Faulty fuel pump forces US-bound Qantas jet to turn back

November 3rd, 2009 SYDNEY - Two Qantas pilots were suspended Wednesday after forgetting to lower landing gear as they came in to land at busy Sydney airport. The Boeing 767 was just 700 feet above the ground when alarms went off alerting the pilots the landing gear had not been deployed.

October 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Suspected Islamist militants torched an oil tanker and six lorries carrying US and NATO supplies in Pakistan's restive north-west early Friday, police said. The pre-dawn assault took place at a petrol station and a truckers' inn on the outskirts of Peshawar city, a key transit point for supplies meant for the Western forces battling the Taliban insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.

October 5th, 2009 SYDNEY - The head of the low-cost airline Jetstar, Bruce Buchanan, has aid that the airline is eying route-related opportunities in China and India. Buchanan said the airline was continuing to benefit from a favourable economic environment with relatively low fuel prices, favourable currency movements, low interest rates and low unemployment in Australia.

September 24th, 2009 Former Qantas worker jailed for terror convictionSYDNEY — An Australian court sentenced a former Qantas Airways baggage handler to 12 years in prison Friday for publishing a do-it-yourself jihad book on the Internet. A New South Wales state Supreme Court jury found Belal Khazaal, 39, guilty of making a document connected with assisting terrorism.

September 4th, 2009 KUNDUZ - Ninety people were killed Friday when a NATO airstrike hit two Taliban-hijacked oil tankers in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz as the militants were distributing fuel to civilians, Kunduz's governor said. The militants stopped the two oil trucks, which were bound for German forces stationed in Kunduz, Thursday night on the highway connecting Kunduz with the neighbouring province of Baghlan, Governor Mohammad Omar said.

August 26th, 2009 LONDON - Video footage released by Britain's Channel 4 has shown a Sri Lankan soldier shooting a suspect Tamil rebel at point blank range in spite of the latter being young, naked, bound and blindfolded. To top it all, the visibly amused soldier simply says after the killing: "It's like he jumped." According to The Times, the footage appears to show what the Tamil community and human rights campaigners have long alleged-that in its final surge against the Tamil Tiger rebels this year, the Sri Lankan Army summarily killed prisoners.

August 26th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A man allegedly caused terror on a Qantas flight by trying to open the door of the plane, while it was coming in for landing into Sydney. An eyewitness, who was about two rows away, said that the man was clearly agitated, and had been trying to stand up and move around the plane for about ten minutes during the descent, before reaching for the door handle.

July 7th, 2009 MELBOURNE - British travellers will soon be able to fly to Australia for ten pounds, which is less than the price of a guide book. The move to boost the tourism industry will see 150 Qantas tickets to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane or Adelaide available for anyone with a valid working holiday visa.

June 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Four people were killed and three injured Tuesday in a blast at a petrol pump in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, TV reports said. The blast occurred in a car parked at a petrol pump near the Quetta-Karachi Highway, Geo TV said citing police officials.

June 26th, 2009 Qantas cancels orders for 15 Boeing 787sAustralia's Qantas Airways Ltd. said Friday it had canceled orders for 15 Boeing 787s and delayed the delivery of a further 15 aircraft due to turbulent market conditions.

June 22nd, 2009 CANBERRA - A Qantas flight from Hong Kong to Perth in Australia plunged about 100 feet (30 meters) after hitting severe turbulence Monday, injuring seven passengers. The Qantas A330-300 Airbus, with 206 passengers and 13 crew on board, was four hours out of Hong Kong when it hit an air pocket over Borneo, according to Qantas spokesman David Epstein.

June 11th, 2009 SYDNEY - A fire in the cockpit of a Jetstar Airways passenger jet flying from Japan to Australia forced its diversion to Guam Thursday, the airline said. The Airbus A330-200 is the same model as the Air France plane that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil last week killing all aboard.

April 6th, 2009 SYDNEY - Cathay Pacific has been honoured with the title of the world's best airline at the annual Skytrax awards. The Hong Kong based airline has beaten world's most renowned passenger aircrafts to grab the top position for the third time in the last 10 years.

March 12th, 2009 SYDNEY - Cars that give owners tips on how to attain maximum mileage while driving may soon be reality, thanks to a technology that is due in an Audi that wil be launched in Australia early next year. The technology monitors driver behaviour and offers advice to cut fuel use, in turn reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

January 2nd, 2009 SYDNEY - The autopilot on a Qantas Airways Airbus A330 suddenly disconnected 500 kilometres after taking off from Perth in Western Australia last week, a news report revealed Saturday. The plane was forced to return to Perth, ABC Radio reported.