boys are in buoyant mood ahead of the final and I think a lot of the pressure is on Bangor being the home side.
"We want to turn up and show people the reason why we've managed to get the final is because we're a good side."
Live coverage of Bangor v Cardiff Met is on Sgorio, S4C on Saturday, 13 May from 17:00 BST


Wales' most deprived communities are "in limbo" as the Welsh Government considers the future of its flagship anti-poverty strategy, according to the Bevan Foundation think tank.

Last month, Communities Secretary Carl Sargeant told AMs he was "minded to phase out" Communities First.
But think tank director Dr Victoria Winckler said there was "considerable uncertainty" for the areas they serve.
The Welsh Government said no final decision had been made.
"It's very difficult for the people running Communities First knowing what their future holds but I think the most difficult of all is for the people in the communities who are benefiting from good Communities First services," Dr Winckler told BBC's Sunday Politics Wales programme.
"What happens to the childcare? What happens to the employment projects and what does 'phasing out' mean?
"Organisations who deliver Communities First and the communities themselves are in a real period of limbo.
Communities First spends about Â£30m each year, with more than Â£300m spent since its launch in 2001.
A Welsh government spokeswoman said: "Although the communities secretary has said he is minded to phase out Communities First, no final decision has been made.
"We are currently seeking views on this and how to engage, support and strengthen communities and would urge anybody with an interest to have their say.
"It is too early to speculate on how any new approach might impact on particular areas."


Fraudsters are stepping up phishing campaigns that target people who use dating websites, suggests research.

Members of Match.com, eHarmony, Zoosk, Christian Mingle and many others had received emails seeking to steal login details for the sites, said Netcraft.
The net monitoring firm said the emails had been sent from other websites, hacked to hide the senders' identity.
Stolen data would be used to befriend other users in an attempt to trick them into handing over cash, it said.
The phishing campaign against dating sites marked a departure for fraudsters, who typically preferred to target banks, said Paul Mutton, a security analyst at Netcraft who investigated the attacks.
The attacks were "massive", he said, adding that in the past week Netcraft had seen more than 100 compromised sites targeting Match.com alone.
So far, he said, it was not clear how sites were being compromised to host the scripts. Websites and servers run by individuals, small businesses, construction firms and telecom suppliers had all become unwitting hosts of the phishing tools, he added.
Mr Mutton said just one compromised site he had seen was home to about 800 short programs or scripts that targeted many different dating sites. Each script looked like it had been generated by a "kit" bought online.
"Anyone with a very basic knowledge of programming could make use of the kit," he said.
The scripts are used to craft phishing emails that are spammed out to potential victims.
The mails seek to trick people into entering their login names for the dating sites.
If successful, the details are passed on to the legitimate login page of a dating website and are also sent to one of 300 email addresses used by the phishing gang.
Fraudsters were keen to steal login details for accounts so they could avoid paying the charges dating sites levied before users could swap messages with other members, said Mr Mutton.
Using on-site messages the fraudsters hope to befriend others and then try to extract cash to help pay for a non-existent medical condition or to aid fictitious relatives.
Significant amounts of cash could be stolen this way, said Mr Mutton, pointing to the case of Karen and Tracy Vasseur, of Colorado, who were jailed in 2013 for stealing more than $1m (Â£590,000) from 374 people using dating-site scams.


Great Britain beat the Netherlands 3-0 in the Ergo Masters Four Nations Invitational in Dusseldorf as Ashley Jackson won his 100th cap.

Samuel Ward scored a goal either side of half-time to set up the victory, before Henry Weir made sure of the result in the final quarter.
Jackson went close to scoring, shooting after the Dutch had pushed their keeper outfield, but Weir deflected it in.
The result follows Thursday's 1-1 draw against hosts Germany.
Britain face Belgium in their final match on Sunday (10:30 BST).


It's tough to connect with nature at this time of year.

Your days are spent under artificial lights in an office, while the last of autumn's blooms are hidden beneath piles of decaying leaves.
NDD, or nature deficit disorder, has become a buzzword of late.
Although it's not a recognised medical condition, concerns about its effects on wellbeing are attracting widespread attention.
"I guess it's a symptom of current lifestyle," says Dr Ross Cameron of the department of landscape at Sheffield University.
"We're so clued into modern technology and things that we're less observant about the world around us and we're more likely to learn about wildlife ironically from a David Attenborough programme than maybe from a walk in the woods."
Richard Louv coined the phrase Nature Deficit Disorder in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods.
He argues that all of us, especially children, are spending more time indoors, which makes us feel alienated from nature and perhaps more vulnerable to negative moods or reduced attention span.
Dr Cameron gave his views on the subject in a lecture at the Royal Horticultural Society this month.
"[The phrase NDD] has been used as a bit of a coverall to describe the thing of where we used to have natural processes, natural experiences in our life, and that seems to be becoming less  common," he told the BBC.
Source: Royal Horticultural Society
There's "another throwaway term, which is 'nature knowledge deficit', where we don't understand as much about the natural environment as we used to, he explains.
And if we don't experience natural places or "tinker around in the garden", this can be bad for our mental health.
"As biological beings we are physiologically adapted to be in certain environments - to run, to play, to hunt, to be active basically," says Dr Cameron.
"The reality is we tend to have the lifestyle of a brick at the minute. We tend to sit for most of the day - we tend to be very sedentary."
His job is to think about how green spaces can be integrated into landscapes. So, could this be part of the solution?
"I've not sure I've got a cure," he laughs. "Landscape is obviously a very open-ended and undefined term.
"But basically any interaction with nature/green space seems to have some potential.  I would argue that as you increase the scale and quality of it, the benefits also increase."
But he says even small and simple connections with nature can "give people a buzz", be it a robin at the front door or sitting in the garden watching a butterfly.
"We're quite interested to understand what those little positive effects have - those little things you notice in nature," he explains.
"You don't necessarily need to go to the Rockies or go to see blue whales off the Azores or anything like that.
"It's trying to see how much of these everyday things people notice, recognise and get a positive emotional response from."
Follow Helen on Twitter.


Bournemouth are appealing against Simon Francis' red card in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal on Tuesday.

Defender Francis, 31, was dismissed for a challenge on midfielder Aaron Ramsey as the Gunners came from 3-0 down to rescue a point at the Vitality Stadium.
Cherries boss Eddie Howe said it was a "harsh" decision by referee Michael Oliver to send off Francis, before Olivier Giroud equalised in added time.
"It was a foul but I don't think it was a sending-off," said Howe.
The club expect to hear the outcome of their appeal by the end of the week.
If the appeal is unsuccessful, Francis will miss Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie with Millwall as well as Premier League games against Hull City and Watford.
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Kanye West says when the role for James Bond comes up again, it needs to be given to Idris Elba.

Speaking to the Sun newspaper, the rapper says the Luther and Thor star would be perfect for the role.
"I know Idris a little bit and he is a big talent," he said.
"James Bond is a role made for British actors and you won't find a British actor who has the talent of Idris. To be honest you won't find many anywhere who have his talent."
A rumour that Idris Elba may take over from Daniel Craig, who is definitely involved in one more Bond movie, started after the leak of an email from the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack.
It's reported that a message from chairman Amy Pascal to former executive vice-president of Bond distributor Columbia read: "Idris should be the next Bond."
Kanye West said he agrees with that and that it's time for a black Bond.
"Artists should be visionaries," he said. "A black James Bond would be visionary no doubt.
"Something that 30 years ago would have seemed crazy should now be something that is a real possibility."
Idris Elba had his say last week, although the 42-year-old has previously said he would like to play the character.
"Isn't 007 supposed to [be] handsome?" he tweeted. "Glad you think I've got a shot! Happy New year people."
During a Reddit AMA in September he responded to a fan's question of whether he'd be willing to take the role, writing: "Yes, if it was offered to me, absolutely."
He also told NPR in 2011 that he'd definitely consider the role but doesn't want to be typecast.
"I just don't want to be the black James Bond," he said.
"Sean Connery wasn't the Scottish James Bond, and Daniel Craig wasn't the blue-eyed James Bond, so if I played him, I don't want to be called the black James Bond."
Daniel Craig started filming the latest Bond movie, Spectre, before Christmas.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


A Malian nurse has died of Ebola, the second confirmed death from the disease in the country.

