Since the time of Don Quixote, the winds have blown strongly across the Spanish plains.

But these days, Cervantes' deluded hero would be more likely to go tilting at turbines rather than mills.
This is because sunny Spain has established itself as a European superpower in wind energy as well as in solar.
But just as it establishes its position as a global leader in the sector, the government is threatening to pull the rug from under the industry's feet.
For the first time in Spain's history, wind contributed the same proportion (21%) of electricity as nuclear last year, according to Red Electrica de Espana (REE), Spain's national grid. Both now contribute more than any other power source.
This record feat appeared to confound the energy sceptics, who have argued that low-carbon renewable energy production is too intermittent and expensive to be a reliable alternative to coal, gas and nuclear.
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In Spain's renewable energy success story, encompassing wind, solar (photovoltaic and thermal) and hydro, installed power capacity has risen to 49.1%, says REE.
Wind alone generated nearly 54,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity last year, providing power to about 10 million households, and is second only to Germany in terms of installed capacity.
So how has Spain achieved this?
"Spain benefited from wind-energy-friendly regulation in the 1990s," says Sonia Franco, at Asociacion Empresarial Eolica (AEE), the Spanish wind energy association.
"This gave visionary companies the confidence to invest. About 30bn euros (Â£25bn; $41bn) has been invested in the sector since the first turbine was erected in 1984," she says.
And in marked contrast to some of the nimby attitudes displayed by many Britons towards onshore wind turbines, Spanish villagers welcomed the new technology with open arms, Ms Franco says.
This enthusiasm was perhaps related to the fact that government subsidies for renewables were not passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity prices.
This policy contributed to what Spain calls its "tariff deficit" across the entire power generation sector, thought to amount to 25bn to 30bn euros.
Something needed to give, and a cash-strapped Spanish government, reeling from banking and property crises that necessitated a 41bn euro bailout package from the European Union (EU) in 2012, abruptly pulled the plug on government support for its energy sector in the same year.
Not only this, but it imposed a 7% tax on all electricity generation revenues, whether renewable or not.
These measures were followed up by further retroactive cuts that could result in "subsidy reduction of about 1.2bn euros for the wind industry in 2014", says Ms Franco. "We don't really know yet what the full financial impact will be."
As, Eduard Sala de Vedruna, director of global wind power at research company IHS, says: "Spain is the victim of its own success."
This has had a chilling effect on European investment in the sector.
"Installation levels in Spain have been declining sharply [since the government withdrew its support]," says Pierre Tardieu, of the Brussels-based European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
"There used to be 41,000 wind energy jobs in Spain; now there are only 23,000. The politics of this have been really toxic."
The figures speak for themselves. In 2012, Spain installed 1,110 megawatts (MW) of new wind capacity. By the end of last year, this figure had dropped to just 175MW.
* Total installed capacity
Source: European Wind Energy Association
But Spain is not alone. Most EU countries have scaled back on their level of new wind capacity installation.
By contrast, Germany has powered ahead, increasing new capacity by 2,297MW in 2012 and by 3,238MW last year.
The UK also strongly increased new capacity. This is especially ironic given the impression that wind is a controversial and difficult issue in the country, with major power companies recently pulling out of large-scale offshore wind projects and the Conservative Party reportedly considering curbing the expansion of onshore wind turbines.
"The 2013 market was driven by Germany and the UK. About 50% of new installation has come from these two countries," says Mr Tardieu.
But globally, the investment outlook for wind still looks reasonably bright, according to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2014 report, produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
It estimates that the sector attracted about $80bn (Â£48bn; 58bn euros) of investment worldwide in 2013, just 1% down on the previous year.
Unep concludes that a sharp fall in the cost of wind turbines and a general improvement in the cost-competitiveness of the sector has enabled a growing number of wind projects globally to be built without any government support at all.
"Lower costs have enabled subsidies for new projects to be reduced, and brought wind and solar much closer to full competitiveness with fossil-fuel alternatives," it states.
The report says that, in the absence of cheap indigenous coal or gas, and given plentiful sunshine and wind, solar and wind power can be cheaper than fossil fuel generation.
Meanwhile, the European Commission, the EU's executive body, believes that while state subsidies for renewables have helped progress towards achieving carbon reduction goals, they have also caused "serious market distortions and increasing costs to consumers".
Falling wind infrastructure costs, coupled with the country's serious debt problems, have convinced the cash-strapped Spanish government that subsidies for the sector are no longer needed.
Mariano Rajoy's government seems to believe the industry is now so strong it can withstand a clawback of some of the funds given to it in previous decades.
No wonder Spain's wind sector feels like it is being punished for its success.
The country's dramatic shift towards renewables, along with a reduction in power output from traditional greenhouse gas-emitting sources, helped Spain reduce its CO2 emissions to 61.4 million tonnes last year, 23.1% lower than in 2012 - a significant achievement.
January was another record month for wind power in Spain, and the industry made the most of its installed capacity, with wind energy production reaching 6,626GWh for the first time ever, 3.1% higher than the previous record set last November.
But there will always be a trade-off between governments' desire for economic competitiveness and environmental goals, argues Mr Sala de Vedruna.
"The fact remains that, in most countries, renewables still receive more subsidies than other cheaper energy sources, such as coal," he says. "Short-term goals often conflict with longer-term goals."
So while such political and regulatory uncertainty swirls around the sector, Spanish wind turbines could find their rapid expansion across the country's high plains brought to an abrupt halt.


Tyson Fury's suspension from boxing could be a "blessing in disguise", his uncle and trainer Peter Fury says.

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Fury, 28, had his licence to fight temporarily revoked the day after he gave up his world heavyweight titles to focus on mental health problems.
Peter Fury said his nephew is being treated for "a form of manic depression".
"He now acknowledges that there is an issue. That's the start to recovery," Peter Fury told BBC Sport.
"But maybe it is a blessing in disguise he is taking some time out and getting this treatment, as it has been lingering on for quite a while."
On Wednesday, Fury vacated his WBO and WBA world heavyweight titles. The British Boxing Board of Control then announced his licence had been suspended.
But Peter Fury believes the former champion will be back in the ring by April and suggested he could become a role model for young people suffering with depression.
"It just shows people it can affect you no matter what you are," he added. "If depression can affect the linear heavyweight champion of the world, it's a serious problem.
"How many young people do you hear about who have committed suicide down to depression? Depression is an illness."
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Former world heavyweight champion David Haye said Fury's suspension could be the "catalyst" for him to re-invent himself and come back stronger.
"It's just the beginning of [Fury's] story, not the end," he said.
"I'm hoping he uses this to regenerate himself. [He can be] way better than he's ever been. He'll be back, right as rain, and stronger mentally for it.
"This might not be the end, this might be the start, the catalyst that turns his career around. He can re-invent himself."
Haye, 36, admitted he too had overcome bouts of depression earlier in his career.
"It's not self-inflicted, it just happens," Haye said. "I had it in small quantities and there was nothing wrong with me.
"Physically I was in fantastic shape. I was undefeated, but found myself locked in my room for days at a time in the dark, not talking to anyone, turning my phone off.
"I don't know what caused it. For whatever reason I just laid in bed, under the covers, in the dark, shut the curtains, and stayed there for days."


Kent's fire service will have to make savings of at least £8m over the next four years to balance the books, it has been revealed.

Chief Fire Officer Anne Millington said that was the "likely scenario" but there would be no firefighter redundancies or closure of stations.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said it believed the savings could be higher and has warned of job cuts.
The government grant for 2016-17 is due to be announced before Christmas.
Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority chairman Nick Chard said there was still uncertainty but the worst case scenario was as much as £18m.
Mark Simmons, from the FBU, said it would be difficult "to avoid compulsory redundancies" if this figure turned out to be correct.
The service is currently consulting on the plans.
The documents say the service has a natural turnover of 30 firefighters a year and they might not be replaced, and some fire engines might be crewed by three staff although the aim would be four.
Proposals also include moving fire engines to areas where it is harder to get staff cover and where there are high numbers of road crashes.
The plans are based on the service increasing its council tax share by just under 2%.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said fatalities and injuries were down 30% and 55% over the last decade respectively.
"This means the service needs to adapt to meet new demands and to ensure it is continuing to work in the most efficient way."
Consultation runs until 16 January.


Pope Francis has condemned the "complicit silence" about the killing of Christians during a Good Friday service in Rome.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims joined him for the Way of the Cross ceremony, recalling Jesus' crucifixion.
Among the cross bearers were Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and Nigerians who had escaped Boko Haram persecution.
The service came a day after almost 150 people were killed in an al-Shabab attack on a Kenyan university.
"We still see today our persecuted brothers, decapitated and crucified for their faith in you [Jesus], before our eyes and often with our complicit silence," Pope Francis said, presiding over the ceremony at the Colosseum.
Earlier, he condemned the attack in Kenya, where Christians were singled out and shot, as an act of "senseless brutality".
In another Good Friday ceremony, Pope Francis listened as the Vatican's official preacher Raniero Cantalamessa denounced the "disturbing indifference of world institutions in the face of all this killing of Christians".
He too mentioned the Kenya attack, as well as the beheading of 22 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya in February.
Pope Francis has spoken out against the persecution of Christians before, saying that the world would be justified using military force to combat the "unjust aggression" by IS.


At least seven people, including a gunman, have died in a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in the US.

