This magnified image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid - which has a light organ on its backside that houses a colony of glowing bacteria - is one of the finalists in the 2017 Wellcome Image Awards.
The squid - which measures only 1.5 cm across - provides food and shelter for the bacteria in return for their bioluminescence. The glow is similar to moonlight and starlight, and helps mask its silhouette in the Pacific Ocean - reducing the risk of predator attacks from below.
This is the 20th annual Wellcome Image Awards which celebrates colourful and captivating scientific images - from photography and illustration, to super-resolution microscopy and medical scans.
Scroll to see more of the finalists.
Stickman, The Vicissitudes of Crohn's (Resolution) - Overall Winner 2017
Spooky Pooka
This character "Stickman" is the alter ego of the artist who suffers from Crohn's disease - a chronic condition caused by inflammation of the digestive system.
The skeleton is made of sticks rather than bones - to show the body's fragility to a flare up.
Judge's comment:
"This image is a stunning representation of what it must be like to have Crohn's disease and it's like nothing I've seen before in terms of the portrayal of someone's condition.
"It conveys the pain and torment the sufferer must go through. The image really resonates and is beautifully composed. It's a haunting piece."
Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Correspondent
Intraocular lens 'iris clip'
Mark Bartley, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
This image shows how an "iris clip" - also known as an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) - has been fitted on to the eye of a 70-year-old man with a 3mm surgical incision.
It is used to treat conditions such as myopia (nearsightedness) and cataracts (cloudiness of the lens). The patient regained almost full vision following his surgery.
Judge's comment:
"I think this picture is absolutely stunning in its clarity. I am sure I will be using it frequently to demonstrate to my patients the intricacies of ocular lens implants."
Dirk Pilat, Medical Director for e-Learning at the Royal College of General Practitioners and a GP in Essex
#breastcancer Twitter connections
Eric Clarke, Richard Arnett and Jane Burns, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
This is a graphical visualisation of data extracted from tweets containing the hashtag #breastcancer.
Twitter users are represented by the dots, or nodes, and lines connecting the nodes represent the relationships between the Twitter users.
Nodes and lines are sized differently according to the number and importance of other nodes to which they are connected.
Judge's comment:
"A beautiful starburst of pointillist coloured nodes, a complex representation of convergent energies, the image visualizes a topic so important to discuss today."
Rob Kesseler, visual artist, professor at Central Saint Martins and Chair of Arts, Design and Science at the University of the Arts London
Blood vessels of the African grey parrot
Scott Birch and Scott Echols
This image shows a 3D reconstruction of the head and neck of a dead African grey parrot - with a highly intricate system of blood vessels.
Judge's comment:
"This wonderfully detailed image, mapping blood vessels in 3D, succeeds in being both beautiful and informative. The ghosted outline of the bird's head and neck provides context."
Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham and a clinical anatomist, author and broadcaster
Pigeon thermoregulation
Scott Echols, Scarlet Imaging and the Grey Parrot Anatomy Project
This image shows the intricate network of blood vessels in the neck and head of a pigeon - down to capillary level.
All animals possess unique variations in their anatomy that help them adapt to their environment - and this extensive blood supply just below the skin helps the bird control its body temperature through a process known as thermoregulation.
Judge's comment:
"The amazing quality of this image shows how complex and dense the network of blood vessels is, and its seemingly angry squawk at the viewer makes it really eye catching."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
Cat skin and blood supply
David Linstead
This polarised light micrograph of a section of cat skin shows the blood supply feeding hairs and whiskers.
Blood vessels were injected with a dye (here shown as black) to visualise the capillaries in the tissue.
It is a composite view of a Victorian microscope slide, and is made up of 44 individual images stitched together.
Judge's comment:
"At first glance it could be a painting of a tiny underwater creature, or some weird fairytale monster. But the fact that this is a cat's whisker is a real surprise.
"This image just highlights to me amazing details that exist in even the simplest organic structures, a product of millions of years of evolution right there in front of us."
James Cutmore, Picture Editor of BBC Focus
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Daria Kirpach / Salzman International
This work of art depicts Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909-2012) - an Italian neurobiologist.
She was the joint recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) - which has increased the understanding of many conditions, including tumours, developmental malformations and dementia.
For her early work in Italy, Levi-Montalcini built a small laboratory in her family home and worked in secret because of Mussolini's 1938 Manifesto of Race, which barred non-Aryan citizens from having academic careers.
Judge's comment:
"The striking colours reflect the courage of this Nobel prize-winning scientist, and the details reveal the way she had to conceal her work from the fascist powers during the war."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
Surface of a mouse retina
Gabriel Luna, Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara
This digital image of a mouse retina, at the back of the eye, contains light-sensitive cells responsible for converting light into electrical nerve signals that the brain can process.
Blood vessels (blue) can be seen radiating from the centre of the image - with astrocytes, specialist cells of the nervous system, double stained in red and green.
Here, scientists are researching whether the function of astrocytes changes during retinal degeneration, which may lead to the development of new treatments for vision loss.
Judge's comment:
"An extraordinary montage of over 400 tiled images showing in incredible detail the intricate filigree pattern of astrocytes in the tiny retina of a mouse."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
MicroRNA scaffold cancer therapy
Joao Conde, Nuria Oliva and Natalie Artzi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The problem with conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy is their non-specificity, and the side-effects they cause. But the hope is that this mesh can be used as a cancer therapy through surgical insertion around a tumour.
The image shows how a synthetic polymer (purple) has been combined with two types of miRNA, in red, which are short genetic sequences responsible for controlling cell growth. The miRNA molecules can be released locally into cancer cells to stop them dividing.
This therapy has already been tested on mice, where tumours have shrunk by nearly 90 per cent after just two weeks.
Judge's comments:
"At first glance, this image made me think of a futuristic, sci-fi movie in which a normally-invisible technological wonder ends up saving the world. The possibility of using RNA as a therapeutic biomaterial delivered by a clever engineering approach opens up new opportunities in the personalized medicine era, where platform technologies are key."
Anne Deconinck, Executive Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Vessels of a healthy mini-pig eye
Peter M Maloca, OCTlab at the University of Basel and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London; Christian Schwaller; Ruslan Hlushchuk, University of Bern; Sebastien Barre
This shows a 3D model of a healthy mini-pig eye. The dent on the right-hand side of the image is the pupil, the opening that allows light into the eye.
Blood vessels shown are bringing energy and food to the muscles surrounding the iris, which controls the amount of light entering the eye.
The smallest vessels seen here are 20-30 micrometres (0.02-0.03 mm) in diameter.
Judge's comments:
"The data gathered to make this 3D print allows the scientist to view the detail and handle it in three dimensions in a way that a 3D screen image cannot do. It's fascinating to see the ways in which new technologies complement one another in finding out more about how organs work."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
Caricatural medieval medical practitioners
Madeleine Kuijper, Madeleine Kuijper Illustraties
These four scenes are inspired by works by medieval artists and the 15th Century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.
They are separated by Asclepian snakes, representing both Asclepius - the ancient Greek god of medicine - and the modern-day symbol for medicine.
The top left image is a parody of alchemy - with a masked figure holding a conical flask from which frogs jump.
The top right shows a man sitting on a cart, asking a doctor if his disordered limbs can be repaired.
In the bottom left panel, a patient is being offered tea as a surgeon operates on his opened head.
And in the bottom right, a doctor is performing an operation - and appears to be pulling a bunch of sausages out of a patient's belly while surrounded by hungry dogs.
Judge's comments:
"With its style and watercolour tones reminiscent of old manuscripts, the wit of this illustration is in the details.
"The faceless doctors with their 'plague doctor' masks and the dunce-like funnels on their heads."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
Language pathways of the brain
Stephanie J Forkel and Ahmad Beyh, Natbrainlab, King's College London; Alfonso de Lara Rubio, King's College London
This is an image showing a 3D-printed reconstruction of the white matter pathway connecting two areas of the human brain - the arcuate fasciculus.
The arcuate fasciculus links grey matter, which contains cells and is responsible for processing information, with white matter which connects areas of grey matter - allowing information to be transferred between distant areas of the brain.
Judge's comments:
"What is so mesmerizing about the 3D model of a brain pathway is that it renders visible the very mechanism in our brain we are using to look at it, a neurological portrait."
Rob Kesseler, visual artist, professor at Central Saint Martins and Chair of Arts, Design and Science at the University of the Arts London
The Placenta Rainbow
Suchita Nadkarni, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London
This is a placenta rainbow. It highlights differences in mouse placental development that can result from manipulation of the mother's immune system.
They have been stained to show three proteins. Blue represents the nucleus, where DNA is stored and controlled. Blood vessels are stained red. And trophoblasts, the first cells to form in the developing embryo, are green. Additional colours are present due to an expression of two or more of these proteins in the same cell.
Judge's comments:
"A lot of micrography images I see have been coloured for artistic purposes, but this image balances visual considerations with telling a real story, the rainbow effect communicating the passing of time and the occurrence of a biological process, whilst at the same time being aesthetically appealing."
James Cutmore, Picture Editor of BBC Focus
Synthetic DNA channel transporting cargo across membranes
Michael Northrop
Every cell is surrounded by a membrane, which serves to protect the cell's contents and connect the cell to others to form tissues and organs.
Tube-like channels made of proteins span this membrane and control two-way communication between the cell and its environment.
Researchers are using DNA as a building material to make synthetic channels that behave in exactly the same way - and this image is an artist's representation of what these channels look like.
Judge's comments:
"The creator has used metallic textures and colours with machine-like shapes that convey the potential of nanotechnology in the future of biomedicine."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
Developing spinal cord
Gabriel Galea, University College London
Our spines allow us to stand and move, and they protect the spinal cord, which connects all the nerves in our body with our brain.
The spinal cord is formed from a structure called the neural tube, which develops during the first month of pregnancy - but problems can occur with neural tube development and lead to conditions such as spina bifida.
This series of three images shows the open end of a mouse's neural tube,  which researchers are studying to try to prevent the development of such conditions.
Judge's comments:
"The elegant curves of these embryonic forms look almost like unfurling lilies.  We see how even the beginnings of life can be beautiful, and how revealing and studying these forms can help science to identify sources of debilitating congenital conditions."
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images
'Hidden Learning', from the Chrysalis project
Original painting by Sophie McKay Knight, with imagery contributed by women scientists from the University of St Andrews - part of the Chrysalis project coordinated by Mhairi Stewart
This artwork is taken from Chrysalis, a project at the University of St Andrews designed to bring together women scientists at all stages of their careers to talk about issues and to seek advice and inspiration.
Some of its conversations were interpreted in various ways by artist Sophie McKay Knight - and this example explores what women feel they keep hidden in the work environment, such as the pull between their career and home life. The woman's veil is made up of the molecular structure of a sugar molecule.
Judge's comments:
"A recent study just confirmed that in the biotech industry, women hold only 10% of board positions. So I am particularly pleased that many of the (male) Wellcome judges insisted on including this image.
"I hope it will raise awareness and serve as a conversation starter on our continuing journey towards gender equality."
Anne Deconinck, Executive Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Zebrafish eye and neuromasts
Ingrid Lekk and Steve Wilson, University College London
This four-day-old zebrafish embryo has been modified using two mechanisms borrowed from the worlds of bacteria and yeast - which are widely applied in genetics research.
Scientists used DNA-editing technology to insert a gene - called Gal4 - next to the gene that the researchers wished to study. These Gal4 fish were then bred with special reporter fish, to create hybrid fish where the gene being studied fluoresces red whenever it is activated.
Judge's comments:
"The 2017 Wellcome Image Awards would not be complete without an appearance by the gene-editing technique CRISPR/Cas9, so de rigueur these days. CRISPR allows scientists to precisely replace a specific piece of DNA, opening up the opportunity to cure a wide range of diseases caused by defective genes.
"It is a stunning image that simultaneously highlights both the simple beauty and the complex sophistication of nature."
Anne Deconinck, Executive Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Brain-on-a-chip
Collin Edington and Iris Lee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This image appears as a result of the partnership between Wellcome Images and the Koch Institute at MIT
Here, researchers are investigating how neural stem cells grow on a synthetic gel called PEG. After just two weeks, the stem cells (magenta) produced nerve fibres (green).
This work supports the Human-on-a-Chip project, which is addressing the inefficiency and cost of traditional drug testing. Researchers have devised ways of growing miniature organs on plastic chips, which they hope can be connected to represent the human body.
This could then be used to accurately predict the effectiveness and toxicity of drugs and vaccines - and remove the need for animal testing in medical research.
Judge's comments:
"'Mini-brains' grown in an incubator are powerful research tools. This image of neural stems cells is stunning - and is also useful in helping to show how brain cells in development organise themselves."
Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Correspondent
Patient receiving treatment during outreach eye screening in India
Susan Smart
Here, a patient is being treated by a doctor at a makeshift eye clinic in India.
This image was taken while the photographer was volunteering for the charity Unite For Sight. Since 2000, the charity has given eye care to 1.9 million people - some of whom live in extreme poverty.
Judge's comments:
"As a general practitioner in the NHS I often forget how lucky I am to work in relatively comfortable surroundings. This picture demonstrates that not all primary care professionals are as lucky as I am."
Dirk Pilat, Medical Director for e-Learning at the Royal College of General Practitioners and a GP on the Essex coast
Unravelled DNA in a human lung cell
Ezequiel Miron, University of Oxford
In order for plants and animals to grow and remain healthy, cells need to have the ability to replicate. During cell division, also known as mitosis, the entire DNA content of the cell is copied, with half going to each new cell.
DNA is found in a region of the cell called the nucleus, which acts a bit like the brain.
This picture shows the nucleus of one of two new daughter cells. The DNA in this cell has somehow become caught, and is being pulled between the two cells. This has caused the DNA to unfold inside the nucleus, and DNA fibres can be seen running through it.
Judge's comments:
"This jewel-like image shows a rare moment in time - chromosomes being tugged apart in a dividing cell. I love the dynamism in the image as well as the choice of colours."
Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham and a clinical anatomist, author and broadcaster
The winning images will be exhibited from 16 March 2017 in venues across the UK, Europe and Africa.
The UK venues include: Aberdeen Science Centre, At-Bristol, Cambridge Science Centre, Dundee Science Centre, The Eden Project Cornwall, Glasgow Science Centre, Techniquest Cardiff, Millennium Point Birmingham, W5 Belfast and in the windows of Wellcome's HQ in London.
The non-UK venues include: Africa Health Research Institute, South Africa; Polytechnic Museum, Moscow, Russia; Science Gallery, Dublin.