Officials say the nurse had treated a man who arrived from Guinea at the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako, and the clinic was now in quarantine.
The latest case is unrelated to the first, when a two-year-old girl died from the disease in late October.
Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the West African outbreak, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
The new case in Mali comes a day after the WHO confirmed the release from quarantine of 25 of 100 people who were thought to have come into contact with the two-year-old girl who died on 24 October.
The toddler's case alarmed the authorities in Mali after it was found she had displayed symptoms whilst travelling through the country by bus, including the capital Bamako, on her return from neighbouring Guinea.
Ebola was first identified in Guinea in March, before it spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. The WHO says there are now more than 13,240 confirmed, suspected and probable cases, almost all in these countries.
Cases have also emerged, though on a much smaller scale, in Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the US, as well as in Mali.
Separately on Tuesday, it was confirmed that Morocco would no longer host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations because of its fears over the Ebola outbreak.
In other developments:
Mali launched an emergency response in conjunction with the WHO when the girl's situation came to light. Her family were among those released from quarantine on Monday.
Health department spokesman Markatie Daou said around 50 people were still under observation in Kayes, western Mali, and would be released in a week if they continued to display no symptoms.
Meanwhile, the virus is continuing to spread in Sierra Leone, with almost 300 new infections recorded in the last three days .


Stunning first-half strikes from distance by Gary Miller and Steven Lawless made it two wins on the bounce for Partick Thistle.

Thistle failed to register a victory in their first 10 matches this season but certainly did not look short of confidence against St Johnstone.
Steven MacLean pulled one back from close range after the break.
But the Jags held on despite seeing out the dying stages with 10 men after captain Abul Osman was sent off.
Thistle looked like they could not buy a goal for most of this season and now it looks like they cannot stop scoring them.
A 3-0 win over Dundee United last time out actually doubled their tally for the season and brought a first win in 11 attempts.
The confidence gained from that result and performance was evident as the Jags played some attractive football and looked the more dangerous side for long spells.
That in itself was quite an achievement against a St Johnstone side in a rich vein of form coming into the match with the boost of manager Tommy Wright committing his long-term future to the club.
They initially looked a pale shadow of the side that took Aberdeen apart last time out, but the credit for that has to go to Alan Archibald's players in general and Miller in particular.
The full-back was handed a chance to face his former club because Mustapha Dumbuya was laid low by illness and he certainly made the most of the opportunity.
His use of the ball was excellent going forward and never better than when he blasted his team into the lead in 28 minutes with a belter of a volley from 25 yards.
Saints probably feared as much when they saw his name on the team sheet, but it was still a stunning strike from someone who only scored once in three years at Perth.
Not that we had to wait for another marvellous goal as the lively Lawless lashed in a second from distance only six minutes later as reward for a fine first-half performance.
In response, the home side passed up a couple of half chances, while goalkeeper Tomas Cerny had to move sharply to push away a Dave MacKay curling free kick. That apart, Thistle defended diligently.
Until 49 minutes that is, when they allowed MacLean the freedom of the six-yard box to head in a Graham Cummins cross from the left for his ninth goal of the season.
Michael O'Halloran's introduction at the interval had certainly helped increase the home side's intensity and only a great Tomas Cerny save denied Liam Craig an equaliser.
Cummins then had a chance with a back-post header with nine minutes to go, but Cerny scurried across his goal to claw the ball away.
Miller then made a crucial tackle to deny MacLean a second goal after the striker had already rounded Cerny.
Osman was sent off for a second yellow card, having been cautioned for a foul in 66 minutes then walking after being booked for deliberate hand ball at the edge of the penalty area.
He now misses next week's visit from Hamilton Academical, when Archibald's side will look to continue their revival with a third straight league win.


Wood Group has secured a five-year deal to continue providing engineering and project management services to Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil firm Saudi Aramco.

The Aberdeen-based oil services company said the multi-million dollar framework agreement involved onshore capital programmes.
The contract also includes three one-year extension options.
The services will be supported by Wood Group's office in Al Khobar.
Wood Group first won a contract to provide general engineering services for Saudi Aramco in 2010.
Dave Stewart, from Wood Group, said: "This contract renewal demonstrates Wood Group's proven technical and engineering capabilities in working with Saudi Aramco to deliver projects and modifications, automation and control, pipeline and industrial engineering over the last five years."
In 2015, Wood Group was awarded an offshore contract with Saudi Aramco for greenfield and brownfield engineering services, procurement and construction management support for new facilities in the Arabian Gulf.


UKIP MEP Roger Helmer has denied claims he is retiring over demands to repay up to Â£100,000 for allegedly misusing EU funds.

The Guardian reports East Midlands MEP Mr Helmer improperly employed a full time UKIP party worker as an assistant.
But the 73-year-old denies the claims and said he had been thinking about retiring since 2011. He will stand down at the end of July.
The European Parliament said it would not comment on any individual cases.
Updates on this story and more from the East Midlands
It has been reported that the UKIP energy spokesman is facing a demand to pay about Â£100,000 of EU money for employing a party worker as his assistant, which is against parliament rules.
Mr Helmer, who stood as a UKIP candidate for South Leicestershire in the general election, said: "None of that is correct.
"Questions were raised about two of my UK employees back in February.
"I produced extensive dossiers in respect of both of them with solid evidence of the work they'd done - phone calls, emails, reports - and I've been waiting ever since for the [European] Parliament to respond."
When asked by the BBC about his resignation timing, Mr Helmer said his decision was made before polling day.
He said: "I think at the age of 73 I'm perfectly entitled to retire... I'd been thinking about it, I first mooted the idea in 2011.
"This week was the right time to make the announcement... I signed the papers on May 31st."
A European Parliament spokeswoman said she could not comment on Mr Helmer's case, but said money paid to an assistant must be for work relating to the member's mandate in the parliament.
She said the administration could reclaim funds if justifications and clarifications for the use of money are not forthcoming.
Mr Helmer has been an MEP for the East Midlands since 1999.


Six British former servicemen who spent months in an Indian prison have suffered another setback in their attempts to return home.

The MV Seaman Guard Ohio crew were accused of illegally possessing weapons while working on a private US-owned ship providing anti-piracy protection.
The men, including Nick Dunn, of Ashington, Northumberland, had the charges dropped in July.
But police have asked the country's supreme court to consider an appeal.
Along with Mr Dunn, the men arrested on 12 October 2013 are:
All of the men, apart from Mr Towers, were released on bail in April.
The charges against them were quashed in July but their passports were retained by Indian authorities.
Mr Dunn told the BBC he had not been paid by his employers, AdvanFort, and he is reliant on money being sent by his family.
He said: "The company have not paid me for one year, my family is going through financial strain and the British government have said they will not fund me. They won't even pay for a hotel room.
"I feel totally let down, especially being an ex-serviceman."
Mr Dunn believes his chances of returning to Britain in time for Christmas would be "slim" if the supreme court decides to consider the appeal.
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We continue to offer consular assistance to the individuals concerned and their families.
"We also continue to raise the issue at the highest level."


Channel 4 is to set up a new publishing arm in Glasgow which aims to "support and showcase" the work of the mobile games industry.