The attacker "ambushed" a policeman at the scene, shooting him multiple times, before a second officer returned fire, killing the gunman, said authorities.
The shot officer was among three men critically injured in the attack in Oak Creek, suburban Milwaukee.
Later local TV showed police vehicles at another suburb, near what is believed to be the gunman's home.
Reports said the FBI and a bomb squad had gone to search the building, in Cudahy, about 2.5 miles (4km) north of the temple, and had evacuated several blocks.
Police said they believe there was only one shooter, despite initial witness reports of more than one gunman.
President Barack Obama spoke of his sadness at the shooting, which comes just over two weeks after a gun massacre left 12 people dead at a Colorado cinema.
In Pictures: Sikh temple shooting
Hundreds of people turned out for an impromptu candlelit vigil in the nearby city of Milwaukee for the victims of the temple shooting on Sunday evening.
At a press conference, Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said they were treating the attack as a "domestic terrorist-type incident", and that the FBI would take over the criminal investigation.
He said he could not release any information about the shooter, who local media reports said was a white male aged about 40.
Women and children hid in closets as the gunfire erupted shortly before 10:30 local time (15:30 GMT) on Sunday.
Four people were dead inside the temple and three outside - including the gunman, said the authorities.
"The best information is that there was only one gunman," said Chief Edwards.
He said the gunman had opened fire on one of the first officers to arrive at the scene, as the officer tended to a victim outside the temple.
The policeman was shot multiple times, before a second officer exchanged gunfire with the suspect, fatally shooting him, added Chief Edwards.
At least three critically injured men were being treated at Milwaukee's Froedtert Hospital, said officials at that facility.
They included the shot police officer, although he was expected to survive, said Chief Edwards.
Local news station WISN 12 reported that one of the injured had gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, the second had shots to the face and the third had gunshot wounds to the neck.
Oak Creek is a town of about 30,000 people in the south-east corner of the state.
The website for the temple says it opened in 1999 and now has a congregation of 350-400. Sunday morning was the busiest time of worship, members of the congregation said.
Devendar Nagra, whose sister escaped injury by hiding in the temple's kitchen, told the Associated Press: "We never thought this could happen to our community. We never did anything wrong to anyone."
Suni Singh told Newsradio 620 WTMJ that he had spoken to a friend inside the temple at the time.
"My friend called and said, 'I heard the shot, and two people falling down in the parking lot.' He saw the shooter reloading the gun," Mr Singh said.
Darshan Dhaliwal, who identified himself as a leader at the temple, told the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel: "This is insanity."
President Obama said he was "deeply saddened" by Sunday's incident.
"Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who were killed and wounded," he said in statement released by the White House.
"As we mourn this loss which took place at a house of worship, we are reminded how much our country has been enriched by Sikhs, who are a part of our broader American family."
Local politician Mark Honadel called the attack "craziness".
The state representative told CNN: "Unfortunately, when this type of stuff hits your area, you say to yourself, 'why?' But in today's society, I don't think there's any place that's free from idiots."


Nineteen police officers and staff have a case to answer for misconduct in their dealings with a domestic violence victim before her murder, a major investigation has found.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said Jacqueline Oakes, of Birmingham, was let down by a raft of procedural errors and failings to identify the risk she faced.
She was battered to death in 2014.
The West Midlands force said it agreed with the findings on its employees.
See more stories from across Birmingham and the Black Country here
In all, the actions of 40 staff were examined by the IPCC - "one of the biggest investigations" it has carried out, it said.
The inquiry looked into 19 reported incidents involving Ms Oakes, 51, and her killer Marcus Musgrove in the run-up to her death at her home on 14 January 2014.
Musgrove was jailed for life that year.
Errors were made by officers and control room staff, the IPCC said.
Among the failures, the investigation found, were those of five detectives who did not ensure they were adequately informed before determining that Musgrove should be bailed.
On 10 January 2014, four days before she died, Ms Oakes gave a police statement about an incident in which Musgrove breached his bail conditions.
There was an outstanding warrant for Musgrove for the breach when she died.
The IPCC said it found there were at the time "significant organisational failings" in the way the force managed outstanding arrests of this type, which meant "arrest attempts" were not made until 12 January 2014.
Ms Oakes's daughter, Jenny, 36, said: "I will never be able to understand how such a slack attitude to a situation of potential escalating domestic abuse can be taken by so many people at a police force. It is shocking."
In addition to the 19 employees said to have a case to answer for misconduct, a now retired officer was found to have a case to answer for gross misconduct.
No misconduct was identified for a further 20 employees whose actions were investigated.
The IPCC said two officers would attend misconduct meetings, with others subjected to "management action to address the failings".
No action is to be taken against the retired officer.
Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe, of West Midlands Police, said: "We acknowledge that some of our officers and staff failed in their duty to complete certain checks, risk assessments and, on occasion, follow the force's domestic abuse policy and for this we sincerely apologise to the family of Jacqueline Oakes."


Mumtaz Qadri, 26, became a hero to many Pakistanis on 4 January when he killed Punjab Governor Salman Taseer - the man for whom he worked as a bodyguard.

Mr Qadri says he was angered by the governor's backing for proposed amendments to the country's blasphemy laws.
Police officials say he had made up his mind to kill someone five days earlier, when he heard an inflammatory speech by a cleric at a religious gathering in Rawalpindi.
Governor Taseer just became his easiest target.
But psychologists say the story must have started earlier.
Some years ago, Mr Qadri, who had just finished high school and trained as an elite police commando, was assigned to the security detail of a United Nations mission.
On one occasion, members of the mission needed to stop a cab, but the cab they hailed to did not stop.
Mr Qadri became angry and started firing his official gun.
Luckily, no one was hurt. But the incident established Mr Qadri as what the police official who described the episode called a "trigger-happy" individual.
"These types of people hold their emotions or faith as the highest value, and they never repent," says Dr Zahid Mehmood, who heads the Department of Clinical Psychology at Government College, Lahore.
A police video of Mr Qadri's interrogation shows him insisting: "Yes, Salman Taseer got what he deserved for insulting the Prophet."
Mr Qadri's brother, Dilpazeer Awan, describes him as a "gentle, warm and obedient" person who prayed five times a day, as Muslims are obliged to do.
"He was younger than all his brothers, but he was far more religious than us," Mr Awan told the BBC.
But police officers investigating the case think otherwise.
"It is wrong to say that he was deeply religious," says Bin Yameen, the head of police operations in Islamabad.
"His profile shows him to be a worldly person, someone who would grow a beard, then shave it off and grow long hair. And he often fell in love with different women.
"If he were such a lover of the Prophet, he would have committed a murder a long time ago - as he has often been on security details assigned to take offenders booked under the blasphemy law from jail to the court and back."
Mr Yameen confirmed that Mr Qadri, along with 11 other elite police guards, had been declared a "security risk".
"We have asked the responsible officials to explain their position, as Mumtaz Qadri should not have been assigned to Governor Taseer's security," he said.
Many police officials believe psychological profiling may help in such matters, although it is not foolproof.
"Psychological profiling is essential to determine the mindset of operatives who are assigned to sensitive duties," says the head of the National Police Academy, Chaudhry Yaqoob.


The FBI is investigating the St Louis Cardinals on charges that the US baseball team hacked into the computers of a rival club to steal player data, the New York Times has reported.

The alleged cyber-attack against the Houston Astros is thought to be the first time a professional sports team has been hacked by another.
Trade discussions and proprietary statistics were reportedly targeted.
Major League Baseball has confirmed the investigation.
Baseballs officials told the Washington Post that the breach is being taken seriously in the sport, which is known for its data-heavy approach to managing players and schedules.
The Cardinals said they were co-operating with authorities but did not comment further. The Astros said they would not comment while the investigation was ongoing.
The Cardinals, which currently have the best record in baseball, are one of the most popular teams in the sport.
They have won the sport's championship, the World Series, 11 times, last earning the title in 2011. Only the New York Yankees have won more.
The Astros and the Cardinals were divisional rivals in the National League between 1994 and 2012.


Two men who hit a 21-year-old man in the face as he walked home in Edinburgh are being sought by police.

The unprovoked attack happened in Elm Row at about 00:30 on Friday.
A 21-year-old had just passed the Jeremiah's Taproom pub when he was assaulted.
The men hit him in the face, cutting his lip and causing him to fall to the ground before they walked off down Montgomery Street.
Det Con Iain Wallace, of Police Scotland, said: "This appears to be a random assault which resulted in the victim, who did not know his attackers, sustaining a painful injury to his mouth.
"We are keen to hear from anyone who remembers seeing any suspicious activity on Elm Row during the time of this incident and would ask those with information to contact police immediately.
"In particular, we are eager to hear from a group of people who entered the street from a nearby common stair while the assault was taking place.
"These individuals may have seen something that can help our investigation and I would ask them to get in touch with us."


The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said she wants the UK to have the "largest amount of access" to the single market after Brexit.

