Spain train diver facing charges

The driver of a speeding train that crashed in Spain has refused to respond to police questioning. Source: AAP

THE driver of a train that hurtled off the rails killing 78 people in Spain faces possible charges as doctors work to identify the last three victims of the country's worst rail disaster in decades.

As Spain mourned on Saturday, the city of Santiago de Compostela where the crash occurred is preparing a funeral for Monday in its cathedral, a destination for Catholic pilgrims from around the world.

Police have accused the driver, identified by media as Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, of "recklessness" in Wednesday night's devastating crash.

They said late on Friday that he refused to answer their questions in his hospital bed and the case has been passed to the courts.

The train was said to have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit when it hurtled off the rails and slammed into a concrete wall, with one carriage leaping up onto a siding.

Smoke billowed from the gutted cars as bodies were strewn across the tracks. Locals said they came running from their houses to drag passengers from the wreckage.

The grey-haired driver, who reportedly boasted of his love for speed online, was under police surveillance in hospital, said Jaime Iglesias, police chief in the northwestern Galicia region.

The driver faces criminal accusations including "recklessness", Iglesias told a news conference, but has not yet been charged.

A police spokesman later said the driver had refused to respond to police questioning on Friday and the courts would now decide on judicial action.

Spanish media published photographs of the man they identified as Garzon after the crash, with blood covering the right side of his face.

Leading Spanish newspaper El Pais said the driver of the train had been unable to brake in time.

Seventy-eight passengers perished, three of whom have yet to be identified, and 178 were injured, regional authorities said.

Following the crash, weeping relatives waited in a conference centre in the city for news of their loved ones, attended by counsellors.

At least seven foreigners are among the dead - a US citizen, an Algerian, a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Venezuelan, an Italian and a national of the Dominican Republic, a judicial source said.

Most of the injured are Spanish, but at least eight were foreigners from Argentina, Britain, Colombia, the US and Peru.

The number of people still in hospital dropped to 81, including 28 adults and three children who were in critical condition, Galician Health Minister Rocio Mosquera said.

The driver, while still trapped in his cab, told railway officials by radio that the train had taken the curve at 190 kilometres an hour, more than double the 80 km/h speed limit on that section of track, El Pais said, citing unidentified sources in the investigation.

"I was going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience," he was quoted as saying.

He has reportedly been with state rail company Renfe for 30 years, including 13 years of experience as a driver.

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1267 boat people arrived since PNG deal

More than 1000 asylum seekers are waiting on Christmas Island to be transferred to PNG. Source: AAP

THE number of asylum seekers arriving by boat since the government announced its hardline resettlement policy more than a week ago has climbed to 1267.

Home affairs Minister Jason Clare released two statements on Saturday evening revealing details of two more boats intercepted on Friday.

One had 94 passengers and two crew on board, while the other was carrying 123 passengers and two crew.

People on both vessels have been taken to Christmas Island for initial identity and health checks before they are transferred to Papua New Guinea.

A spokesman for Mr Clare confirmed a total of 1267 arrivals on 16 boats since the government introduced the new PNG policy on July 19.

Under the federal government's deal with PNG, people arriving by boat will be denied resettlement in Australia, taken to Manus Island for processing and if their refugee status is approved, resettled in PNG.

More than 1000 asylum seekers are already waiting on Christmas Island to be transferred to PNG.

Meanwhile, an independent investigation into riots that burnt down accommodation at the Nauru detention centre and allegations of asylum seekers being raped on Manus Island will be set up this week.

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Syrian forces make gains in Homs

REGIME forces backed by Hezbollah now control half of the Khaldiyeh district of Homs after ousting rebels in fierce fighting in the central Syrian city, a watchdog says.

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Spain train crash probe focuses on driver

The driver of a train that derailed in Spain is being questioned after admitting to speeding. Source: AAP

THE focus of a probe into a horrific train derailment in northwestern Spain that killed at least 80 people has turned to the injured driver, who reportedly boasted of his love of speed online.

The driver, identified by local media as Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, was under police surveillance in hospital after the train hurtled off the tracks late on Wednesday while apparently going at twice the legal speed limit in one of Spain's worst rail disasters ever.

State train company Renfe said the driver was a 30-year veteran of the firm with more than a decade of train driving experience.

The train's data recording "black box" and other documents were passed over to the judge in charge of the investigation on Thursday.