All 4 Games will be led by the broadcaster's current games commissioning editor, Colin Macdonald.
It plans to build a new network of both Channel 4-funded mobile games and games from third-party developers.
The broadcaster said the launch this summer reflected its remit to support new creative talent.
Initially four new roles will be created within the publishing arm.
Once it is up and running, mobile games will be available to download via app stores and all games will be featured on All 4 under the All 4 Games brand.
Mr Macdonald, who was one of the founders of Dundee games company Realtime Worlds, said: "The big challenge for mobile developers is getting their games out there and finding an audience.
"However, the big publishers will only take on a couple of titles at a time, plus they'll take 50% and all the intellectual property rights.
"We want this to be a no-brainer for studios, so we'll take a token share of 15% and, in return, provide the distribution and marketing expertise they might lack."
Jason Kingsley, chairman of games trade association Tiga, said: "We welcome Channel 4's new proposition to support the UK's games industry and, in particular,  helping independent games developers improve how they market themselves and grow successful enterprises."


A man has been jailed for 13 years for stabbing a man to death in Scarborough.

Shaun Atkinson, 49, was found dead at his home on St Johns Avenue on 27 December 2016.
Barry Rewcroft, 51, of Raincliffe Avenue in Scarborough, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter following a two-week trial.
His son, Ruben Botterill Rewcroft, 20, was also acquitted of murder following the trial at Leeds Crown Court.
Read more about this and other stories from across Yorkshire
Following the sentence, Shaun Atkinson's son Joe paid tribute to his father.
"He was a kind-hearted, hard-working, lovely, charming person who would make time for anyone at any time," he said.
"He loved his family and friends more than anything else. He will be dearly missed by his family, friends and, in particular, his children."
North Yorkshire Police were called to Mr Atkinson's home at around 18:25 GMT on 27 December.
Rewcroft was arrested on suspicion of murder after handing himself in at Scarborough police station shortly afterwards.
His son was arrested the following day.
Det Ch Insp Andrea Kell, from the Cleveland and North Yorkshire Major Investigation Team, said: "Our thoughts are with Shaun Atkinson's family.
"Joe, Shaun's son, sat through the two-week trial and listened to the horrific injuries his father sustained.
"He has displayed a level of maturity beyond his years."


A man who died after being struck by a car on the M8 between Livingston and Bathgate has been named.

Police said he was 37-year-old Nicky Edwards.
The incident happened at about 20:30 on Friday when a Citroen Xsara struck Mr Edwards on the westbound carriageway, between junctions 3 and 3A near Deans.
The road was closed for about six hours. Police have appealed for witnesses.
Sgt Scott Sneddon, of Police Scotland, said: "Inquiries are still ongoing and our sincere condolences go out to Nicky's family and friends.
"We're appealing for anyone who saw the incident, or who may have seen a man in the vicinity of the Deans overbridge on the M8 shortly beforehand, to get in touch as soon as possible."


Matt Ryan threw four touchdown passes and ran for another as the Atlanta Falcons thrashed the Green Bay Packers 44-21 to reach Super Bowl LI.

The Falcons led 24-0 at half-time and Ryan found Julio Jones to score a 73-yard touchdown after the break.
Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdowns for the Packers who lost their second NFC Championship game in three seasons.
The Falcons will play either Pittsburgh or New England in the Super Bowl on 5 February in Houston at 23:30 GMT.
The Patriots hosted the Steelers in the late game, which kicked off at 23:45 GMT on Sunday.
The Falcons reached their second Super Bowl - they were beaten by the Denver Broncos in 1998 - with a clinical display in their final game at the Georgia Dome.
Ryan completed 27 of 38 passes to throw for 392 of the 493 offensive yards they racked up.
He picked out Jones for nine of those completions as the pair combined for 180 yards and two touchdowns.
"We played great in all three phases," said Ryan, referring to their dominance on offence, defence and special teams.
"We showed up. We did exactly what we've been doing all year. It feels really good."


China has launched a second experimental space station, as it looks to have a crewed outpost by 2022.

The Tiangong 2 blasted off just after 22:00 local time on Thursday from the Gobi desert.
Next month, two astronauts will go to the station to conduct research.
Beijing has made space exploration a national priority and is the third country, after the Soviet Union and the US, to launch people into space.
The mission follows the launch of the Tiangong 1 prototype in 2011, a smaller but also operational model.
Depends on what you mean by "proper". It is an experimental space laboratory which is part of the preparation for a permanently manned station that Beijing wants to have circling around the globe sometime around 2020.
But make no mistake, the Tiangong 2 is still an operational space station, even if it is still only a prototype ahead of the real thing. Translated as Heavenly Palace 2 it is about 15m long and can have other missions dock with it.
The astronauts that will come on board next month are to spend a full month up there - a longer period of time than possible on Tiangong 1.
Once the crew arrive next month they will embark on research projects.
Quantum communications, gamma ray burst research and fluid physics. There is also the (slightly easier to grasp) research on plant growth in space.
Most interestingly perhaps for a layperson, the space station will carry an atomic clock which Xinhua news agency said will only lose one second every 30 million years.
This is expected to make future mobile navigation more accurate, Xinhua cited scientists has saying.
If all this makes you worried about China's long-term cosmic ambitions, then you are not the only one.
Pushing ahead with its space programme is a priority for Beijing, and China insists it is of a purely civilian nature.
The US Department of Defense has said that some elements of it seem targeted at being able to stop other countries from being able to use their space assets - like satellites - in a time of crisis or confrontation.
In August, the country launched the world's first quantum satellite, aimed at achieving "hack-proof" communications between space and ground control.
China is a late starter when it comes to space exploration. It's only in 2001 that they launched space vessels carrying test animals and in 2003 Yang Liwei became the first Chinese person to go to space, making China the third country after the Soviet Union and the US to conducted manned missions in orbit.
The programme for a space station kicked off in earnest with the 2011 launch of the Tiangong 1 which was a smaller prototype able to host astronauts, but for a shorter period of time.
It ended its data service earlier in 2016 but is still circling the earth's orbit, gradually coming closer. It is projected to burn upon entry in the atmosphere in the second half of 2017.
Eventually, Tiangong 3 is to be the final step on the way to a manned station. Around the year 2022 is the scheduled timeframe and the success of Thursday's launch will be crucial for any of those future ambitions.
The sky's the limit? By 2024 China wants to do its first moon walk and a trip to Mars is scheduled for around 2050.


At least 23 people have been killed in a triple car bomb attack by Islamic State militants in an eastern area of Mosul retaken by Iraqi forces.

Fifteen civilians were among those killed by the blasts at a market in Kukjali, according to Iraq's military.
Iraqi warplanes bombed jihadist positions in the city in retaliation.
Earlier, the UN said mortar fire had killed four Iraqi aid workers and seven civilians, as the government's offensive entered its third month.
Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq, did not assign blame for the two incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday in eastern Mosul, but said the civilians had been queuing for emergency assistance when the mortars landed.
"People waiting for aid are already vulnerable and need help. They should be protected, not attacked," she stressed.
"All parties to the conflict - all parties - have an obligation to uphold international humanitarian law and ensure that civilians survive and receive the assistance they need."
In Thursday's attack, three car bombs blew up at an outdoor market in Kukjali, which was recaptured by special forces units at the start of November.
The Iraqi military did not say whether the explosions were caused by suicide attackers. But IS said three militants had blown themselves up, killing at least 20 "apostates" and destroying several army vehicles.
About 50,000 Iraqi security forces personnel, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen are involved in the offensive to drive IS out of the jihadist group's last major urban stronghold in the country.
Since entering the city's east last month, troops have found their advances hindered by waves of suicide bombings, as well as sniper and shellfire.
More than 107,000 people have so far been displaced as a result of fighting, with most being sheltered in emergency camps and with host communities. In the UN's worst case scenario, as many as one million others may be forced to flee.