Ruth Davidson was speaking the day after the prime minister said the UK could not hold on to "bits" of the EU.
The Brexit debate has largely focused on whether placing controls on the movement of EU citizens will mean the UK has to leave the single market.
But Ms Davidson said free trade was more important to her than immigration.
Ms Davidson was a vocal supporter of the Remain campaign ahead of June's referendum, which saw the UK vote to leave the EU by 52% to 48%, while Scottish voters backed remain by 62% to 38%.
Brexit talks with the EU are expected to begin as early as April - with opposition parties criticising the UK government about a "lack of clarity" over what it hopes to achieve.
Prime Minister Theresa May said at the weekend that she would give more details in the coming weeks, while emphasising: "We will be able to have control of our borders, control of our laws."
Mrs May added: "But of course we still want the best possible deal for us, companies to be able to trade, UK companies to be able to trade in and operate within the European Union and also European companies to be able to trade with the UK and operate within the UK."
Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Davidson said the government was right to take time to listen to people's hopes and concerns about Brexit without giving a "running commentary on every single meeting that you have, and what everybody said".
When asked what the best possible deal would be, Ms Davidson said it would be for the whole of the UK to "have the most amount of free trade within the EU that it is possible" and an "an ability outside of the EU to be able to negotiate trade deals with other countries".
She also said that the single market was not a "binary choice" between being in or not, with different levels of access possible, and that she wanted the "largest amount of access" to the single market.
Ms Davidson said she was "heartened to hear the prime minister say that she wants UK businesses to have the greatest deal of access and ability to operate within the single market".
And while she said it was important to acknowledge the concerns people have about immigration, she did not regard it as something that was more important than free trade.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that a so-called soft Brexit - where the UK retains access to the single market - would see the prospect of Scottish independence "put aside" in the short term.
She told the BBC: "We've put forward very detailed plans about how we avoid a hard Brexit and the reason it's important to avoid a hard Brexit, let's not forget, is because that will have a devastating impact on our economy and on jobs. So I'm in a sense willing to put aside my preferred option of independence in the EU to see if we can explore a consensus and compromise option."
Ms Sturgeon has also said she felt Mrs May has "no plan" for leaving the EU, and said the prime minister was prioritising "appeasing right-wing Brexiteers" over the UK's national interests.
But Ms Davidson said the SNP was desperately trying to "whip up extra support for independence that hasn't materialised" by "trying to exacerbate any differences between the UK government's position and the SNP's position".
She added: "Actually, I just don't think that there is a huge amount there, when both the UK government and the Scottish government are saying they want the whole UK, and Scotland as part of the UK, to have the best trading deals around the world including within the EU."
The Tory leader also suggested that her party may rule out coalitions with the SNP following May's local government elections, saying: "I can't imagine there's going to be terribly much appetite to empower the SNP."
Scottish Labour have also questioned Ms Sturgeon's position over Brexit, with leader Kezia Dugdale telling Good Morning Scotland that "good faith is fast becoming blind faith" over the first minister's plans.
She said she "absolutely" supported Scotland's "ability to have access to the single market", but argued that Ms Sturgeon had failed to produce "real evidence" of how this could happen if the rest of the UK leaves.
The Greens have claimed that the rights of Scottish people can only be protected if Scotland is an "independent nation within the EU". Meanwhile the Scottish Lib Dems have argued against a second independence referendum, but have called for a vote on the final Brexit deal.


Skywatchers across the globe are observing Mercury transit the Sun, the little planet's third such pass of 14 it will make this century.

Mercury's sojourn between Earth and our star lasts from 11:12 until 18:42 GMT.
It will not make another transit until 2019 and then 2032.
The event is impossible - and dangerous - to view with the naked eye or binoculars, but astronomy groups worldwide are offering the chance view it through filtered telescopes.
Live views from space and ground telescopes are also available online.
They show Mercury as a tiny black circle, smaller but darker than many sunspots, slowly traversing the Sun's giant yellow disc.
Where to view the transit of Mercury
Mercury spins around the Sun every 88 days, but its orbit is tilted relative to the Earth's. It is that discrepancy which makes it relatively rare for the three bodies to line up in space.
From western Europe, north-western Africa and much of the Americas, Mercury's seven-and-a-half-hour glide across the Sun will be visible in its entirety. A further swathe of the planet (see map below) will catch part of the transit, depending on local sunrise and sunset times.
The only land masses to miss out completely are Australasia, far eastern Asia and Antarctica.
Because Mercury is so small - just one-third as big as Earth and, from our perspective, 1/150th of the Sun's diameter - its transit can only be glimpsed under serious magnification; the "eclipse glasses" used by thousands of people to view last year's solar eclipse will be useless.
And to avoid permanent eye damage, any telescope must be fitted with a solar filter before being trained on the Sun. The British Astronomical Association explains on its website how amateur stargazers can enjoy the spectacle safely.
Open University's Prof David Rothery said the celestial event would not present any novel scientific opportunities - but was special nonetheless.
"From this transit, we're unlikely to learn anything we don't already know," he told BBC Inside Science. "But what a wonderful event for showing people Mercury. It's a hard planet to see.
"Historically, transits were of immense importance."
In the 1700s, for example, it was observations of Mercury and Venus slipping across the Sun that allowed astronomers, led by Edmund Halley, to pin down the dimensions of the known Solar System.
Prof Rothery is a Mercury expert and a leading scientist on the European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission to the diminutive planet, which will launch in 2017 or 2018.
Mercury has already been visited by two Nasa probes: Mariner 10 flew past in 1974 and 1975 and Messenger spent four years in orbit until its planned crash landing in 2015.
"[Messenger] told us an awful lot. It really told us we don't understand Mercury - because there's a lot of things which just don't stack up," Prof Rothery said.
"It's an airless body, with lots of craters... But there's been a long history of volcanic activity, fault activity - and the composition, that began to be revealed by Messenger, is weird.
"There's very little iron at the surface but it must have a ginormous iron core, because it generates a magnetic field - which Venus, Mars and the Moon don't."


The UK is "deeply elitist" according to an analysis of the backgrounds of more than 4,000 business, political, media and public sector leaders.

Small elites, educated at independent schools and Oxbridge, still dominate top roles, suggests the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission study.
It says key institutions do not represent the public they serve.
The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference of top private heads called the study "unreasonable and unfair".
HMC chairman Richard Harman, headmaster of Uppingham School, said that to suggest that a high number of people in positions of influence were there simply because they went to private schools was "lazy stereotyping and underestimates the diversity within the sector".
71% of senior judges
62% of senior armed forces officers
55% of top civil servants
36% of the Cabinet
43% of newspaper columnists
Commission chairman Alan Milburn said the UK's top jobs remain "disproportionately held by people from a narrow range of backgrounds".
"The institutions that matter appear to be a cosy club."
Mr Milburn told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the report serves as a "wake-up call" to schools, universities and government.
He said: "We want the best people in the top jobs, the concern of this is the dominance they exercise.
"If there is one thing that unlocks this huge challenge for the country about the excessive dominance at the top it is the improvements in education."
"Locking out a diversity of talents and experiences makes Britain's leading institutions less informed, less representative and ultimately less credible than they should be," warned Mr Milburn in his foreword to the report.
"This risks narrowing the conduct of public life to a small few who are very familiar with each other but far less familiar with the day-to-day challenges facing ordinary people in the country.
"That is not a recipe for a healthy democratic society."
The commission says its findings are based on one of the most detailed analyses of its type ever undertaken.
It found that those who had attended fee-paying schools included:
Also privately educated were 45% of chairmen and women of public bodies, 44% of the Sunday Times Rich List, 43% of newspaper columnists and 26% of BBC executives.
In sport, 35% of the England, Scotland and Wales rugby union teams and 33% of the England cricket team also went to private schools.
In politics, half the House of Lords attended independent schools, along with 36% of the cabinet, 33% of MPs and 22% of the shadow cabinet.
This compares with 7% of the UK population as a whole.
Figures for top people who went to Oxford and Cambridge paint a similar picture.
Some 75% of senior judges, 59% of the Cabinet, 57% of permanent secretaries, 50% of diplomats, 47% of newspaper columnists, 38% of the House of Lords, 33% of the shadow cabinet and 24% of MPs hold Oxbridge degrees.
In contrast, less than 1% of the whole population are Oxbridge graduates while 62% did not attend university, says the study.
The report describes the figures as "elitism so stark that it could be called social engineering".
The authors recognise that many talented people attend independent schools and top universities, with 32% of those with AAA or better in last year's A-level results attending private schools.
However, they ask whether top jobs are about what you know or who you know and whether some talent is being locked out.
The report calls for a national effort to "break open" Britain's elite, with:
Sir Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College in Berkshire, says every independent school should start an academy - something his school has overseen.
He said: "We need to be more radical than [Alan Milburn] is currently proposing.
"If we look more at those state schools that are doing very well, they are very heavily dominated by the middle classes.
"They are the grammar schools, they are the academies and comprehensives in strongly middle class areas.
"I think to be obsessed, as Alan is by private schools, is just a little bit out of date."
Mr Harman said the key to improving social mobility was to allow more young people to access independent schools through bursaries and scholarships.
He said their strength was in developing pupils' talents, creativity, character and individuality, as well as achieving high academic results.
"We are part of the solution not the root of the problem."
The Sutton Trust, which campaigns for greater social mobility through education, welcomed the recommendations.
"It is clear more needs to be done at government level to address the issue," said policy director Lee Elliot Major.
Prof Steve West, chairman of the University Alliance group of business and technology-focused universities, urged a "major rethink of what success looks like in the 21st Century".
"There is a massive breadth of routes to success and huge diversity of opportunity in the global, technology-rich graduate employment market."
A spokeswoman for Oxford University said the institution devoted "a huge amount of resource to widening access and student support" but added that diversifying intake would require wider action.
"Social mobility is an issue stretching back to birth and beyond and early inequality of attainment is one of the major barriers to progression."


