Tuesday, 4 July, 2006

By Robbie Gibb
Programme producer, BBC Newsnight

Presented by Jeremy Paxman

How safe is the future of the Shuttle programme?

Aid

We're told we are spending more than ever on overseas aid - UK taxpayers gave £3 billion alone last year - yet as our Business Correspondent Paul Mason reports tonight, the main beneficiary is the aid industry itself.

Some 50% of world aid money turns out to be something known as 'phantom' aid, a mixture of among other things double accounting, debt relief and huge amounts spent on consultants sent from donor nations. Is this really the best way to help impoverished countries?

Prescott

John Prescott's visit to the Colorado home of Philip Anschutz in July last year has raised many questions. The billionaire owns the Dome and wants to run a supercasino there. So did the DPM act improperly by accepting the hospitality?

Scotland

The row over Newsnight Friday's film continues. If you missed it, reporter Tim Samuels drove a car around Scotland bedecked in St George's flags ahead of England's game with Portugal. Tim's experiment met with a mixed reaction ranging from good-natured banter to foul language, but when he left it unattended in the Gallowgate area of Glasgow it was attacked within 20 minutes by a group of youths with bricks.

Today the SNP have criticised the programme and asked for a House of Commons debate - we'll be asking them why.

Segolone Royal

Until late last year, the Segolene Royal was just another middle-ranking Socialist politician but then she floated the idea of standing for the French Presidency and found herself in the middle of a media maelstrom.

"Who would look after the children if she went for the Presidency?" scoffed one of her Socialist colleagues and another would-be presidential candidate, Laurent Fabius. "This is not a beauty contest," sneered Jack Lang, another Socialist and would-be President.

The result? Rather than dampening Ms Royal's hopes, she began to soar in the polls to the point where she is now seen as the main threat to the likely candidate for the right: Nicholas Sarkozy. Our Paris Correspondent Caroline Wyatt meets her and assesses her chances of taking the Elysee Palace.

Shuttle

Preparations are going on at Cape Canaveral in Florida for the launch of the American space shuttle, Discovery. The flight, already postponed twice because of bad weather, was threatened with further delay when a small crack around the spacecraft's external fuel tank was found during an inspection.

But the shuttle has now been given the go-ahead to launch. We'll be live from Cape Canaveral.