The government has promised measures in the Budget for firms facing the "steepest increases" in business rates.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said it was "clear to me that more needs to be done to level the playing field and make the system fairer".
A fierce campaign has been waged against rises, which ministers say will affect a quarter of business in the UK.
Labour said the government had allowed a "crisis" to develop. The rate change is due to happen on 1 April.
Businesses pay tax based on the rateable value of their property, including pubs, restaurants, warehouses, factories, shops and offices - and these values are being reassessed for the first time since 2010, meaning changes to the amount many firms will pay.
In the face of opposition from business groups and some Conservative MPs, the government has defended the reforms and said 2017-18 "will see the biggest ever cut in business rates" and "three-quarters of all businesses, right across the country, will see their rates either fall or stay the same".
But Mr Javid told the House of Commons he was "acutely aware" of problems for some others, saying: "There are clearly some individual businesses facing particular difficulties."
He added: "I have always listened to businesses and this situation is no exception. It's clear to me that more needs to be done to level the playing field and make the system fairer."
Mr Javid promised help for those "facing the steepest increases".
He added that he and Chancellor Philip Hammond were looking at "how best" to proceed, telling MPs: "We expect to be in a position to make an announcement at the time of the Budget in just two weeks' time."
At Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Theresa May was asked about the changes by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, who said the changes would "devastate" the economy in her Brighton Pavilion constituency.
The prime minister said it was "right" for rates to change to reflect changing property prices, saying the system was underpinned by fairness.
She added: "We also, though, want to support businesses and recognise that, for some, business rates will go up when these revaluations take place."
Mrs May also said there was "significant funding in place for transitional relief". For Labour, shadow communities secretary Gareth Thomas said there was a business rates "crisis", saying it had taken Mr Javid "apparently until now to grasp its seriousness".
Asked whether the government was in "chaos" over business rates, the prime minister's spokesman said: "I don't think it is chaos. We've set out our plans to provide a transitional relief fund to make sure that those affected by the rise in business rates have a smooth transition."
He later added: "The PM was absolutely clear today that there is a transitional fund already in place - and that she has asked the chancellor and the communities secretary to make sure that this is being spent appropriately.
"She also asked them to work to ensure that there was appropriate relief in place for the hardest cases.
"Sajid echoed this exact statement this afternoon - and made clear that we will come back to this issue at Budget. We would never confirm or deny what would be in the Budget this far in advance."
The chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, has written to the chancellor to ask for "the facts" about the changes.
He said there were "several problems" with the proposals, citing "considerable concern" about the impact on smaller firms.
The Federation of Small Businesses said it welcomed the PM's "intervention" to tackle what it called an "extremely worrying situation for many small businesses".


A legendary rock venue in a south Wales city is being put up for auction.

TJ's in Newport, reputedly where Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain proposed to singer Courtney Love, closed last year after the death of long-term owner John Sicolo.
The building will go up for sale at the Paul Fosh auction at Cardiff's Park Inn Hotel on 15 September at 17:00 BST with a guide price of Â£175,000.
Mr Fosh said the property, in Clarence Place, offered "tremendous potential".
"There's little doubt TJ's was an iconic and well-known rock venue, attracting some major bands especially in the 90s," he said.
"It would be great, romantic even, for someone to buy the building and for it to continue its use as a rock venue, but that sadly seems unlikely to be the case."
He added the building was more likely to be used as residential or retail property, subject to planning.
"I have had a great deal of interest in the property, especially from local people looking to redevelop the property in that way," he said.


Newcastle Falcons have signed South African hooker Kyle Cooper from Super Rugby side the Sharks.

The 27-year-old former South Africa Under-20 international is the 11th new signing the Falcons have made ahead of the upcoming Premiership season.
Cooper is expected to join up with the squad in August for pre-season.
"We are delighted to have tied up a deal for Kyle, who has vast experience at a high level," said director of rugby Dean Richards.
"He is a quality player and his arrival gives us significant competition for places at hooker along with the likes of Scott Lawson, Ben Sowrey, Santiago Socino and David Nelson."
Cooper added: "I love the physical game that Newcastle play. Since I was a boy I have admired the physical style of the Premiership and I will enjoy being a part of a competition I have always loved watching."


The White House has introduced new initiatives to combat recruitment of Americans to extremist groups like the so-called Islamic State.

Among a raft of measures is the creation of a new task force to counter the online propaganda of terror groups.
The announcement comes as administration officials meet leaders from Silicon Valley to discuss ways that technology can thwart terrorists.
Participants include Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter.
The aim is to prevent extremist groups radicalising others and encouraging violence online.
While the meeting in San Jose, California, was happening, the White House unveiled its new plans.
The initiatives include a new task force for countering violent extremism, established by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice.
The State Department also announced a new Global Engagement Center, which will focus on enabling foreign audiences to counter pro-IS messages.
"The horrific attacks in Paris and San Bernardino this winter underscored the need for the United States and our partners in the international community and the private sector to deny violent extremists like ISIL fertile recruitment ground," said White House spokesman Ned Price.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were expected to be at the Silicon Valley meeting.
An agenda obtained by the Associated Press news agency shows that government officials will share how terrorists use encrypted apps and services.
The agenda also shows there will be a discussion on how to "help others create, publish and amplify alternative content that would undercut the" the so-called Islamic State.
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the radicalised Muslim couple who opened fire at an office party in San Bernardino, California, killing 14, met online and used a private messaging app to share their views.
IS recruits new members online across Europe and the US. Mr Obama has called the group "a bunch of killers with good social media".
Lawmakers have proposed legislation that would require social media platforms to report detected terrorist activity, but the industry said it worries that would lead to reporting of inaccurate data and could impose undue burdens.
Industry leaders and lawmakers have been debating online encryption and privacy after recent terror attacks.
Technology groups have said they want to help without invading privacy.


Scientists have found a jawbone that they say proves the first humans were alive much earlier than we thought.

5 March 2015 Last updated at 15:19 GMT
The jawbone is 2.8 million years old: 450,000 years older than researchers believed human beings first lived.
It was found in the African country of Ethiopia, which is thought to be where humans first evolved.
The researchers say the discovery shows the most important change between apes and humans.
Until now, the oldest known human bones were from 2.35 million years ago.
Prof Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, who led the study, believes the jawbone shows a clear link between our own kind and apes.
A 3.2 million-year-old ape, nicknamed "Lucy", was found in the same part of Africa 40 years ago, in 1974.
This jawbone has much smaller back teeth than "Lucy": one of the things that define us as human.
But Prof Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum says while this jawbone is an important find, on its own it's not enough to tell how human this creature was.
"These new studies leave us with an even more complex picture of early humans than we thought," he says.
"They challenge us to consider the very definition of what it is to be human. Are we defined by our small teeth and jaws, our large brain, our long legs, tool-making, or some combination of these traits?"


Diageo - the world's biggest spirits producer - has seen sales growth curbed by slowing demand in China and other emerging markets.

The drinks company, best-known for brands such as Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Guinness beer, said it would cut costs by £200m by 2017.
Around 42% of its sales are from emerging markets.
New rules over gift-giving and spending by Chinese officials dented sales in the country by 66%.
Diageo, and its rivals in the global drinks market such as Pernod Ricard and Remy Cointreau, have suffered from a tightening of rules in China over gift giving by officials.
An anti-corruption drive by the Chinese government in 2013 meant the gifting of expensive items to officials - which has long been a part of the political culture - became prohibited.
Whisky, especially Scotch whisky, has been seen as a particularly attractive luxury item among China's elite in recent years.
Sales in emerging markets were up just 1.3% for the six months, and the company posted a slight increase in pre-tax profits, to £2.1bn from £1.9bn.
Sales in emerging markets were up by only 1.3% overall, it said, impacted by weakness in China and Nigeria, although the company said that emerging markets are still "very attractive" for his company.
Sales increased in North America by 4.6%, but fell in western Europe by 1%.
Over the last six months Diageo's sales increased by 1.8%, weaker than was expected.
Its share price closed down 5%.
Diageo which is one of Scotland's biggest employers said investment in its Scotch whisky distilleries continued "apace".
And on the issue of the independence referendum, the company said it was a decision for the Scottish people.
However in the past the company has told investors that it was drawing up contingency plans so it could continue to operate successfully whatever the outcome.
John Kennedy, president of Diageo western Europe, told the BBC: "What we continue to do is talk to the Scottish and UK governments about what are the conditions that make sure our business and the Scotch whisky industry continue to thrive in the future, so that's an ongoing conversation that we would be involved in across a wide range of issues."