Attention has so far centred on Garzon Amo, one of two drivers on the train, after media reports described him as a speed freak who once gleefully posted a picture on his Facebook page of a train speedometer showing it was travelling at 200km/h.

Below the photo he wrote the caption: "I am on the edge, I can't go faster or else I will be fined."

His Facebook page has since been taken down, but Spanish newspapers quoted another of his posts as saying: "What fun it would be to race the Guardia Civil (police) and pass them, causing their radar to blow up hehehe. What a huge fine that would be for Renfe."

Police originally intended to question him on Thursday, but had to wait because he was still being treated for light injuries sustained in the crash on the outskirts of the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela, a police source said.

The El Pais newspaper, citing sources close to the investigation, said the driver stated immediately after the crash that he had been travelling at 190km/h on a curve with a speed limit of 80km/h.

"I am going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience," he reportedly told supervisors over the radio while trapped inside the cab after the eight-carriage train flew off the tracks on a curve at 8.42pm.

Dramatic video footage from a security camera showed the fast-moving train, which was travelling from Madrid to the port of Ferrol, slamming into a concrete wall at the side of the track as the engine overturned.

On Friday, the paper reported the driver was unable to brake in time.

"The railway warning systems detected that Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, the driver of the Alvia train that departed Madrid, was travelling at 190 kilometres an hour when it should not exceed 80," El Pais wrote.

"The driver acknowledged that the alarm went off in the control panel and he tried to brake but was not able to avert the tragedy," the newspaper added.

The Galician regional government said 80 people died and at least another 100 were injured in the accident, which left bodies and gutted carriages strewn across the tracks.

The US Department of State confirmed that one of its citizens was among the dead and five others had been injured.

Eighty-three people were still in hospital, 32 of them in critical condition, including four children.

Of the 80 dead, 13 still had not been identified.

Officials were holding off giving a complete list of the injured until everyone has been identified.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of the city, declared three days of national mourning after visiting the scene of the accident.

Renfe president Julio Gomez-Pomar Rodriguez told Cadena Cope radio station that it was too early to speculate about the cause of the disaster, but the Spanish secretary of state for transport, Rafael Catala, said excessive speed appeared to be the culprit.

"The tragedy that happened in Santiago de Compostela seems to be linked to excessive speed, but we are still waiting on the judicial investigation," he told radio station Cadena Ser.

Renfe said the train had no technical problems and had just passed an inspection on the morning of the accident.

Many of the passengers were thought to be on their way to a festival in honour of Saint James, the apostle who gave his name to Santiago de Compostela, an annual event that draws crowds of pilgrims to the town.

All festivities have been cancelled as Spain plunged into mourning for the victims.

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Halliburton admits destroying evidence

Halliburton Energy Services have admitted destroying evidence relating to the 2010 oil rig disaster. Source: AAP

HALLIBURTON, the US energy services giant, has admitted destroying evidence relating to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst such disaster in American history.

A Justice Department statement released late on Thursday said the company had agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct that occurred when it was carrying out its own post-accident investigation.

Eleven people died and 4.9 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf over a three-month period after the explosion, with BP - who leased Deepwater Horizon - ending up paying billions of dollars in compensation and cleanup costs.

Halliburton Energy Services, BP's contractor, had been accused by the British oil giant of destroying evidence. BP has also asked Halliburton to pay damages stemming from the April 2010 accident off the coast of Louisiana.

The Justice Department statement said Halliburton - which constructed the cement casing of the well at the centre of the disaster - had carried out its own internal investigations in May and June the same year.

However, the results of computer simulations conducted as part of that probe were ordered to be destroyed and were never recovered, it said.

In addition to a guilty plea - which is subject to court approval - Halliburton has agreed to pay the maximum statutory fine of $US200,000 ($A217,650).

The company said in a statement that it would make a separate and voluntary $US55 million payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The disaster wreaked havoc on the Gulf region's environment and economy.

The central subject of the cooperation and guilty plea deal was the number of heavy metal collars, known as centralisers, placed at various points on the cement casing of the Macondo well that eventually exploded.

The Justice Department said that prior to the blowout, Halliburton had recommended that 21 centralisers be used, but BP instead opted for six.

Halliburton's post-accident tests failed to back up its earlier suggestion.

