Tensions over Hong Kong's future emerged at an Australian university, with footage Wednesday showing a fraught confrontation between supporters of China's ...
It's the announcement frequent flyers to the US have been waiting for.
Qantas has announced non-stop flights to Chicago commencing April 20, 2020.
Passengers will be able to fly directly from Brisbane to Chicago, with fares going on sale today. Direct flights to San Francisco are also on the way, with fares on sale February 9, 2020.
Downtown Chicago. Photo: iStock
The airline's jetlag-defying 797-9 Dreamliners will be used on the routes.
The service will be the world's fourth longest passenger flight, with the 14,326 km distance covered in around 16 hours and 20 minutes.
It will save passengers travelling return to Chicago six hours on today's shortest possible route.
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That makes the journey slightly shorter than its longest - Perth to London - which travels a distance of 14,498 km over 17 hours.
Singapore Airlines currently holds the title of the world's longest flight. Its new route to New York from Singapore takes 18 hours and 45 minutes and traverses a whopping 15,343 km.
Qantas International Acting CEO Naren Kumar said: "This is the first time Australians will have a direct link to Chicago, the third-largest US city.
"We expect the flights will be popular with corporate travellers looking to do business there, but also with tourists wanting to experience some of the culture and history that Chicago is famous for."
The new flights are expected to draw an increasing number of tourists to Queensland, pumping $150 million into the economy over the next three years.
"As the world's largest economy, the United States offers enormous potential for inbound tourism to Queensland," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
"These flights represent a great opportunity for Queensland, one that is forecast to support more than 1700 jobs over the next three years."
The inaugural service to Brisbane will take off at 3.30pm on Thursday, August 20, 2020 and will arrive at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport at 4.40pm the same day.
The service will initially run four times a week, although CEO Alan Joyce has said Qantas wants to increase that number to daily flights "as fast as we can."
Qantas now operates three non-stop routes to the US from Australia, currently flying directly to San Francisco and Los Angeles from Melbourne and Sydney, and from Brisbane to Los Angeles.
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The 28-year-old crashed into a police vehicle parked outside a Sydney police station on Tuesday, causing significant damage, according to a police statement. Around an hour later, police pulled the man over and searched his van.
During the search, police found removal boxes that contained 273 kilograms (600 pounds) of methamphetamine.
Police estimated that the drugs had a street value of over 200 million Australian dollars -- or $140 million in US dollars.
The man has been charged with large commercial drug supply and negligent driving. Police are also conducting a forensic examination of the van.
Last month, Australian authorities made the country's largest onshore methamphetamine seizure when police found 1.6 tons of drugs hidden in a shipment of stereo speakers from Thailand.
Authorities said the record drug bust had an estimated street value of $1.2 billion Australian dollars, which is equivalent to $837 million US dollars. Along with meth, 37 kilograms of heroin was also found stashed in vacuumed-sealed packages inside the speakers.
In January, US authorities confiscated almost a billion dollars' worth of methamphetamine bound for Australia, in the largest-ever seizure of the drug on American soil, Australian police announced after a joint operation. In that seizure, the drugs were found hidden inside electronic equipment.
The 28-year-old crashed into a police vehicle parked outside a Sydney police station on Tuesday, causing significant damage, according to a police statement. Around an hour later, police pulled the man over and searched his van.
During the search, police found removal boxes that contained 273 kilograms (600 pounds) of methamphetamine.
Police estimated that the drugs had a street value of over 200 million Australian dollars -- or $140 million in US dollars.
The man has been charged with large commercial drug supply and negligent driving. Police are also conducting a forensic examination of the van.
Last month, Australian authorities made the country's largest onshore methamphetamine seizure when police found 1.6 tons of drugs hidden in a shipment of stereo speakers from Thailand.
Authorities said the record drug bust had an estimated street value of $1.2 billion Australian dollars, which is equivalent to $837 million US dollars. Along with meth, 37 kilograms of heroin was also found stashed in vacuumed-sealed packages inside the speakers.
In January, US authorities confiscated almost a billion dollars' worth of methamphetamine bound for Australia, in the largest-ever seizure of the drug on American soil, Australian police announced after a joint operation. In that seizure, the drugs were found hidden inside electronic equipment.
The 28-year-old crashed into a police vehicle parked outside a Sydney police station on Tuesday, causing significant damage, according to a police statement. Around an hour later, police pulled the man over and searched his van.
During the search, police found removal boxes that contained 273 kilograms (600 pounds) of methamphetamine.
Police estimated that the drugs had a street value of over 200 million Australian dollars -- or $140 million in US dollars.
The man has been charged with large commercial drug supply and negligent driving. Police are also conducting a forensic examination of the van.
Last month, Australian authorities made the country's largest onshore methamphetamine seizure when police found 1.6 tons of drugs hidden in a shipment of stereo speakers from Thailand.
Authorities said the record drug bust had an estimated street value of $1.2 billion Australian dollars, which is equivalent to $837 million US dollars. Along with meth, 37 kilograms of heroin was also found stashed in vacuumed-sealed packages inside the speakers.
In January, US authorities confiscated almost a billion dollars' worth of methamphetamine bound for Australia, in the largest-ever seizure of the drug on American soil, Australian police announced after a joint operation. In that seizure, the drugs were found hidden inside electronic equipment.
A suspected drug carrier has been arrested after crashing a van packed with A$200m (£112m; $140m) of methamphetamine into a patrol car parked outside a police station in Sydney, Australia.
The 28-year-old driver hit the police car at speed, crushing its bonnet, on Monday before racing off.
Police caught him an hour later in Eastwood, a suburb in the city's north.
A search of the van uncovered 273kg of meth.
Authorities said no-one was injured in the crash, but the police car had "sustained significant damage".
Crystal meth, which is known locally as ice, has been described as the most common and damaging illegal drug in Australia.
The price of crystal meth in Australia is among the highest in the world, driving the country's organised crime gangs to trade increasingly in the drug.
The man, who has not been named, faced court on Tuesday charged with drug supply and negligent driving offences.