London 2012 gold medallist Katie Taylor suffered a second defeat in six weeks as she was beaten in the World Championship lightweight semi-finals.

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Irishwoman Taylor, bidding to win a sixth consecutive World title, lost a split decision against France's Estelle Mossely in Kazakhstan.
Taylor, 29, was given all four rounds by one judge but the other two judges handed Mossely a countback victory.
The Bray fighter takes bronze but does secure Rio Olympics qualification.
Taylor's domination of the 60kg division was dented last month by a unanimous points defeat by  Azerbaijan's Yana Alekseevna at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey.
The Irish boxer hadn't lost a fight at the world championships since 2005 when she was defeated by North Korea's Kang Kum-Hui in the quarter-finals.
The judging appeared decidedly confusing during Thursday's contest with Taylor given the third round on all three cards despite the Frenchwoman appearing to dominate the round.
Taylor then appeared to edge the final round only for two of the judges to plump for Mossely.
That left Taylor a 40-36 winner on one of the cards while the two judges that marked the contest 38-38 gave Mossely a countback victory.
The Irishwoman had beaten Mossely in their three previous contests.
Irish light-welterweight Kellie Harrington is through to the final of the World Championships after an emphatic semi-final victory over Canada's Sara Cali in Kazakhstan.
The Dublin fighter is guaranteed at least a silver medal ahead of Friday's final against China's Wenlu Yang in the non-Olympic weight.


India's leading female news presenter Barkha Dutt has won praise for revealing that she was sexually abused as a child.

Ms Dutt said she had been abused by a "distant older relative" in her book titled "This Unquiet Land".
"Worse still, as a child unable to process the magnitude of what had happened - I was the one who felt grotesque and dirty," the book says.
Child sexual abuse is a taboo topic in India, and often covered up.
An extract of the book has been published on the website of the NDTV news channel, where Ms Dutt is a presenter.
He revelations have won her praise, with many pointing out the importance of highlighting similar incidents.
According to a 2007 study conducted by India's ministry of women and child development, 53% of children surveyed said they had been subjected to some form of sexual abuse.
However, incidents are often never revealed, because perpetrators are often close family friends and relatives.
The extract also details an abusive relationship Ms Dutt went through as a college student in Delhi.
"When I told him that it was over between us he sprang up from the floor where he had been lounging, pinned me to the ground and lay on top of me, trying to sexually force himself on me. I slapped him. He hit me hard, grabbed me by my arm, shoved me around, slapped me and pushed me against the wall.
"Much later in life, I would discover that I was not alone; almost every young woman I knew had experienced something essentially similar - not just out on the streets, but within the so-called safe zone," she added.
The gang rape and murder of a student in 2012 in Delhi led to protests and new anti-rape laws in the country.
However, brutal sexual attacks against women and children continue to be reported across the country.


Chang Song-thaek, uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was seen as a major figure in his administration before his dismissal, trial and immediate execution in December 2013.

As vice-chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission (NDC) he had sat at the heart of the communist country's leadership.
His family ties - and close relationship with late leader Kim Jong-il - had been thought to have given him considerable influence over North Korea's young leader.
Some observers saw him as the power behind the throne, advising his relatively inexperienced nephew.
Images from the elder Kim's funeral showed Kim Jong-un walking beside a car carrying his father's coffin, Chang just a few steps behind him.
The purge of Mr Chang signals a major shake-up in the North Korean leadership.
Chang Song-thaek, a party veteran and administrator, had overcome a number of setbacks to secure his position at the heart of the leadership.
When the reportedly charismatic young man met Kim Jong-il's younger sister, Kyung-hee, at university, the two began a relationship.
Late President Kim Il-sung was against the union because the two came from different social cliques, and he forced Mr Chang to change universities.
But he gave in after his daughter pleaded with him and the two were allowed to marry. They had one child, a daughter, who is said to have died.
Mr Chang joined the administrative ranks of the Korean Workers Party (KWP) in the early 1970s and climbed steadily. In 1992, he was elected to the party's Central Committee.
A decade later he was firmly ensconced in the upper echelons of power, as a director of a department that oversaw all other government and military departments within the party.
At the time he was seen as one of the most powerful figures in the country. But his fortunes changed and in mid-2004, despite his place in the Kim family, he disappeared from public view.
One report, citing South Korean intelligence, said he was under house arrest in Pyongyang. Others suggested he had been sent for "re-education".
It is not clear what caused his removal from power, although analysts speculated that he had gathered too much influence.
Either way, he did not reappear until January 2006. After that, however, his rehabilitation appears to have been rapid.
In late 2007, Mr Chang became the head of a party department overseeing police and the judiciary.
State media increasingly reported his presence at Kim Jong-il's side on official visits around the country.
Observers also suggested that Mr Chang played a more prominent role when Kim Jong-il was incapacitated after his stroke in 2008.
With his appointment to the NDC in 2009, Chang's key leadership position was formalised. And he was further elevated in 2010 when he was named the top military body's vice-chairman.
At the time, the move was seen as putting key personnel in place to ensure a smooth transition from father to son in the event of Kim Jong-il's death.
When Mr Kim's death came less than two years later, Mr Chang figured prominently in state commemorations for the late leader.
Months later, in another sign of his apparent clout, Mr Chang met then Chinese President Hu Jintao in August 2012.
His visit to Beijing was seen as focusing on economic issues - a sign he may have wanted to reform North Korea's stagnant economy.
Mr Chang had "done a great deal of work to develop neighbourly friendship between China and North Korea", Chinese state media quoted Mr Hu as saying. The two sides later signed a raft of economic deals.
In December 2013 North Korean state media said Mr Chang had been removed from office for "criminal acts".
A meeting of the politburo of the Central Commitee of the ruling Workers' Party found he had "committed such anti-party,  counter-revolutionary factional acts as gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party".
"Chang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scenes," official reports said.
It was only a few days after this that Mr Chang appeared before a special military tribunal, which found him guilty of treason.
Describing him as "worse than a dog", the tribunal found he had "formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crimes as attempting to overthrow the state," the state news agency, KCNA, reported.
He was executed immediately.
Aside from signalling major changes to North Korea's leadership, his dramatic fall also raises questions over who now has the ear of the young leader Kim Jong-un.


Ohio Governor John Kasich has vetoed the so-called "heartbeat" abortion bill that would have banned most abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

The bill caused an outcry and Mr Kasich said it could be unconstitutional.
But he did sign a 20-week abortion ban, which is similar to a restriction already in place in 15 US states.
Mr Kasich called this bill the "best, most legally sound and sustainable approach to protecting the sanctity of human life".
The "heartbeat" bill is so called because it sets the cut-off point for legal abortions at the first time the fetal heartbeat can be detected. Such development can come before many women know they are pregnant.
Anti-abortion campaigners believe this leaves women with no choice but to continue every pregnancy.
The two bills both fell on Mr Kasich's desk at the same time and had both been approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate.
The "heartbeat" bill would have been passed had Mr Kasich not used his right to veto it.
Mr Kasich said he believed that its passing would have led to costly legal challenges, which he felt the state had no chance of winning.
"The State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists' lawyers," said Mr Kasich, adding that he believed the veto was in the public interest.
Ohio lawmakers still have the option to override his veto.
Critics of the 20-week abortion ban see it as paving the way for an attempt to overrule a 1973 Supreme Court ruling, known as Roe v Wade, which states that abortion is legal until a foetus is viable, typically between 22 and 24 weeks.
President-elect Donald Trump called for a total ban on abortion during his presidential campaign, but later said he supports an exception in cases of "rape, incest and [to protect] the life of the mother".
US family-planning organisation Planned Parenthood say 99% of abortions in the US occur before 21 weeks, and the exceptions only occur in extreme circumstances.
Mr Trump has called for an end for federal funding for Planned Parenthood if the organisation continues to support abortions.


Nico Rosberg narrowly edged out Lewis Hamilton in a closely matched final practice session at the Mexican GP.

The German was just 0.014 seconds quicker than Hamilton despite an error from the newly crowned 2015 champion.
There was a hint of the tension between the two when Hamilton complained Rosberg was "backing me up" as they prepared for their fastest runs.
And they do not appear to have their usual advantage over the rest of the field, with Red Bull and Ferrari close.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was 0.118secs off the pace, 0.093secs ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
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The Mercedes drivers clearly had some more time in hand as both made small errors on their fastest laps, but the same could be said of many drivers on the low-grip surface of the remodelled Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The newly resurfaced tension between the two Mercedes drivers comes after Rosberg was angry at what he described as the "extremely aggressive" move with which Hamilton took the lead at the first corner at the title-deciding US Grand Prix a week ago.
There was also an incident in the pre-podium room, where Hamilton tossed the second place cap to Rosberg, who promptly threw it back at him.
Hamilton has made it clear that despite achieving his lifetime's ambition and clinching a third world title, his desire is unquenched and his immediate target is to win the remaining three races of the season.
Complaints about the slippery surface abounded after Friday practice, and the drivers were mollified not at all on Saturday.
The aerodynamic excellence of the Red Bulls was underlined in the thin air at 2,300m in Mexico City, with Daniil Kvyat in fifth place.
The car was making up in the corners what it was losing down the long main straight.
The altitude means that the cars have neither the grip nor cooling they do normally, and the engines are also under extra strain.
Local hero Sergio Perez, cheered on by thousands of boisterous fans in the final part of the lap, where the track loops through a baseball stadium, was sixth.
Williams's Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, Williams's Felipe Massa and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
Final practice results
Mexican GP coverage details


The US government remains in partial shutdown after negotiations between Republicans and Democrats failed to find a solution to an ongoing dispute over the federal budget.