"These simulations indicated that there was little difference between using six and 21 centralisers. (The) Program Manager was directed to, and did, destroy these results," the Justice Department statement said.

In a later incident in or around June 2010, similar evidence was also destroyed when Halliburton's cementing technology director asked another more experienced employee to repeat the simulations.

When he "reached the same conclusion" he was directed to "get rid of" the simulations, the statement said.

"In agreeing to plead guilty, Halliburton has accepted criminal responsibility for destroying the aforementioned evidence," the Justice Department added.

Halliburton's statement said the agreement with the Justice Department would conclude the criminal investigation into its actions over the giant spill.

"A Halliburton subsidiary has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanour violation associated with the deletion of records created after the Macondo well incident, to pay the statutory maximum fine of $US200,000 and to accept a term of three years probation," it said.

Several government probes have castigated BP, rig operator Transocean and Halliburton for cutting corners and missing warning signs that could have prevented the disaster.

Last year, BP agreed to pay $US4.5 billion in penalties and pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges relating to the explosion and ensuing spill.

The company also spent more than $US14 billion on the response and cleanup and has paid another $US10 billion to businesses, individuals and local governments that did not join an ongoing class action lawsuit.

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Hong Kong shares end 0.31% higher

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Govt keeps mum on budget cuts

The government is not revealing budget cuts ahead of Treasurer Chris Bowen's economic statement. Source: AAP

THE federal government has refused to come clean on what areas of the budget could face the chop as Treasurer Chris Bowen puts together an economic statement ahead of the looming election.

Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said the government's expenditure review committee was looking at a "range of options" to pay for its asylum seeker resettlement plan in Papua New Guinea.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said there were suggestions the government was planning to abolish its school kids bonus - the cash payment of up to $820 to parents to help pay for school related expenses, to help fund the resettlement program.

There's also speculation the government may consider further changes to superannuation arrangements, he said.

"The Labor party is made up from A to Z of hypocrites," Mr Hockey told reporters in Sydney.

"You cannot run a budget and you cannot run an economy like this."

But Finance Minister Penny Wong said the school kids bonus is a "very important policy area".

"But I am certainly not going to be drawn ahead of the economic statement on ruling things in, or ruling things out," she told reporters in Melbourne.

Instead she launched a stinging attack on her opposition counterpart Andrew Robb.

He's questioned the relevance of Australia's top level triple-A credit rating because Lehman Brothers had the same when it succumbed to the global financial crisis in 2008.

She accused the shadow finance minister of warning investors off Australia.

"It's irresponsible, dishonest, it's damaging to confidence," she said.

Australia is one of only eight countries in the world with a triple-A rating from all three global agencies - Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service.

However, Mr Hockey believes the triple-A rating is important because since the GFC it has become more closely linked to the standing of financial institutions and directly affects the cost of borrowing.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Australia's rating was due to the sustained reforms of the former Howard government and those of the Bob Hawke and Paul Keating governments.

He says it owes nothing to the spending spree of the current government.

He labelled Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Australia's "world champion, gold medal fiscal vandal".

"We cannot have a strong economy without strong and profitable private businesses and that means getting taxes down, getting regulation down and means having a government that lives within its means," he told reporters in Brisbane.

He told a small business conference he would install people with small business experience on the Board of Taxation, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Fair Work Commission.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson said Mr Abbott had offered a practical solution to one problem.

"It's a good plan," he said in a statement.

But he said issues such as red tape reduction, simplifying tax compliance, making it easier to employ and building better infrastructure also have to be acted upon.

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Spanish train crash kills 78, injures 140

Officials in Spain say 60 people have died in a train derailment in the country's northwest. Source: AAP

A TRAIN has hurtled off the tracks in northwest Spain, killing at least 78 passengers and injuring more than 140, with the driver reportedly going at twice the speed limit.

Carriages piled into each other and overturned in the smash late on Wednesday, smoke billowing from the wreckage, as bodies were laid out under blankets along the tracks in the country's deadliest rail disaster in more than 40 years.

Several media outlets said the train was speeding at the time of the accident, but a spokesman for state railway company Renfe said it was too soon to say what caused the accident.

"There is an investigation under way and we have to wait. We will know what the speed is very soon when we consult the train's black box," a Renfe spokesman said.

