New Baghdad flight from Yemen

Reports from Yemen say it is planning to send an aircraft to Baghdad on Friday with humanitarian aid to help relieve the hardship suffered by the Iraqi people after 10 years of UN sanctions.

The reports say that the plane will carry about 100 people, including government representatives.

The reports follow a flight to Baghdad from Jordan on Wednedsay - the first state-sponsored Arab flight since the sanctions were imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Russia and France - both members of the UN Security Council - have already sent civilian aircraft to Iraq during the past week.

The United States and Britain say the flights are prohibited under the sanctions - but Moscow and Paris argue that Security Council officials need only to be informed of them.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service