World Hot News

Aeroflot is currently the Superjet's first and largest customer

Russia's first entirely new commercial plane for decades, the Superjet 100, has completed its maiden flight.

The plane, which will be able to carry between 75 and 110 passengers, must make about 100 incident-free journeys before being deemed to be airworthy.

Built by Russian manufacturer Sukhoi, the first planes are due to be delivered at the end of 2008 but the project has been hit by delays.

China, Japan and India are all seeking to become mid-range planemakers.

Industrial prestige

The manufacturing market for so-called "regional jets" is dominated by Brazilian firm Embraer and Canada's Bombardier.

The Superjet project was championed by former President Vladimir Putin as a way of displaying Russia's industrial sophistication and technical knowhow.

Hopes are high for the Superjet, with Sukhoi seeking to ramp up production by 2010 and ultimately sell more than 800 planes, more than half to foreign airlines.

It currently has 73 confirmed orders, the bulk from Russian airline Aeroflot.

Vladimir Putin wants Russia to become an industrial force to be reckoned with

But Monday's flight was delayed by more than six months, raising concerns about whether the first planes will be finished on time later this year.

"The plane took off... flew for an hour and then landed," a spokesman at Sukhoi told the Reuters new agency.

The Superjet is designed to replace the Tupolev 134 which entered service in the 1960s and the more modern Yakovlev 42 which was introduced in 1980.

Several of the world's most powerful economies are intent on becoming forces in commercial plane manufacturing to exploit the growing global demand for air travel.

China recently launched a new company to develop a mid-sized passenger jet capable of carrying up to 150 people and backed by nearly $3bn in initial funding.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries confirmed in March that it was going ahead with a $1bn project to develop Japan's first home-grown passenger jet aircraft.

Up to 200,000 people have lined the streets of Portsmouth to welcome home their FA Cup winning team.

Fans lined the streets six deep in places to cheer on the team, who beat Cardiff 1-0 at Wembley.

The players, staff, families and the Cup were on three open-top buses that travelled through the city centre.

Manager Harry Redknapp told the crowds at Southsea Common: "It's fantastic. It means a lot to me. Thank you so much for turning out here today."

It is the first time the Premier League club have lifted the trophy since 1939 - when they beat Wolves 4-1.

'Been crying'

The team is now expected to be granted the freedom of the city.

One Portsmouth fan said she had not been able to stop crying.

"I've been crying since the semi-final," she said. "I've been supporting since I was 14."

Hampshire police arrested 10 people there for minor public order offences.

City council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said Sunday's parade was a wonderful occasion for the city.

Portsmouth erupts for FA victory

"There's too many happy and sad and mixed emotions and yesterday was all about the perfect day and my god, what a day, it was just amazing and the best day of my life, just incredible.

"And its all about being a football supporter and I think the cup final's shown two teams and two sets of fans who are really really genuine supporters who love their clubs."

On Saturday some 25,000 Pompey fans were among the 90,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium who saw Nwankwo Kanu score Saturday's decisive goal.

Another 60,000 - three times as many as expected - watched on a big screen on Southsea Common.

Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered in Cardiff Bay to welcome home the defeated Cardiff City players.

The players, who had reached the club's first FA Cup final since 1927, arrived via boat from Penarth.

BAE says it is in co-operating with American justice officials

Two executives of defence company BAE Systems were briefly detained when they landed in the US on business.

Chief executive Mike Turner and an unnamed senior colleague were spoken to when they arrived at Houston airport, and had electronic equipment examined.

US officials are investigating corruption allegations involving a huge arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.

BAE, which denies any wrong-doing, said US officials served "a number of additional subpoenas" on employees.

The executives were not prevented from entering the US following the unexpected interruption on 12 May, and Mr Turner is now back in the UK.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has approached the UK Home Office to formally invoke a procedure that seeks their help with the American investigation into BAE.

A Mutual Legal Assistance mechanism calls upon two countries to swap information that may aid an ongoing investigation by one or both.

The BBC's Joe Lynam has been told that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is considering the request.