The driver became trapped in one of the carriages and he told railway officials by radio that he took the bend at 190km/h in an urban zone with a speed limit of 80km/h, daily El Pais reported.

"I was going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience," he said, according to the online edition of the newspaper which cited unidentified investigation sources.

The accident happened at 8.42pm on Wednesday (0442 AEST Thursday) as the train carrying 218 passengers and four staff was about to enter Santiago de Compostela station in the northwestern region of Galicia.

The train derailed on a stretch of high-speed track about four kilometres from the train station in the city, the destination of the famous El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage which has been followed by Christians since the Middle Ages.

The train was the Alvia model which is able to adapt between high-speed and normal tracks.

It had left Madrid and was heading for the ship-building coastal town of Ferrol as the Galicia region was preparing celebrations in honour of its patron saint James.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of Santiago de Compostela, arrived at the scene of the accident before visiting victims in hospital later on Thursday.

Rajoy declared three days of national mourning.

Spain's King Juan Carlos and Crown Prince Felipe called off their public engagements out of respect for the victims.

Several witnesses spoke of a loud explosion at the time of the accident.

"I was at home and I heard something like a clap of thunder, It was very loud and there was lots of smoke," said 62-year-old Maria Teresa Ramos, who lived just metres from where the accident happened.

"It's a disaster, people are crying out. Nobody has ever seen anything like this," she added.

Rescue workers recovered 73 bodies from the train's wreckage and five more victims died later in hospital, a spokesman for the Galicia high court said.

A total of 143 people were said to have various injuries.

It marks the worst rail accident in Spain since 77 people were killed in 1972 in a derailment in Andalusia in the south.

Renfe said the train had no technical problems and had just passed an inspection.

Renfe said the train had no technical problems and had just passed an inspection on the morning of the accident.

"To put it in another way, the maintenance record and control of the train was perfect," Renfe head Julio Gomez-Pomar Rodriguez told Cadena Cope radio.

The cause was unknown, Renfe said.

"There is an investigation underway and we have to wait. We will know what the speed is very soon when we consult the train's black box," a Renfe

spokesman said.

Francisco Otero, 39, who was inside his parents' home just beside the section of the track where the accident happened, said he "heard a huge bang".

"The first thing I saw was the body of a woman. I had never seen a corpse before. But above all what caught my attention was that there was a lot of silence, some smoke and a small fire," he told AFP.

"My neighbours tried to pull out people who were trapped inside the carriages with the help of pickaxes and sledgehammers and they eventually got them out with a hand saw. It was unreal."

Emergency services workers in red jackets tended to injured passengers lying on a patch of grass as ambulance sirens wailed in the background.

"There are bodies laying on the railway track. It's a Dante-esque scene," Alberto Nunez Feijoo, president of the regional government, told news radio Cadena Ser.

Pope Francis called for prayers for the victims.

The town hall of Santiago de Compostela called off concerts and firework displays that had been planned as part of the festivities in honour of its patron saint.

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Gunmen kill 14 truck drivers in Iraq

DOZENS of Sunni militants set up a roadblock on a highway north of Baghdad, stopped trucks, checked IDs and then summarily executed 14 Shi'ite drivers, officials say.

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Baby boy among dead in asylum boat tragedy

FORTY-FOUR suspected asylum seekers are still missing after their boat sank off the Indonesian coast of Java.

A baby boy, a 10-year-old girl and a woman died in the incident and as many as 157 people have been rescued, according to Associated Press (AP).

The boat sank in heavy seas off the Indonesian fishing town of Cidaun in western Java.

Rescuers set out from the town in their own boats and vessels lent by police and fishermen.

Local police spokesman Martinus Sitompul told AP around 204 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq were on the boat.

They began their journey on Tuesday on a smaller boat from Jayanti, a coastal town in Cianjur, and were supposed to meet a larger ship at sea to complete the voyage to Australia.

Their overloaded boat, built to carry only 150 passengers, sank about nine hours into the trip due to a leak.

Some of the would-be refugees scrambled for the lifeboat, while others swam before being rescued.

A search for 44 people believed missing continued on Wednesday with police, fishermen and local villagers scouring the waters.

Rochmali, a rescuer at the scene, told AP the exact number missing remains unclear since some survivors may have fled to avoid authorities.

The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority told AAP it had offered to help Indonesian authorities with the rescue operation if needed.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the government is monitoring the unfolding tragedy.