Elderly people could become more isolated as bus subsidies are cut in a bid to save £100,000, according to a council and campaigners.

Southampton City Council has proposed scrapping subsidies for the X12 and W1 bus services, and admitted it could lead to "increased social isolation".
The plan is part of a public consultation on how the council can make £39m worth of budget cuts.
Age UK Southampton also said the move could hit the elderly.
Phil Williams, the charity's health and wellbeing officer, said: "We recognise how much pressure the council is under to further reduce its budget. I am sure they are carefully considering the proposal.
"Any removal of bus subsidies may have an adverse effect on elderly people to get out and socialise. The bus services are extremely highly valued by the people we work with."
A report in to the plans, which would see support reduced from £218,000 to £122,000, said the bus services were "generally used by elderly and disabled people".
The report, authored by the council's public transport department, said: "With the withdrawal of services, access to supermarkets will be reduced and residents may have limited access to low cost food.
"It may also result in increased social isolation."
The use of shared taxis or community car schemes is to be investigated as an alternative.
In a separate proposal three cameras could be installed above bus lanes, fining motorists £60, or £30 if it is paid early, if they use the lane unlawfully.


New details of Bronze Age daily life could be revealed as archaeologists begin digging inside the remains of a roundhouse at what has been dubbed "Britain's Pompeii".

The UK's "best preserved Bronze Age dwellings", found at a Cambridgeshire quarry, date from about 1000-800 BC.
The houses fell into a river during a fire and the collapsed timbers were preserved in the silt.
Archaeologists say they expect to find many of the house contents inside.
The circular wooden houses, built on stilts, formed part of a settlement partially destroyed by fire 3,000 years ago.
The site, at Must Farm quarry near Whittlesey, was described as "unique" by David Gibson, from Cambridge Archaeological Unit, which is leading the excavation.
Most Bronze Age sites have no timber remaining, just post-holes - but here, the stilts, roof structure and walls have been unearthed.
Mr Gibson said they had uncovered two houses, and possibly a third. However, as only about half the site remains he said the settlement could have consisted of up to six dwellings.
The team is about half-way through the eight-month dig to uncover the secrets of the site and the people who lived there.
In the past week they reached what they described as "a milestone", documenting their 1,000th piece of wood.
"The information gathered from all this wood is critical in understanding the houses alongside the fire that destroyed them," the team wrote on Facebook.
"The slightly daunting aspect is that we have at least a few thousand pieces of wood still to go."
Researchers have also now started work on the "occupation deposits" underneath one of the roundhouses.
BBC History - Bronze Age Britain
BBC Bitesize - What was Bronze Age life like?
"This is going to be a particularly delicate task that will take some time," they said.
"We are starting at the edges of the structures and we can't wait to see what begins to appear as we move closer."
Although a number of items including tools, bowls still containing food, and textiles have been found around the Must Farm site, the contents of the roundhouses themselves are most likely buried in silt beneath the wooden roof.
"This roof is sitting on top of, and currently sealing, all of the remains of the building's interior," the team said.
"These remains are most likely a source of lots of new information about homes during this period of prehistory."
While these are likely to include "exciting finds associated with the dwelling - pots, querns, metalwork and textiles", archaeologists said the artefacts would also help them understand how the site was formed and how it was used.
Mr Gibson said it was possible some of the artefacts could still be situ, for example, if a number of pots and bowls were found in one place it might suggest this was where the family cooked and ate within their home.
The excavation is being jointly funded by Historic England and quarry owner Forterra.


Manchester United have signed striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton for an initial £75m on a five-year contract.

