1 dead, 31 injured as Typhoon Soulik hits

One person was killed as Typhoon Soulik slammed into Taiwan, bringing powerful winds and heavy rain. Source: AAP

TYPHOON Soulik has battered Taiwan with torrential rain and powerful winds, leaving one person dead and at least 30 injured.

Roofs were ripped from homes, debris and fallen trees littered the streets and some areas were submerged by flood waters during Saturday's wild weather.

One town in central Taiwan reported "widespread" landslides and water levels a storey high.

More heavy rain and strong winds are predicted throughout Saturday with the authorities warning of further landslides and flooding.

Around 8000 people were evacuated from their homes before the typhoon struck, with hundreds of soldiers deployed to high-risk areas and the whole island declared an "alert zone" by the authorities.

In the capital Taipei, a 50-year-old police officer died after being hit by bricks that came loose during the typhoon, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said.

Three people were left seriously injured with 31 reported hurt across the island, most injured by trees or flying debris.

Soulik made landfall on the northeast coast around 3am Saturday (0600 AEST), packing winds of up to 190km/h, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.

"Heavy rains are expected throughout the day, especially in the mountainous areas in the centre and south," a weather forecaster from the bureau told AFP.

Strong winds were also predicted, he said, but added that the CWB was likely to lift the current land warning on Saturday night as the threat from the typhoon diminishes and it churns towards mainland China.

Nine people were rescued from flooded homes in the Shiangshan area of Puli, a town in central Nantou county, which was also hit by landslides.

"The water came very fast, catching residents totally unprepared - in some areas, it was one-storey deep," township official Wu Yuan-ming told AFP.

The nine caught in the floodwaters were rescued by firefighters in rubber boats after the river broke its banks, Wu said.

"Flooding and landslides were widespread in the town, especially in the areas near mountains," he added, calling the effects of the typhoon "more serious than we predicted".

Landslides reached the backyards of residents' homes but they had already evacuated, Wu said.

A major landslide on a mountain road leading to Taian, a central town famous for its hot spring resorts, was also reported by local media.

The northern village of Bailan saw the heaviest rain, measuring 900mm over the past two days, with winds gusting up to 220km/h.

Streets were submerged under 30cm of seawater in the port city of Keelung, the National Fire Agency said, with flooding also reported in the coastal area of Yilan and in New Taipei City, the area surrounding the capital.

Low-lying houses along the Hsintien River through greater Taipei were flooded, including one aboriginal village from which residents had been evacuated Friday, a police officer told AFP.

Local television showed roofs ripped from homes in northern Keelung and in Taipei, where 120km/h winds and downpours disrupted power, uprooted trees and left the streets strewn with rubbish.

Across Taiwan, electricity supplies in nearly 800,000 homes were down but half had been restored by Saturday afternoon, according to the Taiwan Power Company.

Around 170 flights into and out of Taiwan were cancelled or delayed, while offices and schools remained closed, with the public advised to stay indoors.

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Search for answers after French rail crash

A passenger train has derailed and crashed into a station outside Paris, killing at least seven. Source: AAP

INVESTIGATORS are working to determine the cause of a train crash near Paris that claimed six lives as the French transport minister warned more victims could yet be found.

Praising the quick reflexes of the driver, who sent up the alert that halted all train traffic in the area, Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier virtually ruled out human error in the disaster.

He said the probe would focus instead on the "rolling stock, infrastructure and the precise signalling area".

"Fortunately the locomotive driver had absolutely extraordinary reflexes by sending the alert immediately, which avoided a collision with a train that was coming the other way and just a few seconds later would have smashed into the cars that were derailing. So it's not a human problem," Cuvillier told French radio on Saturday.

The train derailed and crashed into a station platform on Friday afternoon, killing six and leaving 30 injured, eight seriously.

Rescue teams worked through the night checking the wreckage of overturned carriages to see if any passengers remained trapped inside.

Cuvillier said earlier on Saturday that further "unfortunate discoveries" could not be ruled out.

The regional train was heading from Paris to the west-central city of Limoges. It derailed as it passed through the station at Bretigny-sur-Orge, about 25km south of Paris.

Four carriages of the train jumped the tracks, of which three overturned. One carriage smashed across a platform and came to rest on a parallel track; another lay half-way across the platform.

Passenger Marc Cheutin, 57, told AFP he had to "step over a decapitated person" after the accident, to exit the carriage he had been travelling in.

A witness who had been waiting for a train at the station, Vianey Kalisa, told AFP: "I saw a lot of wounded people, women and children trapped inside (the carriages).

"I was shaking like a child. People were screaming. One man's face was covered in blood. It was a like a war zone."

Guillaume Pepy, head of France's SNCF rail service, told reporters that SNCF, judicial authorities and France's BEA safety agency would each investigate the cause of the derailment.

A railway passenger association denounced what it called "rust-bucket trains" and the practice of coupling different types of trains together, demanding proper inspections.

Visiting the scene on Friday night, President Francois Hollande said: "We should avoid unnecessary speculation. What happened will eventually be known and the proper conclusions will be drawn."

Officials said the derailment happened at minutes after the intercity train left the Paris-Austerlitz station.

"The train arrived at the station at high speed. It split in two for an unknown reason. Part of the train continued to roll while the other was left on its side on the platform," a police source told AFP.

Cuvillier, who also visited the crash site, said the train had been travelling at 137km/h at the time of the crash.

That was below the 150km/h limit for that part of the track.

Some 300 firefighters, 20 paramedic teams and eight helicopters were deployed to treat casualties at the scene and airlift the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.

In total, 192 people were treated by emergency services, officials said. There were 385 passengers on the train, which means it was not overcrowded.

The derailment was France's worst rail accident since 2008, when a train collided with a schoolbus, killing seven schoolchildren.

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Philippine army-rebel clash leaves 7 dead

THE Philippine military says members of a breakaway Muslim guerrilla faction have attacked government troops, triggering a firefight that killed two soldiers and five guerrillas.

Regional military spokesman Colonel Dickson Hermoso says about 20 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ambushed soldiers on a military truck early on Saturday in southern Maguindanao province's Guindulungan township.