"All of our agencies are actively following this and ensuring that everything that can be done is being done," Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

He said the incident underlined the need for a tough asylum seeker policy.

"We are seeing too many drownings, we are seeing too many sinkings, too many innocent people being lost at sea."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the only way to end tragedies like this was to stop the boats from coming.

"This is a tragic reminder of what happens when policy change in Australia puts the people smugglers back in business," he told reporters on the Gold Coast.

"I'm not crass enough to directly blame anyone in this country for tragedies at sea.

"But Mr Rudd should be man enough to admit that it was a terrible tragic mistake that his government made back in 2008 when they reversed the policies that worked."

Immigration Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday he would consider the government's tough new asylum seeker policy a success when the drownings stopped.

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PNG warns Rudd, Abbott over asylum issue

PAPUA New Guinea has warned Labor and the coalition not to impugn its dignity over the asylum seeker issue, with 70 men flown out of the Manus Island detention facility amid allegations of rape and torture.

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Iraq police station hit by mortars, 9 dead

MILITANTS have attacked a police station in north Iraq with mortar rounds and automatic weapons, killing nine police, doctors and officials say.

The violence on Wednesday comes a day after an al-Qaeda front group claimed brazen assaults on two prisons in Iraq that killed more than 40 people, among them 20 security forces members, and saw hundreds of inmates, including senior militants, escape.

Security forces are desperately hunting the prisoners who escaped in Sunday night's jailbreaks to prevent them rejoining the ranks of the militants and carrying out further attacks.

Wednesday's assault on a police station about 60 kilometres south of the northern city of Mosul, also left two policemen wounded, the sources said.

It was followed by a roadside bomb explosion as emergency personnel travelled to the scene, wounding another two people.

In a separate incident, gunmen killed a man in Baquba, a city north of Baghdad.

Iraq has faced years of attacks by militants, but analysts say widespread discontent among members of its Sunni Arab minority, which the government has failed to address, has fuelled the surge in unrest this year.

Iraqi security forces are frequently targeted by militants opposed to the government in Baghdad.

With the latest unrest, more than 650 people have been killed so far in July, making it the deadliest month in a year marked by spiralling violence.

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Four suspected NSW armed robbers charged

Police have charged four men suspected over a string of armed robberies in Sydney's south. Source: AAP

FOUR young men suspected of a series of armed robberies in Sydney's south have been charged.

Drugs, a firearm part and ammunition were also seized during searches of the men and a car, police say.

Officers from tactical operations and the dog squad arrested three of the men, 32, 23 and 20, on a main road at Merrylands on Tuesday afternoon.

The fourth man, 19, was arrested inside a club on the same road shortly after.

The men were charged with a raft of offences, including robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon, aggravated break and enter and supplying and possessing drugs.

Three men appeared at Fairfield Local Court on Tuesday and the 19-year-old is due before the same court in August.

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Vic close to call on schools plan: Shorten

The Catholic education sector has backed the government's national schools improvement plan. Source: AAP

THE federal government expects to know within days whether Victoria will sign up to Labor's schools funding plan.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Education Minister Bill Shorten on Tuesday met with Victorian Premier Denis Napthine in a bid to convince him to get on board the Better Schools Plan.

Mr Shorten said the talks were "constructive" and "positive" but there were more intensive discussions to come in following days.

He was focused on achieving a "mutual win-win" for children in Victoria's state schools, not on setting a deadline for Victoria.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we'll know in the next few days," he told reporters in Melbourne after the meeting.

Victoria stands to gain $4 billion in additional funding for its school system under the arrangement.

Mr Napthine described the talks as "fruitful", but said keeping school administration in local hands was also an important priority for the state's future.

"We want assurances from the federal government with regard to the management of our schools," he said.

"It's absolutely vital for us that our schools are managed by local school councils, local school principals and local school committees, rather than faceless bureaucrats in Canberra."

Earlier, the Catholic schools sector announced it was backing the government's national plan for schools improvement.

They join the independent schools sector in supporting Labor's funding offer, along with the state governments of NSW, ACT, South Australia and Tasmania.

Catholic schools stand to gain about $1.6 billion of the $15-plus billion in extra funding pledged by the government for the national schools system over six years.

Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory remain unconvinced, and although negotiations continue it's highly unlikely Western Australia will reverse its staunch opposition.