The deal for the 24-year-old Belgium international, initially reported by BBC Sport on Thursday, is believed to include £15m in add-ons.
Champions Chelsea had matched the Red Devils' bid, but missed out on re-signing their former player.
"Romelu is a natural fit for Manchester United. He is a big personality and a big player," said boss Jose Mourinho.
"It is only natural that he wants to develop his career at the biggest club.
"He will be a great addition to the group. I am really looking forward to working with him again."
Lukaku, whose contract includes an option for a sixth year, said: "When Manchester United and Jose Mourinho come knocking at the door, it is an opportunity of a lifetime and one that I could not turn down.
"I cannot wait to run out at Old Trafford in front of 75,000 fans."
Speaking to MUTV, he said midfielder Paul Pogba had played a "big role" in him signing for United.
Lukaku sent a farewell message to Everton on Monday in which he thanked the club and said it was "an honour" to play in front of their fans.
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Mourinho was manager of Chelsea when they sold Lukaku to Everton for £28m in July 2014.
The striker spent the 2013-14 season on loan at the Merseyside club before signing a five-year deal that summer.
He netted 68 Premier League goals across his two spells, scoring 25 times in the Premier League last season.
Lukaku turned down the most lucrative contract offer in Everton's history, thought to be worth £140,000 a week, in March and later said: "I don't want to stay at the same level. I want to improve and I know where I want to do that."
The Belgian had been on holiday in the United States, and linked up there with United's squad for their pre-season tour.
Lukaku was arrested in Los Angeles last week following a noise complaint and is due is due to appear in court on 2 October.
His arrival at Old Trafford follows Wayne Rooney's departure to rejoin Everton, after 13 years with United.
That deal, which was confirmed on Sunday, was not connected with the Lukaku transfer.
Despite matching United's bid, Chelsea were not willing to match the fees Lukaku's agent Mino Raiola will earn from the move to Old Trafford.
Top five world record transfers
Top five British transfer records
Mourinho on Lukaku expressing surprise he was released by Chelsea to join Everton on loan in 2013:
"Romelu likes to speak. He's a young boy who likes to speak. But the only thing he didn't say is why he went to Everton on loan. That's the only thing he never says. And my last contact with him was to tell him exactly that - 'why do you never say why you are not here?'"
Lukaku on Mourinho in December 2015:
"Everyone says it is Mourinho's fault but it is not his fault because I made the decision [to leave Chelsea]. I went to his office to ask if I could go.
"I signed the deal with Everton at 11 o'clock and the first text message I got on my old BlackBerry was from Mourinho saying 'Good luck, do your best and I will see you next season'."
Mourinho on selling Lukaku to Everton:
"Romelu was always very clear with us with his mentality and his approach was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation with Chelsea.
"He wanted to play for Chelsea but he clearly wanted to be first-choice striker - but for a club of our dimension it is very difficult to promise to a player."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


A senior executive at Netflix says the streaming service declined to sign up the former presenters of Top Gear because "it wasn't worth the money".

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left the BBC earlier this year after Clarkson was fired for hitting a producer.
They recently signed a "very, very, very expensive" deal with Amazon Prime.
But rival service Netflix has claimed the presenters "sold themselves for way more money" than they are worth.
"We have past episodes of Top Gear, so we have a pretty good gauge of what audiences like,"  the company's chief product officer, Neil Hunt, told Digital Spy in an interview.
"Our buying decisions tend to be somewhat data-driven. We have a lot of data to get the deals we want.
"Clearly it wasn't worth the money to make the deal."
Mr Hunt later clarified his comments in a statement, saying: "There is an audience for everything and it is not up to us to judge if Amazon has paid too much or not."
British broadcaster BT Sport previously said it, too, had declined to bid for the Top Gear trio.
Managing director Delia Bushell told The Guardian: "To be honest I didn't consider it. It just wasn't right for us.
"It's a fantastic franchise, but it made more sense for a global player like Netflix because Top Gear has huge US revenues as well."
Clarkson was suspended on 10 March, following an "unprovoked physical attack"  with a Top Gear producer in a Yorkshire hotel. It was said to have occurred because no hot food was provided following a day's filming.
Following an internal investigation, the BBC decided not to renew the presenter's contract. His co-hosts then followed him in leaving the show.
They have now signed up to Amazon Prime to make a new car-themed programme, along with producer Andy Wilman, who also quit the BBC following Clarkson's "fracas".
Mr Wilman has said they had all agreed to a deal with Amazon because "they'll give us the freedom to make the programme we want... there's a budget to produce programmes of the quality we want and this is the future".
Although the show's budget has not been confirmed, the three-series, 36-episode deal was rumoured to have cost Amazon as much as Â£160 million.
The Top Gear brand will continue on BBC Two, with Chris Evans in charge.


Cornish Pirates coach Alan Paver admitted his team were well below par in their dramatic home win against London Scottish in the Championship.

Laurence May converted a 78th-minute penalty try to secure a 25-24 victory.
"We looked pretty sluggish. The areas we normally get energy - the tackling and the kick chase - just weren't quite there," Paver told BBC Radio Cornwall.
"I'm super-pleased we sneaked it in the end, but I felt we shouldn't have been in that position."
The Pirates were struggling before tries from Alex Cheesman and Toby May set up a nail-biting finale.
"All credit to Scottish. They came out there and gave us a good arm-wrestle," said Paver.
"A couple of the guys will have some serious conversations. I want to know where our physicality went. It's something I demand.
"All that said, the character to come back [was there]. I'm disappointed with the performance, but the result has put a cherry on the top."


Former darts world champion Eric Bristow has suggested football abuse victims are not "proper men" - and has been condemned on social media.

More than 20 ex-footballers have come forward with allegations of historical child sex abuse in the sport, and five police forces are investigating claims.
But Bristow, 59, questioned why they did not "sort out" their abusers "when they got older and fitter".
One of the ex-players, Steve Walters, was "disgusted" by Bristow's remarks.
Writing on Twitter, Bristow, who was made an MBE in 1989, said darts players were "tough guys" and footballers "wimps".
He added the victims should not be able to look themselves in the mirror for not "getting their own back" on their abusers in adulthood.
Several former footballers have waived their right to anonymity in order to go public and raise awareness of alleged historical abuse in football, a step which has won praise from politicians, sport administrators and abuse charities.
Walters has alleged he was abused as a youth player by convicted paedophile and former Crewe coach Barry Bennell.
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Former Crewe player Andy Woodward was the first to speak out about the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of Bennell.
Ex-Crewe youth team players Walters, Chris Unsworth and Jason Dunford later told BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme they had also been abused by the former coach.
Ex-England and Manchester City striker David White also says he is another victim of Bennell, while former Tottenham, Liverpool and England midfielder Paul Stewart also waived his right to anonymity to speak publicly about being sexually abused by an unnamed coach.
Stewart said the sport could face allegations on the scale of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Bennell, who also worked for Manchester City, Stoke and junior teams in north-west England and the Midlands, was given a four-year sentence for raping a British boy on a football tour of Florida in 1994 and a nine-year sentence in 1998 for 23 offences against six boys in England.
He was jailed for a third time in 2015 after admitting abusing a boy at a 1980 football camp in Macclesfield.
On Monday, it emerged that Bennell had been taken to hospital after being found unconscious at an address in Stevenage on Friday.


International trade secretary Liam Fox gave a speech on Thursday about the benefits of free trade.

The claim: The European Union would lose out more than the UK from the introduction of tariffs.
Reality Check verdict: The EU would risk more in cash terms. The UK would risk a higher proportion of its exports.
"Don't just look at it from a UK perspective," he said.
"The European Union has a massive surplus in goods with the UK. Who does it harm more if we end up in a new tariff environment?"
The EU does indeed have a trade surplus with the UK in goods, which means that EU countries sell more goods to the UK than they buy from us.
The UK economy, which is dominated by the service sector, has a trading surplus in services with the EU, which is not big enough to cancel out the deficit in goods.
But Dr Fox was talking about goods, not services.
In 2015, the UK trade figures show the UK exported Â£134bn worth of goods to the EU and imported Â£223bn worth.
The question Dr Fox asked was who it would harm more if there were tariffs introduced, which damaged that trade.
In cash terms, clearly the EU has more to lose. But in percentage terms the picture is different.
UK exports of goods to the EU in 2015 accounted for 47% of total goods exports. According to the NIESR, EU goods exports to the UK account for about 16% of its total exports of goods.
So if you're looking at whether the UK or the EU would risk a greater proportion of their trade from tariffs, clearly the UK would lose more.
There may be some impact on these figures from what's called the Rotterdam Effect, but it makes a relatively small difference, as we discussed in this Reality Check.
But of course the EU does not negotiate only as a bloc - it is made up of 27 other countries, some of which will be less concerned about UK trade than others and all of which will get to vote on the eventual deal.


China has launched an investigation into search giant Baidu after the death of a student who tried an experimental cancer therapy he found online.

Wei Zexi, who died last month from a rare form of cancer, had sought the treatment from a hospital that came top of the list on his Baidu web search.
Baidu has come under fire for allegedly selling listings to bidders without adequately checking their claims.
In a statement Baidu said it was investigating the matter.
The company told the BBC: "We deeply regret the death of Wei Zexi and our condolences go out to his family.
"Baidu strives to provide a safe and trustworthy search experience for our users, and has launched an immediate investigation of the matter."
Baidu owns search engine and social media services, and is often compared to Google.
On Baidu, listings that have paid for a prominent placement are marked at the bottom with a small sign saying "promote", but many say this does not identify them as paid-for listings sufficiently clearly.
Baidu's value fell by more than $5bn on Tuesday, after its shares slumped in the US on news of an investigation by China's internet regulator. Baidu's Nasdaq-listed shares fell 7.92%.
Baidu is China's largest search engine with 70% market share and more than 660 million people using its mobile search every month.
China's massive search engine Baidu is facing a colossal credibility problem.
It's one thing for the company to sell top search slots to the highest bidders, but another to manage the fallout when a boy dies of cancer after trusting that a highly placed search result was what appeared to be the most trusted hospital treatment available to him.
All over the world, private companies are administering what on one level are public services, and it is becoming distorted by commercial deals - and this country is no exception.
Baidu says it is looking into this matter but, for the Chinese authorities, that is not enough.
The Chinese government says it will carry out an official inquiry into the role Baidu's "search results for sale" business model had on the death of Wei Zexi.
What's more it says the findings of the investigation will be made public.
Chinese people were already annoyed that Baidu sold off search positions, but when it became a life and death matter it has enraged them.
According to state news agency Xinhua, Wei was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in 2014.
He and his family said he found out about a controversial treatment at the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps through Baidu. The hospital was listed at the top of his search results.
But the treatment was unsuccessful and the 21-year-old student died on 12 April.
Before his death, Wei publicly accused the hospital of misleading him and his family of the treatment's effectiveness, and criticised Baidu for selling search listings for medical information to the highest bidder.
Baidu has denied ranking hospitals in promoted search results solely based on how much they paid, and says the hospital had been approved by the Beijing municipal government.
Investigations have now been launched against the hospital.
The hospital has yet to comment and efforts to contact hospital officials have been unsuccessful.
In addition to the Cyberspace Administration of China, several other government agencies including the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission are looking into the matter.
The outcry over the case follows a similar scandal in January involving ethical practices regarding healthcare advertising.
Read more: Public mistrust in China's healthcare system
The story has also reignited public concern over Baidu's advertising ethics, following an earlier scandal where it admitted it allowed healthcare companies to moderate online health forums.
On popular microblogging network Sina Weibo, the hashtag #Wei Zexi Baidu Advertising Incident#  has been trending for days as netizens have called for a boycott of Baidu.