Hermoso says the firefight that erupted lasted about 15 minutes before the guerrillas withdrew with troops in pursuit.

The military says the same group launched attacks last week to undermine the peace talks. Five soldiers and at least 25 guerrillas were killed then.

Malaysia is brokering the negotiations to end the decades-long rebellion led by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

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World's largest building opens in China

BOASTING its own artificial sun and a floor area three times that of the Pentagon, the "world's largest building" has opened in southwest China to mixed reviews from its first visitors.

The towering 100-metre high New Century Global Centre, which is said to to be big enough to hold 20 Sydney Opera Houses, recently opened its doors at Chengdu.

The complex, which Chinese officials say is the world's largest stand-alone structure, is 500 metres long by 400 metres wide, offering 1.7 million square metres of floor space.

But the first wave of visitors were divided over the attractions of the the structure, which houses 400,000 square metres of shopping space, offices, conference rooms, a university complex, two commercial centres, two five star hotels, and an IMAX cinema.

"It lacks creativity," said one visitor on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

Another visitor poked fun at its name.

"Why is everything in Chengdu called 'global'," the poster said.

However, some Internet users were impressed with the complex, which opened on June 28.

"It will become the new landmark of Chengdu," said one poster.

The Global Centre has a marine theme, with fountains, a huge water park and a centrepiece artificial beach under an undulating roof meant to resemble a wave.

The 5000 square metre beach includes a rafting course and a "seafront" promenade, complete with parasols and seafood outlets that can accommodate 6000 people.

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Japan heatwave kills 12: reports

A heatwave across Japan has killed at least 12 people, with no immediate end to the misery in sight. Source: AAP

A SEVERE heatwave that hit Japan a week ago has claimed at least a dozen lives, reports say.

The mercury has topped 35C in areas right across the country for several days, with no immediate end to the misery in sight, forecasters say.

Thousands of people have been taken to hospital suffering from heatstroke or exhaustion, with at least 12 of them dying, Jiji Press and other media reported on Friday.

Most of those affected are over 65, but there have also been groups of schoolchildren who were participating in school activities outside.

One recent death was that of a 90-year-old man whose body was discovered by his son inside an apartment. The air conditioner was turned off, Jiji said.

On Friday, the day's highest temperature was 38.3C in Kawanehon town in Shizuoka prefecture. More than 40 other spots recorded highs of 35C or more, Japan's meteorological agency said.

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Snowden to meet rights activists in Moscow

The Deputy Secretary of State says the US is "very disappointed" how China handled the Snowden case. Source: AAP

FUGITIVE US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is set to meet with leading Russian rights activists and lawyers at the airport in Moscow where he has been stuck in transit for nearly three weeks.

Several campaigners have told AFP they will attend the 2300 AEST meeting on Friday after receiving an invitation from Snowden, in what will be the former government contractor's first publicised encounter since he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong.

According to the purported invitation from Snowden posted on social media by one activist, the fugitive wants to discuss his "next steps" forward.

He also rails against the "unlawful campaign" against him by Washington which is seeking his extradition after he leaked details of pervasive US intelligence surveillance

Those invited included representatives of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Transparency International as well as several prominent lawyers working in Moscow.

"I can confirm that Mr Snowden will hold a meeting with rights representatives on the territory of the airport," Sheremetyevo spokeswoman Anna Zakharenkova told AFP.

"We will provide access and premises," she added, declining to provide further details.

Snowden has made no public appearances since arriving at the state-controlled airport in the Russian capital on June 23. According to officials, he has spent the whole time in the airport transit zone.

Sergei Nikitin of the Moscow branch of Amnesty International told AFP he received an email inviting his group and said "we are planning to go".

Elena Panfilova of Transparency International said the "somewhat unexpected" invitation was being discussed. She said the email had come from an apparently secure email address in Snowden's name.

Tatyana Lokshina of Human Rights Watch in Moscow said on her Facebook page that she had also received an invitation from Snowden although she could not yet confirm "it was real".

She quoted the email as saying Snowden wanted to have the meeting for "a brief statement and discussion regarding the next steps forward in my situation".

Kristinn Hraffnson, spokesman for the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website which is supporting Snowden, told AFP that he could not confirm that the meeting was planned.

The email thanked Latin American states for considering an application for asylum but denounced "an unlawful campaign by officials in the US government to deny my right to seek and enjoy this asylum".

Leftist Latin American states are seen as the most likely destination for Snowden, who has applied for asylum in 27 countries.

Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua have all expressed readiness to consider giving Snowden asylum.

Prominent Moscow lawyer Genrikh Padva confirmed to AFP that he had received an invitation for a meeting at the airport on Friday afternoon local time, but did not believe he would have time to attend.

Olga Kostina, a rights activist who is a member of Russia's public chamber advisory body, told the state ITAR-TASS news agency that she would attend "if just out of curiosity".

Interfax said Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin had been invited and he told the agency he was ready to attend the meeting.

A source had told Interfax the day earlier that the United States and Russia were now in "wait-and-see" mode over Snowden, indicating that a rapid solution to his presence may not be in sight.

President Vladimir Putin has vowed that Moscow will not extradite Snowden but also indicated the Kremlin is keen to see the back of a man who has added an additional problem to already strained relations with Washington.

The meeting comes after the United States on Thursday told China it was upset it did not hand over Snowden after he fled to Hong Kong, saying that the decision had undermined relations.

President Barack Obama, meeting senior Chinese officials who were in Washington for annual talks, "expressed his disappointment and concern" over the Snowden case, the White House said.

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No deal on school reforms: Qld premier

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says his government needs more time to consider school reforms. Source: AAP

THE Queensland government hasn't signed up to the federal government's education reforms but has left the door open.

Premier Campbell Newman says no deal has been reached yet after meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, federal Education Minister Bill Shorten and state Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek on Friday afternoon.

He says the Sunday deadline has been pushed back a few weeks so Queensland and the federal government can possibly iron out outstanding issues.

Mr Newman praised Mr Rudd for having a positive meeting with him, unlike previous prime minister Julia Gillard, he said.

"We've talked about it for a considerable period of time, I cannot give you anything other than saying it was a productive discussion," Mr Newman told reporters.