Getting Victoria across the line would be a major coup for the Rudd government as it prepares for an election as soon as August 31.

The coalition has vowed to scrap the government's schools plan unless an "overwhelming majority" of states sign on, and with Victoria on side Labor could argue it has the numbers.

Mr Rudd said if NSW could see the benefits of signing on, he was sure Victoria could too.

"I'm not sure that any mum and dad, or person in charge of a local parent community in a school in the state system in Victoria, would want to say goodbye to that," he said.

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WA prison farm escapee captured nearby

A dangerous escapee from Karnet Prison Farm south of Perth has been recaptured by police. Source: AAP

A DANGEROUS escapee from Karnet Prison Farm south of Perth has been recaptured by police.

Bradley Edmund Wilcott, a 54-year-old sex offender, left the grounds of the minimum security facility around noon (WST) on Monday.

Police warned he was unpredictable and should not be approached.

On Tuesday evening, police said he had been found and captured without incident in the general vicinity of the prison around 4pm.

He has been charged with escaping legal custody and will appear in Armadale Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

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Elderly in shoddy public housing: NSW oppn

PENSIONERS, veterans and war widows are being forced to live in sub-standard public housing, the NSW opposition claims.

It's attacked the state government for ripping $37 million from the maintenance budget for public housing, claiming residents now live in conditions that don't meet basic standards.

"Many of these houses are in urgent need of repair and do not meet the basic standards that residents deserve," said opposition housing spokeswoman Sophie Cotsis.

She says the cuts are affecting thousands of pensioners, veterans, war widows, the elderly and frail.

"Many of these residents are elderly and have ongoing health issues such as respiratory conditions.

"Ongoing issues such as rising damp and mould are placing their health in jeopardy."

Ms Cotsis claims maintenance spending has fallen from $195 million in 2012/13 to $158 million in 2013/14.

"Many houses are suffering from rising damp, mould, peeling paint, blocked drains, rusted gutters, asbestos in the eaves and water leakages," she said.

"It is absolutely shameful that Barry O'Farrell and Greg Pearce have let these houses deteriorate to the state they are in."

Ms Cotsis is calling on government ministers to join her in a visit to the houses to see the conditions first-hand.

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Social media reacts to Kate labour

THE announcement that the Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour caused a flurry of activity on social media.

The topic was trending on Twitter, while hundreds of mothers logged on to parenting website Mumsnet to give their opinions on the news.

Broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted: "Keep Calm...and Carry On. #Kate" and added: "My money's on an Australian cricket birth - all out by tea."

Labour's former deputy prime minister John Prescott joked: "Great to hear the Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour. Is she an affiliated member?"

One Mumsnet user, writing under the name Iwaswatchingthat, posted: "I feel sorry for her. I really did not want anyone except my mum and dh (dear husband) to know I was in labour and just wanted to get on with it.

"It must be awful to think that the world is all imagining her huffing and puffing."

FrankellyMyDearIDontGiveADamn wrote: "Glad it's been confirmed. Soppy cow that I am I've just had a little cry over the news. In my defence I'm 8 weeks pregnant with my first and my emotions are all over the place!"

Another user, Gobbolinothewitchscat, added: "Seriously, it's a shame she's in the early stages. Best to stay at home as long as poss."

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Dubai pardons rape case woman

Officials have dropped the sentence of a Norwegian woman at the centre of a Dubai rape claim. Source: AAP

A NORWEGIAN woman at the centre of a Dubai rape claim dispute says that officials have dropped her 16-month sentence for having sex outside marriage and she is free to leave the country.

"I am very, very happy," Marte Deborah Dalelv told The Associated Press. "I am overjoyed."

The sentence against the 24-year-old Dalelv last week stirred widespread outrage in the West and highlighted the frequent clash between Dubai's Western-friendly image and its Islamic-based legal codes.

Dalelv claimed she was raped in March by a co-worker, but she was charged with having sex outside marriage after going to the police. Her decision to go public about the sentence last week in a series of interviews appeared to put pressure on authorities in Dubai and tarnish the city's reputation as a cosmopolitan hub.

"I have my passport back. I am pardoned," said Dalelv, who worked for an interior design firm in Qatar and was in Dubai for a business meeting when the alleged rape took place.

There was no immediate work from Dubai officials.