Former Scottish Labour leader Jack McConnell has described the Smith Commission as a "shambles".

Lord McConnell, who was first minister from 2001 to 2007, said the plan for further devolution should now be scrapped and replaced by a constitutional convention.
He also gave qualified support to Jim Murphy, saying he should remain leader of the Scottish Labour party "for now".
But he added that a radical policy overhaul was needed.
In Thursday's election the SNP swept to a landslide victory in Scotland, taking 56 of Scotland's 59 seats, leaving Labour with just one.
Speaking to the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme, Lord McConnell urged Prime Minister David Cameron to lead a "proper debate" on the UK's constitutional future.
He said: "The Smith Commission proposals are a shambles. The idea that the response to what happened last Thursday is to plough ahead with what will become a shambles cannot be the solution.
"The prime minister needs to take a pause rather than ploughing ahead and appointing a Scottish secretary, going ahead with Smith Commission proposals that will fall apart in due course and stop talking about 'one nation' as if everybody is the same."
The Labour peer said the UK now needed a constitutional convention that would tackle the "disillusionment with the way the country is governed", adding that feelings ran "deeper than just what happened in Scotland".
Elsewhere, the peer said Mr Murphy should stay in charge of the Scottish Labour party "for the moment" to allow for a "proper discussion of the way ahead".
But he severely criticised the party and its campaign strategy, saying they did not "express a modern vision of Scotland", adding that Scottish Labour now needed "a whole new set of policies".
Asked by presenter Gordon Brewer whether he wanted Mr Murphy to stay on as leader, Lord McConnell said: "I'd like to see him laying out what he wants to do, and I would like to see a proper debate within the party about that.
"I'd also like him to engage not just with party members, but with voters and ex-voters."
He added that Scottish Labour needed to "rediscover our vision for the future" and noted that the SNP had appealed to "left, right and centre, winning Conservative heartlands and Labour heartlands".


Gymnast Ellie Downie has won the 2015 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

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The 16-year-old won bronze at the European Championships to become Britain's first female gymnast to win an individual all-around medal.
Nottingham-born Downie also won team bronze at the World Championships in Glasgow in October.
She beat jockey Tom Marquand and Para-swimmer Tully Kearney - the trio were selected from an original list of 10.
Downie, who was presented the award by super bantamweight world champion boxer Carl Frampton and sprinter Dina Asher Smith in Belfast, said: "I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone at British gymnastics, everyone at my home club, my family, my friends... everyone who has helped me along the way.
"Well done to all the nominees."
Past winners have included footballer Wayne Rooney, diver Tom Daley and Britain's number one tennis player Andy Murray.
Ellie, the younger sister of Team GB Olympian Becky Downie, also achieved five GCSEs at A-C, while competing in 2015.
The list of 10 were selected from nominations made to the BBC by sports governing bodies via the Youth Sport Trust and in partnership with CBBC's Blue Peter programme.


A seven-day festival aimed at 18 to 30 year olds has arrived at the O2 in London with people from around the world joining in.

2 September 2013 Last updated at 21:00 BST
Campus Party, one of the biggest technology events in the world, is being held in the capital for the first time.
Ronan Dunne, chief executive of O2 UK, claims London is the epicentre for technology and innovation in Europe.
Presenter Suzi Perry also appears in this report by Alice Bhandhukravi.


Google has fixed a bug in an online tool after it began translating "Russian Federation" to "Mordor".

Mordor is the name of a fictional region nicknamed "Land of Shadow" in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books.
In addition, "Russians" was translated to "occupiers" and the surname of Sergey Lavrov, the country's Foreign Minister, to "sad little horse".
The errors had been introduced to Google Translate's Ukrainian to Russian service automatically, Google said.
The terms mirror language used by some Ukrainians following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Screenshots of the erroneous translations have appeared on social networks in recent days.
"Google Translate is an automatic translator - it works without the intervention of human translators, using technology instead," said Google in its statement.
Although translations are managed automatically, it is possible for users to suggest alternative translations manually.
However, the BBC understands that this was not how the errors were introduced.
Google said that Translate worked by looking for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents but translation remained difficult as the meaning of words was tied to the context in which they were used.
"This means that not all translations are perfect, and there will sometimes be mistakes or mistranslations," the statement added.
"We always work to correct these as quickly as possible when they are brought to our attention."
The bug now appears to have been fixed.


Medics working at refugee aid camps in the Balkans say they are seeing a spike in the number of migrants falling ill as freezing temperatures arrive.

It has fallen to as low as -11C in the region.
The medical charities International Medical Corps and Medecins Sans Frontieres say most patients are suffering with respiratory problems such as bronchitis and flu.
There are also concerns about people refusing or not seeking treatment.
Migrants are offered medical assistance, warm clothes and food at the main refugee points at the Serbian border with Macedonia to the south, and Croatia to the north.
International Medical Corps runs a makeshift clinic at the train station in the tiny town of Sid, in northern Serbia.
"Last week, when temperatures were a bit less, we were seeing around 50 to 60 people a day," said Sanja Djurica, IMC team leader.
"This week, now that temperatures have fallen, it's more like 100 or so a day."
"Almost all of them are suffering with respiratory illnesses brought on by the cold."
I met the Al-Maari family, who are making the journey as the snow falls thick and fast. They fled Syria three weeks ago, and have been on the road ever since.
They are travelling with four children, the youngest is just two years old. His brother Mohammad, seven, is suffering with fever and a chest infection.
"We are on a journey of death," said Mohammad's uncle, Iyad Al-Maari.
"We can endure. But I am worried about the children - the cold, disease and hunger."
Mohammad is not thought to be seriously ill. Iyad said the family are determined to continue to Germany, where the children's father is waiting for them.
"Some people are refusing further medical help after we've assessed them," said Tuna Turkmen from MSF in Serbia.
"Even if they are referred to hospital, most don't go. They just want to keep moving... in case borders suddenly close and they are left stranded."
With tears in her eyes, Mohammad's mother, Malak, said: "We didn't want any of thisâ€¦ we just want the war to end in Syria."
The stress and anxiety can be seen clearly on Malak's face. She is traumatised and desperate.
Medics have also highlighted the enormous psychological impact on those making these journeys.
International Medical Corps has psychologists on hand in Sid, and even though people only tend to stay there for a few hours, medics and aid workers do have some time to deliver "psychological first aid".
"It's emotional comfort, empathetic listening and encouraging coping techniques," said Sanja Djurica.
"They are grateful just to have someone who will listen to them."


A man has appeared in court after a 72-year-old woman was robbed in Aberdeen.

It happened in the car park at Morrisons supermarket in King Street in the city at about 13:10 on Sunday.
Dale Davidson, 30, of Peterhead, was charged with assault to injury and robbery at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
He made no plea and was remanded in custody.


This is the photograph, taken under seven months ago, that shows just how much Donald Trump's administration has rapidly changed.

Taken on 28 January, it shows Trump's inner circle as he received a congratulatory phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin following his inauguration.
On Friday, Steve Bannon became the latest casualty, added to a growing list of departures. But where are Trump and his closest allies now?
Almost seven months to the day since his 20 January inauguration, Donald Trump is under pressure on several fronts - but he's still president.
His presidency continues to be overshadowed by the ongoing Russia investigation. Key policies like the repeal of Obamacare and his travel ban have faltered.
Trump has also faced renewed criticism from senior Democratic and Republican figures alike for his response to events involving white supremacists in Charlottesville.
Priebus was ousted in late July after just six months, following a series of chaotic weeks at the White House.
The new (and now former) communications director Anthony Scaramucci was caught days before describing Priebus as "paranoid" over alleged internal leaks.
The former Republican National Congress Chief was replaced by retired general John Kelly.
End of Twitter post  by @realDonaldTrump
Pence remains as Trump's vice-president, the only person in the picture (other than Trump himself) to survive the first seven months.
But in early August he was forced to deny he was preparing a 2020 presidential bid after a report by the New York Times.
Bannon has become the latest departure, after the new chief of staff Gen Kelly allegedly reconsidered his position.
As a fervent right-winger and former head of Brietbart.com he helped Trump's 2016 election campaign, but apparently came into conflict with the White House's more moderate factions.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement the departure was "mutually agreed" but Trump's comments at an earlier news conference already hinted Bannon was on his way out of the White House.
Spicer become renowned for his fiery run-ins with the media, but resigned in late July over a shake-up that saw communications director Anthony Scaramucci come in.
Speaking to Fox News he said that there was a risk of "too many cooks in the kitchen".
'The Mooch' would himself last less than 10 days in that role.
Flynn's departure was one of the most contentious - he was forced out after 23 days in February when revelations over his links to Russia came to light.
Technically, Michael Flynn resigned, but he was asked to do so by the president. His departure followed weeks of deepening scandal in which it emerged that he had misled White House officials, including the vice-president, over his contact with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Read more on the Trump administration's departures: The White House revolving door: Who's gone?