"It was again a discussion that was not afforded to us by the previous prime minister.

"I thank the prime minister for that.

"It was very productive and we now know what we have to do to try to reach an agreement."

Mr Shorten said the federal government had agreed to a request from the Queensland to extend the deadline for deal by seven to 14 days.

The minister conceded there were still significant issues to resolve, but said the government would respect a set principles during the negotiations.

These include that the federal government would make sure taxpayers' money was spent in the best possible way on education and the Queensland government was allowed autonomy in running the state's schools.

"The question is can we marry those two principles in the best interests of school children in Queensland," Mr Shorten said.

"It was a very constructive dialogue."

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Six teens arrested for stealing cars in NT

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with stealing and crashing a taxi in the Northern Territory. Source: AAP

IT was a week for teenage joyrides in the Northern Territory as a 14-year-old Darwin boy was charged with stealing and crashing a taxi and five teens were arrested after stealing a car and driving it 1200km south.

The Darwin boy allegedly stole the taxi from a depot at about 1.20am (CST) on Friday, police say.

Police spotted him driving the cab along Mueller Road, but the boy took off.

At about 6am the taxi was found, crashed through the front fence of a home in Bellamack, with the left door ripped off and the front left tyre hanging by its axel.

Police arrested a 14-year-old boy shortly afterwards and charged him with half a dozen offences, including stealing, speeding, and aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

He will appear in Darwin Youth Justice Court at a later date.

Police are still looking for three accomplices.

Meanwhile, five other teens have been arrested in Alice Springs for allegedly stealing a car in Palmerston.

Four males aged 18, 16, and two aged 14, along with a 16-year-old girl are expected to be charged shortly with various offences including unlawful entry, stealing, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, unlawful damage, driving without a licence, and failing to stop for police.

Detective Superintendent Brent Warren said the group allegedly stole a Daewoo Nubira from a residence in Driver on Wednesday.

Supt Warren said they drove the vehicle to Tennant Creek where they stole around $50 worth of petrol from a service station before heading south to Alice Springs.

Police are searching for a 16-year-old boy who fled from police when the other five were arrested.

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CSR forecasts sustained housing recovery

BUILDING products group CSR predicts a sustained recovery in the Australian housing construction sector, led by New South Wales and Western Australia.

CSR believes conditions will improve after recent economic data confirmed an upward trend in building activity this year.

This was supported by record low interest rates, strong population growth and first home owners' grants in most states.

"We are confident we are seeing the start of a sustained recovery in housing construction, particularly in the states with strong population and job growth," managing director Rob Sindel told the company's annual general meeting (AGM) in Sydney on Thursday.

New South Wales and Western Australia were improving, while South Australia, Queensland and Victoria's detached housing market had stabilised.

Meanwhile, the company has forecast a sustained housing recovery in Queensland later this year.

CSR expects housing starts to increase from 145,000 to 147,000 in the year ending 2014 after the sector reached the bottom of the cycle during 2012.

In May the group recorded a full-year statutory net loss of $146.9 million, which included $255.6 million in write-downs and the restructuring of its loss-making Viridian glass business.

The glass business posted a $39 million loss and earnings at its aluminium smelter slumped by 38 per cent to $50 million.

CSR said the restructuring of Viridian would be a key focus over the next 12 months.

"We're targeting a significant improvement in the substantial losses we made this year and we're absolutely confident we can get there," Mr Sindel said.

The company expects earnings in the property division to return to normal later this year as it hedges 40 per cent of its aluminium products.

Chairman Jeremy Sutcliffe added that a significant decline in the value of the Australian dollar would be positive for the company which still had the biggest market share for the popular Gyprock plasterboard product.

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Russia finds dead lawyer guilty of fraud

A COURT in Moscow has found the late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax fraud.

Moscow's Tverskoi court ruled on Thursday that Magnitsky was guilty of creating a million-dollar tax evasion scheme, news agencies reported.

Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on charges of tax evasion.

He died in prison the next year of untreated pancreatitis after he testified against police officials, accusing them of stealing $US230 million ($A250.57 million) in tax rebates.

His death attracted international attention.

Bill Browder, Magnitsky's former boss and owner of investment firm Hermitage Capital, was also found guilty in absentia.

Browder claims that Magnitsky was killed in prison and has waged a campaign to ban Russian officials responsible for his death from entering the United States.

The US last year passed the Magnitsky Act, which calls for sanctions on Russian human rights offenders.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law barring Americans from adopting Russian orphans.

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Junaid Thorne deported from Saudi Arabia

AN Australian being deported from Saudi Arabia after his brother was jailed there for terrorism-related offences is expected in Perth around midnight (WST).

Lawyer Abdal Jalil Al-Khalidy says Junaid Thorne was scheduled to board a Perth-bound plane on Thursday afternoon.

The 23-year-old had hoped to be returned to the West Australian capital, where his parents reside, earlier this week but was held up by paperwork.

He had to be removed from a police blacklist so he could pass through the airport and was allowed to leave the country - despite earlier being wanted by local authorities for questioning - because his residency had expired.

He spent many months in hiding as he was twice detained for protesting his older brother Shayden Thorne's imprisonment.

"Now I think we're at the end with Junaid's situation," Mr Al-Khalidy told AAP.

Shayden Thorne was sentenced in May to four-and-a-half years in jail for extremist material found on a laptop in his possession, but maintained his innocence, saying he had borrowed the computer.

Mr Al-Khalidy is working on an appeal for Shayden Thorne, which was due by Thursday, but an extension of up to a fortnight has been granted.

The men's family were not immediately available for comment, but indigenous broadcaster NITV quoted the younger Mr Thorne as saying he had mixed feelings, "sad and happy" about his return.

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Crash pilot 'told people not to evacuate'

Pilots of the plane that crashed in the US told attendants not to begin evacuation passengers. Source: AAP

THE pilot of the Asiana Boeing 777 which crashed in San Francisco told attendants not to begin evacuating passengers in the chaotic immediate aftermath of the accident, air safety officials say.

The pilot has also reported being blinded by a flash of light upon approach as the plane came in low, but the source of the light and its role in the crash are not known, said Deborah Hersman, head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

She said cabin crew had sought guidance from the cockpit after Saturday's crash, which left two people dead and more than 180 injured.