'Serious damage'

There have been accusations that BAE made multi-million-pound payments to help win an arms deal from Saudi Arabia - though all parties deny any wrongdoing.

The £43bn al-Yamamah deal was signed in the 1980s but continued into the 1990s.

It involved BAE selling Tornado and Hawk jets, as well as other weapons, and also included long-running maintenance and training contracts.

In the UK, in December 2006, the then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, announced the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was suspending its inquiry into the deal, saying it would have caused "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and, in turn, threatened national security.

The High Court ruled recently that it was unlawful for the SFO to have ended the investigation into the deal. The fraud office has been given permission to appeal against the court ruling.

Liberal Democrat Treasury critic Vince Cable said the investigation should never have been halted.

"It is a national disgrace that in this country, a major criminal investigation was stopped following political interference in order to protect commercial interests," Mr Cable told the BBC's Bridget Kendall.

"Whereas in the United States, prosecutors are being allowed to get on with their job."

'Ongoing investigation'

The US justice department said in June 2007 that it was launching a probe to see if BAE's business deals "concerning the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" complied with anti-corruption laws.

It is believed the Americans became interested because BAE used the US banking system to transfer regular payments to accounts controlled by Prince Bandar, a senior figure in the Saudi royal family, at Riggs Bank in Washington.

Following the detention of the two BAE executives, for 20 minutes on Monday 12 May, the company has put out a statement.

It says: "The company has been and continues to be in discussion with the DoJ concerning the subpoenas served in the course of its investigation."

Police teams have excavated cellar rooms in Haut de la Garenne

A piece of bone that sparked a massive police search at a former Haut de la Garenne children's home now appears to be a shard of wood or coconut shell.

Police on the island of Jersey have confirmed that forensic experts in Britain believe the discovery on 23 February is not a skull fragment.

The find was the first piece of significant physical evidence in a two-year-old probe into child abuse.

Police in Jersey say the latest twist does not affect their investigation.

The initial finding led to an extensive, ongoing search and excavation of the Haut de la Garenne building and surrounding grounds.

To date, more than 160 people who spent time at the home have come forward with claims of sexual and physical abuse between the early 1960s and 1986 when the home closed.

'Distraction'

The wider search across the complex has led police to what they believe are bone fragments and children's milk teeth buried beneath the old foundations of the building, although forensic testing is still underway to confirm whether or not the 20 pieces of bone are human or animal.

The building most recently operated as a youth hostel.

In a lengthy statement released on Sunday, States of Jersey Police responded to allegations in a Sunday newspaper that the likely origin of that initial "bone" fragment was purposely kept from the media.

Police say the initial find - whether it turns out to be bone or not - had already been ruled out of their investigation after experts agreed that it dated from before 1940.

They say to highlight its origins would have distracted from their investigation.

The statement goes on to say that the officer in charge of the investigation, deputy chief officer Lenny Harper, "takes full responsibility for the decision to curtail the debate on the item which had already been ruled out of the enquiry and which would have indeed distracted attention from the victims of abuse".

General Than Shwe was pictured visiting victims near Rangoon

The leader of Burma's military junta has met victims of the country's devastating cyclone for the first time.

More than two weeks since the storm hit, General Than Shwe visited relief camps near Rangoon.

A senior UN envoy has arrived in Burma to urge the military regime to accept more international aid. UN chief Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit soon.

Burma says some 78,000 people have died since the cyclone, but aid agencies say many more may die without urgent help.

Than Shwe was shown by Burmese state television visiting relief camps in the Hlaing Thar Yar and Dagon suburbs of Rangoon.

The general inspected relief supplies and spoke to survivors of the cyclone, which flattened and flooded villages across the Irawaddy delta, as well as parts of the main city, Rangoon.

Aid 'starting to move'

The junta has been criticised around the world for obstructing international efforts to help the cyclone victims.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week said its response was "inhuman".

However, UK Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown said on Sunday that the aid operation was finally "starting to move".

He said there were signs that Burma might accept a compromise brokered by Asian intermediaries to allow more foreign help, including allowing Western ships to deliver aid.