Police in Brazil have arrested the vice president of the social media company Facebook in Latin America.

Diego Dzodan, an Argentine national, has repeatedly refused to comply with court orders to hand over data for use in a criminal investigation into drugs trafficking, police said.
His arrest relates to the messaging service WhatsApp, owned by Facebook.
In a statement, Facebook called Mr Dzodan's arrest an "extreme and disproportionate measure".
Mr Dzodan's arrest was ordered by a judge in the north-eastern state of Sergipe.
He was held as he left his house in an exclusive area of Sao Paulo on Tuesday morning.
Judge Marcel Maia Montalvao had in two previous instances issued fines against Facebook for refusing to release WhatsApp data.
The information was needed as part "secrete judicial investigations involving organised crime and drug trafficking," he said.
In a statement, Facebook said it was "disappointed with the extreme and disproportionate measure".
"Facebook has always been and will be available to address any questions Brazilian authorities may have," the company said.
In December a judge in Brazil suspended WhatsApp for 48 hours.
The Sao Paulo state judge said at the time that the company failed to comply with court orders to share information in a criminal case.


Tourism businesses have warned the closing of a council tax loophole could also threaten owners of self-catering cottages and flats, already hit by the weather and the economic climate.

Those unable to find self-catering guests for more than 70 days during a financial year face paying more.
Some will now have to to pay council tax on holiday properties instead of less expensive business rates.
One tourist trade association said the extra expense could close businesses.
The regulation is intended to stop owners of second homes paying less council tax by listing their properties as holiday lets while not actively looking to rent them out.
But tourism businesses say the effect of bad weather and the poor economic climate, combined with the prospect of council tax bills, is putting a strain on the self-catering industry in Wales.
A recent survey by the Wales Association of Self-Catering Operators (Wasco) identified that 42% of those who responded said that business over Easter this year was worse than last year.
Almost three quarters (73%) of those who responded said that economy was a factor and 71% blamed the performance of the economy on the poor performance.
Only 10% of those who responded reported an increase in business.
Felicity Elphick, who owns Lleiniog Holiday Cottages near Beaumaris on Anglesey, has recently been told that she has to pay council tax on her two grade II listed properties next year.
"It's been a nightmare to put it mildly," she said.
"One of my properties - not this last tax year but the tax year before - failed the 70 days by six days.
"I lost my business rates which is actually now costing me £1,000 per year as opposed to no business rates whatsoever."
Jan Meulendijk and his wife Jacqui own and run Rosemoor Holiday Cottages near Dale in Pembrokeshire.
They live on site and have nine cottages and flats available for rent.
Their properties have been occupied for more than the 70 day letting requirement in recent years but business is down on previous years and the couple are concerned that they could be affected in the future.
Mr Meulendijk thinks that politicians can take action to help those running self catering businesses.
"For us our properties are business properties," he said.
"Business assets used as business assets and nothing else and that distinction should be made and can be made and that is something that i think that politicians should have a good look at."
Mr and Mrs Meulendijk say that they would struggle to find the thousands of pounds that they would have to pay if their bookings dropped below 70 nights a year and they were forced to pay council tax rather than business rates.
That story is not an uncommon one according to Maudie Hughes, the chief executive of  Pembrokeshire Tourism, which is a trade association representing tourism operators in the county.
"For some businesses it could potentially be the final straw that breaks the camel's back," she said.
"Small businesses that qualify for rate relief take advantage of that... So some businesses are not paying any rates at all so to go from that to then being asked to pay full domestic rates could be quite a significant change.
"You could be looking at perhaps maybe £1,000, £1,500 or £2,000 a year at present that they are not having to pay.
"When you're running a business with very tight margins already that's the one thing that will just push it over the edge."
The Welsh government will publish a national tourism strategy in early June.
In a statement, a spokesman said Local Government Minister Lesley Griffiths and Economy Minister Edwina Hart have commissioned independent research to examine the operation of the regulations.
He said they were "originally introduced to close a loophole allowing some home-owners to pay lower council tax by listing their property as a holiday let whilst not actively seeking to let it".
You can see more on this story on the Sunday Politics Wales on BBC1 Wales at 11:00 BST on Sunday.


ITV has announced that it will be broadcasting The Voice and The Voice Kids from 2017.

A children's version of the talent show is expected to run for at least two series,
There are already 30 versions of The Voice Kids globally, including in Australia and France, but this is the first time it will be on in the UK.
Peter Fincham, director of television at ITV, said he was "thrilled" to have the singing contest.
He said it would be joining other popular talent contests already on ITV including The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.
The last series on the BBC will feature Paloma Faith, Boy George, Ricky Wilson and will.i.am as judges.


Chinese insurer Anbang is set to acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for $78 (Â£54) per share in cash, or about $13bn in total.

Starwood said it would terminate a deal to be bought by Marriott International, after it received a superior proposal from a group led by Anbang.
Marriott and Starwood had agreed to merge in November in a $12bn deal to create the world's largest hotel chain.
But the Anbang-led consortium has now outbid Marriott for Starwood.
Marriott now has five days to decide whether to put in a counter-bid.
Chinese firms have been buying overseas assets, despite their country's slowing economy.
Mainland investors have been snapping up prime US properties and other overseas assets to diversify their holdings amid concerns about weakness in China's economy.
Anbang bought New York's famous Waldorf-Astoria from Blackstone for a record $1.95bn last year.
And earlier this week, it agreed to buy a US luxury hotel collection from private equity giant Blackstone for a reported $6.5bn (Â£4.5bn).
The Beijing-based company also owns office buildings in New York and Canada and a South Korean insurance company.


Olivia Federici and Katie Clark have been announced as the two synchronised swimmers to represent Great Britain in this summer's Olympics in Rio.

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The pair will compete in the duet event after securing a quota place at the qualification event in Brazil in March.
Both swimmers competed in the team event at London 2012 - where they finished sixth.
The two retired from the discipline after the World Championships in 2013 but returned to the sport last year.


The sudden death of a six-year-old boy on a County Armagh farm was due to natural causes, not a farm accident, according to his family's minister.

Harry Starrett was found unconscious in a milking parlour on his grandparent's farm on Ballynahonemore Road, just outside Armagh city, on Tuesday.
An ambulance was called to the farm at 17:15 BST but the child died.
Canon John McKegney said preliminary results of a post mortem examination suggest the cause of death was natural.
He said the tests had ruled out initial reports that the child may have been overcome by slurry gases.
The death is still the subject of a farm investigation by the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI).
Canon John McKegney, told the BBC: "It has been reported that it was fumes, but actually he wasn't anywhere near the slurry pit, he was in the milking parlour.
"Before the cattle came in he was pulling down the clusters, which is something he often did and helped his grandfather in that way.
"When his grandfather went in, just after him, he was lying unconscious and never recovered."
Canon McKegney is a retired minister from St Mark's Parish Church in Armagh and will conduct Harry's funeral later this week.
He described the child as a "bright, cheerful" boy.
"(He was) full of beans, full of life full of joy and someone who absolutely idolised the farm," he said.
Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill said: "I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of this young boy.
"My thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends at this difficult time."
DUP councillor Freda Donnelly, who knows the family well, said: "Harry was a lovely, friendly, happy-go-lucky wee boy who just loved farming.
"The family are very well known and highly respected in the area. Anyone I have spoken to is absolutely devastated. The death of a child is every parent's worst nightmare."
President of the Ulster Farmers Union Harry Sinclair said everyone was in a state of shock.
"Our thoughts go to that family and the whole agriculture community will be thinking of that family," he said.
Lord Mayor of Armagh Robert Turner said: "The entire area is in a state of shock that a six-year-old boy has lost his life," he said.
"I know his family and I wish to pass on my sincere condolences."
Cathal Boylan, who is an Sinn FÃ©in MLA for the Newry and Armagh area, described the death as "an absolute tragedy".
"Both I and my Sinn FÃ©in colleagues, and indeed the whole community, will be thinking of this child's family in the days and weeks ahead," he said.


Russia will discover on Tuesday whether it will be allowed to compete at next month's Paralympic Games in Rio.

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) is set to give its verdict on Russia's appeal against the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) ban on all Russian athletes.
The IPC made the decision in light of the McLaren report, which detailed a state-sponsored doping programme operated by Russia.
The Paralympics begin on 7 September.
The IPC's decision was in contrast to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which chose not to hand Russia a blanket ban from the Olympic Games.
The IOC was widely criticised for ignoring the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) recommendation to ban Russia.
Instead, each individual sporting federation was given the power to decide if Russian competitors were clean to compete.
A three-person IOC panel then had the final say.
In the end, more than 270 Russian athletes were cleared to compete at the Olympics, with Russia winning 56 medals in total.


A columnist from the main opposition newspaper in Ecuador has been granted political asylum in the United States.

Emilio Palacio fled to the US a year ago, after being sentenced to jail in a libel case brought by President Rafael Correa.
Mr Palacio said he was a victim of political persecution.
Ecuador has been at the centre of another asylum case since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought refuge in its London embassy in June.
Mr Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for rape allegations, was granted asylum in Ecuador, but remains at the embassy as the British government refuses to give him safe passage.
Critics of left-wing President Correa pointed out that while his government claimed that Mr Assange was a victim of political persecution it attacked press freedom in his own country.
Emilio Palacio, a well-known columnist for El Universo newspaper, said journalists in Ecuador worked under the permanent threat of going to jail.
"I am very grateful to the American government not only for what it has done for me and my family, but also for what this decision means for Ecuadorean journalists," he told the AFP news agency.
Mr Palacio fled to Miami last year after a court sentenced him and the three newspaper owners - Carlos, Cesar and Nicolas Perez - to three years in jail each.
They were also ordered to pay $40m in fines and damages.
Their lawyers said the punishment was disproportionate and appealed.
The sentence was confirmed by a court in February, but President Correa announced shortly after that he had decided to pardon the accused.
Mr Correa brought the lawsuit after an article in El Universo questioned an army raid to rescue him from a violent protest by striking police officers in September 2010.
In an article published in El Universo in February, Mr Palacio referred to Mr Correa as "the dictator" and said the president had ordered soldiers to fire on the hospital.