Pilots initially told flight attendants not to initiate evacuation procedures, Hersman said.

It was only after cabin staff alerted the cockpit to flames spreading outside the plane that the order was given to begin evacuation.

"We don't know what the pilots were thinking, though I can tell you in previous accidents there have been crews that don't evacuate, they wait for other vehicles to come to be able to get the passengers out safely," Hersman said.

Hersman suggested that pilots in the cockpit may not have been in a position to spot the fire outside the plane.

She emphasised that once flames were sighted, the evacuation began swiftly - approximately 90 seconds after impact.

"Certainly, if there is an awareness that there's fire on board an aircraft, that is a very serious issue ..." Hersman said.

"The pilots are in the front of the aeroplane, they really don't have a good sense of what's going on behind them, they need to get that information from the flight attendants, but we will certainly be looking into that issue.

"Hindsight is 20-20. We all have a perspective that's different than some of the people who are involved in this.

"We need to understand what they were thinking, what information they had, what their procedures are, if they complied with those procedures and if that evacuation took place in a timely manner."

Pilot Lee Kang-Kuk also told authorities in Seoul and US investigators that he was blinded temporarily by a flash of light when the plane was at an altitude of about 150 metres as it approached the runway.

Emergency response vehicles arrived on the scene approximately two minutes after the crash and began extinguishing flames three minutes after impact.

Hersman said interviews with the plane's crew had given investigators a vivid portrait of the scene on board the stricken aircraft moments after the crash.

Two emergency slides had inflated inwards inside the cabin, pinning two attendants who needed to be cut free as the evacuation began.

It was not immediately known why the slides had deployed inside the aircraft.

Flight 214 crashed when it clipped a seawall short of the runway, skidding out of control, shredding the tail of the plane and catching fire.

It has also emerged that the otherwise experienced pilot of the plane, 46-year-old Lee, was undergoing his first major training on the Boeing 777.

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Police mull charges for Canada train crash

Firefighters were responsible for the derailment and explosion of an oil tanker train in Canada. Source: AAP

POLICE are looking at criminal negligence as the cause of worst train disaster in recent Canadian history, while the US firm involved denies any responsibility.

The death toll rose from 13 to 15 with the discovery of two more bodies after the explosion and inferno produced by the derailment of a train carrying oil near Montreal. Around 40 people are still missing.

Quebec police are looking for "evidence that might allow the filing of criminal charges," said police inspector Michel Forget. He did not specify against whom.

Standing 200 metres from the scene of the disaster, he said the hypothesis of criminal negligence was "under consideration."

Meanwhile the head of the US rail company at the centre of the disaster blamed firefighters for the derailment, as investigators combed through smouldering debris for evidence.

"We are very hopeful we will find more bodies," said Forget.

Residents of the small Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, part of which was flattened by the blast and subsequent inferno, began returning to their homes.

The explosion unleashed a wall of fire that tore through homes and businesses in Lac-Megantic, located east of Montreal near the US border.

The chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Edward Burkhardt, accused firefighters of releasing the train's brakes when it was stopped in Nantes, around 13km west of Lac-Megantic, for a crew changeover.

Those firefighters had been called to douse a small fire in one of the train's five locomotives.

Burkhardt told the daily La Presse that Nantes firefighters "showed up and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. To do that they also shut down the first locomotive's engines. This is what led to the disaster."

He explained that the train's brakes were powered by the locomotive and would have disengaged when it was shut down, causing the driverless train to start rolling downhill towards Lac-Megantic.

By the time the company was informed of the shutdown, the train - en route from the US state of North Dakota to a refinery in Canada's eastern New Brunswick province - had already reached the town, he said.

MMA trains will no longer be left unattended, he vowed, noting that the company had launched an internal investigation.

Nantes Fire Chief Patrick Lambert however dismissed Burkhardt's accusations, saying the 12 firefighters who responded to the locomotive engine fire followed all of the proper procedures.

The fire levelled more than four blocks, including 30 buildings, and forced about 2000 of the town's 6000 residents to flee. Many of those people began returning home on Tuesday.

A small area of downtown Lac-Megantic remained closed off as the clean-up began, with officials fearing that mopping up machinery could spark a fire in the sewers.

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Greek unions call July 16 general strike

GREECE'S main unions will hold a general strike on July 16 to oppose a new round of civil service job cuts announced by the government to secure EU-IMF loans.

"An emergency meeting of the executive committee has decided to call a 24-hour general strike on July 16" in reaction to a government bill enshrining the layoffs, leading union GSEE said in a statement on Wednesday.

The conservative-led Greek government on Tuesday submitted to parliament a bill detailing the redeployment of civil servants, which has sparked widespread protests.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras has reportedly said parliament must approve the bill by July 19 in order for the heavily indebted country to receive the first instalment of rescue funds from its EU-IMF bailout.

Affecting thousands of teachers, school wardens and municipal staff, the latest cuts have caused fresh outrage in a country undergoing a fourth year of austerity and record unemployment.

Greece has committed to carrying out the reforms in exchange for about 6.8 billion euros ($A9.54 billion) in fresh bailout funds from the troika of international creditors - the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

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Crisis sinks European birth rate: study

FEWER babies were born in Europe because of the world economic crisis, a study shows.

The birth rate per woman in 28 European countries sank faster on average the higher the unemployment rate rose, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in the north-eastern German city of Rostock said in a study published in the journal Demographic Research.

The economic crisis, which began in 2008, ended a Europe-wide upswing in the birth rate, co-author Michaela Kreyenfeld said.

The trend most impacted southern European countries such as Spain and Croatia, as well as Hungary, Ireland and Latvia.

People under 25, in particular, forwent having children when faced with rising unemployment and the trend was observed most sharply in young people having their first child, the institute found.

It said that one of the biggest open questions in demographic research is the influence economic conditions have on reproduction.

The study proved that in Europe today the jobless rate in a country affects its people's willingness to have children, Kreyenfeld said.

If unemployment rises one percentage point, the birth rate per woman for 20- to 24-year-olds sinks 0.1 across the continent and 0.3 in southern Europe, she said.