More than 600 people in an East Yorkshire village have objected to plans for 119 new homes.

With a population of fewer than 5,000, nearly one in 10 people in South Cave expressed opposition to the plans by Gladman Developments.
The developer wants to build on land off Little Wold Lane.
South Cave Parish Council has also objected to the proposal, saying it would cause "landscape harm" in the picturesque village.
A local campaign group, Save Our Valley, is co-ordinating opposition to the development.
Villagers claim the new housing would run parallel to the Wolds Way, a national walking trail, "seriously impacting" on views across the valley.
Concerns have also been raised about increased flooding risk and congestion.
Gladman said the development would "provide a choice of housing to meet the needs of the area, whilst respecting and enhancing the site's environmental and cultural assets".
The development would include access roads and landscaping, together with a play area.
The standard consultation on the proposals finishes on 7 April.


The European Commission is seeking "clarifications" from its former president, Jose Manuel Barroso, about his controversial job at Goldman Sachs.

Last week the European Ombudsman voiced concerns to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker about Mr Barroso's new role at the US investment bank. Part of that role will involve advising Goldman Sachs about Brexit.
An EU expert panel will assess whether it conforms with EU ethical standards.
Mr Barroso joined the bank in July.
He headed the EU executive from 2004-2014 and worked closely with ex-financial services commissioner Michel Barnier, a French politician named as a lead negotiator on the terms for UK withdrawal from the EU.
French President Francois Hollande called Mr Barroso's appointment "morally unacceptable", saying Goldman Sachs was implicated in the US sub-prime mortgage scandal that caused the 2008 financial crash and in helping Greece to mask the true size of its debts.
In a letter to the EU ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, Mr Juncker said Mr Barroso would be received in the Commission on the same terms as any other "interest representative" - or lobbyist - and would have to comply with the EU's transparency rules.
Mr Juncker said Mr Barroso would be asked to "provide clarifications on his new responsibilities and the terms of reference of his contract, on which I will seek the advice of the Ad Hoc Ethical Committee".
That EU committee has three members - a Dutch former judge at the European Court of Justice, a German former MEP and an Austrian former director-general in the European Commission.
In his letter, Mr Juncker pointed to a treaty article called 245 TFEU, which says former commissioners have a "duty to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance, after they have ceased to hold office, of certain appointments or benefits".
If a breach of that ethical code is proven, the Commission can deprive a former commissioner of his/her EU pension.
Ms O'Reilly said she was "pleased to see that President Juncker has responded to the widespread concerns about this appointment". She investigates complaints about EU maladministration, and can order the release of documents, but cannot impose penalties.
In April Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5.06bn (Â£3.8bn) to settle claims that it misled mortgage bond investors in the US.
Mr Barroso's new post is described as a "non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International (GSI)" and "an adviser to Goldman Sachs". He joined after respecting the EU's 18-month "cooling off" period, having left the Commission in 2014.
The bank has much influence in the City of London, which dominates the EU's financial sector.
Like many other powerful voices in the City, the bank backed the Remain camp, which lost in the UK's 23 June referendum. Ahead of the vote, Mr Barroso argued for the UK to remain in the EU.


Glasgow have spent recent weeks engaging in rugby's equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel; a 70-point annihilation of Zebre, a 45-point deconstruction of the Scarlets, 43 more points put on Zebre the week before, 38 put on Treviso before that.

Four wins, four bonus points, a bucket of tries. Top spot in the Pro12. Easy.
Saturday at the Sportsground in Galway was like entering a different dimension. This was rugby, but not as Glasgow have known it against their most recent, and most compliant, opposition. What they ran into in the west of Ireland was a lot of rain and whole pile of belligerence.
Glasgow scored seven points - their lowest total in a Pro12 game since October 2013. They lost for the first time in 10 games.
Their discipline went at critical times and it hurt them almost as much as those howitzer hits that kept coming at them from a Connacht side that had a voracious appetite for work and a thunderous quality in the collisions.
"All the big games we've won have come down to physicality," said Connacht coach Pat Lam in the aftermath of victory. "It's about the way we impose ourselves."
"That came through in bucketloads against Glasgow. There's a blank canvas now, though. The weather conditions might be different the next day. The game could be a total contrast. Glasgow are a phenomenal team."
To explain the Cinderella story that is this Connacht side you have to look at the record books going back a dozen years. They were even lucky to be alive back then given that the IRFU wanted to kill them off.
From 2004 to 2015 Connacht never finished above seventh in the table. Now they're taking down the champions in front of a packed, and tumultuous crowd, including the president of the country, Michael D Higgins, and the newly elected Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. Both are Connacht men. Both were waving the flag as Glasgow fell on Saturday.
This was brutal rugby. Both sides wanted to play but the rain made it impossible.
How much of a gauge it will be for the semi-final depends, in part, on what kind of day it is. If it's dry and the ground is hard then the game will be completely different.  Both these teams want to take risks and make things happen. Saturday's grunt-fest in the wet didn't suit either of them.
What was compelling about it, though, was that Glasgow met a version of themselves in Galway. For some of them, it must have been like looking in a mirror.
The Sportsground had a similar edge to it as Scotstoun, the same kind of numbers, the same kind of intimacy, the same kind of railing against decisions that went against their team, the same kind of joy at victory.
The team inspired the supporters and the supporters inspired the team. The bond between them reminded you of what it's like in Glasgow these days. It was powerful.
Connacht dug deep, hit hard and won out. We've seen this kind of thing so often in Glasgow's own place - a team being lifted by the noise of their home crowd and dragging themselves across the winning line.
Connacht's reward is a rematch with Glasgow in the semi-final in a fortnight. Back to the dog track we go in the knowledge that an away team has never won a Pro12 semi-final. Twelve attempts and twelve losses. That's the kind of history that Glasgow are trying to break now.
That curious run of failure for the away semi-finalists will be part of the narrative ahead of the knockout tie, though Gregor Townsend was of a mind to play it down a tad.
"Last year, we played Ulster at Scotstoun in the final game of the league proper and we beat them convincingly," he said. "A week later, we played them at Scotstoun in the semi-final and they were all over us for 50 minutes.
"If all these home wins in all these semi-finals were by 20 points then I'd say that home advantage was a massive factor, but last year we only won our home semi by two points and Munster only won theirs by three. The year before that we had Munster in a home semi and beat them by a point. Leinster won their home semi by four points."
It's true that a lot of these games have been settled by a single score. Five of the last six Pro 12 semi-finals - and seven of the 12 - have been won by four points or less.
Why does the home team keep on winning tight matches? Townsend accepts that the crowd can make the difference.
"We had a lot of support in Galway but when they have 7,000 people then that's an advantage. We didn't cope as well as we should have. We learned a lot about ourselves.
"We have to be more disciplined and more accurate. Connacht are really well-coached, they show innovation, they've got character and they defend well. We've just got to be better."
Townsend said that the big thing that his team took away from the west of Ireland was a sense of  "determined disappointment."
Saturday would have hurt them physically and mentally, but it wasn't a knockout blow. We get to see the heavyweights collide again in a fortnight.


Planners in Rugby have revealed they have been in talks with Coventry City Football Club about building a stadium in the borough.