Alastair Cook fell agonisingly short of a first Test hundred in 14 months as England controlled the first day of the third Test against India at Southampton.

The England captain seemed set to end his 27-innings wait for a century when he edged a Ravindra Jadeja long-hop down the leg side to wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni to depart for 95.
That ended a stand of 158 with Gary Ballance, who moved to his third ton in five Tests to lead England to 247-2.
While Ballance was the centurion, the day revolved around Cook, whose barren run had mirrored the poor form of his side and led to ex-England captains such as Michael Vaughan, Mike Atherton, Kevin Pietersen and former batsman Geoffrey Boycott to call for him to resign.
Cook, whose previous 27 innings had yielded only 638 runs at an average of 23.62, has repeatedly claimed he will not quit, despite presiding over a 10-match winless run.
And this knock will go some way to ending any doubt over his immediate future, with two more matches against India coming before England have an eight-month break from Test cricket.
"I was desperate to score runs," said Cook. "I was as fresh as I have ever been and now I have feel I have contributed to the team."
For so long, the Essex left-hander was on course for three figures, capitalising on being dropped on 15 to look more assured at the crease than at any point this summer.
"Mixed feelings sums it up quite well," added Cook. "If you'd offered me 95 before the game, I would have snapped your hand off, but I'm still frustrated not to get a hundred.
"I wanted to go down fighting and sometimes you do need a bit of luck. I haven't always had that."
Even though both the pitch and overhead conditions suggested the morning would be good for pace bowling, Cook opted to bat on winning the toss and was helped by the tourists' inaccuracy with the new ball.
Though he was leaving well, Cook, who edged the very first ball of the match short of the slips, was tempted into a familiar poke at debutant Pankaj Singh, in for the injured Ishant Sharma.
But, where those chances had previously been taken during his lean spell, Cook may have felt his fortunes had changed when Jadeja dropped a straightforward chance at third slip, a feeling that perhaps grew when the same man took a similar chance off the bowling of Mohammed Shami to dismiss Sam Robson for 26.
Despite losing his opening partner, Cook was growing in stature, cutting and pulling when India dropped short.
A hook off Shami took him to a first half-century in 10 innings, while the Essex opener also went past Pietersen and David Gower to third on the all-time list of England run-scorers in Test cricket.
Not looking to score on the front foot through the off side, Cook moved into the 90s with another pull off Shami.
When Jadeja delivered an awful ball that pitched halfway down the pitch, Cook was primed to move closer to three figures. However, he under-edged a pull through to Dhoni and was sent on his way.
That left Ballance, strong on the cut but also driving on both sides of the wicket, the challenge of completing his third Test hundred while at the same time seeing off the second new ball.
He reached three figures by guiding Shami to the third man boundary, ending the day on 104 in the company of Ian Bell, who should have been given out lbw to Pankaj when on nought.
Though Pankaj impressed, both Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were below the standards they set in the first two Tests, in which India earned a 1-0 series lead.
With all-rounder Stuart Binny left out in favour of batsman Rohit Sharma, Dhoni had to turn to the part-time spin of Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan as the pitch became ideal for batting after the threat of the new ball was negotiated.
Cook, who has Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes in his attack in place of Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett, has the challenge of finding the right tactics to take India wickets to come.
For now, though, the pressure on the captain's batting has been eased.


A man has been found stabbed to death in a South Gloucestershire village, police have revealed.

Thirty-one-year old Mohammed Abdurezek's body was discovered on Gibbs Lane in Siston at about 10:10 GMT on Christmas Eve.
Police said they had released a photo "in the hope someone may recognise him" and believed he was based in Bristol but had links to Swansea and Newcastle.
Officers are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
Det Ch Insp James Riccio, from Avon and Somerset Police, said: "While we're at an early stage, we're confident Mr Abdurezek was based in Bristol and had links to a number of other places across the UK, including Swansea and Newcastle.
"If you have any information which could help us, or saw or heard anything suspicious in Siston in the 48 hours before his body was discovered, please call us."


David Cameron's Game of Thrones visit to Belfast ticked a "four nations" box for the Conservatives.

But it also emphasised how much has changed in the last five years.
In 2010, the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists were partners in an electoral pact, and Mr Cameron harboured hopes Northern Ireland's "New Force" might contribute an MP to his Westminster team.
Now older and wiser, Mr Cameron knows his Northern Ireland candidates are embarked on a long process of trying to build from the bottom up.
In the 2015 electoral Game of Thrones, the New Force has been replaced by a DUP-UUP pact, and the real Northern Ireland dynasty in play is the DUP, hoping to increase its complement of MPs and return as kingmakers in a hung parliament.
If the arithmetic doesn't work out on 8 May, no doubt the DUP will be disappointed.
But so far as the current campaign is concerned that doesn't matter - the party is using the prospect of wielding influence as an impetus to motivate its vote right now.
DUP strategists appear confident of retaking the East Belfast seat lost five years ago to Alliance.
While Naomi Long may benefit from incumbency, the odds look stacked against her.
The DUP is also hopeful about profiting from any damage to the SDLP's South Belfast vote caused by Sinn FÃ©in entering the race there.
Aside from calling for an end to the bedroom tax and a guaranteed level of defence spending, one aspect of the DUP's Northern Ireland plan which Peter Robinson referred to in his recent Inside Politics interview, is its rejection of the previous proposal to cut Northern Ireland's constituencies down from 18 to 16 (as part of a general reduction in the size of the Commons).
Previously the Conservative-backed plan foundered when the Liberal Democrats pulled the plug.
But if David Cameron does return to power with DUP assistance he will find them equally opposed, at least so far as Northern Ireland is concerned.
If the DUP can consolidate or improve its Westminster position in this election, it doesn't want to allow it to be subsequently reduced by a stroke of a Boundary Commissioner's pen.


Former Aberdeen captain Alex McLeish predicts his old club will this season again finish runners-up to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.

However, he describes it as the "mission" of Rangers, the team he managed to a domestic treble in season 2002-03, to halt champions Celtic.
"I see the Dons being second," the 58-year-old told BBC Radio Scotland.
"Derek McInnes has made good acquisitions and it is there for Rangers to try to usurp him."
McLeish, who also enjoyed success in charge of Motherwell and Hibernian, joked that Rangers fans would be "ganging up" on him for tipping the club for whom he played in central defence almost 700 times.
But, as Celtic target a seventh consecutive title, the former Scotland manager thinks the Reds have the edge over Pedro Caixinha's Rangers team when it comes to being runners-up.
He is impressed with the standard of players to have arrived at Pittodrie over the summer, such as Kari Arnason, Greg Tansey, Ryan Christie, Stevie May, Greg Stewart, Nicky Maynard and Gary Mackay-Steven.
McLeish continued: "I still think Aberdeen are the favourites. They still have a really good chance of finishing second.
"Derek McInnes has bought wisely again. If you look at the guys he's recruited, there is good experience there. Stevie May - what a buy that is.
"Being first, that's the only thing that Rangers fans crave but common sense would tell you that they should be accepting second.
"People talk about 'let's stop 10 in a row'. They've got to stop seven in a row. That is their mission this season.
"I've said Aberdeen could finish above them but Rangers have still got to pull out all the stops to try to beat Celtic this season."
McLeish describes the treble-winning Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers as an "all-round terrific package", with a successful blend of man-management and coaching skills.
"Brendan came to Birmingham when he was out of work," he recalled. "I invited him in for a day's training.
"I knew he was an educated guy. I think he learned a lot about man-management over maybe a sacking or two and going on to manage players like Steven Gerrard (at Liverpool) and doing it with great aplomb."
McLeish was Scotland manager in 2007 before leaving for Birmingham City. He is urging the Tartan Army to get behind the current boss Gordon Strachan for September's World Cup qualifiers against Lithuania and Malta, insisting Scotland can win both games.
Asked if he would welcome a return to the Scotland job one day, he replied: "Yeah, I would, absolutely. You kind of evolve in your life and there comes a moment when you think 'that would really suit me'.
"I've got the experience and they say experience is forever. It would be a great challenge in the future. You never know."


Brazil forward Neymar says it is "sad" that people think his world record move from Barcelona to Paris St-Germain was motivated by money.