The institute documented a particularly strong change in direction in Spain. The birth rate there was 1.24 children per woman at the beginning of the millennium and rose every year, reaching 1.47 in 2008, but in 2009, it fell to 1.4 as the jobless rate rose from 8.3 to 11.3 per cent. In 2011, births had fallen to 1.36 per woman.

In the Czech Republic, Poland, Britain and Italy, the economic crisis only stopped the rise in the birth rate. In Russia and Lithuania, the crisis had a small or no effect on births.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the crisis had little effect on the birth rate, but unemployment in those countries rose little or not at all and in Germany it sank.

The institute is investigating whether the crisis is having a continuing effect on the birth rate. So far, it has only analysed data for 2001 to 2010 and part of 2011.

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Dropping dollar is good for unis

THE dropping dollar is being seen as a boost to Australia's international education industry.

Universities Australia says with international competition for tertiary students becoming more intense, the cost of going to university is playing a strong part in deciding whether to come to Australia or head to the US or UK.

The high Australian dollar had led to a dip in international students enrolling in local universities, UA chief executive Belinda Robinson said on Wednesday.

But recent drops meant studying at an Australian university had become a more affordable proposition.

International education is the country's fourth-largest export industry and the biggest non-resources export.

It's worth $14.5 billion a year.

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NZ philanthropist denies abuse claim

MILLIONAIRE New Zealand philanthropist Owen Glenn has revealed more details of the decade-old allegation he abused a woman in Hawaii, saying the woman wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars from him.

The founder of New Zealand's Glenn Inquiry into abuse denies the claim he assaulted his then personal assistant in 2003, which surfaced in the media earlier this month.

The American woman, from Seattle, had made the claim after he had dropped her off at a chemist early in the morning, Sir Owen told local channel TV3's Campbell Live.

The woman dropped the charges before it went to court.

"There was no case to answer ... so what they say there if both parties agree there's no charge to answer, it's no contest."

The woman then disappeared, but subsequently tried to claim unfair dismissal.

During mediation Sir Owen agreed to pay about $NZ80,000 to pay for her psychiatric bills rather than spend up to $NZ400,000 in legal fees over two years. The woman had wanted $NZ350,000.

"People do this for a living," Sir Owen said.

He defended never raising the incident when he established his abuse inquiry because essentially nothing had happened.

"I got a parking ticket, do you want me to tell you about that?"

The woman had since contacted Sir Glenn's team "to put things right". She allegedly offered to publicly verify Sir Owen's story in return for payment, Sir Owen said.

The offer was refused.

Despite the media scrutiny, the Glenn Inquiry would continue as normal, Sir Owen said, and even suggested he would conduct a poll to ask the country if it thought it should continue.

"I don't back down. I haven't done anything wrong."

Seven members of Glenn Inquiry resigned last week, with some claiming Sir Owen should have been open about the Hawaiian allegation. It followed a number of key staff resigning.

Sir Owen part-owns the Warriors rugby league team and is estimated to be worth about $NZ900 million ($A777.20 million).

AAP dwi/r

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Suppliers blamed for Vic dispatch glitch

THREE potentially life-threatening failures in Victoria's emergency dispatch system were caused by external suppliers, a government document has revealed.

Emergency service operators were forced to revert to manual technology as glitches on May 30, June 17 and July 5 shut down the computer aided dispatch system for several hours.

A document from Emergency Services Commissioner Michael Hallowes, obtained by AAP on Tuesday, says new dispatch technology is being installed and industrial action is preventing authorities from taking full advantage of it.

A post-incident review blames the first of the dispatch system failures, which occurred on May 30, on an external technology supplier.

The second failure was caused by an external maintenance contractor who inadvertently introduced a fault, the review found.

A review into the latest failure on July 5 is not yet complete, but initial indications are that the failure was also due to a fault created by an external software supplier.

The faults occurred in earlier versions of computer dispatch software and the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) is currently upgrading technology, the document stated.

"It is regrettable that whilst the program to upgrade the technology is on track, industrial action continues to prevent ESTA from taking full advantage of implementing the essential complementary improvements to its business processes," the document said.

In particular, this includes staff taking part in training, it said.

"This does mean ESTA is not able to deliver the full benefits to community safety that we all want and expect from technology upgrades at this time," the document said.

ESTA was not responsible for a radio outage that occurred in Mildura on May 28 as Ambulance Victoria is responsible for its own radio services in regional Victoria, which have been contracted out to Telstra, it said.

Ambulance Employees Australia state secretary Steve McGhie said he could not see how a ban on training had caused the dispatch problem, given the problem had only arisen recently and bans had been in place for approximately five months.

"I can't see how that training ban has a great deal to do with the problem," he told AAP.

"If they believe that the training is an issue, let's get the dispute resolved and the bans can be lifted."

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Driver dies in NSW bus crash

A BUS has crashed into a duplex on NSW's Central Coast, killing the driver and critically injuring a man inside the home.

Police say the bus crashed into the house on Greenfield Road at Empire Bay shortly after 4.15pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

Fire and rescue officers are trying to stabilise the building before attempting to free the body of the driver, police say.

A man who was inside the building was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition and a woman in the house with him was treated at the scene.

None of the 11 passengers in the bus suffered major injuries.

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Women in Ohio kidnap case thank public

THREE women held captive in a house in Ohio for a decade have issued a YouTube video in which they thank the public for the encouragement and financial support that is allowing them to restart their lives.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the three-minute, 30-second video posted on Tuesday. They said the support and prayers of family, friends and the public is allowing them to rebuild their lives after what Berry called "this entire ordeal."

The women had gone missing separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old and were held in a Cleveland house.

Ariel Castro has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped them off the streets and held them captive in his two-storey home.

The 52-year-old former bus driver fathered a 6-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry. He was arrested on May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home and yelled to neighbours for help.

Knight said in the video, filmed on July 2, that she is building a "brand new life."

"I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and my head held high," she said, reading from a prepared statement.

"I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don't want to be consumed by hatred."