The Sky Blues currently play in Coventry's Ricoh Arena but had a long dispute with the stadium's previous owners.
The council said the club wanted to meet to understand how it would deal with a planning application.
The club said it was not commenting "at this stage".
The club's owners, Sisu, have been involved in a long-running stand off with the previous operators of the Ricoh that saw the Sky Blues play the 2013/14 season in Northampton.
The arena is now owned by Premiership rugby team Wasps.
In a statement, Rugby Borough Council said its leader and the council's executive director and head of planning had met with Coventry City in March.
"The club requested the meeting to understand how the council would deal with any planning application for potential stadium sites in the borough of Rugby," it said.
It said the plans would need to be finalised by September to be included in the council's local plan, but added that a site had yet to be identified.
Peter Ward, from Sky Blues Supporters' Consultative Group, said he was pleased to hear that things were "moving" with the club's search for a new home.
"It's good that finally there is some evidence things are happening," he said.
"As we've heard from the club's directors, there is a need to take control of and have access to all the revenue streams."
However, he said that fans could find a move out of Coventry difficult - particularly as they only moved from their previous home, Highfield Road, to the Ricoh in 2005.
"The move from Highfield Road to the Ricoh was a big emotional move for the fans," he said. "This would be another big change."


When Don McLean was asked to give the meaning of his song, American Pie, he is said to have replied: "It means that I never have to work again if I don't want to."

I have always had a fondness for slightly obscure or challenging lyrics. American Pie, Stairway, early Pink Floyd, Velvet Underground, pretty much anything by The Doors.
And Hotel California by The Eagles. Particularly that reference to "pink champagne on ice". There is something about that image, concomitantly luxurious and sordid.
Today at Holyrood the thought returned. No, silly, our MSPs are neither luxurious nor sordid. At least, not on weekdays. I refer to the phrase "pink champagne on ice".
As the temperature rose, exuberant Labour backbenchers took to calling out for Alex Salmond.
"Pink champagne", they yelled, "pink champagne."
Nicola Sturgeon supplied the ice, frostily disdaining their antics.
Before this blog ventures too far into the realm of the obscure and challenging, let me explain. Alex Salmond, we are breathlessly informed, sipped pink champagne as he discussed the future with the New Statesman magazine.
It was not enough to learn what Mr Salmond had to say. We were told what he ate and drank as well. (Fish, chips, mushy peas since you ask. Taken together with the libation, a socially inclusive diet.)
Labour's narrative was that Nicola Sturgeon's predecessor was operating as a back-seat driver. The story was picked up by Ruth Davidson of the Tories, who added her party's line that Mr Salmond would lead post election negotiations on the prospect of a pact.
You could almost see Nicola Sturgeon thinking: "This could be heaven and this could be hell". She opted for Elysium.
Alex Salmond, she said, was plainly stirring up the Unionist parties. "Long may it continue."
Labour's Kezia Dugdale was pursuing a more central point. She argued - for the second week in succession - that the first minister had been other than straightforward with regard to the figures on Scotland's economic future.
We had been expecting this because Labour took the unusual step of briefing the wicked media an hour ahead of FMQs as to the planned content of the attack.
Labour refers to economic papers produced by the Scottish government with the objective of demonstrating that enhanced tax powers could, by deft deployment, be used to grow the Scottish economy, releasing productive billions.
According to Labour, the calculation fails to take account of the point that full fiscal autonomy inevitably means scrapping the block grant from Westminster and the Barnett Formula which varies it annually.
Again according to Labour, that sum would leave Scotland billions out of pocket. To be precise, they argued that on an optimistic interpretation, fiscal skill might bring in £3.5bn. Losing the block grant would shed £7.6bn. Net loss: £4.1bn.
To be clear, Ms Sturgeon explicitly denied in the chamber that the calculations involved modelling based upon Barnett.
However, her overall response was much more broad brush. In essence, she linked Labour with the Tories in a political plot to hold Scotland back, while arguing that fiscal autonomy would liberate the nation.
Ms Dugdale persisted, with evident eagerness. Indeed, she had one rather droll gag when she suggested that perhaps instead of questioning the FM she might take her predecessor out to lunch in search of "straight answers". Ok, perhaps you had to be there.
In general, though, it appeared on the day to be a challenging argument to prosecute, particularly as Ms Sturgeon declined to debate on the terms outlined by Labour. The FM, it should be noted, seemed less than disquieted.
So where are we? The Scottish government is adamant that their future modelling does not include Barnett. But is it predicated upon a base that includes the block grant? That, apparently, is a different point.
Barnett is not modelled. Full fiscal autonomy will not happen instantly. If it does, it would be introduced progressively. The state of Scotland's finances would depend upon prevailing economic circumstances, both in Scotland and the wider UK, policies pursued in the interim, both in Scotland and the UK, together with the relative allocation of resources.
The SG papers only dealt with fiscal autonomy or "full fiscal retention", to use the precise phrase deployed. They do not rely upon the block grant or Barnett.
But is that wholly frank? Do they not, at least, rely upon a pre-existing base which has been created partly by Barnett and block grant?
No, repeat SG officials, the papers do not rely upon the block grant or Barnett. They deal solely with the potential impact of fiscal autonomy.  Scotland's actual position would depend upon the point in the economic cycle and the issues cited earlier.
There are two coterminous factors at play here. One, what will the academic and analytical world make of this controversy? Prof Brian Ashcroft of Strathclyde was cited today by Labour as challenging the SG sums.
Two, what will the public hear? Will they heed Labour and Tory warnings? Or will they tune in to Nicola Sturgeon's broader pitch?
Some dance to remember. Some dance to forget.


A community bid to take over a former church in Edinburgh has been given a boost after winning "crucial" funding.

Action Porty has been awarded Â£647,500 from the Scottish Land Fund to buy the church and halls of Portobello Old Parish Church in Bellfield Street.
Locals want to turn the church into a multi-purpose community hub for clubs such as Scouts and Brownies.
It is set to become the first urban community buyout under new legislation.
Last year, the government agreed the project was of community benefit and gave it first option to buy the building.
One estimate for the value of the property has been put at Â£600,000; however, the community is hoping it will be lower than that.
Justin Kenrick, Action Porty chairman, said "With the community fully behind this initiative to save Bellfield Old Parish Church and halls, Action Porty is now absolutely delighted to receive this crucial support from the Scottish Land Fund.
"As the population of Portobello grows while community resources vanish, this is a critical step in our efforts to ensure that we retain and develop fully accessible, affordable, community spaces that can enable our community to flourish in these changing times.
"We hope that all other communities will do the same, and will also get the support they deserve."
John Watt, chairman of the Scottish Land Fund Committee, said: "Today's award to Action Porty is a great example of what can be achieved now that the opportunity for community ownership has been extended to all parts of Scotland.
"This project has the potential to protect and enhance an important community facility, run for and by local people in Portobello.
"The funding marks a significant milestone for the group and I wish them every success as they go on to pursue their ambitions of purchasing and developing this local asset."


Hearts will continue to search overseas for fresh talent because Scottish players are often too expensive, says head coach Robbie Neilson.

"Abroad is predominantly where we look," he told BBC Scotland.
"If there's anything in Scotland, we'll look at it but, if they are doing well, it's tough because, generally, the market they look to is England.
"The salary bracket we're in makes it hard, makes it hard to match those wages."
Neilson's side secured a top-three finish before the Premiership split on their first season back in the top flight.
And the head coach overhauled his Championship-winning squad extensively, supplementing a pool of younger players who have come from the club's academy with foreign signings such as Arnaud Djoum, Igor Rossi, Blazej Augustyn, Juwon Oshaniwa, Abiola Dauda, Perry Kitchen and top-scorer Juanma Delgado.
"We try to sell the whole package - the club, the atmosphere, the city, the training ground and the opportunity to come here - do well, and get a move afterwards," said Neilson.
"To come up from the Championship and get European football has been great for us and we'll try and build on that for next season.
"It's always important to adapt your team and try to improve it.
"We're quite a way along. We want to extend [the contracts of] the guys who we think will be assets for us in the future and also look to bring in new players.
"We've contacted players and we're in the process of looking at them."
Hearts sold striker Osman Sow to Chinese club Henan Jianye in January and Neilson is relaxed about approaches for his best players over the summer.
"We're in a position where we don't need to sell, so if anyone wants to make an offer it needs to be big money," he said.
Neilson's men host Premiership leaders Celtic on Saturday lunchtime. Hearts have twice held Celtic to draws this season and the head coach would like to avenge two defeats with a first win over the champions since the 2012 Scottish Cup semi-final.
"We've done okay," he added. "I'd like to have picked up some more points.
"Performance-wise it's been good, it's now time to get the points from them."