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The 25-year-old joined the French club for a fee of 222m euros (£200m) and he will earn 45m euros (£40.7m) a year.
Neymar, who could play in PSG's first league match of the season on Saturday, said his price was "not a burden".
PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi added that Neymar could have earned more money at another club.
The Ligue 1 club's total outlay on the Brazilian is expected to be £400m.
Asked at his official unveiling at the Parc des Princes if he was motivated by money, Neymar replied: "What I say to these people is they don't know anything about my personal life. I was never motivated by money.
"If I was following the money, I would be somewhere else, with other clubs in other countries. I'm really sad that people still think that way and I'm glad that PSG believe in me."
Al-Khelaifi added: "Neymar came here for motivation, a project that he believed in. He can get much more money than we give him, that's for sure."
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Former Portugal winger Luis Figo left Barcelona for Real Madrid in 2000, for a then world record fee of £37.4m, after Madrid paid his buyout clause. The move was greeted with anger by Barcelona fans.
When asked how he felt about being compared to Figo, Neymar said: "I have done nothing bad. I am sad about the fact that the fans think that.
"You are not obligated to remain at a club, if you wish to leave then the player has that right."
Al-Khelaifi added: "He left as a gentleman. It's not fair to compare him with other players. He was trying to delay the process out of respect for Barcelona's players and fans.
"I'm shocked by the question."
Neymar's move was protracted as La Liga officials rejected the payment of his buyout clause from his lawyers. They instead had to deposit the money at Barcelona's club office.
The La Liga stance is that PSG are violating Uefa's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, and Barcelona previously said they would report PSG to European football's governing body Uefa for a FFP breach.
Al-Khelaifi defended the deal, saying: "We will be very transparent with Financial Fair Play. I have a strong team with me. If you are thinking about it, go have a coffee and don't worry about it.
"There is only one decision that matters and that is with Uefa. We are working very transparently with Uefa.
"We don't care about speculation in the media. We care that what we are doing is transparent and completely legal."
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Al-Khelaifi said Neymar has had an instant financial impact, adding: "Before Neymar the value of the club was $1bn, now it is $1.5bn."
Defending the cost of the transfer, he said: "Today is expensive but in two or three years? I do not think it is expensive, we will definitely make more money. This is the power of PSG. It is an amazing transfer."
Neymar, who denied he left Barcelona to step out of Lionel Messi's shadow, added: "It is not a burden. I am 69kg and do not have a burden on my back."
Neymar arrived in Paris by private jet on Friday and was greeted by PSG officials, including the recently retired former left-back and Brazil international Maxwell.
The club's shop on the Champs-Elysees was adorned with images of Neymar and hundreds of fans queued to get their hands on a replica shirt of their new number 10, which set them back over £100.
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South Africa spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will join Northants on a three-match T20 Blast deal while Seekuge Prasanna is on Sri Lanka duty.

Left-armer Shamsi, 27, made his international T20 debut during June's series against England and has also featured in one Test match.
He will play the first of his three games against Derbyshire on 7 July.
"He's a very effective leg-spinner which I believe is crucial in modern T20 cricket," said coach David Ripley.


US actress and model Diana Douglas has died in Los Angeles aged 92, her family says.

Ms Douglas appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including Planes, Trains and Automobiles, ER and The West Wing.
She was the first wife of actor Kirk Douglas, and mother of actor Michael Douglas, and appeared with both in the 2003 film It Runs in the Family.
She died of cancer in a retirement home on Friday, her husband of 15 years, Donald Webster, said.
Born Diana Love Dill in Bermuda, Ms Douglas studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where she met Kirk Douglas.
She began her career with Warner Bros, and modelled on the cover of Life Magazine in 1943.
She and Kirk Douglas married in 1943 and had two sons, Michael and Joel.
The couple divorced in 1951 but remained on good terms, and appeared together in It Runs in the Family, a film about a dysfunctional family, along with Michael and their grandson Cameron.
Ms Douglas was married to actor Bill Darrid from 1956 until his death in 1992.
She married Mr Webster in 2002.
"She was a person much beloved by everyone," Mr Webster said in quotes carried by CNN.
"One of her greatest qualities was that she was always thinking of the other person."


Winger Danny Swanson has returned to St Johnstone after a frustrating five months with Hearts.

The 29-year-old spent the latter half of last season on loan at McDiarmid Park from Coventry City.
He signed for Hearts after being released by the English League One outfit but made only nine appearances for Saints' Premiership rivals.
The former Berwick Rangers, Dundee United and Peterborough United winger has signed an 18-month contract.
Swanson had been released by Hearts on Monday and was signed by Saints as a replacement for Michael O'Halloran, who had been sold to Rangers the same day.
He made 12 appearances in his previous spell with the Perth club, scoring twice.


A botnet which experts believe sent out 18% of the world's spam email has been shut down, a security firm said.

Grum's control servers were mainly based in Panama, Russia and Ukraine.
Security company FireEye and spam-tracking service SpamHaus worked with local internet service providers (ISPs) to shut down the illegal network.
A botnet is a network of computers that has been hijacked by cybercriminals, usually by using malware.
"Grum's takedown resulted from the efforts of many individuals,"
          wrote Atif Mushtaq
, a security researcher with FireEye.
"This collaboration is sending a strong message to all the spammers: Stop sending us spam. We don't need your cheap Viagra or fake Rolex."
Mr Mushtaq wrote that on Monday he learned that a Dutch server involved in Grum had been shut down. He said it "at least made a dent" in the botnet.
On Tuesday, the command and control servers (CnCs) in Panama had been shut down.
"This good news was soon followed by some bad news," he explained.
"After seeing that the Panamanian server had been shut down, the bot herders moved quickly and started pointing the rest of the CnCs to new secondary servers in Ukraine.
"So at one point, I was thinking that all we needed was to take down one Russian server, but right in front of my eyes, the bot herders started pointing their botnet to new destinations."
He noted that in the past Ukraine has been something of a "safe haven" for bot herders.
"Shutting down any servers there has never been easy."
Disabling Grum is just one of many high-profile efforts to neutralise botnets worldwide.
Russian Georgiy Avanesov was in May sentenced to four years in jail for being behind the Bredolab botnet which was believed to have been generating more than Â£80,000 a month in revenue.
Microsoft has been working to disrupt Zeus, another huge network responsible for, researchers said, millions of pounds in theft.
FireEye collaborated with other experts in the worldwide security industry to apply pressure to local ISPs to suspend the illegal operation.
Mr Mushtaq said more than 20,000 computers were still part of the botnet, but that without the active CnCs they would soon be rendered ineffective.
Grum's closure was an encouraging development in clamping down on botnets across the world, he said.
"When the appropriate channels are used, even ISPs within Russia and Ukraine can be pressured to end their cooperation with bot herders.
"There are no longer any safe havens. Most of the spam botnets that used to keep their CnCs in the USA and Europe have moved to countries like Panama, Russia, and Ukraine thinking that no one can touch them in these comfort zones.
"We have proven them wrong this time. Keep on dreaming of a junk-free inbox."


Wall Street held onto gains after minutes from the Fed's December meeting showed policymakers were more cautious than expected over future rate rises.

The minutes showed members were concerned that the incoming president would adopt policies designed to increase economic growth that would require faster interest-rate increases.
But they also urged caution over the "uncertain" outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30% at 19,942.16 points.
The S&P 500 gained 0.57%, rising to 2,270.75. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.88%, finishing at 5,477.00.
Chris Low of FTN Financial in New York said: "the market was right in thinking the minutes would tilt hawkish, but they tilted less than expected".
The minutes said that policymakers discussed "the uncertainty about how federal spending, tax, and regulatory policies might unfold and how global economic and financial conditions will evolve."
President-elect Mr Trump takes office later this month and investors are waiting details of his policies, which are expected to include cuts in taxes and increases in infrastructure spending.
US shares have rallied since Mr Trump's election victory as a result.
Shares in carmakers also helped the market move higher on Wednesday, following better than expected December sales figures. General Motors shares rose 5.5%. Ford shares rose 4.6%.
Tech giant Apple has confirmed plans to invest $1bn in a tech fund being set up by Japan's SoftBank.
SoftBank has said it is investing at least $25bn in the fund and has been in talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund for an investment that may reach $45bn.


BBC Scotland's live election debate from Edinburgh will now feature six party leaders.

The BBC had originally announced a 90-minute debate featuring  Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson, Kezia Dugdale, Willie Rennie and Patrick Harvie.
However, following confirmation of the number of candidates standing in the election, UKIP Scottish leader David Coburn will now join them.
The debate will take place at 19:30 on Sunday 21 May.
It will be the first Scottish leaders' debate of the General Election campaign and will be presented by Sarah Smith and Jackie Bird.
A BBC spokesman said UKIP's decision to field 10 parliamentary candidates qualified them for a Party Election Broadcast.
He said that, along with previous electoral support and an MEP, meant BBC Scotland would now invite the party leader to join the debate.
The Scottish Greens confirmed this week they would stand only three candidates in the general election.
The same six Scottish leaders took part in a BBC debate in the run-up to last year's Scottish Parliament elections.
The BBC election guidelines for 2017, which are published online, state that appropriate level of party coverage takes into account several factors including past and current electoral support, number of candidates and a role in wider Scottish politics.
STV has announced it will host a leaders debate with four Scottish leaders on 24 May.
BBC Scotland said it would also run a series of special "Ask the Leader" programmes, with the leaders of the SNP, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, on BBC One Scotland in the week before the election on 8 June.
Audiences will be invited to ask questions of each of the party leaders in the programmes hosted by political correspondent Glenn Campbell.


A man who developed Hepatitis C from contaminated blood is demanding more financial support from the government.

Alex Smith, from Oldham, said it was an "injustice" victims were receiving far less than those who contracted HIV through NHS blood products in the 1970s and 80s.
His solicitors have asked the Department of Health (DoH) for comparable help.
The DoH said it was "more than doubling" its annual spending.
Mr Smith said he may start a judicial review of the government's cash help for those affected.
He said: "Why are they not treating us the same, why is my life worth less than someone with HIV?
"It is an injustice."
In 2015, the then Prime Minster David Cameron apologised to thousands of victims of the contaminated blood scandal.
The government announced in July that those with stage 1 Hepatitis C would receive Â£3,500 a year, with the provision to appeal for a higher payment close to the Â£15,000 received by HIV patients who received toxic blood.
Mr Smith's solicitor, Leigh Day, said the government's wording was "unclear" and needed clarifying, adding: "It continues the existing unlawful discrimination against stage 1 HCV claimants."
The payments ran counter to a government decision which said people with Hepatitis C should receive financial support which is "broadly comparable" for those who contracted HIV, the letter added.
The Department of Health said it was "more than doubling its annual spend on the scheme for people affected by this tragedy over the next five years, and was therefore able to provide an annual payment to all infected individuals for the first time."
It added: "This is significantly more than any previous government has been able to provide for those affected by this tragedy."