The shutdown - the first for 17 years - has left more than 700,000 employees on unpaid leave since 1 October and closed national parks, tourist sites, government websites, office buildings, and more.
The nation's 1.4 million active-duty uniformed military personnel remain on duty.
However, about half of the defence department's 800,000 civilian employees stopped work at the beginning of the shutdown - with the exception of those engaged in activities that "provide for the national security".
But on 5 October, the department said it would recall nearly all of these workers.
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the decision was based on an interpretation of the Pay Our Military Act, which was passed by Congress shortly before the shutdown.
It permits employees "whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members" to be exempted from the shutdown.
"I expect us to be able to significantly reduce - but not eliminate - civilian furloughs under this process," Mr Hagel said.
(only if shutdown continues)
The Department of Energy has said it can continue to operate for a short time without sending workers home. However, if the shutdown continues, plans are in place.
According to the plans, some facilities will have to close, with only 1,113 out of 13,814 staff required to work.
Exemptions include staff overseeing the safety of the nation's nuclear arsenal and operating dams and power lines across the country.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nation's nuclear weapons and naval reactor programmes, will have 343 employees on duty to "perform functions related to the safety of human life and the protection of property".
More than 400 employees will stay on to work at the Southwestern Power Administration and the Western Area Power Administration, which are in charge of overseeing hydroelectric power and power lines in the south and western US.
Some staff in other areas will remain at work to oversee "the protection of human life and property."
Most of the department's staff have been sent home. However, staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continue to report for duty to ensure weather, shipping and other reports are still provided for public safety.
Some of the workers at the Bureau of Industry and Security, which reviews exports, also remain on duty.
Transport roles run by the department, ranging from air traffic control to airport and hazardous materials inspections, continue and 36,987 out of 55,468 personnel remain at work.
Staff involved in overseeing commercial space launches also continue operations.
Suspended activities will include facility security inspections, routine personnel security background investigations and the employee drug testing program.
The National Zoo and 19 museums and galleries, including the Natural History Museum, the Portrait Gallery and the Air and Space Museum, are closed.
Of the 4,202 employees, 688 are being retained to "protect life and property" - security guards, maintenance staff and people to care for and feed the animals at the National Zoo.
The Smithsonian Institution says: "During a shutdown, the Institution cannot legally accept voluntary services from federal employees to continue their regular duties."
National parks - from Yosemite to Alcatraz and the Statue of Liberty - have been shut down with 3,266 essential staff out of 24,645 remaining on duty. These will include some fire management, law enforcement and emergency responders.
However, some states have asked the Obama administration to allow them to foot the bill for reopening their parks.
Governors say closures have impacted on local communities and businesses that rely on tourism to survive.
About 86% of the Department of Homeland Security's 240,000 employees are expected to be exempt from the shutdown, including uniformed agents and officers at the country's borders and ports of entry.
Most members of the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are also exempt.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services employees will continue to process green card applications.
Of 114,486 Department of Justice employees, an estimated 96,744 are exempt from the shutdown.
All Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and support personnel in the field are exempt as their operations are focused on national security and investigations involving protection of life and property.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents working on active counternarcotics investigations, agents in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and US attorneys are also still at work.
Staff at federal prisons are also working.
The department has sent home more than half its workers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will continue "minimal support to protect the health and well-being of US citizens".  However, fewer staff will mean reduced capacity to respond to outbreaks and the agency will be unable to support its annual flu program.
Nearly a dozen experts on foodborne illnesses were called back to work in recent days, partly to help with a salmonella outbreak.
About 212 of the department's 4,225 employees - both full and part-time - were expected to work for the first week of shutdown. Initial plans stated an additional 30 staff would be called in if the shutdown lasted more than seven days.
Some $22bn of funding to schools, due on the 1 October, was to be distributed. Among other things, this pays to help educate poor and disabled children.
Administrator Gina McCarthy said her department would effectively shut down with only a core group of individuals available in case of a "significant emergency".
The self-funded  US Postal Service remains open and is delivering as usual. The agency receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations and relies on income from stamps and other postal fees to keep running.


Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane conceded Barcelona are deserved La Liga champions after losing out to their arch-rivals by one point.

Real won their last 12 league games, but Barca ended with five victories in a row after a blip in April saw their lead over Real closed from 10 points.
"We're all disappointed, but with 38 matchdays played, we can't change anything now," said Zidane, who has won 21 of his 26 games in charge.
"Barcelona deserved to win La Liga."
Luis Enrique, who has won the title in both his seasons in charge of Barcelona, agreed with his rival.
"It was a deserved title which shows that the team knows how to bounce back from a bad spell.
"We played very well over the full season, we were on top of the table for many weeks and the most consistent team wins the title."
Captain Andres Iniesta has now won eight La Liga titles, a third of Barcelona's total league championships. Barca have won six of the last eight titles - including two in a row.
"La Liga is glorious," the Spain midfielder said. "It is the competition of stability, the one we are able to win year after year. Whenever you win the league, it is a great season."
Defender Gerard Pique said: "This is a historic time for the club. This is a unique generation of footballers with loads of talent and who are achieving things that have never been done before.
"We had a negative run that meant we had to fight right to the last, but we got our prize in the end."
Both sides have a cup final yet to play. Barca face Sevilla in next Sunday's Copa del Rey final, while Real face city rivals Atletico in the Champions League final on Saturday, 28 May.


Scotland has continued to make "good progress" on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the body which advises the UK government on the issue has said.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said emissions in Scotland fell by 9.9% in 2011.
The drop for the UK as a whole was 6.9%.
However, climate campaigners said the figures showed that the Scottish government still had more to do to meet future emission levels targets.
Much of the reduction was due to the weather and a switch from coal-fired electricity generation to nuclear and renewable sources.
The CCC said the reduction also reflected additional investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The committee is an independent statutory body set up under the Climate Change Act to advise the UK government on setting carbon budgets, and to report to parliament on the progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This is the latest Scottish breakdown of the UK emission figures for 2011.
There were drops of more than 20% in emissions from the the power and residential sectors, and a 15% reduction in emissions in the public sector.
Despite the fall in emissions, Scotland narrowly missed the legislated annual target of 53.4 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).
The CCC said this was due to a change in the way estimated emissions were calculated.
The committee's latest report, which is done for the Scottish government, said meeting future targets remained "very challenging".
It has highlighted several areas that will required further action in order to meet future targets.
They included developing the electric vehicle market through more investment in the charging infrastructure, and focusing on pilot projects for new farming practices.
David Kennedy, chief executive of the CCC, said: "There has been good progress in Scotland on reducing emissions in key sectors of the economy, notably through investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
"This should not be obscured by the fact that emissions in 2011 were above the level targeted because of a change to the accounting methodology. But much remains to be done in terms of policy development and implementation to achieve very challenging future targets, and to unlock the benefits for Scotland of building a low-carbon economy."
Scottish Environment and Climate Change Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: "This report highlights how Scotland is doing much better in reducing climate change emissions than the UK as a whole - with almost a 10% reduction in Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions.
"In 2011, Scotland led western Europe in terms of reducing our climate change emissions and the committee's analysis of underlying trends in emissions indicates we remain on track to achieving our long-term climate change targets."
Climate change campaign group The Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) welcomed the drop in emissions but urged the Scottish government to go further with new green energy initiatives to make "a better Scotland".
Tom Ballantine, chairman of SCCS, said: "Taking action on climate change will create a better Scotland, where we have warmer homes, healthier transport options, and cleaner air.
"Scottish ministers can make changes right now to ensure that emissions from all sectors reduce year on year."
He added: "Scotland has rightly set out to be a world-leader on climate change. It is imperative that we now show that it is possible to make this happen, and, at the same time, that Scottish people can benefit from the changes made."


Super League side Salford Red Devils have released hooker Liam Hood and prop Luke Menzies by mutual consent.

Scotland international Hood, 23, joined from Hunslet this year and made 22 outings but will move to Australian side Burdekin Roosters in Queensland.
Menzies, 27, signed from Swinton for 2015 but made just one appearance towards the end of last season.
'Both Liam and Luke are still young and have huge potential," head coach Ian Watson told the club website.


At least 200 civilians were killed in Russian air strikes in Syria in the two months to the end of November, an Amnesty International report says.