The first phase of a £10m flood defence scheme at a seaside town in Lancashire is due to begin.

A wall measuring about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) will be replaced on Morecambe's promenade as part of the six-year project, Lancaster City Council said.
The existing wall, which protects about 12,000 properties, was built in the 1980s and has "started to deteriorate".
The first phase, beginning on Monday, takes place in Marine Road East between Lord Street and Happy Mount Park.
Subsequent phases will focus on the Marine Road West area from the Midland Hotel to the Battery and the Sandylands Promenade area.
The project is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency and Lancaster City Council.
The stretch of promenade between the town hall and Midland Hotel is not included as this area is protected by sea defences.


Scuffles have broken out at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City between followers of liberal streams of Judaism and Orthodox Jews.

Leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements joined a civil disobedience prayer service held by a group called Women of the Wall on Wednesday.
It campaigns for the right of women to perform the same rituals as men there.
But when they approached the holy site, Orthodox Jews tried to block them and grab Torah scrolls they were carrying.
According to Israel's Haartez newspaper, police had issued special permits allowing the group to bring Torah scrolls, but had not given advance notice to the site's Orthodox administrators.
"We will not forfeit our right to be here," Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, told Haaretz. "We will change this place. We will change this country and make this a home for all Jewish people."
The Western Wall is a remnant of the retaining wall of the compound which contained two Biblical Jewish temples, and is one of the holiest sites in Judaism.
The compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).
According to Orthodox Jewish beliefs, women should pray in a separate area from men at the Western Wall, and should not read aloud from holy texts or wear religious garments.
"Women of the Wall today offended thousands of male and female worshippers when they held a mixed prayer protest in the women's section, and debased Torah scrolls," said Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall.
Earlier this year, the Israeli cabinet approved a new space for mixed prayer. But Women of the Wall says it has not been created because of pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Wednesday's "unfortunate incident" would "not help advance a solution for prayer arrangements".


Scotland will not get a "special deal" when the UK leaves the EU, the Scottish secretary has told MSPs.

David Mundell told Holyrood's Europe committee that it was "absolutely wrong" to suggest individual areas or industries could win separate deals.
However, he said there could be "differential" arrangements within the single UK deal for some sectors, such as the financial services industry.
And he said Scotland's concerns would be "right at the heart of the process".
Nicola Sturgeon has voiced frustration at the Brexit talks so far, saying after a meeting in London that she "got the strong sense the UK government itself doesn't know what it is trying to achieve".
The Scottish government is studying its options around Brexit, and Ms Sturgeon has called for a "coalition" across the UK in support of single market membership.
MSPs on the Europe Committee pressed Mr Mundell on a range of matters relating to Brexit, from the single market to the issue of Scottish independence.
The Scottish secretary said the UK's Brexit goal was to "maximise involvement" with the single market, adding that the UK would seek a "bespoke" deal, dismissing labels of a "hard" or "soft" Brexit.
He said: "I wouldn't believe all the media speculation which exists around special deals. David Davis confirmed when we met businesses in Glasgow that there isn't currently a plan for a "special deal" for the City [of London] or the car industry.
"There will be issues that those industries have - we know that there are issues in relation to the financial services around passporting for example.
"So there are very specific issues to specific industries, but there won't be special deals and it's absolutely wrong to characterise a suggestion that certain areas of the country will get a special deal and Scotland will not.
"What will happen for Scotland is that we will get the deal that we need to meet our interests and concerns."
Mr Mundell also appeared to suggest that leaving the EU would mean Britain leaving the single market - but it would still enjoy tariff-free access to markets.
"I accept on one level, if we are leaving the EU then essentially we are leaving the single market but access to the single market can, I think, continue in a way that doesn't involve tariffs or barriers," he told MSPs.
A Downing Street spokesman later refused to endorse his remarks, insisting that Theresa May was committed to securing the "best possible deal for Britain" outside the EU.
"Clearly we haven't started the process of exiting the EU yet. We will be triggering Article 50 at some stage in the first quarter of next year.
"Clearly we will engage in a process with the EU. Issues like that will form part of the dialogue," the spokesman said.
Mr Mundell was also pressed on the issue of potential border controls at Scottish marinas post-Brexit.
He said he "can't envisage" there being controls at Stranraer due to Ireland remaining an EU member after the UK leaves, but added that "we have to ensure we don't have abuse of the system".
Committee convener Joan McAlpine said Mr Mundell's evidence had raised "a number of questions".
She said: "Will Scotland have full access to the Single Market after Brexit? What will be the position of EU citizens living in Scotland after Brexit? How many meetings of the Brexit sub-committee has he attended? We didn't get clear answers to those questions.
"The overwhelming view of those we have heard from so far has been supportive of Scotland remaining in the European single market.
"The committee will wish to hear from the secretary of state again in the near future, when he will hopefully be able to provide full answers to the many crucial questions on Scotland's future relationship with the EU."


The daughter of the late Labour MP and peer Lord Janner has called an upcoming inquiry into child abuse allegations against him "grotesque and Kafkaesque".

Speaking to BBC Newsnight in her first interview on the subject, Marion Janner said it amounted to accusations against "a corpse".
In December 2015, shortly before his death, Lord Janner was ruled unfit to stand trial because of dementia.
The Goddard inquiry is due to hold public hearings into the allegations.
Thirty-three complainants have been given core participant status in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, meaning they have the right to make statements, see documents and seek permission to ask questions when Justice Goddard begins hearing the Janner allegations in March.
The offences relating to Lord Janner are alleged to have taken place in children's homes and hotels between 1955 and 1988.
His family has always denied the allegations.
"It's an outrage. It's an absolute outrage," Marion Janner told Newsnight.
"Now Dad is dead, there's not the possibility of the other side of the story being heard.
"It's the people making the accusations' word against a corpse, which doesn't work. It cannot be just.
"The other 12 strands are all institutions - big institutions... If they had decided to look at individuals, they could have chosen someone who was alive and convicted - instead they have chosen someone who is dead and not convicted."
The Goddard inquiry is currently looking at 13 separate claims of historical child sex abuse involving an alleged institutional cover-up, of which the strand involving Janner was expected to be the first.
Other areas under investigation include the Catholic and Anglican churches and abuse in children's homes in Nottinghamshire and Lambeth and a school in Rochdale.
The peer had been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since October 2014. He died in December 2015.
Lawyers for the alleged victims say their clients have been waiting years for justice.
Marion Janner says the family has evidence Lord Janner could not have committed the crimes he is accused of, which will emerge during civil cases against him.
She says the family is particularly unhappy that witnesses in the Goddard inquiry will not be cross examined.
"The pendulum has swung so far that people making accusations are automatically believed over this most serious of crimes... We're in the current situation that people can make any accusations and be automatically believed... It's just bonkers."
Mrs Janner said her father's relationship with one of the complainants was "not strange for somebody of Dad's generation".
"Dad was fired up with the sense of social justice... He was just really committed to helping people whose lives were so much harder.
"And because we have such a loving family, I think Dad really felt for people who didn't have a family at all, and were stuck in a children's home."
At the end of his life, Mrs Janner says her father was "completely unaware" of the allegations against him "because he didn't have the cognitive understanding to grasp what was going on".
"We had a news blackout in the house - as much for my sanity as his."
But he would have been "completely bewildered" by pictures of himself popping up on the television, she said.
"He had absolutely no idea - which was one of the blessings of his dementia."
Marion Janner was speaking to BBC Newsnight's Evan Davis - you can watch the full interview on iPlayer


With children as young as 11 set to be taught in schools across England about sexual consent, the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme is given exclusive access to lessons.