DeJesus' parents, Felix DeJesus and Nancy Ruiz, thanked the public for donations to a fund set up to help the women. In addition, Ruiz encouraged parents with missing loved ones to reach out for assistance. ""Count on your neighbours," she said. "Don't be afraid to ask for the help because help is available."

Kathy Joseph, an attorney for Knight, said in a statement that the three women wanted to "say thank you to people from Cleveland and across the world, now that two months have passed."

She said they're being recognised in public, "so they decided to put voices and faces to their heartfelt messages."

James Wooley, attorney for Berry and DeJesus, also issued a statement saying Knight and his clients thank people for the privacy they've been given and do not want to discuss their case with the news media or anyone else.

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Vic family denies threatening paramedics

A MELBOURNE family accused of threatening paramedics say their mother was left injured and bleeding in her home.

The paramedics set off a duress alarm and fled the home early on Monday morning, hitting a man as they tried to flee.

The pair had arrived to help an injured woman in Melbourne's north when they say they were threatened by a group of men.

The woman's family were angry it had taken 45 minutes for an ambulance to respond to the non-life threatening case.

But one of the woman's sons, who gave his name as Michael, said they had not threatened anyone or acted aggressively.

He said the paramedics' departure had meant his mother was left waiting even longer to be treated.

"I totally understand that they're doing their job but they can't act like that," he told reporters.

"They left an injured person inside the house, bleeding."

Ambulance Victoria chief executive Greg Sassella said the woman missed out on immediate treatment for an injured elbow because a vehicle containing more men rolled up at the scene.

"From the paramedics' point of view, there was no misunderstanding in their mind - they felt threatened," Mr Sassella told reporters.

Police are investigating the incident.

Mr Sassella said two previous ambulances had been dispatched to treat the woman but were diverted to more urgent patients.

The paramedics returned later to the Roxburgh Park house with police and took the woman to hospital with minor injuries.

A 24-year-old man suffered leg injuries and was also taken to hospital for observation.

Ambulance Employees Australia State Secretary Steve McGhie said the time it took for paramedics to arrive was due to under-resourcing.

"This is supply and demand. It shows how poorly covered this area is," he told AAP.

"The resources in that area are stretched, leaving people exposed."

Mr McGhie said anyone angry about slow response times should vent their anger at the Victorian government, not paramedics.

The state government has introduced laws creating mandatory minimum sentences for those found to have assaulted emergency workers, including paramedics.

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Seven killed in India building collapse

A hotel has collapsed in the southern Indian city of Secunderabad, killing five restaurant workers. Source: AAP

THE wall of a two-storey hotel has collapsed in the southern Indian city of Secunderabad, killing at least seven restaurant workers and injuring 15 others, local police officials say.

Rescue workers were searching through tonnes of rubble on Monday for those still trapped after the incident in Andhra Pradesh state, local police official Srinivasan, who goes by one name, said.

"Seven persons have been found dead so far after a nearby hotel collapsed early this morning. We are still trying to clear the rubble and find more people," he said.

Nearly 25 people were working at the City Light Hotel, located on a busy road in Secunderabad, when the kitchen wall gave way, burying staff under debris, local police official B Surender said.

Fifteen people were admitted to hospital, five of them with serious injuries, Surender said.

It was unclear how many people were still trapped under the rubble.

"The building was very old and the walls showed cracks, according to people working nearby," he added.

Rescue workers used diggers, cranes and electric cutters to try to clear the debris, as family members of the hotel workers waited at the site for news.

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Hendra kills three NSW horses

A Chief Veterinary Officer says three horses on the NSW mid north coast have died from Hendra virus. Source: AAP

THREE horses have died from Hendra virus on the NSW mid north coast in a month, the state's Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says.

NSW Acting Chief Veterinary Officer Therese Wright said on Monday that a horse died at a property near Macksville after becoming ill on Thursday.

"The horse was noticeably ill on Thursday and was showing neurological changes, including loss of balance and staggering," Dr Wright said.

"The property has now been quarantined and a second horse on the property has been vaccinated, sampled and will continue to be monitored."

Dr Wright said the 18-year-old mare that died was not vaccinated against the Hendra virus.

Two other horses in the same area recently died from the virus, one on Saturday and the other on June 5, Dr Wright said.

The deaths represent the first Hendra cases in NSW since 2011 when 10 horses died on eight properties between late June and late August.

All properties affected in 2011 were in northeastern NSW.

However, there have been several cases of Hendra in Queensland in the last 12 months.

Horses can contract the virus by eating feed or drinking water contaminated with body fluids and excretions from flying foxes infected with the virus.

Although people can't contract the virus directly from bats they can through horses.

Vaccination is the single most effective way of reducing the risk of Hendra virus infection in horses.

The NSW properties affected by the latest deaths have been quarantined.

Director of communicable diseases at NSW Health, Vicky Sheppeard, said three people had been in contact with the most recent horse to die but their risk of contracting the virus was negligible to low.

Rockhampton vet Alister Rodgers died from the virus in 2009, Brisbane vet Ben Cunneen in 2008, Mackay cane farmer Mark Preston in 1995, and horse trainer Vic Rail in 1994.

The deaths represent the first Hendra cases in NSW since 2011 when 10 horses died on eight properties between late June and late August.

All properties affected in 2011 were in northeastern NSW.

However, there have been several cases of Hendra in Queensland in the last 12 months.

Horses can contract the virus by eating feed or drinking water contaminated with body fluids and excretions from flying foxes infected with the virus.

Although people can't contract the virus directly from bats they can through horses.

Vaccination is the single most effective way of reducing the risk of Hendra virus infection in horses.

The NSW properties affected by the latest deaths have been quarantined.

Director of communicable diseases at NSW Health, Vicky Sheppeard, said three people had been in contact with the most recent horse to die but their risk of contracting the virus was negligible to low.

Rockhampton vet Alister Rodgers died from the virus in 2009, Brisbane vet Ben Cunneen in 2008, Mackay cane farmer Mark Preston in 1995, and horse trainer Vic Rail in 1994.

In Queensland's fourth case of Hendra this year, an unvaccinated horse was put down on Friday in the Gold Coast hinterland after falling ill with the virus.