In Norway, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide posted a Twitter message: "Marte is released! Thanks to everyone who signed up to help."

Eide told the Norwegian news agency NTB that international media attention and Norway's diplomatic measures helped Dalelv, who was free on appeal with her next court hearing scheduled for early September.

"The United Arab Emirates and Dubai is a rapidly changing society. This decision won't only affect Marte Dalelv, who can travel home now if she wishes to, but also serve as a wake-up call regarding the legal situation in many other countries," Eide was quoted as saying.

Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter: "Happy that Marte has been pardoned and that she is a free woman again."

Dalelv said she planned to leave the UAE soon, but "first I have to thank some very special people," including local groups that supported her. She had been staying at a Norwegian-linked aid centre.

The AP does not identify the names of alleged sexual assault victims, but Dalelv went public voluntarily to talk to media.

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Asylum boat detected with 60 on board

A suspected asylum seeker vessel was detected in waters near Christmas Island. Source: AAP

THE navy is escorting an asylum seeker boat with about 60 passengers on board to Christmas Island.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) received a call from the vessel on Sunday morning, and asked the navy to assist.

A navy ship arrived in the early afternoon, and after boarding the asylum vessel began escorting it toward Christmas Island, an AMSA spokesman told AAP.

Under the Rudd government's tough new asylum seeker deal, any asylum seekers arriving by boat without a visa after last Friday will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing.

If they're found to be genuine refugees, they may be resettled in PNG but not in Australia.

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Philippe ascends throne of divided Belgium

Belgium's King Albert II has officially abdicated in a solemn ceremony at the royal palace. Source: AAP

PHILIPPE has ascended the throne of Belgium as its seventh king amid National Day celebrations marked by hopes the fragile nation can remain united.

"I swear to abide by the constitution and the laws of the Belgian people," Philippe, 53, and dressed in full military uniform, said on Sunday in the country's three languages - French, Flemish and German.

"I am aware of the responsibilities weighing on my shoulders," he added, after the abdication of his father Albert II after 20 years at the helm of the linguistically-split country at the heart of Europe.

Albert, 79, abdicated in favour of his eldest son at a solemn ceremony in the royal palace's chandelier-laden throne room after saying he felt too old and too fragile to continue to reign.

In his last speech, Albert reiterated a call to the country's leaders "to work tirelessly in favour of Belgium's cohesion".

His voice breaking with emotion, Albert turned to his wife of 54 years, Queen Paola, to say: "As for the queen who constantly supported me in my task I would simply like to tell her 'thank you'.

"A big kiss", he added as she shed a tear and the audience of political leaders and other dignitaries broke into a long round of applause.

Under sunny skies and a light summer breeze, flags fluttered across Brussels as the day of pageantry began with a thanksgiving mass in the cathedral and crowds lined outside shouted "Long Live the King".

The medieval cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula was packed with Belgian government and other dignitaries, but there were no foreign guests in attendance.

But worries persist that the shy and often awkward prince Philippe may lack the political skills of his father to maintain unity in a nation deeply divided between its Flemish and French-speaking halves.

Mathilde, an outgoing 40-year-old who will be Belgium's first home-grown queen, is seen as his best asset in the couple's campaign to win the hearts of their 11.5 million people.

"Philippe, you have the heart and the intelligence to serve our country very well," Albert said in his abdication speech. "You and your dear wife Mathilde have all our confidence."

The monarchy more often than not is viewed as a rare symbol of Belgium's unity - along with its iconic fries and the national football team.

In the last decades, severe tensions across the linguistic divide have seen it morph progressively into a federal state that devolves increasing powers to its language-based regions.

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Japan PM Abe's coalition wins upper house

THE coalition of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a resounding victory in upper house elections, broadcasters' exit polls showed.

The Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner New Komeito claimed at least 71 of the 121 seats that were being contested, NHK projected, handing them control over both chambers of parliament.

Citing its own polling and interviews with voters, the state broadcaster said the governing coalition could have won as many as 80 of the seats that were up for grabs.

There are 242 seats in the upper house, half of which are elected every three years on six-year terms.

Other television stations predicted a similar margin of victory.

The projected win means Abe will face few legislative obstacles in his drive to push through painful economic reforms, including liberalising trade and raising consumption tax to begin slowing the growth of Japan's runaway national debt.

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