This morning saw the maiden test flight of European manufacturer Airbus' new A350 aircraft.

The plane took off from the Blagnac airstrip near Toulouse, France, where the aircraft is assembled.

Constructed using advanced materials including carbon composites, the new airliner aims to use 25% less fuel than the previous generation of wide-bodied aircraft.

While the A350 has seen over 600 orders placed so far, Airbus have an uphill battle ahead of them - Boeing's rival 787 Dreamliner was the Fastest selling airliner, and has seen over 890 orders palced to date.

The Nicaraguan Congress has approved plans to build a new canal across the country, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The proposed canal would rival the Panama Canal, opened in 1914.

Such routes are key to international maritime trade, allowing large vessels to "shortcut" an otherwise extremely long and costly journey around the entirety of South America.

The Panama Canal, which charges tolls based on vessel type and tonnage, saw a record Highest toll paid in 2003, when the cruise liner Coral Princess was charged US$226,194.25 (£136,270) for use of the 48 mile (77.1km) waterway.

Thousands of Facebook users have been making complaints after changes made to the popular Scrabble game app.

Player histories have been cleared, the dictionary changed, and the board no longer auto-refreshes after the latest update, which follows Electronic Arts taking over the game from Mattel earlier this year.

While Scrabble remains the purists favourite and the inspiration for the genre, rival game Words With Friends remains the Most popular online word game, seeing a peak of 15 million players each month in 2012.