Quoting witnesses, the human rights group accuses Russia of using cluster bombs in civilian areas and says such attacks could constitute war crimes.
Russia's defence ministry dismissed the report as containing "fake information" and "trite cliches".
It also rejected Amnesty's accusations about cluster bombs, Reuters reports.
Amnesty said in its report it was also researching concerns about the US-led coalition air strikes in Syria.
The US has rarely acknowledged civilian deaths in its air bombardment of the so-called Islamic State (IS), which began in September 2014, although some monitoring groups say the toll could run into hundreds.
'Russian strikes kill scores' in Syria
Activists criticise Raqqa air strikes
Russia began air strikes in September this year, saying it was acting at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is targeting IS and other groups it designates as terrorists - some of which are backed by the West.
In the report, Amnesty said it had "researched remotely" more than 25 Russian attacks that took place in Homs, Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo between 30 September, when the Russian air campaign began, and 29 November.
It had interviewed by phone or over the internet witnesses to the attacks, and had audio and video evidence, as well as "advice from weapons experts". Amnesty said.
It said there was evidence that Russia's military "unlawfully used unguided bombs in densely populated areas and inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions".
Amnesty set out its findings into six attacks - each of which, it said, caused dozens of civilian casualties, but had no obvious military target nearby.
On 29 November, for example, it said at least one suspected Russian warplane fired three missiles into a busy public market in Ariha, in Idlib province.
A local activist group said a total of 49 civilians were either killed or missing and feared dead.
"It was a normal Sunday; there was nothing unusual. People were buying goods; children were eating," the activist, Mohammed Qurabi al-Ghazal, told Amnesty.
"First there was a loud explosion - dirt flying in the air - followed immediately by shock. In just a few moments, people were screaming, the smell of burning was in the air and there was just chaos."
He said the armed group Jaysh al-Fateh controlled the area, but did not have any presence inside Ariha itself.
"Some Russian air strikes appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians," Amnesty's Philip Luther said.
"Such attacks may amount to war crimes," he added.
A report by another group, Human Rights Watch, three days ago accused Syrian  government forces and their Russian allies of making "extensive" use of cluster munitions against rebel groups.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday Russia was "conducting its operation in strict conformity with principles and norms of the international law".
The Kremlin has previously described similar reports as "information warfare" aimed at discrediting its operations in Syria.
President Vladimir Putin said in October that reports of alleged civilian casualties had emerged before the first air strikes were even carried out.
More than 250,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began in Syria in March 2011.


A temporary lifeboat station has been set up close to Weston-super-Mare's Marine Lake after safety concerns forced the closure of its existing HQ.

The RNLI has been using its Birnbeck Pier base since 1882 but the derelict pier has become increasingly unsafe.
It has set up a fundraising appeal to build a new station but the charity says this will take time to achieve.
The 50ft container has been extensively modified to house the D Class rapid response lifeboat.
A spokesman for the RNLI in Weston said the charity was committed to remaining in the town but added a new HQ would require "significant funds".
He added the lifeboats on Birnbeck would now only launch if there was "a known risk to life" which could not be covered by the temporary facility.
In the meantime volunteers have constructed an interim base on Knightstone Causeway but because of the tides it is not always possible to launch the lifeboat around the clock.
The charity is now "actively looking" for a second temporary base to house its remaining fleet from Birnbeck Pier - which would be able to launch at any time.
It would then be able to vacate the site it has used for more than 130 years.


Easyjet has announced a big expansion of existing services between Belfast International and other UK airports.

The company is increasing the number of flights on its winter schedule from October.
Belfast International said it would mean more than 125,000 extra seats will be on sale on its routes to Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.
Additional capacity will also be added to services to Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.
Belfast International said the move "could lead to over 100 new aviation-related jobs in Northern Ireland."
Easyjet operates to 26 destinations from Belfast and already employs 230 staff locally.
Airport managing director Graham Keddie said: "Increasing the number of seats will mean significant increases in airport activity.
"This is a good day for the airport, but an even better one for the Northern Ireland economy."
The winter schedule covers the four months from October.
Easyjet said this coming winter 9,620 flights are on sale from Belfast, providing 1,585,968 seats.
Last winter 8,711 flights were on sale providing 1,394,408 seats.


A report prepared for a Scottish Parliament committee has estimated that 10,600 people die in Scotland each year without appropriate end-of-life care.

The report for the health committee by Prof David Clark of Glasgow University suggested that some 40,000 people would benefit from palliative care.
But it estimated that a quarter of them do not receive it.
The report also said that reliable figures on the quality and availability of care are not available in Scotland.
Its calculations were based on projections of statistics from England.
It said that "reliable studies" looking at the need for palliative care estimated that "in rich countries around 82% of all people who die would benefit from palliative care" - with this equating to about 40,000 people a year in Scotland.
The report said: "In England, slightly less robust estimates have been produced which indicate the numbers that might currently be receiving palliative care.
"These have been used to form estimates of those who might benefit from but are currently not receiving palliative care - giving an estimate for Scotland of 10,600 people who die each year without receiving palliative care."
Palliative care aims to prevent and alleviate suffering caused by life-limiting illnesses, particularly towards the end of life.
Health committee convener Duncan McNeil said MSPs had heard "anecdotally there are serious deficits in the quality of palliative care being provided for in Scotland".
He added: "From the evidence we have received already during the course of our inquiry, there have been individual cases which tell a story of the difficulties experienced by people at the end of their life in accessing and receiving the palliative care they need.
"The research identifies a major issue and that is a serious lack of information on the provision of palliative care in Scotland."
Deputy convener Bob Doris said: "The provision of end-of-life care is not one that is going to go away as our population ages and more and more people need care at the end of life.
"The Scottish government is already looking into this area as they prepare to publish their framework for action on palliative and end of life care. We hope that this research and our inquiry findings will provide some helpful insight to this."


A security alert in Londonderry has ended.

Earlier police said they were searching for an explosive device.
All roads in the area have now re-opened.
The alert had continued into a second day after reports of a suspicious object in Southway on Thursday. Homes were evacuated and the road was closed.
Ch Supt Mark McEwan said the officers were looking for "an explosive device, something that is in a very public area".
He added that those "who would plant devices such as this...have absolutely no regard for the safety of the community".
"We are bringing every tactic that we have at our disposal in order to try and get complete assurance around this operation so we can ensure people's safety in the community and also that we can also get it done as quickly as possible," he said.
He also said that dissident republicans would be "a major focus of the investigation".
Pensioner Eileen McGinley, who had a stroke last year, had to be moved out of her home.
"I live by myself with my dog. I had a stroke before Christmas and I didn't want to leave my home," she said.
Sinn FÃ©in councillor Patricia Logue said: "The people who create these alerts have nothing to offer the community and should desist immediately from their campaign of disruption."


The authorities in Venezuela have freed the former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, along with five student activists held since 2014.

Mr Rosales, who stood against Hugo Chavez in 2006, was arrested over corruption charges in October 2015 after returning from exile in Peru.
The activists were arrested in 2014, during protests calling for the removal of President Nicolas Maduro from power.
Opposition leaders say about 100 opposition activists remain in prison.
What is behind the crisis in Venezuela?
Opposition groups named the released activists as Skarlyn Duarte, Yeimi Varela, Nixon Leal, Angel Contreras and Gerardo Carrero, the AFP news agency reported.
Mr Carrero led a group of anti-government protesters who camped for weeks outside the UN offices in Caracas, Venezuela's capital.
Mr Rosales, of the small Nuevo Tiempo party, announced his release from house arrest on his Twitter account:
"I inform you the people of Venezuela, that I have been released along with other political prisoners," he posted in Spanish.
"We continue in the struggle for the release of all political prisoners and the return of the exiles," he added.
Mr Rosales, a former governor of the state of Zulia, fled to Peru in 2009 amid corruption allegations, which he said were politically motivated.
He was moved from prison to house arrest in October.
Venezuela is struggling with a serious economic crisis, which the opposition blames on failed socialist policies of Mr Chavez and his successor, Mr Maduro.
Dissident leaders had demanded the release of Mr Rosales, and freedom for other opposition leaders, during negotiations with the government.


The Vatican has expressed "grave concerns" for one of its bishops who was detained after being "forcibly removed" from his diocese in China.

Chinese Catholic bishop Peter Shao Zhumin was seized by authorities in May, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said.
The cleric's family has been given no information on the reasons for his removal or his current whereabouts.
Relations between the Vatican and China have been strained by disputes over who can appoint bishops in the country.
Mr Burke said he was "profoundly saddened" by the situation involving the detention of a bishop from his diocese in Wenzhou, in China's southeastern Zhejiang province.
He said the incident was detrimental to efforts to reach an understanding with the Chinese authorities on the status of the Church in the communist state.
"The Holy See hopes that Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin may return as soon as possible to his diocese and that he be allowed to carry out his ministry in peace," Mr Burke said.
Catholics who have been seeking news of the bishop fear that he may be being pressured by the authorities to pledge his allegiance to the Communist Party instead of the Vatican.
The news comes amid recent reports that the Vatican and Beijing are drawing closer to reaching an historic agreement governing the selection of bishops for 10 million Chinese Roman Catholics.
There are currently about 100 Catholic bishops in China, with some approved by Beijing, some approved by the Vatican and, informally, many now approved by both.
An agreement between the Chinese government and Pope Francis on who has the authority to appoint bishops in the country would be a positive step towards re-establishing diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican.


An investigation into the grounding of a sightseeing boat has recommended a review of the way boatman's licences are issued.

Tourists had to be rescued when the 'Surprise' hit a rock off the Isles of Scilly in May 2016, the report said.
The skipper had not adequately assessed the area's safety, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) stated.
It also found the Council of the Isles of Scilly "did not have the marine expertise" needed to issue licences.
More on Isles of Scilly boat licences and other Cornwall stories
The 'Surprise' was showing holidaymakers seals and birds in "glassy calm" waters when it hit the rock.
According to the report, a "loud scraping noise was heard" when the submerged rock penetrated the hull and the vessel "shuddered to a halt" before it began taking on water.
Everyone on-board was safely evacuated to nearby boats within 15 minutes before being transferred to the St Mary's RNLI lifeboat and then back to shore.
The skipper was found to have carried out all the correct actions to get help.
But the council has been asked to review its procedures "for the examination and issue" of boatman's licences.
The MAIB said the council's boating sub-committee, which was responsible for dealing with licences, "did not have underpinning legislation, maritime experience or a suitably qualified advisor to maintain an effective overview of the system".
Practical local knowledge examinations at sea were carried out without any written guidance for the appointed examiner.
The MAIB also found there was no syllabus for the tests, and no written or oral examinations.
The report stated: "The review should consider the applicability of the licensing scheme and assurance of examination standards."
It also recommended the St Mary's Boatmen's Association introduces "guidance to members on passage planning and conduct of navigation".


