The CEO of the Qantas Group, Alan Joyce, announced on Tuesday that major capacity cuts would be brought in to fight the plunging demand for international travel.

Virgin Australia has warned the cost of flights would soar if the airline was forced to close, leaving Qantas and their budget arm Jetstar with a monopoly on the industry. 

Worrying clusters have emerged in recent days of Qantas cabin crew and their family being infected with COVID-19 - including 15 reported cases from a rescue flight from Santiago on March 29.

An aviation insider fears the demise of Virgin Australia would give Qantas a licence to charge $1,000 for a Sydney to Melbourne airfare. Velocity Frequent Flyer points are also at risk.

The Transport Workers Union took the airline to the Federal Court on behalf of workers on sick leave who can no longer access the entitlement after Qantas stood down two thirds of its workforce.

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The Spice Girls have been gearing up for their hotly-anticipated reunion tour, set to kick off in Dublin in just a matter of hours.

Victoria Beckham wished her former Spice Girls bandmates well hours before they take to the stage without her, with husband David adding 'there will only ever be one Posh Spice'.

The great motor-racing driver and one of the most lionised figures in the history of British sport, 'closed his eyes' in the early hours of Easter morning.

Who do you think you are, sir? Stirling Moss? It was the disapproving question asked time and again - until police pulling over motorists grew too young to remember one of Britain's greatest racers.

Moss, who was often described as the greatest driver never to win the World Championship, passed away in the early hours of Easter Sunday at his London home following a long battle with illness.

MARTHA KELNER: Jessica Ennis-Hill bowed out in her usual, understated fashion — posting a picture collage online showing the finest moments of what was a glittering career.

The reality TV stars marked their relationship milestone with an idyllic picnic as they lapped up the good weather.

Clare Ambrosino will try to win the Easington seat in County Durham on December 12 - a mining community that has always returned a Labour MP since the constituency was formed in 1950.

Premier League clubs could be hit with a financial crisis similar to those faced by airlines across the world if football doesn't return by August, Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish has claimed.

Doctors at the government-run ESIC Hospital here committed a "mistake" by not testing samples of a 16-year-old girl, who later died of Covid-19, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The girl breathed her last on Thursday at the B Barooah Cancer Institute. Her samples, which were taken after her death, tested positive for coronavirus infection/ "The girl first went to ESIC Hospital with all symptoms like fever and pain in legs. It was a mistake by doctors that her samples were not sent for testing... It is a matter of concern," Sarma told reporters here. Talking about the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), which was closed for new patients after a doctor at the facility tested positive on Thursday, he said a total of 529 samples have been collected from doctors, nurses, professors and superintendent of the institute for testing "Out of those, reports of 357 samples came out negative and one was positive. Results of the rest of the samples are awaited," .

The fleeting attention that is given to the rape of a girl in school hides the systematic harassment and violence that so many are subjected to - an important reason why girls drop out of the education system around the age of puberty. Deepti Priya Mehrotra reports.

A global investment and action agenda seeks to put adolescent girls at the centre of development initiatives in developing countries. These girls, say the authors of a new report, form a special category, deserving exclusive attention of the state, donors and NGOs. Anuja Agrawal reports.

Despite islands of progress and even a paradoxical government-run success, the larger picture of girls' education and their empowerment is dismal. There is an enormous gap between fact and paper fiction, and the task for feminists and activists is cut out, says Deepti Priya Mehrotra on the International Women's Day.

Sexual harassment has to be vigorously tackled where it begins -- at school -- says Kalpana Sharma.

Despite quality education, the mindset of people is not changing in this country, says Kalpana Sharma.

Why is it that whenever there is any talk of values, it is women's behaviour, their dress, their attitude that comes into question, even though there are more men than women in India? Societal values and morality should apply to everyone, men and women, says Kalpana Sharma.

In West Bengal, girls are being empowered to refuse early marriage thanks to a state government initiative that enables them to stay longer in school. The Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme has been remarkably successful in curbing child marriage and promoting girl child education, says Saadia Azim.

The room is crowded, there's loud music and the liquor is flowing freely. One face catches the eye. Her hair falls onto, barely offering a glimpse of come-hither brown eyes.

The Dubai state carrier made 1 billion dirhams ($287.5 million) in the 12 months to March 31, compared to 871 million dirhams a year earlier.

Doctors at the government-run ESIC Hospital here committed a "mistake" by not testing samples of a 16-year-old girl, who later died of Covid-19, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

Emirates, one of the world's biggest long-haul airlines, reported a 21 percentrise in full-year profit

The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus outbreak, an association representing the airlines said on Saturday.