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Five dead, 40 missing in Canada train fire

Firefighters in Quebec have managed to put out a blaze from a freight train laden with oil. Source: AAP

CANADIAN officials say they have found five bodies as they searched for victims of a giant blaze caused by the crash of a runaway train transporting crude oil, and fear they could find as many as 40 more.

Firemen in this picturesque Quebec lakeside town finally managed to put out a raging inferno sparked when the driverless freight train derailed, crashed into town and exploded early on Saturday, sending fireballs skyward and unleashing a wall of fire that tore through homes and businesses.

"The flames, the fires all have been put out now. We did it," fire chief Denis Lauzon told a press briefing on Sunday.

That meant police finally would be able to conduct a full search of the charred wreckage at the disaster scene.

However, a mid-level explosion was heard around 10.00pm (1200 AEST Monday). Police said they did not know the cause of that blast.

The fire decimated a downtown portion of Lac-Megantic and forced about 2000 residents to flee their homes. The town is located 250 kilometres east of Montreal, near the US border.

Police spokesman Michel Brunet said after finding one body on Saturday and four on Sunday, they anticipate "many more" fatalities. The official figure for missing people is 40, he said.

One firefighter said on condition of anonymity that there had been at least 50 people in one bar that was consumed by the flames.

"There is nothing left," he said.

The explosion completely levelled more than four blocks of the town's downtown area, and it took firefighters 18 hours to contain the inferno.

Survivors described a wall of flames as the speeding black tanker cars jumped the rail tracks just as dozens of people were enjoying a summer night out in downtown bars and restaurants.

"One young girl was in flames," said a witness, Jean-Guy Nadeau. "She cried out 'save me, save me!'"

Many in this heavily Catholic area, population 6000, were unable to go to Sunday services because their church was squarely within the burned out area. The lucky ones headed to churches in nearby towns.

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said in a statement on Saturday that the train had been transporting 72 carloads of crude oil when it derailed around 1.20am (1520 AEST).

"People are in shock, They just cannot believe how serious this all is," said Guy Boulanger, an official with the Catholic diocese of Sherbrooke in nearby Sainte-Cecile-de-Whitton.

Scores of firefighters from around the region and from the US state of Maine were enlisted to battle the blaze, which was under investigation by Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB).

The lead investigator, Ed Belkaloul, said that the train's equivalent of an aeroplane's "black box" was recovered from the smouldering wreckage and could give valuable technical information on the crash.

Provincial authorities said in addition to their recovery efforts, they have dispatched a mobile environmental monitoring laboratory to monitor air quality and to determine how much crude oil spilled into Lake Megantic and the nearby Chaudiere River.

The Red Cross also set up an emergency shelter at an area high school to help those left homeless by the disaster.

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Both Koreas agree to reopen joint zone

North and South Korea have agreed in principle to reopen the Kaesong industrial complex. Source: AAP

NORTH and South Korea have made a crucial step forward by agreeing to reopen a joint industrial zone seen as the last remaining symbol of cross-border reconciliation.

The deal follows months of friction and threats of war by Pyongyang after its February nuclear test attracted tougher UN sanctions, further squeezing its struggling economy.

At the end of a gruelling 15-hour talk, the two sides said in a joint statement on Sunday they had agreed to let South Korean firms restart their shuttered plants at the Kaesong complex near the border when conditions are ripe.

"The South and the North will let business companies at Kaesong resume operation when (they are) ready to do so," said the joint statement.

The two sides will meet again on Wednesday at the Kaesong industrial zone to discuss details over reopening the zone, including a demand from Seoul that the North guarantees it will never again unilaterally shut down the estate.

The North, however, will likely find it hard to accept such a demand as it would amount to Pyongyang accepting full responsibility for the suspension.

The complex - built in 2004 about 10km north of the border as a rare symbol of inter-Korea cooperation - had previously remained largely resilient to turbulence in relations.

But the North, citing military tensions and Seoul's hostility, pulled out all its 53,000 workers from the 123 Seoul-owned factories in April, prompting the South to withdraw the managers of around 120 companies in early May.

After signing the agreement, Suh Ho, Seoul's chief delegate for the latest talks, said the North's officials had appeared "very enthusiastic" in negotiations to rescue the complex - a valuable source of hard currency for the impoverished communist state.

Neither side declared the complex officially closed, instead referring to a temporary shutdown, while blaming each other for its suspension.

"I've got an impression that the North was making very active efforts to solve the issue of the Kaesong complex," Suh told journalists.

Under the agreement Seoul businessmen will be allowed to cross the border to check on their facilities at Kaesong from Wednesday.

The news was warmly welcomed by the South Korean firms at Kaesong.

"I was overcome with emotions and shed tears for a while," Moon Chang-Seop, a top representative of the 123 companies said.

But other businessmen expressed concern that it would be difficult for them to solicit buyers who have left them during the past three months of suspension.

The zone had become the most high-profile casualty of recent elevated tensions on the peninsula.

Representatives of South Korean companies based there had repeatedly urged the two sides to open talks to revive the moribund industrial park.

Some firms have threatened to withdraw from Kaesong, complaining they have fallen victim to political bickering between the two rivals.

After repeatedly threatening Seoul and Washington with conventional and nuclear attack, Pyongyang has appeared in recent weeks to want to move towards dialogue.

Analysts say North Korea is mindful of a US demand that it improve ties with Seoul before there can be any direct talks with Washington.

The North made a surprise move last Wednesday by restoring a cross-border military hotline and promising to let South Korean businessmen visit the Kaesong complex.

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Bahrain bomb kills policeman

A BOMB attack has killed a Bahraini policeman and wounded two others in a Shi'ite Muslim village outside the capital, a police statement carried by the official BNA news agency says.

"Terrorist groups targeted a police station in Sitra" late on Saturday, public security chief General Tariq Hasan said on Sunday.

"As police attempted to secure the area ... the terrorists blew up an improvised bomb against security forces in an attack that killed policeman Yasser Dhaib and wounded two others."

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Deported cleric Abu Qatada lands in Jordan

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada has been deported from Britain and is on his way to Jordan. Source: AAP

ISLAMIST cleric Abu Qatada has arrived in Jordan to face terror charges after Britain deported him, ending a decade-long legal battle to be rid of a man once dubbed Osama bin Laden's right hand in Europe.