Catalans Dragons winger Pat Richards has played his last game of rugby league, after a knee injury ended any further involvement in his last season.

Richards, 34, is retiring at the end of the campaign and will leave the Dragons with nine tries in 21 games.
The former Wests Tigers and Wigan player won Grand Finals in both Super League and the NRL.
Carney, 30, will play no further part this term after he sustained knee ligament damage in a loss at St Helens.
Former Australia and New South Wales half-back Carney has already had groin, rib, pectoral and calf injuries during his time in Perpignan.
Losing both players could prove a crucial blow to Catalans' hopes of a top-four place, with prop Antoni Maria also unavailable for the rest of the year.
Head coach Laurent Frayssinous is also without winger Jodie Broughton, who has a quad injury, for two weeks and back-rower Justin Horo, who faces three weeks out with an ankle problem.


Rail services have been disrupted and motorists are being warned of flooding after heavy rain in parts of Snowdonia.

Conwy Valley train services north of Llanrwst were hit due to flooding on the line but services resumed on Monday evening.
A flood warning is also in place for the River Conwy between Llanrwst and Trefriw.
Earlier, the Met Office issued a "be aware" warning for rain across Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire and Powys.
Forecasters said rivers in Snowdonia were "swollen" after up to 2.5in (63mm) of rain fell over 36 hours in some areas.
However, the weather was expected to improve through the early evening.
A further nine flood alerts across Wales have also been issued.
Arriva Trains Wales said buses had replaced trains between Shrewsbury and Machynlleth due to flooding between Newton and Machynlleth on Monday evening.
In Trefriw, the B5106 has been closed in both directions due to flooding between Gower Road and Jubilee Road.


An ex-Met Police commander would have had to answer a case for misconduct after meeting an undercover police officer during the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, the police watchdog has said.

Richard Walton met the officer in 1998, allegedly obtaining information about the family and their supporters.
The watchdog said he would have faced a disciplinary hearing but had retired.
Mr Walton said the Met had rejected the watchdog's findings and "did not plan to bring misconduct proceedings".
In January lawyers for Stephen's father Neville Lawrence unsuccessfully urged the force to halt Cdr Walton's retirement.
More on this story and other news from London
Mr Walton was temporarily moved from his job leading the counter-terrorism command in 2014, following the publication of the report by Mark Ellison QC into possible corruption and undercover policing linked to the Stephen Lawrence investigation.
Stephen was 18 when he was stabbed to death in April 1993 by a gang of white youths in Eltham, south-east London.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) examined allegations that Mr Walton, then an acting detective inspector, met an undercover officer known as N81.
He allegedly "obtained information pertaining to the Lawrence family and their supporters, potentially undermining the inquiry and public confidence".
The IPCC said if the fact the senior Met officer met the undercover officer had become public at the time, it "might well have caused very serious public concern".
The commission also looked into the role played by former Det Insp Robert Lambert, former Commander Colin Black and two other officers in arranging that meeting.
It found only Mr Lambert had potentially "played a part" and would have faced disciplinary proceedings if he too had not retired.
The other former officers, including former Commander Colin Black, were found to have no case to answer.
IPCC deputy chair Sarah Green said: "The force's reputation may have suffered immense damage had the meeting become public knowledge at the time.
"The IPCC found that Robert Lambert and Richard Walton both had a case to answer for discreditable conduct in that their actions could have brought the force into disrepute.
"As neither of the men are now serving police officers, it is not possible for misconduct proceedings to take place to determine whether or not the case would be proven."
On the IPCC's findings Mr Walton said: "It has taken the IPCC two years to investigate a single meeting I attended as a sergeant 18 years ago.
"The report makes clear that no information was passed to me about either the Lawrence family or its campaign. The Met formally rejected the IPCC's findings about me and did not plan to bring misconduct proceedings.
"In making its finding the IPCC has failed to understand racist crime and violent public disorder in London in 1998.
"The public have a right to be protected from groups who commit serious violent disorder. I have always made that my priority."
In a statement Mr Lawrence said the report "makes it clear that my family were wrongly spied upon" but spoke of his frustration that Mr Walton would avoid any disciplinary action.
"The police and the IPCC should have ensured that this investigation was concluded in good time to ensure that former Commander Walton could not have avoided disciplinary proceedings", he said.
In 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of murdering Stephen and jailed for minimum terms of 15 years and two months and 14 years and three months respectively.


Teenager Dan Lawrence hit an unbeaten 141 as he batted all day to earn promoted Essex a County Championship Division One draw against Lancashire.

Set an improbable 478 to win, Essex resumed on 89-2 looking as if saving the game was the only realistic target.
Lawrence shared two century stands to help get the job done for the hosts.
He extended his overnight partnership with Tom Westley (61) to 135 before adding a further 102 with Ryan ten Doeschate (41) as Essex reached 316-6.
Lancashire were made to rue the two opportunities they squandered to remove Westley the previous day, on 10 and 11, when he was dropped twice.
Acting captain James Anderson was miserly, his first six overs going for just two runs. But, by the time spinner Stephen Parry knocked back Westley's off stump in mid-afternoon, he had used up 58 overs with Lawrence.
There then suddenly followed some hope for the visitors as it proved to be the first of three wickets in eight overs.
Ravi Bopara was caught behind with the new ball off Kyle Jarvis, who then tempted Adam Wheater to hole out to Haseeb Hameed in the covers in his next over.
But Lawrence, who now has five first-class hundreds to his name at 19, found another partner in captain ten Doeschate to thwart Lancashire's hopes of a first win in 12 County Championship matches.
Seamer Jarvis added a third wicket when he trapped ten Doeschate with half an hour's play still to go, but there was no further Red Rose breakthrough.
Lancashire now head to The Oval on Good Friday to face Surrey, when Essex will be at Taunton to face Somerset.
Essex batsman Dan Lawrence told BBC Essex:
"This is my favourite hundred because I've managed to bat all day and get the team out of a bit of a hole.
"It's important not to celebrate a draw. We had our backs against the wall and had a really tough first three days, and it took a lot of character from a lot of the boys today to fight through and get a draw.
"It's nice to know we're not going to fall down whenever someone puts a lot of pressure on us. We really want to thrive in Division One."
Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"We feel that we dominated the game, played good cricket and had a good chance to win at the start of the day, in the knowledge, though, that the pitch was getting a bit easier.
"Getting them six down we can look at things we could have done a little bit better but on the whole we have to be fairly pleased with our efforts.
"I thought there was some good quality cricket and the team played as a unit how we want them to play."


"The first thing they ask you is if you have an AK-47 - and if you can swim," says Abdirizak Ahmed.