A major U.S. airline trade group on Saturday said it backed the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checking the temperatures of passengers and customer-facing employees during the coronavirus pandemic.

The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus outbreak, an association representing the airlines said on Saturday.

Emirates, one of the world's biggest long-haul airlines, reported a 21% rise in full-year profit on Sunday, but warned the outbreak of the new coronavirus hit its performance in the fourth quarter of the financial year.

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A 16-year-old girl, whose migrant worker father is stranded in Ahmedabad due to the lockdown, was gangraped by five youths at a Darbhanga village.

In Delhi, a teacher of a civic body-run school, who was involved in distributing ration during the lockdown, has tested positive for the coronavirus

The police seized perpetrator’s laptop, mobile phones and storage devices from his house.

Want services to resume only after at least three major airports in the country become functional

Small earthquake recorded in Stirling on Christmas Day  Daily Record

Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics have confirmed that the giant panda cub born at the National Zoo […]

The post National Zoo’s giant panda cub is a girl! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A team from the Smithsonian is starting a pilot program to aid people in restoring their damaged family heirlooms. Click photo to learn more….

The post Smithsonian starts program to help people restore storm-damaged heirlooms appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This animation tells a Cheyenne story of how the Big Dipper came to be when a girl and her loyal brothers escape from a bison. […]

The post Quillwork Girl and Her New Seven Brothers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Police say TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez was shot and killed last Friday at the base of the escalators of LAX Terminal 3, and not at the checkpoint gates.  Paul Ciancia is accused of killing Hernandez and wounding several others.  Ciancia remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, how did the airlines respond to shooting and its aftermath?

Mark Lacter: Generally pretty well, Steve, considering that the airport was effectively closed for several hours on Friday, and most of Terminal 3 was out of commission until Saturday afternoon.  You know, there's always this precarious balance in operating airlines and airports, even in the best of circumstances.  Just so many flights coming in and going out, and so many thousands people using the facility at any given time - and it really doesn't take much to upset the balance.  So, when you have something horrific take place and you see all those travelers stranded outside the terminals, the ripple effects are enormous - not just at LAX but all over the country.

Julian: More than a thousand flights were either canceled or delayed on Friday.

Lacter: And, there was a further complication because the airlines flying out of Terminal 3 are not the legacy carriers like United, American, and Delta that have all kinds of resources, but smaller operations with less flexibility.  It's not like there's an empty aircraft just sitting in a hangar waiting to take passengers wherever they want to go.  Actually, the airlines have gotten better at arranging re-bookings when there's a snowstorm or some other emergency that gives them advance warning.  But obviously, there was no advance warning last Friday, so the carriers needed to improvise in handling passengers whose flights were cancelled.

Julian: What did they do?

Lacter: One step was waiving the fees normally charged to re-book flights (and that's gotten to be a pretty penny).  Another was waiving the difference in the price of the original ticket and the re-booked ticket.  But, the policies varied according to the airline, and we heard about travelers not receiving hotel or food vouchers, or having to buy a brand new ticket on another airline if they wanted to avoid the wait - and that can be expensive.  Which raises another issue: planes tend to be completely full these days because airlines have been cutting back on the number of flights.  And that can be a problem if you're taking a route that doesn't have too many flights in the first place.  So, it gets really complicated.

Julian: Why do you think we haven't we heard more horror stories from passengers?

Lacter: Well, look at the cities that the airlines in Terminal 3 fly to - New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas.  They're all served by several other carriers.  L.A. to New York, in particular, is one of the busiest routes in the world, which means that it's also one of the most competitive.  So, even if your flight was cancelled, there's a good chance you'd be able to find space by Saturday (which is normally a slower day for air travel).  This is a big reason, in general, why people like LAX.

Julian: Why don't other local airports handle more of the load?

Lacter: You might remember a few years ago local officials were promoting something called "regionalization" - the idea was that as LAX maxed out on the number of passengers it was allowed to handle each year, then other airports would make up the difference - places like Ontario, Bob Hope in Burbank, and John Wayne in Orange County.

Julian: Right, and they talked about easing traffic congestion by spreading around the flights.

Lacter: Well, regionalization never happened because, first of all, passenger levels at L.A. International didn't come close to maxing out.  But, more importantly, because the airlines decided that using LAX was more efficient for everything from handling baggage to arranging international connections.  So, through the first nine months of the year, passenger traffic at LAX is up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, while at Ontario traffic was down 9.3 percent.  And, we've seen that John Wayne, Bob Hope, and Long Beach are all struggling.  Of course, the challenge at a busy place like LAX is making it as safe as possible, and that will no doubt become a priority in the weeks ahead.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.