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Australian airline Virgin Blue plans to increase its fares, making for an average additional A$5-10 charge to most airfares. The airline will also cease its Sydney to Prosperine route in July 2008 and Melbourne to Darwin route in August 2008 in order to cut costs due to the airline's rising fuel bill. Virgin Blue's fuel costs have risen above A$500 million, which is up 21 per cent as compared to the last financial year. The cut backs will also see 4 of the airline's aircraft removed from its fleet and an immediate wage freeze to all management

A hydrogen sulphide leak at a fertiliser factory in China has left six people dead and a further 28 ill. The poisonous gas escaped the Anning Qitian Chemical Fertiliser Co. plant in Kunmin, Yunnan's provincial capital. The leak occurred yesterday but was only reported today. The injured received treatment and are said to be in a stable condition. The factory belonged to the Anning Qitian Chemical Fertiliser Company. The leak has now been contained. It is not thought to have had an environemntal effect. China's industries have a poor safety r

Almost all the prisoners kept in Kandahar jail have escaped after the building was attacked by Taliban militants. Police have reported that "a suicide attacker drove his way into the main gate of the prison, it was very strong and destroyed the gate and two sides of the surrounding wall." About 350 militants participated in the attack, and 15 guards were killed, while about 1,000 prisoners escaped. The Taliban used a combination of two suicide bombers and roughly 30 other militants on motorcycles with rockets and small-arms to attack the pris

eBay's PayPal and cash on delivery policy was blocked on Friday by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after it released a draft ruling citing that it was an "anti-competitive effect" and calling on eBay to postpone its policy which is due to take effect next week. ACCC's final ruling is still pending however it is unusual for the ACCC to reverse draft rulings once issued. In a statement eBay said that it was "disappointed" by the ruling and that "eBay believes the consumer benefits of this initiative are worth fighting

A long-awaited apology from the Canadian government to the country's native population was overshadowed on Wednesday by remarks made by Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) Pierre Poilievre. The government had announced that the historic statement was to take place on Wednesday, June 11, but prior to the actual apology, Poilievre spoke on a noon-hour radio program and made remarks that were 'hurtful' to natives, as the MP later admitted. The apology, which took place as planned, involved Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper offering his regret

2008 The 2nd-annual Google Developer Day started its tournament in Pasifico Yokohama, Japan as its first stage. According to Google, this programmer-based event is similar to Google I/O, the largest programming event which is only available in USA and held earlier on May 28 & 29 in San Francisco, California. Takuya Oikawa, Software Engineer of Google Japan, analyzed the future trend on programming and redefined the "3C". "There are three key features to drive on the next generation programming, that is, 'Client' [user-oriented], 'Connectivity'

The Norwegian national assembly voted Wednesday to change the existing marriage and adoption laws. After debating for several hours, the vote resulted in a 84 to 41 majority in favour of the new law which allows homosexual couples to marry and adopt children. For the past several weeks, there have been extensive debate over the change, with both sides staging demonstrations in most of the larger cities in Norway. The last time Norway changed the laws regarding marriage was in 1993, when gay and lesbian people were allowed to form partnership u

Portugal all but secured a spot on the quarter-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 yesterday, defeating the Czechs 3-1. This is the team's second consecutive victory in the championship. Portugal took an early lead in minute eight when Deco scored after two attempts. The score was equalled by the Czechs in minute 17 when Sionko headed in from a corner. Portugal then retook the lead when Ronaldo low-drived the ball into the goal after a pass from Deco. Regulation time ended, and three minutes were added, giving the Czechs a chance to equal the score,

A major storm suspected to be a tornado has reportedly killed four Boy Scouts camping at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Little Sioux, Iowa. Roughly ninety-five Scouts aged thirteen to eighteen and twenty-five adult staff members were believed to be camping at the time the alarm was raised. Most of the scouts were from Omaha-Metro Area, including Omaha and Bellevue, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa. It is believed that the scouts had as little as twelve minutes to seek shelter from the time the alarm began to the time the storm hit. Early repo

Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, apologized on behalf of the Canadian Government for its role in the Indian Residential School System in front of Aboriginal Leaders, elders, and more than 1000 outside the Parliament Building. Harper proclaimed, "The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history. Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country." This apology was seen at more than 30 event around the country, and broadcast live on

Officials from the Romanian Defense Military confirmed that one of their MiG-21 Lancer fighter planes was struck by four Unidentified Flying Objects on October 31, 2007, which shattered the plane's cockpit. The military also released a video captured by the plane's on-board camera as it was flying above Transylvania. The recording shows solid bodies, which authorities are working to determine the identity of. Officials have already been able to determine the bodies were not birds or pieces of another plane, a meteorite or ice. Rocket launches

The 2008 Google Developer Day started its second day today at Beijing International Convention Center, China. "Cloud Computing" was chosen as its theme for this event, driving more discussions between several participating programmers on the applications of Internet APIs. Since Google Gears, Android, and the Google App Engine was already discussed in Japan, Google China announced that they will cooperate with several local internet communities including MySpace, Tianya Club, and Xiaonei Web on an interactive platform - "OpenSocial" in China.