"We need to provide opportunities for young people to think about what consent means, because they're going to face experiences in their lives which could involve sexual assault or even rape. That's a fact of life," says Phil Ward, head teacher of Heston Community School in Hounslow.
Children aged 14 and above at the west London school are already taught about sexual consent - but now those as young as 11, in Year 7, will be taking part in the lessons when they return to school after the Easter break.
The classes come at a "crucial" time, according to the PSHE Association, which developed the guidance for teachers, to try to keep sexually-active under-16s "healthy and safe from abuse and exploitation", without "encouraging under-age sexual activity",
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures for England and Wales show in the 12 months to last September the police recorded more than 7,000 sexual assaults against children aged 13 or younger, and more than 4,000 rapes of children under 16.
It is an issue that teacher Natalie D'Lima confronts at the start of the lesson, making an explicit connection between consent and rape to ensure that students understand the relevance of what they are being taught.
Unlike Year 10 pupils, she explains, those in Year 7 are more likely to think of consent in terms of friendship groups, such as "seeking consent to misbehave or to look at someone's phone", rather than sexual relationships.
The PSHE Association suggests pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 should learn about the idea of consent in a "healthy relationship", where it must still be sought out and can be withdrawn at any moment.
Watch Victoria Derbyshire weekdays, 09:15-11:00 BST on BBC Two and BBC News Channel, for original stories, in-depth interviews and the issues at the heart of public debate.
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As the lesson continues, Ms D'Lima is keen to improve the children's grasp of what it means to give and receive consent.
Under her guidance, the pupils group into pairs. From three metres away, one child must edge continually closer to the other, before being asked to stop by their classmate once they feel uncomfortable.
It became clear that while students understood the importance of personal space and boundaries, they were less clear about who was responsible for recognising the need for consent.
Only one pupil seemed to understand the concept, realising that it was the person moving forward who had to look for consent: "Maybe, they should know how the other one is feeling."
For the teacher, the children's lack of comprehension came as a surprise.
"A lot of them felt consent was a joint responsibility for both parties," she says.
"In future lessons we'll pick up on that and apply it to different contexts, so even though they didn't understand it in the context of them... approaching a partner, if we looked at it in terms of sexual relationships, hopefully they would pick up on that idea."
Nevertheless, the pupils seem to have taken away a key message on the importance of giving, and withholding, consent.
"If a stranger walks up to you and does something you don't like, I think you should have the confidence to tell him or her 'No'," says 12-year-old Ayesha.
"Saying 'No' doesn't mean you're being rude... it means that you don't like someone to be entering your personal space."
The government hopes the consent classes will be adopted in mixed and single-sex state and independent schools in every part of England.
But the plans have raised the issue of whether 11-year-olds are too young to be taught about sexual consent, and even whether such classes can place pressure on children to have sex.
It is a notion firmly rejected by the head teacher.
"[The classes] actually force students to reflect. It's a fact of life that people will come into situations we can't predict," Mr Ward says.
"Over time my students are going to grow up and they're going to be part of a real world where these things are going to be around, and they need to be provided with reflection time where they're able to make informed decisions about consent, should that situation arise."
Mr Ward emphasises the importance of discussing issues about sexual consent within the safe, nurturing environment that education provides.
But with schools in England free to decide whether such classes become part of their regular timetable, the big test for the government will be how many of them sign up.


More than 160 children in Northern Ireland called Childline last year, concerned about online sexual abuse.

There is increasing worry about internet grooming, due to the growth in the use of webcams and 'apps' that allow people to chat online.
Childline received 4,896 calls from Northern Ireland last year  - sexual abuse accounted for 275 calls (5.6%).
The charity held 164 counselling sessions over online sex abuse with young people from Northern Ireland.
Neil Anderson, head of the NSPCC in Northern Ireland, said: "Most of us talk to people online and it's a great way to stay connected and make new friends.
"But it can be a playground for paedophiles, exposing young people to groomers who trawl social networks and online game forums exploiting any vulnerabilities they may find."
New figures from the NSPCC show:
To help combat the problem, Childline is launching a new campaign - Listen To Your Selfie - aimed at helping young people recognise the signs of grooming and unhealthy relationships, both online and offline.
Childline founder Esther Rantzen said: "Online grooming is a real risk.  Very often young people tell us of their feelings of shame because they don't recognise that they are not to blame.
"One young person who had been persuaded to send explicit pictures of herself told us 'I walked myself into this mess, I couldn't ask for help'.
"We want children and young people to know that Childline is there for them, whatever their worry, to answer any questions and offer support and advice."
Children and young people can contact Childline for free, confidential support and advice, 24 hours a day on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk.


Cheltenham Town have signed Finland international centre-back Daniel O'Shaughnessy after a two-week trial.

The 21-year-old has won two caps, although he has dual nationality with the Republic of Ireland.
O'Shaughnessy spent the last two seasons with Championship club, having joined them from French club Metz.
He did not make a first-team appearance for the Bees, and spent time on loan with National League club Braintree and in Denmark with Midtylland.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


A man whose picture was wrongly sent out by police investigating a torso found in a suitcase, said the experience had been "nerve-breaking".

The body of a woman was found in a Peterborough house on Friday.
Cambridgeshire Police looking for suspect Vytautas Jokubauskas, 57, of Peterborough, released an image of Vytautas Jokubauskas, 50, a Lithuanian who says he has never been to the UK.
The force apologised and said officers would contact him in person.
The photograph of Mr Jokubauskas, a wood machinist from Mazeikiai, a small town in western Lithuania, was released on Saturday.
Later that day another was issued, looking very different to the first, which police said was "more recent".
On Sunday a man was arrested in Clipston Walk in Peterborough, on suspicion of murder.
The following day police asked the media not to use either image, telling them they were aware the first photograph was not the man they were looking for.
However, it had already been widely used and seen in the UK and Lithuania.
Mr Jokubauskas first knew about the error when friends from London called him at the weekend.
"They told me I am being accused of murder in the UK," he said.
"They said, 'Vytautas, what the hell have you done?' - and I've not even been to England."
Mr Jokubauskas said he went to the local police who checked his passport and sent his fingerprints to Cambridgeshire Police.
The only similarity between himself and the suspected murderer was the shared name, he said.
Mr Jokubauskas said some newspapers said police believed he might be in Ireland. In the photograph he was wearing a T-shirt with the word "Dublin" on the front.
"I bought it in a second-hand market and I only wear it at home.
"I was very saddened to read what people wrote [on social media]. It was nasty and they don't even know me."
Mr Jokubauskas said his boss had been understanding, but he has had to take two weeks off work and is on medication.
"Nobody should experience this," he said.
Cambridgeshire Police said the photograph was found "through open source monitoring of social media and it was confirmed by his [Vytautas Jokubauskas, of Peterborough's] employers that this was a true likeness of the man we were looking to trace".
"At the time the photograph was issued there were serious concerns for public safety and this was the overriding priority for police," Det Supt Paul Fullwood said.
"We sincerely apologise to Mr Jokubauskas for any distress caused and officers will be contacting him to offer this in person."
Mr Jokubauskas said he had been discussing the error with lawyers but was not sure whether he would take his complaint further.
"I'm an ordinary person and I don't think I'll achieve anything."
The body of mother-of-one Ramute Butkiene, 42, was found with no arms, legs or head at the house in Mayor's Walk, Peterborough, on Friday.
A 57-year-old man has been charged with murder. He will appear before Huntingdon Magistrates' Court later.