A "sex obsessed" paedophile is too dangerous to be released, a High Court judge has ruled.

The parole board said Clive Hall, 44, who has served nine years in jail, was still a risk to underage girls.
Hall, from Roydon, Essex, was given an indeterminate sentence in 2006 for having unlawful consensual sexual activity with two girls.
Mrs Justice Simler said the parole board's focus was rightly on the risk posed by Hall's release.
The judge said a "considerable number of risk factors" had been identified, including Hall's "obsession with sex, feeling inadequate, lack of intimate relationships, believing men have a right to sex, and sexual interest in teenage girls".
Hall's case centred around a challenge to the legality of his ongoing detention under an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP).
Philip Rule, for Hall, argued it was unfair prisoners serving indefinite sentences might be held alongside inmates convicted more recently of the same offences.
IPP sentences were abolished in December 2012 under the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act.
Mrs Justice Simler ruled that IPP sentences remained lawful.
The court heard Hall, who groomed 14 and 15-year-old girls he met via the internet, was given an extended supervision order after serving a three-month sentence for possessing child pornography images.
At his trial he was ordered to remain in jail for at least three-and-a-half years, reduced on appeal to two-and-a-half, before he could be considered for parole.
The minimum term expired in December 2008, but Hall was still detained.


Bethany Firth's third gold at the Paralympics left her as Britain's most decorated medallist at the Rio Games.

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The county Down woman, 20, produced a dominant swim to win the S14 200m individual medley to bring her medal haul up to three gold and a silver.
Her swimming team-mate Stephanie Millward won five medals but only two of those were gold.
"I am so happy with everything I have achieved here," said Firth, who won a gold for Ireland at London 2012.
"The medals all mean the same to me. I trained really hard in all four strokes and I am just really happy that I got them."
Firth was joined by Dame Sarah Storey, Hannah Cockcroft and equestrian competitors Natasha Baker and Sophie Christiansen in clinching three titles as Britain finished second in the medals table with 64 gold.
The Northern Irishwoman began her gold rush by retaining her 100m backstroke title and after winning the 200m freestyle, silver in the 100m breaststroke was followed by Saturday night's 200m individual medley triumph.
Seaforde swimmer Firth said that she thoroughly enjoyed being part of the successful British team.
"We were all really encouraging each other. There were a lot of different sports and people doing well in them.
"We also had a lot of support at the pool and the noise was amazing there."
As a 16-year-old, Firth clinched the 100m backstroke gold for Ireland in London and went on to win three silver medals at the IPC World Championships in Montreal a year later before opting to switch allegiance to Great Britain.


A British woman who died in Pakistan in a so-called honour killing was raped before her death, the officer in charge of the investigation has said.

Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died in July in northern Punjab.
The Pakistani chief investigator also told the BBC Ms Shahid's father and former husband carried out her murder.
He added he was seeking to have her mother and sister returned to Pakistan to be questioned about their role in the murder.
Read more about this and other stories across Leeds and West Yorkshire
Two men have already appeared in court in Pakistan in connection with Ms Shahid's death.
Her former husband, Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel, is accused of murder and is reported to have confessed to strangling her with her scarf, according to local police.
Chaudhry Muhammad Shahid, her father, is being held as an accessory to her murder.
Both have been remanded until 5 September.
Ms Shahid had been visiting family in the village of Pandori when she died and her relatives initially claimed she had suffered a heart attack.
Her second husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim, believes she was the victim of a so-called honour killing as her family did not approve of their marriage.
A post-mortem examination confirmed she died as a result of being strangled.


Michael Garcia, the American lawyer hired by Fifa to investigate the World Cup bidding process before criticising the organisation's summary of his own report and eventually resigning, is a former prosecutor with a history of launching corruption probes.

He was a surprise choice to lead the Fifa investigation, and ruffled feathers at football's governing body. On one occasion, he turned up unannounced to interview members of the senior executive committee who had cast votes in the World Cup bids.
Even before he dismissed Fifa's report as "erroneous", there were signs that he was not afraid to pick a fight with his employers.
In an interview last year he said his authority was to investigate "any official, top down, for misconduct... no-one is above the ethics code".
He acknowledged that he took on the investigation as an outsider. "I come into this case with no history or experience of what might have happened," he said. "I will look at the facts and my jurisdiction and make decisions on whether the ethics code was violated."
In a recent talk to lawyers in London about ethics in sport, Mr Garcia said Fifa's ethic's code needed transparency and leadership - a comment seen as a thinly veiled critique of Fifa boss Sepp Blatter.
He eventually quit Fifa in December 2014, saying that a "lack of leadership" at the organisation had led to his decision.
Mr Garcia made his name in his native New York, serving as a federal prosecutor with the Southern District of New York from 1992 to 2001 and working on a series of high-profile cases.
These included the prosecution of four defendants for the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, and the investigation into the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
He once told his daughter that his goal was "to punish people who do bad things and break the law".
In March 2003 President George W Bush appointed Mr Garcia, a Republican, as assistant secretary for immigration and customs enforcement. The post put him in charge of more than 20,000 staff and a budget of more than $4bn.
Later he moved back to New York's Southern District, serving as a US attorney from 2005-2008. There he supervised investigations into securities fraud, bringing a series of insider trading prosecutions. An investigation he led ultimately forced the resignation of Democratic governor Eliot Spitzer over a prostitution scandal.
But he also took on some major international corruption and fraud cases, including the oil-for-food programme in Iraq and alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by the Norwegian energy firm Statoil.
He is currently a partner at private US law firm Kirkland and Ellis, and it was from here that he was chosen by Fifa in 2012 to lead the investigation into the bidding process that awarded the World Cup to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
A year later he was among 18 Americans barred from entering Russia in Moscow's response to the Magnitsky List, which banned Russian officials from the US.
Married to an FBI agent, he has kept largely out of the media spotlight and has not run for public office, despite speculation that he could be in a strong position to do so.


Craig David has scored his first number one album for 16 years.

The singer's sixth studio album, his first since 2010, outsold its nearest rival - Bon Iver's 22, A Million - by 4,500 copies.
David said: "Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I don't know what's going on right now."
He described scoring the second number one album of his career with Following My Intuition as "the most amazing feeling".
David had last hit the top spot with Born To Do It in 2000.
"I'm seeing two generations connecting - the people who have been with me since 1999 and the crew who are just discovering me, both connecting on the same music," he said.
All of the top four albums this week were new entries.
My Universe by The Shires debuted at number three, becoming the fastest-selling album by a British country music act in chart history.
Van Morrison's Keep Me Singing, the singer's 36th studio album, entered at number four.
Radiohead rounded off the top five with A Moon Shaped Pool, which leapt 80 places up the chart after a new deluxe edition was released.
In the singles chart, X Factor winner James Arthur held on to the number one spot for a second week with Say You Won't Let Go.
Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk rose to number two, while The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey's Closer dropped a place to three.
Calvin Harris's My Way held its number four position, while Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj rose one place to break the top five for the first time.
Further down the top 10, One Direction's Niall Horan scored his first chart hit as a solo artist, with his debut single This Town landing at number nine, following a surprise release last Thursday.
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Police have launched a murder inquiry after a violent attack on two men in Glasgow on Christmas Day.

Officers were called to a disturbance in the back courts of Ashgill Road, Saracen, at about 04:00.
They found a 43-year-old man with serious injuries. He was taken to hospital, but died a short time later.
A 50-year-old man was also injured in the incident. Police said the man was in a stable condition at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Detectives have appealed for information from the local community as they try to identify the attacker.
Det Ch Insp Paul Livingstone, the senior investigating officer, said: "This was a violent attack on two men in the early hours of Christmas Day, which has sadly culminated in the death of a 43-year-old man.
"I would like to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity of Ashgill Road at the time of the incident to come forward.
"This area is highly residential, and I am confident that there will be people who may have heard the disturbance or who may have witnessed it that we haven't yet spoken to.
"I would urge these people to speak to police. A man has lost his life following a sustained attack on Christmas Day, and his family and friends have been left shattered."
Police officers have been carrying out door-to door inquiries and examining CCTV footage, with additional officers patrolling the area near the attack.
Det Ch Insp Livingstone added: "Understandably, local residents in the area will be shocked and concerned. However, I would like to take this opportunity to reassure them that we are working hard to identify who is responsible."


Britain's Laura Trott surged to her second gold medal of the European Track Cycling Championships with victory in the scratch race in Switzerland.

The double Olympic champion added the title to the gold she won in the women's team pursuit on Thursday with a dominant performance in Grenchen.
This time Trott, 23, won individual honours over 40 laps of the track.
She had to bide her time before powering past the field to win from Kirsten Wild and Roxanne Fournier.
It was the ninth European title of Trott's career and something of a bonus as she was using the scratch event as preparation for the weekend's omnium
"The scratch race is the first race of the omnium. As it was just 40 laps, we thought 'why not, let's do it'."
Britain's Jonathan Dibben lies ninth in the overall standings after three of the six events in the men's omnium, 22 points behind leader Viktor Manakov of Russia.
The Southampton-born rider finished fifth in the scratch race and fourth in the individual pursuit, but could only take 14th place in the elimination race.
Ollie Wood finished 15th in the men's points race with three points.