That, he says, is what pirate networks want of their new recruits.
Mr Ahmed is head of counter-piracy for the semi-autonomous northern state of Puntland, which has 1,400km (870 miles) of Somalia's coastline - and is home to most of its pirates.
Maritime piracy cost the world economy more than $700m (Â£528m) last year, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy, a non-profit organisation attempting to develop a globally co-ordinated response to the problem.
It has now spread far beyond Somalia to West Africa, with the Gulf of Guinea now regarded by many as having the most dangerous waters in the world.
What's more, piracy has gone hi-tech.
When pirates raid ships, they generally have a good idea what they're after, because shipping databases are often surprisingly insecure.
Professional hackers break in online, steal ships' manifests and sell them on the dark web.
This is why the pirates know exactly where to look, "down to the bar code and serial number of the shipping container, in some cases," says Bryan Sartin, managing director of US company Verizon Risk, which investigates data breaches and cyber-attacks.
Servers aboard ships might not be regularly patched or updated, because of long stints on the water.  This makes them easier hacking targets when they eventually do connect to the internet.
"An insecure inventory and loading-bills database is akin to drawing these pirates a treasure map," says Sian John, chief strategist for the area with Symantec, a cybersecurity firm.
Freely available vulnerability scanners would identify most shipping companies' security flaws, Mr Sartin says. And simple security tools, like two-factor authentication - whereby log-in details are supplemented by a security code generated by a separate device - would also help.
Pirates have begun flying drones which they use to scout busy sea lanes for unguarded ships, lacking security crews or razor-wire.
Previously, they would rely on watchmen in ports and others posing as innocent fishermen, says Philippe Minchin, of BCB International, a firm specialising in life-saving and security equipment.
To address these challenges, African governments and shipping companies have been fighting fire with fire. That fight is not just on the seas. It's now in the skies and over the internet.
Drones equipped with face-recognition technology are being used to look for known pirates and to act as surveillance scouts in high-threat areas such as the Bab al-Mandab strait between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea, says Vice Admiral Peter Hudson, who commanded EU maritime operations off Somalia between 2009 and 2011.
These companies are also developing "killer drones" that aim to scramble the GPS signals of the pirates' drones and activate their return-to-home functionality.
Shipping firms in Africa are keen to reduce their dependence on heavily armed security teams, because they "cost a fortune and leave flag states uncomfortable with the fact that armed men wander around complex merchant ships," says Vice Adm Hudson.
So other technologies are also being deployed.
Recent developments have included laser dazzlers, directional sonic devices that cause pain to pirates, and spider-web nets that can entangle attacking vessels, says Vice Adm Hudson.
One entangling net device is the Barracuda, made by BCB International. It snags itself around an attacking small vessel and wraps it in webbing, thereby disabling it.
It can be fired by handheld compressed-air cannons, or by cannons controlled remotely from a ship's bridge or an off-vessel control room, says Mr Minchin.
Most new equipment, like the Barracuda, has been non-lethal to reduce escalation of conflict - and the chance of innocent fishermen being killed.
In February 2012, two Indian fishermen were mistaken for pirates in a well-publicised incident. They were shot dead by Italian marines guarding an oil tanker called the MV Enrica Lexie.
But simply communicating online has also helped, with Africa's shipping businesses sharing information about pirate groups' activities, says Ibrahim Ahmed Abdinoor, chief executive of the African Shipping Line.
And religious leaders taking to social media to criticise piracy has had a strong impact in Puntland, says Abdirizak Ahmed.
Vice Adm Hudson calls this approach "catch-a-pirate dotcom".
But the fight against piracy is a continuous struggle.
With oil prices sinking, pirates have shifted from stealing tankers' contents, to abducting their crew. In the first half of this year, 44 crew were taken for ransom - 22 in Nigeria alone, says the International Maritime Bureau. This compares with 10 worldwide in the first half of 2015.
And 70% of piracy incidents go unreported, says Jon Huggins, a former US Navy officer and Oceans Beyond Piracy's director.
No-one has yet been jailed or prosecuted for piracy in West Africa, says Mr Huggins, though Nigeria has increased patrols.
The efforts by Abdirizak Ahmed in Puntland, and by international naval operations, have managed to reduce piracy incidents off the coast of Somalia by 90% since 2013.
Despite this, Mr Ahmed, who has been doing the job since 2010, says he feels "exhausted, and very frustrated", because the repercussions of the Somali piracy crisis are still being felt.
Kismayo, a port in southern Somalia, can still only export goats and sheep to the Gulf in small boats. Larger ships remain unwilling to dock there, despite the port being safe, according to African Shipping Line's Mr Abdinoor.
This means farmers inland from Kismayo can sell fewer animals to a hungry Gulf market. Although the port has a capacity to ship more than two million head of livestock annually, it presently ships less than one million.
Livestock contributes 40% to Somalia's economy, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. But with increased maritime access to Gulf countries, this figure could rise to about 60%.
So it's not just the profits of shipping firms and merchants that are hit by piracy. Economies, too, are affected. The stakes are high in the hi-tech battle to tackle the pirates.
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More people than expected have died at a Teesside hospital trust, latest figures show.

The North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust is one of nine in England found to have higher than predicted mortality rates last year.
The figures include deaths in hospital, or within 30 days of discharge.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust medical director, Dr David Emerton, said it was "reviewing the care of all patients who die".
Dr Emerton said the figures - higher than expected for the second year running - were skewed by the number of patients treated without being admitted to hospital.
Some patients, such as those in care homes nearing the end of their lives, where sent to hospital "when not much really can be done", he said.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), who compiled the data, says the categorisation does not mean a hospital is failing or unsafe and does not take levels of social deprivation into account.
Its figures should "instead should be viewed as a 'smoke alarm' which requires further investigation by the trust", a spokeswoman said.
The SHMI is available from April 2010 and the latest data covers July 2013 to June 2014.
The expected risk of the patient dying in hospital, or within 30 days of discharge, is estimated based on the patient's condition, age, sex and how they were admitted to hospital.
Dr Mike Smith, from the Patients Association, said the figures should be viewed in the context of the area's poverty and unemployment rate.
"If people have, locally, a high mortality and morbidity rate, that means to say people are dying more than the rest of the nation and/or are sicker than the rest of the nation, then you mustn't necessarily think it's the hospital's fault," he said.


"Continuity and change" was how Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull chose to describe his relationship to the policies of former leader Tony Abbott on Monday.

But he was seemingly unaware that satirical US show Veep had used a strikingly similar phrase to mock the emptiness of modern politics.
In Veep, a US presidential hopeful uses the phrase "continuity with change".
The show's creators said they were shocked at the coincidence.
Veep centres on a fictional US vice president, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who in one episode has the phrase "continuity with change" plastered on the side of a campaign bus.
Ms Louis-Dreyfus tweeted that she was "dumbfounded".
Simon Blackwell, the writer and executive producer for the popular political TV show, told the Guardian he laughed when he heard Mr Turnbull use the "most meaningless election slogan we could think of".
"We needed it to be hollow and oxymoronic, to say absolutely nothing but seem to have depth and meaning. It couldn't be too daft though - it had to be funny but still believable," Mr Blackwell said.
An unofficial election campaign has begun in Australia after the prime minister announced an early poll would be called if the Senate fails to pass two labour reform bills in coming weeks.
Mr Turnbull and his ministers used the words "continuity and change" on several different occasions on Tuesday, after Mr Abbott said in an interview that the government would run its election campaign based on his policies.
On Wednesday Mr Turnbull appeared keen to further distance himself from Mr Abbott, voicing support for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, an organisation the former prime minister had wanted to scrap.
Meanwhile the prime minster's audacious move to recall parliament using a relatively obscure provision in the constitution drew a social media reaction from another political television show on Monday.
The House of Cards Twitter account wrote in the voice of its Machiavellian lead character President Frank Underwood: "I admire your methodology, Prime Minister. If you don't like how the table is set, turn over the table."


A head teacher has called for a school bus policy to be scrapped after parents complained it divided pupils on whether or not they were Catholic.

Pupils at St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School in Flint receive a free bus pass if they live more than three miles from the school and are Catholic.
However non-Catholics have to pay for the council-run bus, or for a more expensive pass on a school-run minibus.
Flintshire council said the policy was being reviewed.
The school's head teacher Ronald Keating told BBC Radio Wales: "It's an unusual policy in that it's done differently from other local authorities where all transport has been subject to being taken away.
"I would say that for us here that's been a policy which has been much more painful because it means some children get, while others do not, and that's against the principles of Catholic education."
He wants the council to revert to its previous transport policy, saying: "In effect, I suppose I wish they would scrap it."
Catholic pupils who live more than three miles away are entitled to the pass as it is the nearest Catholic school they could attend, but non-Catholics could in theory attend a nearer non-faith school.
The council runs a bus service for those entitled to free passes, dubbed the "Catholic bus" by pupils and parents, although non-Catholic pupils can apply for a concessionary pass for Â£55 to use it.
The school also runs its own minibus, which costs Â£149 for a term.
Parent Paul Lee said: "It's blatant secular discrimination. They stand at the same bus stop, they wear the same uniform.
"Common sense should prevail. Look after the children - that should come first."
Flintshire council said: "The council has not recently changed its discretionary transport policies. Current policies are not unique to this authority or area.
"The council doesn't duplicate services and provides transport for eligible pupils. The passes used on routes do not distinguish between different forms of eligibility or payment for places."
"Others have since started to provide transport to the school not at a cost to the council.
"All discretionary transport provision and policies are currently subject to a review.
"This can include circumstances in which charging is legal and appropriate. Any recommendations from that review will also in turn need to be subject to the statutory consultation and decision making processes prior to implementation."


Hexham Abbey has been granted £1.8m by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to contribute towards restoration work.

The project to develop the church and restore the former medieval monastic complex and the former courts at the abbey is estimated to cost £3.2m.
The grant means work can start on the monastery buildings, and it is hoped that they will open in September 2013.
The remaining funds will be raised by the Abbey to complete the restoration works.
The lottery money will also be spent on creating new exhibition spaces, meeting rooms and educational areas for children.
The Abbey's Rector, Canon Graham Usher, said: "We are tremendously grateful to the HLF for its support for our mission to restore and redevelop the former monastery buildings to create a resource for the whole community."


Leave campaigner Bernard Jenkin MP has written to the UK Statistics Authority chairman Sir Andrew Dilnot to challenge the government's claim that 44% of UK exports go to the European Union.

The claim: EU countries buy 44% of everything we sell abroad.
Reality Check verdict: The 44% figure is probably a bit of an overstatement, but not by more than about two percentage points.
"The true figure is bound to be less than that, given the 'Rotterdam effect'," Mr Jenkin says.
The Rotterdam Effect is the phenomenon of some exports being classified based on the port from which they are shipped rather than their final destination.
The concern is that some exports from the UK are classified as going to the Netherlands, when they are, in fact, going to Europe's biggest port, in Rotterdam, to be shipped around the world.
Sir Andrew replied saying that while it is hard to quantify the level of the Rotterdam Effect, it was unlikely to involve more than 50% of goods exported to the Netherlands which would not knock more than two percentage points off the government's figure of 44% of UK exports going to the EU. That "suggests that the statement in the government leaflet is not significantly affected by it".
It may seem odd that the impact is so small, given that the Netherlands is the third biggest customer for UK exports, behind the USA and Germany. But remember that the Rotterdam Effect only affects exports of goods, while the 44% figure is for both goods and services.
Sir Andrew did suggest that a more prominent note in the statistics about the Rotterdam Effect would be helpful. In evidence to the parliamentary committee chaired by  Bernard Jenkin, he said that would be particularly important to people interested in the level of exports to the Netherlands rather than the whole EU.
Read more: The facts behind claims in the EU debate