"We're just going to have see what negotiations in the coming days by the Asian leaders, by the UN secretary-general, achieve. I think you're going to see quite dramatic steps by the Burmese to open up," he told the BBC.

His comments came just before UN humanitarian envoy John Holmes arrived in Burma for talks with members of the junta about widening the relief effort.

The cyclone has filled rice fields with sea water, destroying vital crops UK aid 'reaching cyclone victims' Burma: How you can help Waiting to deliver aid

Mr Holmes is carrying a letter from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to General Than Shwe, who has refused to answer Mr Ban's calls, or answer two previous letters, a UN spokesperson said.

Mr Ban will travel to Burma himself in the coming week, probably on Wednesday or Thursday.

Lord Malloch-Brown says only about 25% of the cyclone's most needy victims have received the help they need.

And Save the Children says 30,000 acutely malnourished children under five years of age are threatened by death from starvation.

The charity says if they do not receive energy-rich food now they could starve to death within weeks.

EXTENT OF THE DEVASTATION See map and satellite images Eyewitness: Barred from Burma Send us your comments

"When people reach this stage they can die in a matter of days... We need to reach more before it is too late," said Save the Children UK's chief executive, Jasmine Whitbread.

On Saturday, Burma took foreign diplomats on a helicopter tour of the Irrawaddy Delta.

But Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Burma, dismissed the visit as a "show".

However, Bernard Delpuech, head of the European Commission Humanitarian Office in Rangoon, said the trip had at least shown "the magnitude of the devastation".

Transact is expecting the rate of problem debt to get worse

A national debt advice organisation says its offices in some of the most affluent parts of the UK are being overwhelmed by demands for help.

Transact told BBC Radio 5 Live the credit crunch was leaving many professionals and homeowners unable to cope with their debts.

It said demand for advice was rising across the country, but the increase was dramatic in middle-class areas.

The organisation represents more than 1,200 debt advice centres.

In Haywards Heath in Sussex and Congleton in Cheshire, for example, there had been a 100% rise in inquiries over the past year.

It said some advice centres were so busy they had been turning people away.

Benefits

Transact says government funding has been generous, with an extra £55 million over the past three years to fund an extra 500 debt advisers.

But it says this has been concentrated on inner-city areas where the rise in problem debt has been less severe.

These services now with the credit crunch are being overwhelmed by a whole new breed of debtor: middle-class people Jamie Elliott Transact co-ordinator

Transact co-ordinator Jamie Elliott told the BBC that debt advisers were seeing a new type of client.

"In the past it was almost uniquely people on benefits, people in social housing who went to debt advice agencies.

"Since the credit crunch started, they are seeing a big increase in professional people and homeowners coming to seek help, who have just been pushed over the edge and now can't cope with their outgoings.

"These services now with the credit crunch are being overwhelmed by a whole new breed of debtor: middle-class people.

"But what that means is there is much less debt advice to go round."

Tougher lending

Many of the people Transact sees have taken advantage of easy access to credit or extended mortgages to pay for home improvements or just general spending.

But in recent months lenders have become much tougher and less willing to be flexible over repayments.

I've had at least two clients sit in front of me and tell me they would have killed themselves if they hadn't found out we were here Emma Russell Senior debt adviser

And with fixed-rate mortgages coming to an end, higher fuel costs, food bills and council tax, it says many people with decent salaries are struggling.

Transact expects the problem to get worse and wants more funding for debt advice and financial education.

At the Mid-Sussex Debt Advice Centre which serves the Haywards Heath area, the average debt of clients - excluding mortgages - is £20,000, rising to £110,000 in the most extreme case.

Senior debt adviser Emma Russell said: "We've seen probably almost a 100% increase in clients. This time last year we were really quite quiet."

And she added: "I've had at least two clients sit in front of me and tell me they would have killed themselves if they hadn't found out we were here."

Debt advisers say financial institutions must take some responsibility for encouraging debt and the government should do more to educate people about financial responsibility.

But they also say a large part of the blame also rests with the individuals who have borrowed so much.