Prime Minister David Cameron led British ministers in expressing delight at Sunday's final removal from British soil of the Palestinian-born preacher who has been in and out of British prisons since 2002 even though he has never been convicted of any crime.

Abu Qatada was handed over to Jordanian prosecutors straight after his arrival at Marka military airport in east Amman in readiness for his retrial on charges that earned him a life sentence in absentia.

"They are now interrogating him ahead of his retrial," Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani told the state-run Petra news agency.

"His retrial will be conducted in line with international standards, protecting his rights and ensuring justice, fairness, credibility and transparency."

Abu Qatada's father, brothers and other family members waited outside a military courthouse near the airport for his arrival, an AFP photographer reported.

"He will appear before state security court prosectors immediately and they will read the charges," said Hussein Omari, a lawyer at the Amman-based Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies, which is to monitor Abu Qatada's retrial.

Abu Qatada was condemned to death in absentia in 1999 for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, including on the American school in Amman, but the sentence was immediately commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour.

In 2000, he was sentenced in his absence to 15 years for plotting to carry out terror attacks on tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations.

Under Jordanian law, he has the right to a retrial in his presence.

Britain was finally able to expel the 53-year-old father-of-five after the two governments last month ratified a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, guaranteeing that evidence obtained by torture would not be used in his retrial.

"I was absolutely delighted. This is something this government said it would get done, and we have got it done," Cameron told reporters.

"It's an issue that, like the rest of the country, has made my blood boil."

Abu Qatada was taken from prison in an armoured police van to a military airfield on the outskirts of London, from which he was flown out at 0146 GMT.

Home Secretary Theresa May said his departure proved that the government's efforts to deport him had been worth the 1.7 million ($2.7 million, two million euros) legal bill and would be "welcomed by the British public."

"This dangerous man has now been removed from our shores to face the courts in his own country," she said in a statement released seconds after Abu Qatada's plane took off.

Television pictures showed Abu Qatada dressed in a white robe as he boarded the aircraft at the RAF Northolt base in west London. He had earlier left high security Belmarsh jail in southeast London in a blue armoured police van flanked by three police cars.

London had been trying to deport him since 2005 but British and European courts had blocked his expulsion on the grounds that evidence might be used against him that had been obtained by torture.

But after years of legal battles his lawyers unexpectedly said in May that he would return once the fair trial treaty was ratified by the Jordanian parliament.

Abu Qatada's wife and five children are expected to remain in Britain, where he first sought asylum in 1993.

Born Omar Mahmud Mohammed Otman in Bethlehem in the now Israeli-occupied West Bank, Abu Qatada has Jordanian nationality because the town was part of Jordan at the time of his birth.

Videotapes of his sermons were allegedly found in the Hamburg flat of 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta.

Top Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon once branded Abu Qatada Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, although the cleric denies ever having met the now slain Al-Qaeda leader.

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Solar airplane lands in New York

THE experimental Solar Impulse plane, powered by the sun, has completed a transcontinental trip across the United States, touching down in New York despite a rip in the fabric of one wing.

The giant, single-person plane landed at New York's John F Kennedy airport at 11.11pm (0311 GMT) on Saturday, ahead of its originally scheduled time due to a 2.5-metre long tear that appeared on the fabric of the lower side of the left wing.

Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg was met on the tarmac by compatriot and fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard, and the two posed triumphantly for pictures.

The men had taken turns flying the spindly, long-winged plane across the country.

The Solar Impulse, which runs on four electric propellers powered by an array of solar cells mounted on the plane's 63-metre wingspan, lifted off just before dawn Saturday from Washington Dulles International Airport.

"This last leg was especially difficult due to the damage of the fabric on the left wing," Borschberg told reporters upon landing after the 18 hour, 23 minute flight.

The team looked at all possible scenarios, "including bailing out over the Atlantic," he said. "But this type of problem is inherent to every experimental endeavour."

Flying coast-to-coast "has always been a mythical milestone full of challenges for aviation pioneers," added Piccard. "During this journey, we had to find solutions for a lot of unforeseen situations, which obliged us to develop new skills and strategies."

The team also "pushed the boundaries of clean technologies and renewable energies to unprecedented levels," he said.

Piccard said they had mixed feelings about the end of their long trip. "Normally you feel a bit sad and nostalgic, but with the problem with the wing, we feel relieved," he said.

The coast-to-coast US journey began on May 3, near San Francisco, California. The plane then landed in Phoenix (Arizona), Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas), St. Louis (Missouri), Cincinnati (Ohio) and the capital, Washington.

Borschberg was forced to pass the hours Saturday by circling over the Atlantic not far from the "Big Apple," before being allowed to fly over the city in the evening, due to heavy air traffic.

The light solar plane flies at around 70km per hour, and is especially sensitive to air turbulence.

Before the final leg, Piccard and Borschberg spoke of the most memorable moments from the cross-country flight.

For Piccard, a Swiss adventurer who founded Solar Impulse over a decade ago, one of those moments was flying past the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at the very start of the journey.

Borschberg recalled one of the most dangerous moments of the trip, when wind threatened to unbalance the aircraft.

The crossing has been "more difficult than expected because of the weather: There were a lot of tornadoes, storms, causing several of our flights to be delayed or slowed down," Piccard said.

The Solar Impulse is powered by 12,000 solar cells and flies in the dark by reaching high altitudes during the day and gliding downward over long distances by night. It uses no fossil fuels.

Drawbacks include the tiny cockpit, vulnerability to turbulence and the lack of a toilet, so the pilots must relieve themselves by using an empty plastic water bottle on solo flights that can last up to 24 hours.

The current aircraft model, the HB-SIA, is soon to be phased out as the Swiss team prepares test flights next year of the second-generation aircraft, the HB-SIB.

Piccard said the next plane will be 10 percent bigger, with more power, reliability, an auto-pilot function and a toilet so that pilots can make the four to six-day long trips that will be part of its journey across the world in 2015.

The plane's American trip is just the latest in a series of groundbreaking flights across different parts of the world, including Europe and Africa.

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